Get one thing straight, Edwards isn't being "SWIFT BOATED"

[Proud2BAmurkin]

People have brought up a TRUTH (Edwards has a new ginormous house) and different people have different opinions on whether it means he's hypocritical, politically tone deaf, greedy, whatever.

The Filthy Swift Boat Pukes vomited out LIES about John Kerry.

We shouldn't call everything that might hurt a candidate "Swift Boating." Save that for LIES from filthy RePUKEs about Democratic candidates.

[Jim Sagle]

1. The intended inference is that Edwards is an elitist phony.

So it's still swiftboating. It's also a buncha shit.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

2. Nope, in fact my original post on the subject was more about political stupidity

and whether he had what it takes not to do stupid things or cared.

[elocs]

24. If Edwards had known what an uproar the house thing would be,

he probably would have bought something more modest. After all, in a couple of years his hope is to be living in the White House. Nothing wrong with buying as much house as you can afford, just not a real smart political thing to do. Sometimes inconsequential things can contribute to sinking a candidate, such as Muskee's crying.

[oldtime dfl_er]

6. but swiftboating is about lies

while The House is a non issue being pumped into a phony issue, it's not actually a lie. I agree with the original poster.

[aquart]

42. It's about smears. This is a smear.

[5X]

29. I shall hang on to my opinions and will not be told they are shit,

thank you very much.

[jpgray]

3. It's blowing a trivial issue way out of proportion

It's also trying to shout hypocrisy where very little or none exists. Though not the same as swiftboating, it's consistent with those aspects of it.

[Bluebear]

4. Right, Besides of which, America at large doesn't even know what "swiftboating" is.

A non-issue all around.

[lostnotforgotten]

8. You Must Be Rich And Guilty Becuase You Keep Trotting Out This NonSense

The question is one of judgment.

Did Edwards show poor judgment in building his Taj Mahal?

The answer is an obvious yes.

[jpgray]

10. I'm a dirt poor college student who waits tables for a living

But thanks for the stereotype.

[lostnotforgotten]

12. Then Why Do You Support Excessive Wealth Aggregation?

You are obviously not voting for your economic interests.

[jpgray]

13. I don't. How does Edwards having a big house affect that?

Edwards's having a big house does not affect the poor. Ted Kennedy having a bigass compound with yachts and all doesn't affect the poor. Their legislation and their votes -can-. Can you begin to see why the latter is important while the former two are not?

[Clark2008]

15. Correct.

So what legislation did Edwards propose to help the poor when he was in the senate.


None, you say!?!


Well, I'll be damned.

[jpgray]

18. He's the only candidate with poverty as a central campaign issue

He deserves a lot of credit for that--it's woefully underexposed as an issue in this country. He certainly isn't perfect, and a first term Senator is expected to make zero waves. Witness Obama, Clinton, etc.

[lostnotforgotten]

16. Because You Are So Willing To Support A Man That Is A product Of The System

That creates such artificial disparities in wealth.

I have not seen him give the money back.

[jpgray]

21. Which candidates do you vote for?

Have they profited by the system? Do they give their money back?

[aquart]

43. Uh. Is his wealth inherited? Or did he earn it?

And did he earn it by attacking wealthy special heartless interests on behalf of their victims?

Are we against getting rich by real work? I'm not. I'm against the creation of Paris Hiltons, useless people propped by outrageous unearned wealth. I'm against CEOs creating themselves as a special class of aristocrat by draining the profits earned by a company's workers.

Yup. Lumping Edwards in with the unearned wealthy IS a smear. It IS a lie. It IS swiftboating.

[mondo joe]

14. How does Edwards' house = Excessive Wealth Aggregation?

If he saved his money and lived in a shack what would be different?

[lostnotforgotten]

17. Can You Afford A 6 Million Dollar Home - The L-Curve Applies Once Again

www.lcurve.org

[mondo joe]

20. How does Edwards' house = Excessive Wealth Aggregation?

Please answer. Thanks.

[mazzarro]

27. Will it be improper for Bill Gates to speak out against poverty?

I will think that if such a person speaks to such issue, then he is, by implication, advocating any and all remedies that may include him bearing additional burden in the bid to solve the problem. Regardless of his house, Edwards is courageous to harp on the issue and bring it to fore. He is obviously fully aware that people of his financial class will have to give up something and/or bear additional burden in order for the issue to be adequately addressed.

[aquart]

41. What?

And if it's his wife's dream? And after all they've been thru, he can afford to give her something she's always wanted? That would be poor judgement because he isn't worried about what YOU think?

Rethink that.

[Quixote1818]

5. I actually thought it started an interesting debate about a number of issues

from Democratic Green issues and Edwards theme about "Two Americas" and if he was undercutting his message.

I think it was a valuable debate and it caused me to look at my own values. I went from attacking you to moving closer to your side in just 24 hours.

Thanks for creating a lively debate here on DU. I saw a lot of good arguments on both sides.

[spacelady]

9. Hey Quixote1818! It has been an interesting issue, although

a number of threads could have been combined. Let me know sometime how things are going with some of your projects.

[Quixote1818]

22. Do you mean my children's books?

I am probably going to advertise it on DU this fall. Here is my website which talks about it: www.impossibledreamspub.com

Thanks for asking. I don't remember mentioning any of my projects on DU.

[Quixote1818]

30. .

[devilgrrl]

7. You're right, he's not being SWIFTBOATED - he's being Proud2BAmurkin-ed

:sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

26. ...

