OT: Walmart goes after Edwards.

[beachmom]

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061116/APF/611162631


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/16/21269/660

They went after Kerry last year:

http://www.wal-martcan.com/news/Attention.html

[JI7]

1. Wal Mart is doing this to take attention away from their own faults

even if it's true about Edwards it doesn't change the fact of their treating people horribly.

my only response to Edwards' would be to say what non sense the whole stuff about the Kerry's lifestyle and money was. and the shopping at target, wendy''s etc . as they have no trouble spending hundreds to buy luxury items for their kids. and there is nothing wrong with that of course. but....

[Mass]

2. His kid is lucky. My son wanted one. I had to tell him he would have to wait...

Another sign there are people just like us.:sarcasm:

It turns out at least it was true, but it is the fault of a volunteer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2619151

Of course, it does not excuse Walmart a bit.

[beachmom]

3. Why would a volunteer be calling stores on "behalf of Edwards"

That really turns me off. Like he's some errand boy. Sorry, that's personal business and should have nothing to do with running for president. Was he really the big free lancer they're claiming him to be?

[karynnj]

4. It is stupid this is even a story

I don't trust Edwards' sincerity, but this is stupid. Even if a staffer (at Edwards's request) asked a volunteer to find where the item could be bought, it at worse is a misuse of the volunteer's time. (Because it was a volunteer, you can't even say it was misusing PAC funds.) That the volunteer called WallMart, likely as one of many stores, is a non issue.

[TayTay]

5. This is the big-time scrutiny of running for Pres.

We may not like this story, but it is exactly what the media loves to do. They find an instance of supposed hypocrisy from the left and hype it for all it's worth. This type of attack works because it is an 'all about us' story, and makes it look like Dems are populists in name only.

Not fair and expect a whole lot of this as '08 gets closer. Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton are now under the microscope for this as well. Let the games begin!

[sandnsea]

6. The Walmart shoes bothers me

I had the impression the volunteer was calling for himself, and lied that it was for Edwards.

Anyway, the part that bothered me was his six year old chastising a classmate for wearing Walmart shoes and Edwards complimenting his son instead of recognizing that kids don't wear Walmart shoes unless they absolutely have to. I would not be happy if any of my kids made a comment about what somebody else was wearing, no matter how sincere their motives. And six year olds just shouldn't be concerned with that sort of thing at all. Seems to me.

[Mass]

7. I agree. There is nothing cute in this story. It is purely obnoxious.

[karynnj]

8. That's a really good point

I also question the story. I seriously don't know how a 6 yr old would identify a classmate's shoes as "Walmart".(If they say Walmart in big letters, I take this back) At any rate, his peer likely didn't pick the store to shop at. (Also if Edwards' own shoes were from Target - where we KNOW his mom shops - which third world country were they from and under what conditions were they produced.)

I think the fact the John Edwards uses this story is strange. The action is rude - and this would encourage the boy to do it again. (or is the point of the whole story to point out that JE has a very cute little boy.)

[sandnsea]

9. Walmart has a shoe brand

I forget what it is now, I started shopping Ross and outlet malls for my kids' shoes a long time ago. Shoes are important to kids, they do talk about them. I can see it being rather innocent on Jack's part, little kids talking about their cool school shoes and some kid (on scholarship??) says he got his at Walmart because he doesn't have a clue. Jack, who only knows what he hears at home, responds that it's bad to shop at Walmart. I can see that happening innocently - but that JE used it as a story instead of recognizing it as a bit classist, well, I guess that's what happens when you pretend to be po' folks and you're just not anymore. It's not a big deal to me, just one of those little things that sort of shows where somebody is really at. Kind of like when I told my sister I didn't want to go to her Baptist church because I wouldn't really fit (spiritually I meant) - and she says 'Oh we have poor people too' - lol, oookaaay, not what I meant but thanks for going there first, tells me a lot.

And yeah, I avoid Walmart because it's not union and treats its employees like crap, not because any of the other stores are great world citizens. And if Walmart has that I-need-it-right-now-piece-of-crap, at half the price, I shop Walmart. Jack wouldn't like me either I guess.

[JI7]

18. i didn't even read that part, no wonder i can't relate to Edwards

the whole thing about how they think they can relate because of where they shop . it's as people said earlier that it seems shallow.

[ProSense]

10. OMG! Look at this from Google

John Kerry Accused Of Using Name To Get PS3
WFMY News 2, NC - 6 hours ago
The retail giant claims the former Senator didn't want to wait for the release of the new gaming system. Raleigh, NC -- Wal-Mart ...

It's clearly an error, but geez!

This is posted at Yahoo:

Dave Johnson: Wal-Mart Engineers a Smear of Edwards

[beachmom]

11. Freudian slip, my you know what. Unbelieveable!!

Can you tell them to fix it?

[karynnj]

17. At the link - the story is John Edwards

It is interesting to think of how this would play if it were Kerry. The Edwards story is challanging a carefully crafted image, which is likely not completely true from the 2004 primary reporting. But, if it were Kerry, it would validate a rw meme that really had very little to support it other than remote hearsay.

