Friday, August 03, 2007

JOHN EDWARDS

John Edwards Got $800k From a Rupert Murdoch Company?

When John Edwards demanded all Democratic candidates return any donations from Rupert Murdoch or News Corp. employees, I thought he was flailing around for an issue, any issue, to use against Hillary.

Learning that Edwards himself received $800,000 for his book about American homes from HarperCollins, a company owned by Murdoch, makes this move look even more desperate. [That includes $333,000 in unspecified "expenses." Okay, I want my agent to negotiate that deal.]

(The Edwards campaign says he donated that money to charity, but when asked for proof, refused. I wonder if he gave it to his Poverty Center in North Carolina, which spent much of its budget flying Edwards around the country to speak to audiences.)

And by the way - $800k? That makes the $55,000 for the speech on poverty look even more... well, let's just come out and say it: greedy. John Edwards wants to raise taxes on people like you and me, who make a hell of a lot less than he does - because he finds our society lacking in the way it cares for the poor. Yet he himself rakes in money by the bushel, builds a house the size of a strip mall, goes to work at a hedge fund "to learn about poverty"... We've gone over the haircuts... and then claims that the criticism of his spending habits is unfair and a distraction. Hey, Edwards wants to control our spending habits by taxing us.

08/03 10:01 AMShare