Edwards Quick to Cash In On Gonzales Resignation

John Edwards' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination wasted little time Monday in converting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation into a pitch for donations.

A message from Edwards' Senior Adviser Joe Trippi landed in email inboxes at 3:26pm Eastern Time, mere hours after Gonzales' announcement earlier in the morning. The message comes with a red "resigned" stamp superimposed over the picture of a smiling Gonzales, and a big green "Support Our Campaign" button just below.

Latching onto press speculation that President Bush will name Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as Gonzales' replacement, Trippi warns that Edwards needs his supporters' help to fight such an unacceptable nomination.

"Gonzales is out--but another crony may be on their way in. Help John lead the fight against crony out, crony in at the Justice Department--make a contribution today.," Trippi wrote.

The other Democrats in the race issued statements on their Web sites about the Gonzales resignation. But the Edwards camp is the first out of the gate to convert Monday's big news into a full-fledged plea for cash.

--Posted by Huffington Post Staff Writer Max Follmer

Comments

[asher]

Get used to this fellow Edwards supporters. As JRE's fresh populist message is really heard and the subsequent rise in his popularity all the way to the primary as a result(as we all knew it would)... these desperate attacks will increase in frequency. The Edwards haters/detractors will stoop to new lows. So sad, no attack ever based on facts, just tired RW meme's. I plan to revel in it, as it's very existance confirms what we already know, Edwards is the GOP's worst nightmare!
Edwards 08"
'The Peoples President'

[joja]

I personally see it as an act of desperation, to be in the news, making news, getting talked about -- it says more to me about who Edwards really is, rather than what his supporters, and detractors, paint him to be.

[obstreperous1]

I see no shame in that, as John has sworn off lobbyist money. Does a candidate ever stop asking for money, anyway? I see this as a cheap shot for little reason other than the writer probably supports another candidate.

[RogerHWerner]

I'd find that smiling photo of Fredo a lot more satifying if the red letters across the image read "Wanted" rather than resigned.

[MissFortunate]

Where have you been? I signed a petition a couple of months ago for his resignation through the Edwards site. Did you know that?

He's been pushing for this on his site for months now. You need to add this to your article, it's downright misleading.

http://johnedwards.com/action/sign-petitions/gonzales

Here's the link. Nice.

[daniel155]

Oh like Bush said to Alberto Gonzales, "Al, you've got to resign because there is an online petition at the John Edwards website calling for you to resign." If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

[MissFortunate]

No. But they are making it sound like he hasn't been supporting Gonzales's resignation until it was something he could cash in on.

And please, just stop responding to my comments, I already know what you are going to write.

[kroses98]

That was an EXTREMELY HOSTILE headline!

[R-N-R]

Edwards has consistently called on his supporters to stand up, speak out, and affect change from the grassroots level. The Gonzales resignation may be a poor choice as a motivator for donations, but unfortunately campaigns are focused on money. At least Edwards isn't taking money from corporate lobbyists, like *(ahem)* some candidates do shamelessly. He is dependent on donations from real voters, whatever they can afford to give.
And I'm glad he spoke out that the Lincoln bedroom is not for rent in an Edwards administration.

Dems, are you ready for another 4-8 years of Clinton scandals, both real and imagined by Republicans? I guess not, since Hillary has the highest negatives and will lose the general election in 2008. But thanks for supporting someone based on her gender and last name! We Democrats really need family legacies in higher office, just like the Republicans!

[daniel155]

Edwards, until recently, has raised a lot of money so it can't be all from common laborers and little old ladies. If you went through Edwards' contributions you would find that he has his share of special interest contributors.

Unfortunately that is the way it is for all the candidates because campaigns are longer and more expensive.

For Edwards and his few remaining supporters to imply that all his money is clean and all his rivals' money is dirty is the height of arrogance.

[gezapath]

Those contributions HAVE been gone through an they ARE more accurately represented by "...common laborers and little old ladies" than any of the other 2 front-runners.

[ChristianEcon.com]

Wow, I'm surprised at all the anti-Edwards comments here. Apart from Kucinich, Edwards really does seem to be the only candidate consistently hammering away at the issue of widening wealth disparity and working people and families working more and more yet gaining no ground, year in, year out, which imo is the giant elephant in America's room. Seem's like there's so much apathy on the subject and so much lack of awareness in how dangerous it is; it's the cancer at the root of the worst problems we face in the world. Edwards is spelling out specific plans for directly dealing with it, while Hillary and Barack seem to only gloss over the subject.

[Give Peace A Chance]

Last October Edwards wrote a very good blog on "Think Progress" on predatory lending practice and how it hurts American families.

But just recently Edwards was questioned about his investment of $ 16 million in Fortress Hedge Fund that practices predatory lending.

Edwards replied he will be selling his investments. And he thinks the "government" should bail out the home owners. This pretty much means, he as an investor is guaranteed a good return on his investments, and we "the tax payers" bail out the lender and home owners.

