This Coulter Quote On Edwards.... Is It True?

[GiovanniC]

COULTER: I think people have different ways of viewing John Edwards because I kept hearing how he was unbelievably persuasive, and the jury awards, and that he can charm the birds out of the trees ... I must not be a bird because I just want to strangle him when I see him talking. He would channel the victims in front of the jury, I mean, he was pretending he was a baby who had died in the womb and said to the jury, she is speaking to you through me. I can feel her. Who would fall for that? It's so creepy. It makes my skin crawl.

(LINK: http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200410070004)

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Did John Edwards really do this? Or is Ann the Man confusing him with the guy on daytime television who supposedly talks to your dead relatives (John Edward -- no "s")?

[kixot]

1. That' about right from what I've heard.

It was a closing argument he gave and he did say something to that effect.

[leftofthedial]

2. well, the way Cheney looked the other night

maybe our John Edwards talks to dead people too

[Andromeda]

30. Cheney IS a dead person...

They just prop him up and pull the string. Then they put him back in his box at the underground hideaway

[fdr_hst_fan]

3. Coulter the man-in-drag

makes me sick!

:puke:

[booksenkatz]

4. I don't know about our John specifically, however

it is quite common for a dedicated prosecutor to tell the jury that he/she represents the victim, and is the "voice" of the victim who has no voice, and that the victim is crying out for justice. I don't find anything creepy or weird about that. What I *do* find creepy and weird is Ann Coulter's... well, Ann Coulter.

[napi21]

5. NO! Consider the source!!!

I haven't read any of the trial transcripts, but I have read some trial summaries. John is a very persuasive attorney, but he also fought some very good cases where the facts were on his side!

[Barney Rocks]

10. I suggest you read

some of the actual transcripts--he did say this. It was extremely effective--it moved the jury to tears and definitely helped him win his case.

Edwards is a fantastic attorney--and partially because he knows how to tap in to the emotions of the jury members. That is not a crime--that is being an effective trial attorney.

[Hobarticus]

6. Which offends you more: what he said or what she said?

"I just want to strangle him when I see him talking."

Anyone really listen to this kook anymore?

[LiberalFighter]

33. Scanned the channels last nite and she was talking...

paused long enough to realize it was her and was gone.

[colonel odis]

7. wasn't she banned for a while from the talking head shows?

she even got too inflammatory for them.

now i see she's got a new book out.

she's beyond pathetic.

[joefree1]

Really? Well I'll do that one too

:evilgrin:

[Hobarticus]

17. I think it was "de facto" ban...

She's a little too far out there. Franken even said GOPers have said to him, "she's not all there".

[Barney Rocks]

8. yes he said it

and it was very extremely effective. Have you ever argued a case to a jury? Well, Edwards knows how to pursuade a jury. Obviously under the circumstances--this worked very well because he won a huge judgment.

Read about his cases if you have access to Lexus--especially how he has smacked down OBGYN doctors--and you will understand what a genius he is. He makes these doctors PAY when their negligence is responsible for a baby having cystic fibrosis. Edwards is a crusader for good and that is very rare in our society. I can hardly wait 8 years for him to be president after Kerry!

[trumad]

13. I wish Ann would sit on a pool drain

It would be a labotomy for her!

[Barney Rocks]

20. that was a good case.

But the bulk of Edwards's practice was defending children who were harmed at or before birth--I HAVE read some of the transcripts--he did everything he could to humanize the cases so that the juries would understand and empathize with the young victims.

He is a lawyer--it is not illegal to engage in some court room theatrics. It is not a big deal. Coulter needs to be muzzled. I can't stand her.

[Memekiller]

9. I might be responsible...

Back during the primaries, I sent an e-mail to her, Drudge, and a lot of conservative columnists completely taking that quote out of context. I entitled it "Edwards crosses over". I was hoping to prove that you could get right wing pundits to spew anything, no matter how unfounded, if it hurt dems. But at the time, they weren't too interested in knocking down Edwards, since he was the best chance for knocking the wind out of Kerry. Maybe she remembered?

[babylonsister]

11. (S)he makes MY skin crawl!

[MichiganVote]

12. Well Ann did get one thing right, she is not a bird. She has the face of a

sow and the mouth of a horse.

[VolcanoJen]

14. Here's the scoop: That's a story from "Four Trials."

While defending a young victim, Jennifer, who suffered permanent brain damage due to the decision of an imcompetent OB-GYN to delay a C-Section and attempt natural delivery, John Edwards used the heart rate monitor tapes of her struggles in the womb as representative of the victim's "voice."

Edwards argued that Jennifer had no voice of her own, but was screaming from the womb for attention. As the heart rate monitor tapes revealed that she was in trouble, Edwards pointed to them, saying, "Jennifer says 'I'm in trouble, but I'm ok for now.'" As the monitor revealed her condition worsening, Edwards said, "Here, Jennifer is saying 'I need attention quickly.'" As the monitor revealed that her condition had deteriorated into a life-vs-death struggle, Edwards argued, "Here, Jennifer tells the physician, nurses and other health care professionals 'HELP ME. I AM DYING.'"

