I'll give James the benefit of the doubt that it was meant as humor, Steve's post was not.

Steve, on the other hand, wrote a serious post (since deleted) taking Edwards to task. Unless he claims that he too was "just kidding" in that post, then I don't see how his line of argument above (Get a sense of humor!) is intellectually honest.

In my defense, (and in defense of the others here) I think it's only fair to point out that none of us felt the need to even comment on the subject until Steve had written his remarks. Having read what Steve wrote, I think it's understandable that we would make the (incorrect) assumption that James had meant his remarks to be more than humor.

(Way too much meta-discussion here. Sorry.)

I don't know the nuances of Edwards' education and poverty policy positions well enough to know. So far as I know, Edwards isn't opposed to getting paid all he can. (Certainly, I'm in favor of it.) On the other hand, taking such a large check perpetuates the system of Two Americas.

The fact that it's so easy to draw that inference, however, is relevant information as to whether John Edwards *is* a hypocritical jerk.

Oh, and google around for a sense of humor too.

Since nobody seems to think this is funny, maybe LaurenceB isn't the one with the problem?

Do I really need to google around and find examples of the other candidates doing the same thing?

Yes, please do and let us know your results.

Oh, and google around for a sense of humor too.

So... Why again are we singling out Edwards?

Do I really need to google around and find examples of the other candidates doing the same thing? Does anyone doubt that I could?

Listen, I don't like the guy and I'm not going to vote for him, but this is just silly.