(John) Edwards to face off against Rove in public debate

[sabra]

Source: WRAL

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two-time presidential candidate John Edwards is continuing his return to the public stage by debating Republican strategist Karl Rove.

The Commercial Finance Association said the two will hold a point-counterpoint discussion Thursday in San Francisco. They will discuss the election and the economy.

It will be Edwards' second public event since he acknowledged in August that he had an affair back in 2006. His appearance in Indiana on Tuesday did not address the matter.

Thursday's meeting puts an odd and perhaps contentious pair on the same stage. During his presidential campaign, Edwards repeatedly called for President Bush to fire Rove.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/3950823/

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. hat's one I'm going to miss.

I don't care for either one of them.

[earth mom]

25. WTF?! Why in the hell would you smear Edwards by putting him in the same boat with Rove?!

:wtf:

Edwards only hurt himself and his family on an emotional level while Rove & the rest of * cabal killed over a million people. :puke:

That's a HUGE difference.

[Pastiche423]

38. Same here!

[Omaha Steve]

2. Edwards will never be President

But public service is another thing. Taking on Rove. Wow! K&R.

[SharonAnn]

34. And Rove will never be president, either.

[jobycom]

3. Because he helped us SO much debating Cheney in 04.

I agree with my opponent, I agree with my opponent, I agree....

[ryanmuegge]

6. That sounds like the whole '04 campaign.

I really liked the John Edwards of '06-'08, but he was completely different before that. I still remember when he ran in the '04 primaries as a pro-war, pro-big business social conservative. The question is which one is the real John Edwards. I really don't know.

[jobycom]

15. I wonder if he knows.

That's why I didn't trust him in 08. He tried to go from Zell Miller to Dennis Kucinich, and I doubt he's either one.

[ryanmuegge]

24. That was an excellent way of putting that, BTW.

[INDIA]

4. Unless its to REALLY come clean about this whole mess, he shouldn't show his face.

He is still lying through his teeth. And he thinks the public is dumb enough to buy his smooth talk again. What a jerk. You made your money John. Now go away.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I was so disappointed in him. I just don't care to see him or listen

to him any more.

[earth mom]

26. Spare me. Edwards hurt no one but himself and his family. That is NOT a crime. nt

[October]

29. The Golden Rule is your tag - and that's your response?

Interesting.

You know, people are allowed to be disappointed in a politician who lets them down in some way.

He disappointed me, too.

[earth mom]

31. There's a big difference between saying you're disappointed with Edwards & putting him

in the same category as Rove & * Co.

And what the hell does my user name have to do with anything? :eyes:

[October]

46. The person posting did not say that

The post said they were disappointed, as did I.

You're "spare me" line was dismissive...the post was merely stating how he/she felt.

The golden rule is "Treat others only in ways that you're willing to be treated in the same exact situation."

Then you toss me an "eye roll"?

[earth mom]

47. Why the hell are you harassing me here and then talk about the Golden Rule?!

:wtf:

Look in the mirror dude.

[INDIA]

32. He paid his mistress $117,000 in campaign funds to make crappy internet videos

that barely saw the light of day. She had zero experience making videos. THIS WAS PAID FOR IN CAMPAIGN FUNDS. When will you Edwards' apologists get that through your skulls? He took campaign money from little people like you and used it for his own personal/selfish reasons.

Not to mention allowing one of his senior campaign aids to claim paternity of his child. Disgusting. Oh, and the fact that he probably was cheating without using protection. And then going back to his wife. What an asshole.

I'm sure many if not most politicians have been unfaithful at one point in their lives. But there is a huge difference here. If you can't see that, it's because you've stuck your head in the sand.

[eagertolearn]

12. If that is his kid he needs to come out and acknowledge that.

He can never run for office again but he can be an important figure in our country and try and do good. He royally screwed up and he needs to really come out and say it all and then we all need to move on. People have made major mistakes in their lives and have been able to turn it around and do something good (i.e. Ted Kennedy, JFK, Bill Ayers). It's when they keep making them over and over (the Bush administration and especially Carl Rove). That's when we should throw them to the lions.

[felinetta]

22. He doesn't need to come clean about his personal life.

[eagertolearn]

40. When it comes out in public it is no longer his personal life.

I wish it never came out in public. There's a lot of speculation and it seems like people do the best if they come clean and deal with it. Many of us admired him for what he had to say and for his wonderful intelligent wife who went through en vitro fertilization (if I remember right) to have two more kids (I know so many people who have had breast cancer and they too went thru that procedure to have kids). I only wish for the best in this bad situation but i believe it helps to come clean (unless his wife really doesn't want to know then I would understand).

[onehandle]

5. Kick his ass, John. nt

[spooky3]

23. ditto

[diva77]

8. why give a forum to a criminal? I'm sure Rove is getting paid tens of thousands

as usual for that appearance. I would applaud Edwards if he were prosecuting rather than debating in this case. I hope the lady with the handcuffs shows up again.

[cali]

9. and Edwards is too.

[NoodleyAppendage]

10. Don't they mean to say, "Two-timing presidential candidate John Edwards..." ??

The idiot apologists around here can chime in, which undoubtedly they will, but it is a FACT that Edwards is a SCUMBAG. He cheated on his wife who is terminally ill. That is the very definition of SCUMBAG. We called Newt on this sort of behavior and should be consistent in our condemnation.

J

[verges]

16. Did Edwards ever run of a Pro-Family Values platform?

That's the difference. I don't believe he ever has (correct me if I'm wrong on that point). So, when a Pro-FV Republican cheats, he's decieving the core principles on which he has run, and therefore cheated on his constituents as well. Edwards cheated on his wife. He came clean. She forgave him. End of story. He is a human being who erred. His mistake had nothing to do with the voter's.