:spray:

[Puglover]

35. Absolutely SPOT ON.

Talk about spamming.

[mondo joe]

11. I think you should consider treatment for Edwards OCD.

Thank you.

[sandnsea]

19. I think that's a DU violation n/t

[troubleinwinter]

23. Yay. ANOTHER fucking house thread.

[philosophie_en_rose]

25. Actually, people have not brought up the truth.

The truth is that the alleged 30,000 square ft house is less than 1/3 that size.

That number includes a refurbished barn, garage space, and a 2,200 sq ft walkway.

The house is around 8000 sq ft.

[Morereason]

33. Yes, the private sports facility can't possibly be seen as part of the estate footprint!

[KoKo]

46. Having worked in Real Estate...Garages don't count in sq. footage.

Just so you all know. And, neither do "covered walkways."

[noamnety]

48. That's what I'm going to tell my tax assessor

They need to quit including that little space where we have an exercise bike in my square footage - that should be deducted.

A whole lot of DUers must be deducting where their weight bench is, or rooms used as offices, or guest rooms, when they advertise to sell their houses - since they don't consider that part of their homes. ;)

[stranger]

28. Yes, hes tone deaf-but what if he becomes YOUR candidate's running mate??

instead of beating farts out of a dead horse,
we should counter by getting memberships on republican message boards and stirring
animosities among repub primary candidates-only lets be a little more subtle than these
edwards' house pimps, and the old lady gossip mongers reporting
in excruciating detail all of hillary's and Obama's dirty tricks on each other...ad nauseum.

Frankly I dont give a shit about any dem candidates' sins or misdeeds-spare me,
Instead, tell me what the real scumbags (repubs) are doing.

Lets remind all the freepers how Bush implied that McCain is
a demented Viet Nam vet/psycho during the South Carolina Primary.

Now, there's scab to pick off a wound.

[ClassWarrior]

31. You mean like how the Edwards-haters are lying about the square feet?

NGU.

[Morereason]

32. If that wasn't emotional framing????

I have not seen anyone who "hates" Edwards. In fact most of the posts on that side of the fence admit they would vote for him if he is the final candidate. Is that nuance too hard to digest?

And I am not sure how you can say that a private sports facility does not count as part of your home. That is a stretch.

[high density]

34. Two Americas

Edwards isn't in our America it seems. The "L-Curve" effect is so bad in this country right now and I don't think Edwards can honestly talk about fixing this problem of wage disparity. He has already stated that he's not concerned about the nation's deficit spending and debt. Spending money like this while your PR campaign is casting yourself as a populist doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Being wealthy is one thing, but spending millions on a massive estate while you're trying to say you're a friend of the poor and being environmentally conscious doesn't float with me.

As others have said, this is an excessive house. This is what we expect to see from CEOs in this country, not from Democratic presidential candidates.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluerthanblue]

37. excellent point- well taken. it is also a statement not a smear-

If people are going to try and discredit the man as a person based on this one aspect of his "whole"-

Those who are swayed from their original stand (for or against him) aren't very firmly planted to begin with.

Truth is- like it or not.

Lies, as you state so well, should never be given the same weight as 'inconvenient TRUTHS'.-

Our leaders aren't perfect- and never will be. Something is really wrong with this society if we cannot abide any criticism of candidates or leaders without having to marginalize those who refuse to make "Gods" out of their politician of choice.

I'm sick of politics, and the herd/flock/bush-bot-"yer with us or yer "one of THEM mentality".

We need to do better than this people.
Much better.

[seabeyond]

38. good point proud .... you are right. two different animals. n/t

[geomon666]

39. Has anyone tried to find the house on Google Maps?

I think I found it and if I did, it's much ado about nothing.

[Neshanic]

40. I did, and doubt you did. A quarter of the county is old imagery.

If you did, then you could describe a landmark of a road, or water to confirm.

It's only much ado about nothing if you found it as fact.

[Strelnikov_]

44. I support Edwards no more or no less than I did previously

Looks more like a 10,000 sf house (not that unusual today) connected to a combination recreation/conference/office complex. The rec complex probably makes sense for a self-employed high-power trial lawyer. He is just doing what is hard wired, expected, by our society.

I think the indictment is against the society that still thinks, with the information now available, that this level of consumption is something to be actively strived for, and is a 'right' of those who attain that level of success. How many worlds consumed is enough? And these views are even strongly exhibited at a site populated by those who extol 'An Inconvenient Truth' and decry the impact of U.S. policies on the third world. A site that is strongly against the war in the Middle East, which is nothing more than the opening act in the resource wars to supply and maintain the western industrial societies at the expense of the developing world.

Think of the public perception impact if the Edwards family would have moved into a house like Kucinich? He would have been heralded here, but the broad middle . . . ?

[BurtWorm]

45. Let's call this "Edwards housing."

:think:

[trumad]

47. Here ya go again....

won't let it go will you....

[Joe Chi Minh]

49. Wrong. It's worse than a lie. It's an implicit lie that it matters two hoots

how rich he is. All the more to his credit, the work he does for the rest of us.

It's the same kind of implict lie that Clinton's adultery was anyone's concern but his own and his family's. Nothing, nothing, nothing, to do with politics, still less his ability to govern, to the undying admiration, not just of Americans but of the world! He'll be on Mount Rushmore one day, I'd say.

It beggars belief that those imbeciles could yet again insult the intelligence of the American people by suggesting that John's building another big, new, super-duper house has anything to do with the price of fish and chips! They're never going to get back n power unless they start respecting the American people.