Whether Edwards isn’t out there because Kerry is jealous of him or whether he’s not out there because he’s bombing out when he’s out there, he’s not out there. Bottom line: he’s not out there, and the Democrats are wondering why isn’t he out there because so many Democrats think that he’s so good. “Donna Brazile recalled that despite his nice-guy image Edwards has shown an ability to go for the jugular as in his upset win of Senator Lauch Faircloth in ’98. ‘He made such an impressive case to drive votes away from an incumbent and to him. He’s been doing the traditional things — going to secondary markets, showing up at some of the events the candidate can’t make,” Brazile said. “He should be used as a surrogate. He should be used as someone who can deliver the message … by telling the American people what’s gone wrong over the last 3 1/2 years.'”
Do you want to know why Edwards isn’t out there? Can I just be honest with you? The reason Edwards isn’t out there is because the people that run the Kerry campaign are smart enough to know that if they’re going to focus on Bush and the National Guard, they can’t put Edwards out there, who didn’t serve anywhere. If they’re going to run a campaign on the military service of their candidate as the #1 credential to make him president, and then they’re going to spend time going back to the National Guard and trying to say Bush is not qualified even after four years because of some supposed controversy concocted and some forged documents in the National Guard, they can’t put Edwards out there because Edwards becomes a natural target.
Well, if Bush isn’t qualified, he’s got 5-1/2 more years than Edwards has. Bush has 5-1/2 more years of service than Bill Clinton ever had. Bush has 5-1/2 years of service and Kerry has four months. Bush has 5-1/2 years of service, the equivalent of six years in the service, flew jets. What did Edwards do? That’s why they can’t put him out there, because of the stark contrast. They’ve hemmed themselves in, and here’s the</a> New York Times. Look at the headline: “Democrats Seek Louder Voice from 
Edwards.” Everybody is all upset. When this shows up in the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times, this is not the result of coincidence base on enterprising reporters suddenly stumbling upon the same story. What’s happening here is that disgruntled Democrats around the country are going to reporters and saying, “How come Edwards isn’t out there? What’s going on with the campaign?” They’re hiring all these Clinton people. They’re hiring all these other people, sending Ted Kennedy out there. Where’s Edwards? Reporters say, “Yeah, where’s Edwards? Okay, thanks for the tip.” So both coasts are covered. Where’s Edwards? Don’t care. He’s not out there, folks.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
In this New York Times story, a companion story to the San Francisco Chronicle story in which they lament here the absentee of John Edwards in the campaign, our old buddy Tony Coelho is back with some quotes. “Coelho, Democratic strategerist who early on ran the Gore campaign in 2000, said…” Just yesterday, Coelho was praising Rove and saying, “Where is our Rove?” Today he’s praising Cheney. Says, “The Bush camp is using Cheney in a much more aggressive way than Kerry camp is using Edwards. What they do with Cheney is to go out there and be the hammer when necessary, but also the validator. It doesn’t seem that Edwards is in it all the time. They use him a little bit as a hammer but not a lot. I don’t understand it. They need it.” Has anybody watched him give a speech? Is there a reason he was going to lose his own state if he ran for the Senate? We are the victims here of another myth and that is the omnipotence and power of Edwards.
Edwards never got close to winning the nomination, by the way. That was all staged to make the campaign look exciting so it was made to look like Kerry actually had an opponent and actually won something. This whole Democratic nomination process has been a fraud perpetrated on the American people from the get-go, from Howard Dean’s implosion, to Kerry supposedly rising out of the ashes because everybody loves him, to barely squeaking by the young blood of John Edwards. It’s all been a fraud. There hasn’t been an ounce of genuine excitement about a Democratic candidate since Howard Dean got out of this race. Now, if you want to know it’s not just that Edwards has a problem bearing up under all this military pressure, ladies and gentlemen, the Democrats have made this campaign focus on, but let me tell you, if you want to know reality, let me just tell you what’s really going on.
How many of you have done as I said and kept in mind the one undeniable truth of the Democratic campaign? That truth is the Clintons cannot afford for Kerry to win this race if Hillary is to have her chance in 2008. Have you seen the Clintons on the campaign trial? No. One’s in the hospital, no convalescing at home. The other one, who knows where she is, but she’s not out there helping. Now, during the primaries, and after that was over, when Edwards supposedly mounted a serious charge and then when Kerry chose Edwards to be his running mate and there was this massive great reply and the response among Democrats: “Oh, new blood! So good-looking. Guy is exciting, turning people on. Look at that family! Look at those kids. He’s a great guy.” Hillary is sitting watching that saying, “Oh, yeah?” She’s not going to sit there and let Kerry manufacture an opponent for her down the road in the name of Edwards.
So in the last ? what, three weeks? ? who’s taken over the Kerry campaign under the guise of saving it? The Clinton people. We’ve got Lockhart in there. We’ve got McCurry in there. We’ve got everybody. We’ve got Carville and Begala. After they finish Crossfire they go over to campaign, they giving advice then they go on Crossfire and complain that Kerry is not listening to them. Ha-ha-ha. We really buy that, Forehead. Carville and Begala both out there lamenting that Kerry will not listen to them on gun control. Ha-ha-ha. Yeah, we really buy this. But the bottom line is if you’re Hillary Clinton you need now to get rid of two birds. You need to get rid of Kerry. You also need to destroy the illustration that John Edwards has a future, and I dare say that given these stories today that both are happening. Kerry is a joke. Democrats are scratching their heads. Some are worried. 
Some are laughing and now they’re lamenting, “Well, where is Edwards, and who’s running the campaign and who’s sending Edwards out it these rural state fairs that nobody shows up at?” You know, he may as well be out there pulling taffy at the state fair, milking cows or what have you. Folks, there are some realities in politics on the Democratic side that you just can’t deny. I mean, you can get caught up in the horse race of all this but after the end of the day there are still these two people that run this party named Clinton, and their guy running the DNC, and two loyalists of theirs are now over there supposedly helping the Kerry campaign. I love this. In fact, the New York Times writes</a>: “Familiar Democratic Faces But New Duties in the Kerry Camp.” This is how Shrum is out. Lockhart has reined Shrum in.
It says here: “Campaign officials also said that Mr. Lockhart appeared to have rein in consultants who formerly wielded tremendous influence and who had urged the campaign to stay positive, among them, Bob Shrum.”
See, Lockhart — where is it? Oh. Get this. Uh, find the paragraph. “The staff overhaul has led to a division of responsibilities, officials said, with Mary Beth Cahill, the campaign manager who took over in the last major shakeup,” she’s the Kennedy babe, “remaining in charge of spending, scheduling, get-out-the-vote efforts, and other vital functions. Mr. Lockhart, meanwhile, more directly oversees what is said by the candidate, his aides and allies. ‘Mary Beth is making the trains run on time…'” Lockhart is in charge of the message. Lockhart is in charge of what the campaign says, what the candidate says! My friends, it’s all in the New York Times. It’s all there.
END TRANSCRIPT
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