It's all in the excellent book "Four Trials." I'm not surprised that Ann Coulter is on the side of the incompetent physician, rather than the unborn, struggling fetus.

[Barney Rocks]

21. thank you for explaining one

of the cases so well! Edwards used this theatrical technique on multiple occasions (beside the one you explained) and I believe it was always a smart move on his part--he wanted to draw the jury in to what the young victim went through. I still don't understand how anyone could criticize him for doing that. It is definitely within the rules of the courtroom.

[Lex]

23. Thanks VolcanoJen.

Putting these things in context is exactly what people like Coulter *don't* want.

[rumguy]

24. woah just reading that pulled at my heart strings

[atre]

25. Exactly: the girl wasn't dead, and wasn't "being channeled"

nm

[AspenRose]

31. I'm confused

"I'm not surprised that Ann Coulter is on the side of the incompetent physician, rather than the unborn, struggling fetus."

But...but I thought only REPUBLICANS cared about the unborn....don't they have a monopoly on it? How out of character for Ann.

I'm so confused :dunce:

/sarcasm

[gmoney]

15. Not "Channeling" like John Edward the TV guy...

Just speaking on behalf of the absent victim... a little like the Matthew McConnohey closing at the end of "A Time To Kill"

[guitar man]

16. Shouldn't the Secret Service be involved here?

*I just want to strangle him when I see him talking*

This man has made it clear that he might be moved to violence against a Vice Presidential candidate and United States Senator. I would think they might want to get involved here.
:shrug:

[MoonRiver]

18. Man Coulter is hallucinating! (s)He needs help, ASAP!

[No2W2004]

19. A good lawyer will always remind juries of just who the victim is.

Now, I'm sure he didn't "channel" the victims, but I am sure he would tell the jury that he was speaking for them because through negigence, they can't speak for themselves. Good Lawyers will also put up big poster-sized pictures of the victims while speaking, again to remind the jury that a PERSON is involved, and it isn't just about reward money.

[Lex]

22. Good grief--he didn't mean he was literally channeling her!

.
As an attorney, I can say that I've heard other attorneys say stuff like this ALL the time.

"I'm the only voice left that the victim has today. She is speaking through me."

I even heard a prosecutor last summer say of a blood-spattered wall "This wall is talking to you. Can you hear it?" (Guess what? The attorney didn't mean that the wall was literally talking but that the EVIDENCE was making itself known.)


Ann Coulter is stupid excuse for a human-being.

[spooky3]

27. Isn't she an attorney? Then she should know what you're saying is true.

She's not related to Dick Cheney, is she?

[GiovanniC]

26. Thanks For All The Responses

This all makes a lot more sense now. I have definitely heard of attorneys doing similar things in trials, and who can forget the closing statement from "A Time to Kill"? That stuff is commonplace. Not only that, but the child she's talking about is the one with birth complications (who lived)? Ann is slime personified.

The funny thing about all this is that her uneducated readers will probabably think that

Senator John Edwards = TV 'Medium' John Edward

And a lot of people like that batshit-crazy guy. She might have given Kerry/Edwards some "cross over" votes.

[Booster]

28. Then she must also think it's "creepy" that Bush says

that God talks to him, and only him. Somebody needs to talk to Ann; I think she's a very lonely person who's just looking for attention, and money, of course.

[troublemaker]

29. You never want to see a big-time personal injury trial...

they can get awfuly emotional and theatrical. A good trial lawyer oughtn't be judged by what he says in a trial because he has an ethical obligation to serve his client's interest, not to serve an abstract truth.

That's something a lot of folks can't handle about lawyers, but that's like considering all soldiers murderers. (Or all surgeons butchers)

[Politicub]

32. I remember a movie where an attorney said something like that

The attorney was played by the tender morsel Matt Damon. When he addressed the jury he said that the victim was speaking to us vis a vis the trial.

[GiovanniC]

34. Another John Grisham Classic

"The Rainmaker"

[Politicub]

36. That was it n/t

[snippy]

35. Ann Coulter's Usually Not Truthful. n/t

[guitar man]

37. while thinking about this

*He would channel the victims in front of the jury, I mean, he was pretending he was a baby who had died in the womb and said to the jury, she is speaking to you through me. I can feel her*

If some fundie preacher got up aon the pulpit and uttered the exact same words about an aborted fetus in an anti-abortion tirade, these RW freaks where I'm from would be clapping, jumping and shouting hallelujah. But an unborn child killed by corporate negligence or medical malpractice? Perish the thought!

*You jest keen't go 'round a-suin' all these rich folks all the time or they'll have to raise the price of everythin'. These damn amblance chasers is a-ruinin' evrythin fer all of us!*

That is the crux of the mentality we are dealing with on the opposite side of the issues, folks.