John Edwards said last February he would not take public financing for his campaign. Now, lagging Obama and Hillary in fundraising (he’s raised $23 million to their $50 plus million each) he’s reversed himself. He needs the money. So he’s taking it.

Nothing really wrong with that except how Edwards gilded the lily, bragging on CNN, “I think it’s really important to take a stand. If you believe in public financing, you ought to be willing to stand for public financing.”

Of course, all his high-flown rhetoric is a smoke-screen. If he’d raised another $20 million Edwards would have never discovered this grandiose new principle. And that’s the problem with John Edwards. It would have been simple – and honest – to say, ‘I’ve raised $23 million. It’s a lot of money. But it’s not $50 million. So for my campaign to compete I have to take public financing. So I am.’

Instead he offered a vaporous self-serving explanation, then added duplicity to deceit by attacking Hillary, saying she’s a hypocrite for not taking public money too. Just like him.

Of course, that means Edwards was a hypocrite too, at least from February until September when he discovered principle and was reborn.