It was stupid to do this during the run for the POTUS. But then again, he didn't get the nomination, did he. I do realize that had he got the nom, we would have lost BIG time because of this. But he didn't; and we didn't.

Should we also scorn all three of the Kennedy brothers? Bill Clinton?

[karynnj]

30. In a way he did -

Do you remember Elizabeth Edwards speaking in 2006 of how her "choices" made her happier than HRC. She was speaking about staying home with the 2 little ones - though she actually spent much of that time helping Edwards on the 2 Presidential runs and a Senate run - and it ignored, that like HRC, she worked when she had the older two kids.

A large part of edwards' image was that he was a devoted family man.

[NoodleyAppendage]

42. He didn't run on a "I'm fucking around on my terminally ill wife" platform either...your point??

Edwards is radioactive politically...if not dead politically.

J

[verges]

48. My point is

he is human. No more, no less. The issue is between his wife and himself. It's a bad idea to expect more than humanity out of political leaders. Unless they claim to be superior, which I don't believe Edwards did.

Is he dead politically? Perhaps. But other pols have bounced back from worse.

[earth mom]

28. Who are you to point fingers and judge? I bet you aren't so perfect either.

:eyes:

[NoodleyAppendage]

41. I'm a person who is NOT A SOCIOPATH. Quit trying to excuse the unexcusable. Jeesh.

I guess I'm dealing with someone who sees everything in relativist terms and doesn't believe in even the simplist of moral absolutes...right?

J

[RayOfHope]

11. Huh. What's next for Edwards, celebrity boxing? This is weird n/t

[VWolf]

13. LOL I read the first sentence of the article as

"Two-timing presidential candidate ..."

Somewhat apropos.

[RedCloud]

14. Why help Rove at all?

That jerk (Rove) is looking to vent...

[Ian David]

17. Every time I hear the name "John Edwards" I still picture...

... and then have to correct myself.

Can you imagine Karl Rove debating John Edward?

"Oooh... I sense someone with a pain in their head, chest or stomach area..."

[goforit]

19. Yes. Pretty boy vs. Pitbull and more MSM time for the demented.

[Truth Teller]

18. I just don't trust Edwards much

He put the party at a huge risk, running while keeping his secret. If he's sincere, I guess I'd prefer he do lower profile work. He is done as a politician, and his emergence hurts the party.

[earth mom]

27. Bullshit. Edwards is human and he made a mistake. That doesn't deserve the smear he's getting

on this thread. :puke:

[cali]

44. little johnny hedgefund deserves my contempt. self-serving war pushing

environmentally degrading asshat never did jackshit for the poor or disenfranchised, and never made a single sacrifice for anyone but himself.

Delusional folks want to support him, that's fine, but don't expect others to.

some of us had his number years ago.

[no limit]

20. Edwards needs to disappear

I can not hold a personal family matter against anyone, but this asshole was willing to risk the 2008 election for his own ego. He should have never ran for president in the first place, the fact that he did shows all of us he doesn't give a shit about this country, he only cares about himself.

[felinetta]

21. Rove is pure evil, Edwards is just another fallible human being.

I wish I could go and heckle Rove throughout the event.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v4.1
==================



This week is our fourth quarter 2008 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
a completely independent website. We depend on donations from our members
to cover our costs. Please take a moment to donate! Thank you!

[olddad56]

35. For Democarts, nothing to gain, a lot to lose.

[karynnj]

37. I agree with you

Rove has zero credibility - his type of campaigning by smears and lies has been rejected by the country. Why create any forum where he gets attention. I sure hope Edwards doesn't speak of 2004.

[devilgrrl]

36. Ooh! John Edwards! He cheated on his wife...I don't trust him - Karl Rove is way more honest!!!!!

Oh grow the f%#@ up! :nuke:

[PittPoliSci]

39. thank you!

i've been seeing waaaaayyyy to much of that shit around here lately.

[cali]

43. yeah, like that's why most of us who thought he was a sleazy self-serving

attention whore and gold plated phony, have no use for him.

[Judi Lynn]

45. John Edwards surfaces in S.F. -- alongside Karl Rove!

John Edwards surfaces in S.F. -- alongside Karl Rove!

OMG!
Forget Sarah Palin's comeback in Miami, how 'bout that news that John Edwards, two-time former Democratic presidential candidate, surfaced Thursday in San Francisco ... on stage alongside ''the architect'' himself, Karl Rove.

Bad economy and all, apparently the Commercial Financial Association had the big bucks to bring in GOP strategist Rove and Edwards to debate at its annual convention at the Marriott Hotel.

We don't have the price tag on this event, but Rove's reported speaking fee is $40,000, and -- we reported last year -- Edwards reaped $55,000 for a speech on poverty at UC Davis back before he declared himself a candidate.

Rove ''didn't care if, as a vice presidential candidate, (Sarah) Palin knew where South Ossetia or Abkhazia are, or if she could recite the minutiae of health care policy, the Associated Press said.

''But if she wants to run for president, she's gonna have to get somebody to move to Anchorage, Alaska, and help her take her game to another level,'' he said, according to the AP.

The former North Carolina senator's S.F. gig marks his second public event since his hasty retreat from the political scene earlier this year. He got applause from the crowd and also discussed Palin's issues, but never mentioned his own ugly problems ... the revelation that he was carrying on an affair while his wife, Elizabeth, was stricken with breast cancer.

Present and part of the spectacle were the folks at CodePink, who not only got into the toney reception the night before but managed to provide a CodePink welcoming reception for Rove, arrests and all.

More:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=32642