The Duplicitous Elizabeth Edwards

Yesterday, I lamented that few people seemed to be treating Liz Edwards like a grown-up.

Slate columnist John Dickerson is not one of the hombres I'm complaning about.

He took issue with a recent Edwards campaign ad with Elizabeth making a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to her cancer...after, of course, the campaign went out of its way to say that people should not give him a sympathy vote.

Mrs. Edwards is now feigning dumb and pretending that anyone who inferred that their ad claim (That John can "can stare the worst in the face and not blink") referred to her cancer is either mistaken or cynical.

Shame on them.

Will Someone Please Start Treating Elizabeth Edwards Like a Big Girl?

I'm no expert on warefare, but I know that it's pretty much considered to be a human rights violation for an army to fire out of a preschool, church or crowded shopping mall, for instance.

The argument being, of course, that you are engaging in just as nasty a game as the other guy, but you are banking on the other guy being decent enough to not fire back into the school.

If The Fonz were here, he'd tell us that that's not cool.

The Edwards campaign, however, is just the latest group to do the metaphorical equivalent in their campaign. They send poor, inoperable-cancer-ridden Elizabeth out to campaign events, to take on that wench, Ann Coulter and now to claim that her husband cares more about women than does Hillary Clinton. And her ramblings, with limited exception, are immune to any scrutiny because of Elizabeth's protected-class status.

Frankly, I don't care if John Boy or Hillary are better for women in this country. My point is that it's high time the other candidates take off the gloves and stop treating this woman like the Virgin Mary.

My heart goes out to the Edwards clan and what they must be going through on a personal level, but as for her public life, she's a willing participant in the bloodsport just like everyone else and I've grown weary of the soft tones and sensitive manner in which the press speak about her. Again, without having walked a mile in her shoes, THAT seems to be demeaning to people suffering illnesses.

Ann Coulter....Morganna "The Kissing Bandit" In Disguise?

Ms. Ann Coulter is back in the news for a recent spat over some more jabs she's taken at the Edwards campaign and Mrs. Edwards' counterattack.

(Yawn)

It occurred to me this morning that Ms. Coulter really is, in some ways, the political equivlalent of Morganna the Kissing Bandit.

For those who may have forgotten, Morganna is a very-blessed woman who use to run out onto the baseball field during MLB games in the 1970s and 80s to plant a kiss on various superstars of the time like George Brett (above.)

Morganna offered nothing real to the game, but she was a mildly sexy blonde who diverted our attention from what was really going on. People who liked to fancy themselves serious complained about how she ruined the integrity of what was going on....but they forgot that what was going on was still, in one way or another, just a bunch of chronological adults playing a kids' game.

Selah.