The American Thinker

The American Thinker: "On Sunday's This Week program, ABC's George Stephanopoulos interviewed John Edwards, the Democrat's nominee for vice-president in 2004. During the program, the one-term Senator from North Carolina, made a publicity-provoking comment (video here) about the man who vanquished him and his erstwhile running mate John Kerry during the tumultuous campaign.

"George W. Bush is the worst president of our lifetime," he said. Edwards went on to say that Bush is worse that the Watergate-tainted, Richard Nixon.

This, from a guy who, when debating Vice-president Dick Cheney, brought up the fact that Cheney's daughter is gay. His intent was to put his opponent in an embarrassing situation while simultaneously making points with conservative voters on the volatile issue. You can't get much lower on the evolutionary scale than using the family of your opponent to score points. Perhaps that's why Mary Cheney, Vice President Cheney's lesbian daughter, labeled Edwards a "complete and total slime" in her recent book, Now It's My Turn: A Daughter's Chronicle of Political Life.

Edwards became one of America's super-wealthy trial lawyers by winning record jury verdicts and settlements that involved personal injury litigation. While running for his senate seat, and later for president and vice-president, he repeatedly told campaign audiences that he fought on behalf of the common man against the large insurance companies.

But those with knowledge of Edwards' legal career in North Carolina tell a different story. They say he always helped the little guy as long as he got the lawyer's share of the judgments -- typically a third or even forty percent. Legal expert Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of the book, The Rule of Lawyers, said Edwards' success in court . . .