Gov. Palin Is Chosen, And The Edwards Zone Cometh

August 29, 2008 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under American Politics, Democratic Party, Election 2008, Republican Party 

Regular readers of TNN will recall that a few weeks ago I suggested that Sen. John McCain select Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running-mate, and do so right away, so as to stampede Sen. Barack Obama into selecting not only a Catholic woman as his running-mate, but a Catholic woman who, in spite of being pro-choice (as both members of the Democratic presidential ticket have had to be since Roe vs. Wade) would have no real problem receiving Communion, which would effectively limit his choice to Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

Now that McCain has indeed gone ahead and chosen Palin, I still think his best time to do so would not have been this morning, but last Friday. Had he announced her name at that point, the Obama campaign would have been thrown into chaos. With mere hours looming until the Democratic convention began, Obama would have scratched Biden and, I’m still willing to bet, would have asked Ms. Schlossberg to assume the mantle of Camelot. And if she had accepted? Well, the vice-presidential debate would be a wrap for the Republicans; as Ms. Schlossberg showed when she appeared on Meet The Press last Sunday, she has a tendency to speak in sentence fragments and a disinclination to make any kind of definite statement. And her almost absolute lack of political experience, beyond organizing fundraisers and shaking hands alongside her cousins, would have finished her as a serious candidate, no matter how starry-eyed the coverage from older journalists.

But even so, I think Gov. Palin will perform pretty strongly in the single planned debate against Sen. Joe Biden. For one thing, she’s well-known for being an aboveboard and honest politician, with no ties to lobbyists. Biden, by contrast, is not only close to a number of lobbyists, but has actually fathered one - his younger son Hunter, whose recent misadventures have been chronicled in articles like this one. Is Obama ready to explain whether his crusade against “fat cats” extends to the one who might be cutting deals by the back door of the Naval Observatory by this time next year?

But the felines Obama may be more concerned about now are PUMAs. Will Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters be ready to approve the message McCain is sending with the Palin selection? The next few weeks will provide some answers.

And last night, mere minutes after Obama finished his mighty oration and the last “Yes We Can” escaped the lips of those assembled at Invesco Stadium, the Associated Press sent out an article guaranteed to send chills, not of the pleasurable kind, down the spine of any Obama supporter.

He’s baaaack!

When last heard from, former Senator (and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee) John Edwards had reportedly been thrown out of his house by his wife Elizabeth, and was hidden away in his vacation home on Figure 8 Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, phoning his old supporters and, unsuccessfully, begging their forgiveness for his affair with Rielle Hunter. Meanwhile, the former finance chairman of his presidential campaign, Fred Baron, was making the rounds at the convention in Denver, and dodging attempts by ABC’s investigative team to interview him.

(And incredibly, it turns out that, had Hillary not stood up when the convention’s presidential roll-call reached the New York delegation and moved for a unanimous vote, a South Carolinian delegate would have cast his ballot for Edwards, according to the American Spectator’s website.)

But though the Democrats dodged that bullet, yet another projectile is emerging from that strange and dreaded and unpredictable area called…..the Edwards Zone.

This episode begins last spring, when the student union of the University of Illinois booked Edwards, at that time a seemingly respectable ex-candidate, to make a speech on October 14 in a 1400-seat auditorium about “The American Dream.” He was to be paid a $65,000 honorarium.

After the Rielle Hunter scandal reached fever pitch earlier this month the student union, taking note of reports that Edwards was cancelling various scheduled public appearances, contacted his agent and offered, should Edwards wish to do so, to return his fee and scratch the speech from the calendar.

Why do that? replied the agent. He then informed the student union’s rep that Edwards was now not only eager to fulfill his appearance, but was seeking further bookings on campuses and elsewhere and raising his fee. Upon hearing that, the student union kept the booking. (Indeed, Edwards has an appearance booked at Hofstra University on September 8, and so far there has been no indication it will be cancelled.)

How should this news be interpreted? My (perhaps too charitable) guess is that Elizabeth Edwards is finally ready to file for divorce and strip her husband of a substantial portion of his multimillion-dollar fortune, and so he’s seeking to raise as much money as possible, while he still has some shred of notoriety, to finance a halfway comfortable retirement in some faraway locale, say, the Marshall Islands or Tuvalu.

The only other explanation that suggests itself is that the “narcissism” that Edwards confessed to in his ABC interview with Bob Woodruff a few weeks ago has reached such pathological dimensions that he is ready to direct further public attention to himself and his foibles, even if it means endangering Obama’s bid for the White House and the prospects for the Democratic party to retain control of Congress.

Stay tuned this weekend, for there will be some more dispatches from….the Edwards Zone.…just as soon as Rod Serling fetches a fresh pack of cigs.

Update: The Associated Press has just reported that John Edwards has confirmed his appearance at Hofstra University on September 8, just a month after his “confession” on ABC’s Nightline. Elizabeth Edwards, originally scheduled to speak with him, will not appear. The couple had been previously booked for an appearance on September 23 at Salem State University in Massachusetts, and a spokesperson for Elizabeth Edwards has, as of now, confirmed that both will be there.

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