We long ago gave up any hope for Edwards and his hapless campaign. We now feel about him the way we feel about other losing candidates – just go away.
We complimented his stumbling, bumbling campaign the other day due to some hiring decisions that were OK. However, when stories are published, like the $400 haircut being posted on his campaign expense account, and that the campaign either did not think this would be noticed, that it mattered, or worse that it does not have a mechanism to detect and prevent this type of embarrasment from happening it makes us want to throw dirt into the grave.
Surely, “two Americas” Edwards must realize that $400 haircuts and huge compounds to live in are a dagger pointed at the throat of his campaign message. We do not begrudge Edwards having a massive house, nor having expensive haircuts. His hair is lovely enough that he should give it all the care and attention in the world and we would love a weekend or longer invitation to luxuriate in the “house”. Hell, didn’t Biden spend a fortune on follicle migrations from the back of his head to the front of his head and don’t most presidential candidates live in very comfortable circumstances? The complaint is not that Edwards has the right to live in the manner he chooses, but rather doesn’t Edwards realize the actual message his campaign is sending with $400 haircut headlines? Don’t they realize that this is simply a message disaster? Doesn’t Edwards remember Kerry windsurfing and skiiing (instead of humble everyday, everyman sports like basketball, or touch football), and the way that was exploited by Republicans? We know that the Republicans will create attacks out of nothing; they do that to Hillary every day. But it is not wise to supply them with so much ammunition.
The final nail in the coffin for the Edwards campaign is the news that Joe Trippi is joining the campaign. Hillary got Ethan Geto of the NY Dean campaign, who, though thought by many to be obnoxious, did a good job for Dean in NY. Joe Trippi is another story. He should be kept away from campaigns.
We found these 2 comments on TalkingPointsMemo which recall some of the Trippi legacy:
“Don’t you think a lot of “Deaniacs” despise Trippi and hold him responsible in good measure for blowing all the money (and taking a good chunk for himself)? I know I do. I contributed to the Dean campaign and I was disgusted by how they mishandled EVERYTHING, especially the money.”
and:
“I wasn’t an early supporter of Dean, so I had no soft spot for him after Iowa. But when I heard Joe Trippi calling into CNN from his car phone while driving East cross country heading back to wherever, I think it was Boston, to announce he had defected from the campaign, I thought to myself, “What a piece of junk.” If you want to abandon your candidate, fine, but what a rat!”
[...] April 20, 2007 we did write Edwards Drifts Away. Our contention was that his newly built huge compound and the posting of $400 haircuts on his [...]