[ProSense]

20. Mark Barrett on the "botched headline"

From The Premise:

November 18th, 2006 - 2:53 am |

The Google News headline:

John Kerry Accused Of Using Name To Get PS3
WFMY News 2, NC - 18 hours ago
The retail giant claims the former Senator didn’t want to wait for the release of the new gaming system. Raleigh, NC — Wal-Mart …

The story when you click the link:

John Edwards Accused Of Using Name To Get PS3

The retail giant claims the former Senator didn’t want to wait for the release of the new gaming system.

Raleigh, NC — Wal-Mart claims former North Carolina Senator John Edwards asked his local Wal-Mart store for help in getting a hot new Sony PlayStation 3.

The potential 2008 presidential candidate says a volunteer made the call by mistake, and feels terrible about it.

So: how big does this go? Does John Kerry get sucked into it because of a botched headline? Does John Edwards have to apologize to Sony? Will Wal-Mart hide behind the troops? Will White House Press Secretary Tony Snow weigh in?

– Mark Barrett

[Island Blue]

21. I just checked out The Google and the headline is still there.

Who is responsible for the Google News headlines? Is it the media outlet where the story originates from, Google ...? My ignorance on this is vast.

[Inuca]

22. I am 90% sure that...

... the stories are picked automatically by their web crawler. Hence I would infer that something on that page (maybe the page name, as opposed to the article title) says Kerry rather than Edwards. Can be a freudian slip or a weird sense of humor on the part of their web person... In any case, I doubt that Gooogle is to blame here.

[whometense]

23. I think Google IS to blame

You can send them a comment here: http://www.google.com/support/News/bin/request.py?contact_type=report_news&ReportProblemNews=wrong_listing

I just did.

The headline was correct (though stupid) on the AP story, and WRONG on google news. They need to fix it. Now.

[beachmom]

12. Hillary's dKos man FrancisLHolland is now equating JE and JK

as equally embarrassing. That does it. This is not that big a deal, and utterly bogus. I feel for Edwards supporters, as I hope some of them felt for us 2 weeks ago.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/17/122439/67

I hit him with a 3 pronged attack. He only got one recommend but 70 comments and counting of disgust. Hillary really is toxic on the blogosphere. Obama has more supporters, but people are beginning to cool to him, too (there was a diary about Obama visiting a megachurch in Dec. yesterday and there were a lot of critical comments as well as the fact it only got maybe 10 recommends).

[ProSense]

13. Seriously,

what is wrong with these people?

Did they forget this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2885131&mesg_id=2885131

[karynnj]

16. I wonder if that staffer is still there

if he/she did it unilaterally, firing was in order. If not, Hillary should be taken to task for this. This, a joke that even in jest mocks Ghandhi, and stabbing Kerry in the back - all show more negatives in her character than Kerry's flubbed joke - that says he can screw up a punch line. So, maybe he won't get comdian of the year.

Her "faction" of the party was likely behind the "heyjohn" garbage and were trashing Dean - that was not just Carville. Somone needs to demand to know what her opinion was on these actions. The Dean attack started BEFORE the election as did the "heyjohn" nonsense - any fair person could see that Kerry and Dean were working night and day for a victory. Where is a voice that will speak the truth on this and demand answers.

[Firespirit]

14. That person is a troll

His diaries have a long history of being troll rated. Last night he wrote a diary against Vilsack. I'm no Vilsack fan, but the attack that he used was... Vilsack is a white man. In the troll's opinion, only Hillary, Obama, and Richardson are viable candidates, because they aren't white men.

Just wait. The Hillarybots are going to fling sexism charges at people who don't like her. I can see it coming. They are utterly disgusting.

And yes, Hillary is toxic. Her support is soft outside the blogs, and all but nonexistent on them. If she is nominated, there will be a third party challenge (and I'm already starting to suspect that there will be a fundamentalist Republican third party challenge if McCain gets it).

[beachmom]

15. A Democratic troll, though -- incredible, isn't it? Our own party

has trolls that sound more like the right wing, and they're for Hillary.

I agree with you about the Right. Based on my wingnut neighbor, she will absolutely not vote for McCain, and will vote 3rd party (Libertarian) -- even the hatred of Hillary will not alleviate her hatred of McCain.

So much for Joe Klein's "Centrism" idea. The base votes in the primaries, and the base of both parties are the most reliable voters on Election Day. You absolutely need to keep your base vote plus get enough Independent voters to swing it your way. When the nominee is shaky with their base, then it's a new ballgame.

[sandnsea]

19. I agree, silliness

People are human, nobody is going to see the world exactly the same. I remember, after one of the hurricanes, Teresa said that generators and clean water was the priority, send clothes later. Little kids can even run around naked, if necessary, prioritize! Well that did not go over! I know what she meant, she had experience with third world natural disasters and she wanted people to be really cared for and healthy. Maybe she didn't understand poor people actually do go without electricity on occasion, but nobody goes without clothes! Different life experiences and world views is all.