Normally a lender that makes a bad and risky loan risks default and if done enough, bankruptcy. But Edwards doesn't see it that way. He wants tax payers to protect these bad and risky loans.

It is very difficult to understand why Edwards invested a large amount of his assets into something he knows is wrong and bad for American family's of medium and lower incomes. And now he wants us to bail him out.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/14/bankruptcy-bill-anniversary/

[MissFortunate]

I guess you missed the point didn't you? He did not know they had bought this company. He knows now and has taken his money out.

34 homes out of 1.7 million is not even a drop in the bucket. That's right, 1.7 million people are expected to lose their homes this year.

[gezapath]

Providing SOME relief for homeowners does not help his investment loss once he sells his share. Any government relief would apply to homeowners AFTER the hedge funds holding worthless paper fail. The fund fails, the stock value falls or becomes worthless.

Furthermore, he has specifically called out that industry to pay their fair share of income taxes. Edwards wants to see fund manager profits taxed as normal income, which it is, rather than capital gains, a difference of appx. 20 percentage points - huge money if you are a hedge fund manager for, oh let's say Fortress, and are making 10's of millions.

Sounds a lot better than the pandering we see from the corporatist elitists, H & O.

[zuzuzpetals]

Just received a fundraising solicitation based on the Gonzales resignatio­n......fro­m Tom McMahon, asking for cash for the Democratic Party.

That scuzzy Edwards--having better first responder ideas than the establishment!

[Average]

Just shows that Edwards is an opportunist without character.

[OhPlease2007]

AP NEWS: Edwards Offers Cancer Plan

By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer, Sun Aug 26, 6:21 PM ET

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - "Democrat John Edwards said Sunday he is offering a strategy for dealing with cancer that would bolster research funding, create support networks for people dealing with the disease and encourage lifestyle changes to help keep others from getting it.

Under the package being outlined by Edwards, he would:

_Push for a substantial increase in funding for cancer research conducted by the National Institutes for Health. He put no specific figure on the increase, but said only two of 10 research projects now get funded by the federal agency.

_Expand testing and reporting of chemicals that may increase cancer risks, as well as monitoring where they may exist.

_Launch a national research program to identify environmental risks, as well as promoting lifestyle changes that could reduce risk. Those include smoking cessation, improving diets at schools and bolstering exercise to combat obesity.

_Increase support for respite care, including home visits from nurses and other health professionals to give caregivers a break. He also calls for an Internet clearinghouse for information about services that are available for families dealing with the disease.

"Enormous burdens are placed on ordinary Americans who provide full-time care for loved ones with debilitating conditions," said Edwards."

I'm confidently convinced that Senator John Edwards REALLY cares about REAL health care reform in our nation for the underprivi­leged/work­ing families and has my vote!

Source: AP News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070826/ap_on_go_pr_wh/edwards_cancer_research

John Edwards - The PEOPLES President in 2008!

[daniel155]

That is like saying Edwards supports mom and apple pie. Why not do something daring and announce a plan on how he is going to solve the Social Security funding problem.

[Chandidevi]

Here ya' go! It's a story well worth reading about John Edwards. http://www.alternet.org/story/60748/

[OhPlease2007]

Chandidevi, thank you for the link.

It is a GREAT read!

:)

Edwards/Obama '08!

[Chandidevi]

Edwards is the only viable candidate to run for the Democrats. Is anyone on this blog aware of Edwards' standing up to corporate America this past weekend? It appears that Huffington Post is more mainstream and corporate-aligned than it once was. Too bad. Alternet is the most independent of the blogs. It's great.

[Boadicea]

There we go with the Edwards "the only one" crap.

There are lots of good candidates, but Edwards is not one of them. Only people who conveniently forget everything Edwards has done, and instead pay attention to what he says now for this one campaign, support him.

[MissFortunate]

Try reading his speech to The Forbes forum and see how it echoes everything he's talking about today, oh, it's from 2002. It's not new.

[gezapath]

Again, you flap your gums with no citations or references. If you COULD site, perhaps we may consider you as a knowlegable Repug. For now, it's just an ignorant one.

[zuzuzpetals]

The Gonzales resignation IS a victory for "the people". The people made it happen by constant pressure on our representatives and by support of the blogs (TPM et al) that did the investigations that uncovered the DOJ corruption.

What exactly is your problem with the candidate who will not accept lobbyist money asking us, "the people", for money at this time?

What a snide HP headline grasping for any issue to smear Edwards.

[daniel155]

Well, it sounds like the Edwards campaign is grasping at any issue to raise money.

[Boadicea]

Saying that someone is cashing in is not a slime. He's cashing in, for crying out loud! The minute the idiot AG resigns, Edwards sends out a fundraising letter associating himself with this delightful event and with those who made it happen, and then he asks for money, as if that should be his reward for something he had nothing to do with.

He's cashing in. No other way to describe it.

[daniel155]

I wish the author or Joe Trippi would explain how Edwards is responsible for Gonzales resigning.