The contrast between John Edwards' public stances and his private choices is
enough to give mere sanctimonious hypocrisy a good name.
To quote the director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential
Studies at American University in Washington, who goes by the wonderful name
of James A. Thurber, on the subject of John Edwards:
"It is self-evident that he is saying one thing on the campaign trail and
investing another way." Self-evident? Not to the poor suckers who swallow
his act hook, line and Poor Boy image.
Candidate Edwards now says he'll divest himself of any part of his portfolio
at Fortress that involves subprime loans - while keeping his $16 million
investment in the fund. That's going to be an interesting challenge in
accounting, not to mention simple moral consistency.
Speaking of consistency, the candidate also has made a big deal of how
environmentally aware he is while, at last report, living in a
28,200-square-foot home, counting its two garages. It's the biggest and
costliest house in Orange Country, N.C.
That 28,200 square feet includes an adjacent 15,600-square-foot recreation
building complete with basketball court, squash court, two stages, swimming
pool, four-story tower, lounge and other amenities. This guy's got a bigger
environmental footprint than Godzilla.
None of this would be anybody else's business if John Edwards weren't a
presidential candidate with a hankering to lecture the rest of us on the
need to conserve energy.
This is the same candidate who, when he was running for vice president back
in 2004, flew his hair stylist across the country (from Beverly Hills to
Atlanta) to trim his 'do. Total cost: $1,250. And it does look mighty nice.
Hypocrisy, said La Rochefoucauld, is the tribute vice pays virtue, and let
it be said John Edwards never stops paying tribute to virtue.
It hasn't been too long since he was urging his Democratic rivals for the
presidency to return any money they'd received from press tycoon Rupert
Murdoch, the publisher the left loves to hate, and refuse to appear on
Murdoch's Fox News network.
Mr. Edwards himself had appeared on Fox News 33 times at last count. And
he's collected $800,000 for a book published by a subsidiary of a Murdoch
corporation, HarperCollins. (The candidate says much of the money went to
charities. One of them, College for Everyone, turns out to be one he
founded.)
Presidential campaigns have a way of attracting gold-plated phonies and,
before this one is over, no doubt the inconsistencies of other candidates
will be laid bare, too.
But for now, when it comes to deciding who's the phoniest of them all, John
Edwards leads the pack - and his lead may be unbeatable.