Please Make a Deal
2011-05-26 - by
Please spare us. Put us out of our misery. Don’t make us go through a months-long courtroom regurgitation of all the tawdry details of John Edwards’ campaigns, marriage and affair.
Especially those of us who had anything to do with Edwards getting to where he could do so much damage and bring so much embarrassment to North Carolina and the Democratic Party.
I never thought I’d have to apologize for winning a race. But I apologize, because I helped get him elected to the Senate in 1998. The first two consultants he hired were pollster Harrison Hickman and me.
I had three goals: beat Lauch Faircloth, elect a Democrat and give North Carolina a great Senator.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
What’s my excuse? I either missed something in Edwards, or he lost something when he went to Washington. He wouldn’t be the first politician to go to Washington and have Washington go to his head.
But some people told me in 1998 that he was a self-serving phony. I didn’t listen.
I did get lucky. During the campaign, I ran afoul of Elizabeth Edwards. The night before the newly elected Senator was sworn in, during a very nice cocktail party in Georgetown, she confronted me: “You never listened to me in the campaign.”
Not true. I listened. I just didn’t do what she wanted all the time.
So, after he was sworn in, I quickly got frozen out of the Edwards’ world. I resented that for a long time. Now I realize how fortunate I was. Other people weren’t so lucky. Their lives and reputations were damaged or, for some, ruined by working for him.
The experience also was instructive when I was writing my Jim Hunt book. It taught me the fundamental difference between good politicians and bad politicians: The good ones want to do something, and the bad ones just want to be something.
Above anything else, John Edwards wanted to be applauded and adored. Instead, he is reviled and despised. Now he may be indicted and tried.
So it’s a good lesson for anyone in politics. But do we need a trial to remind us?
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
Please Make a Deal
2011-05-26/
Please spare us. Put us out of our misery. Don’t make us go through a months-long courtroom regurgitation of all the tawdry details of John Edwards’ campaigns, marriage and affair.
Especially those of us who had anything to do with Edwards getting to where he could do so much damage and bring so much embarrassment to North Carolina and the Democratic Party.
I never thought I’d have to apologize for winning a race. But I apologize, because I helped get him elected to the Senate in 1998. The first two consultants he hired were pollster Harrison Hickman and me.
I had three goals: beat Lauch Faircloth, elect a Democrat and give North Carolina a great Senator.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
What’s my excuse? I either missed something in Edwards, or he lost something when he went to Washington. He wouldn’t be the first politician to go to Washington and have Washington go to his head.
But some people told me in 1998 that he was a self-serving phony. I didn’t listen.
I did get lucky. During the campaign, I ran afoul of Elizabeth Edwards. The night before the newly elected Senator was sworn in, during a very nice cocktail party in Georgetown, she confronted me: “You never listened to me in the campaign.”
Not true. I listened. I just didn’t do what she wanted all the time.
So, after he was sworn in, I quickly got frozen out of the Edwards’ world. I resented that for a long time. Now I realize how fortunate I was. Other people weren’t so lucky. Their lives and reputations were damaged or, for some, ruined by working for him.
The experience also was instructive when I was writing my Jim Hunt book. It taught me the fundamental difference between good politicians and bad politicians: The good ones want to do something, and the bad ones just want to be something.
Above anything else, John Edwards wanted to be applauded and adored. Instead, he is reviled and despised. Now he may be indicted and tried.
So it’s a good lesson for anyone in politics. But do we need a trial to remind us?
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats