John Edwards Bails on Poor Rural High Schoolers

Joanne Jacobs has a link to the story and a few comments.

I’d suspected Edwards was a phony who adopted populism as a campaign gimmick, not because he really cares about the poor and working class. It bothered me that he spent millions on a huge mansion and that he used his anti-poverty foundation to create jobs for his campaign staffers. I guess we’ll see whether he actually does anything to help the poor, now that his political ambitions are kaput.

Of course it is a gimmick.

John Edwards took a trial attorney career and parlayed it into a poltical career in which he said he "worked for the little guy." Well, North Carolinians have gotten wise to that little bit of hucksterism. He has never cared about the little guy, he has only cared about himself. Caring about oneself is not a bad thing if you are honest about it, but hiding behind an image, when you are regularly found to not really be that image guy, is simply ludicrous.

If I were these students I would seriously consider being a lot more public about it. The problem of course is that they have already benefited from a John Edwards promise to help pay for college. They have made good grades, they have taken all the right classes and they will probably get into college. The problem of course is that they have no means to pay for college. But I suspect some truly generous person (I only wish I had the resources) will probably step into help these kids. After, that is what America is about?

Right John Edwards--helping the little guy?

Of course, John Edwards is about to become a little guy. He has two or three families to support, his D-I-V-O-R-C-E is going to be messy and ugly, and his legal bills will be steep.