John Edwards is going to acknowledge the obvious.

Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters’ sympathies but never diverted his campaign, The Associated Press has learned.

The two-time White House candidate notified a close circle of senior advisers that he planned to make the announcement at a 1 p.m. EST event in New Orleans that had been billed as a speech on poverty, according to two of his advisers.

I’m sure that much will be written about this today, but among those who have something up already Bulldog Pundit has said it best.

A shame, I really wanted to hear more about him being the “son of a millworker”, how fighting poverty is his “life’s work” (which he’ll now have time to do from his palacial estate). Maybe now he can go and try to find that poor little girl a winter coat (she hasn’t had one since 2004 apparently). Good riddance from the race.

And although he comes off as a snake-oil salesman as a politician he seems to be a decent guy personally and a family man who has been through things in his personal life that required great strength and faith to get through. I also hope his wife wins her brave battle against cancer.

I agree.

The polls have just closed in SC and the TeeVee says that Barack Obama is the winner. They announced their calls, based on exit polls, at about 7:00:01

The interesting part is they are now discussing the possibility of a third place finish for Hillary Clinton behind John Edwards.

Real numbers as they come in.

Interesting quote from the first AP Story:

Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as “the black candidate,” a tag that could hurt him outside the South.

Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president’s efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.

If I’m reading this right, that says that Bill Clinton turned 30% of voters against his wife. That’s interesting.

John Edwards says that he, and all other presidential candidates, should be judged on their honesty.

Edwards told students that President Bush had “destroyed the trust relationship between Americans and the president” and asked potential caucus-goers to carefully size up the candidates running to replace him.

“Does this guy really believe what he’s saying? Is he sincere? Does he have passion about it? Does he have integrity?” Edwards said. “You should judge me and judge every presidential candidate on who is honest and sincere. You have to be able to trust the next president.”

Hmmm.

Saddam Hussein’s regime represents a grave threat to America and our allies, including our vital ally, Israel. For more than two decades, Saddam Hussein has sought weapons of mass destruction through every available means. We know that he has chemical and biological weapons. He has already used them against his neighbors and his own people, and is trying to build more. We know that he is doing everything he can to build nuclear weapons, and we know that each day he gets closer to achieving that goal. [source]

If we can do the work that we can do in this country — the work we will do when John Kerry is president — people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.[source]

Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons. … To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table. Let me reiterate–all options must remain on the table. [Source]

I’m going to be honest with you — I don’t know a lot about Cuba’s healthcare system,” Edwards, D-N.C., said at an event in Oskaloosa, Iowa. “Is it a government-run system?” [source]

I think that’s enough.

Granted, that may not be the goal, but it will surely be the result if Edward’s leave plan is ever implemented.

The former North Carolina senator on Tuesday will propose spending $2 billion a year to help states create family leave programs that offer workers at least eight weeks of paid time off to care for a newborn or ill family member. The proposal is similar to those offered by his rivals, but Edwards would put up more money—New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plan calls for $1 billion a year; Illinois Sen. Barack Obama proposes $1.5 billion.

Edwards also would set a national goal of eight weeks of paid leave for all by 2014.

[...]

Like Clinton and Obama, Edwards also proposes expanding the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, co-authored by another Democratic presidential hopeful, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd. Though Edwards wants to make 13 million more workers eligible for unpaid leave under the act, he noted that millions who are currently eligible don’t participate because they can’t afford to.

[...]

Edwards also would require all businesses to offer their workers a minimum of seven paid sick days a year.

Although Edward’s plan would probably exclude some smaller businesses the number excluded would have to be reduced from current law to make 13 million more workers eligible. And while Edward’s puts a price tag of $2 billion a year on the proposal, I can only imagine what the cost to businesses will be.

John Edwards is not going to be the Democrats choice as candidate for President in 2008. The odds are roughly the same as me hitting the lottery while being struck by lightning as Joel Surnow asks me to be the new lead writer on 24. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.

Still, it is hard to ignore views like this:

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

“It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care,” he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. “If you are going to be in the system, you can’t choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK.”

[...]

Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.

“The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death,” he said.

And he is still running. Absurd.

If this is the best your campaign can do you are in serious trouble.

Former President Carter welcomed Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards to Georgia on Wednesday, embracing the fellow Southerner as a kindred spirit on poverty and the environment.

I guess when your campaign is as far in the crapper as that of Janus Edwards you take any praise that comes along.

Of course any compliment from Jimmy Carter, even one that stops short of an endorsement, is about the same as getting a pat on the back for your sobriety from Teddy “The Swimmer” Kennedy. He proves his irrelevance with comments like this:

“I can say without equivocation that no one who is running for president has presented anywhere near as comprehensive and accurate a prediction of what our country ought to do in the field of environmental quality, in the field of health care for those who are not presently insured, for those who struggle with poverty,” Carter said.

All Edwards needs now is the endorsement of Mama Moonbat and we’ll be able to officially stick the fork in his latest quixotic run.

Janus, the Roman God of doors, is often depicted with two heads looking in opposite directions. That may be a great new name for The Breck Girl, The Silk Pony, John Edwards. He expects people to believe this bit of double talk.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who has called homeownership “the foundation of the American dream,” said Friday he will divest his holdings in funds linked to lenders that have foreclosed on Hurricane Katrina victims.

“I will not have my family’s money involved in these firms that are foreclosing on people in New Orleans,” he told the Associated Press.

[...]

“My reaction is I’m going to help these people,” Edwards said in a telephone interview. “I just learned about this. I don’t know the details, I will find out and I will find a way to help them.”

I understand that many people, including politicians, have investments in funds with wide reaching portfolios over which they exert no control. If that were the case here I wouldn’t even be writing this post.

However, believing that he “just learned about this” severly strains credibility.

Edwards worked part-time for Fortress Investment Group, getting paid $479,512. He and his wife also had $2.7 million to $8.5 million invested in a Fortress subsidiaries, according to ranges listed in his personal financial report. And Fortress executives have donated generously to his presidential campaign — company employees have donated more than $150,000 toward his candidacy during the first six months of the year.

And it’s not just New Orleans, as Captain Ed notes:

Edwards has conducted a “poverty tour” as part of his campaign this year, emphasizing his Two Americas theme. One of the stops was in Cleveland, where he walked a neighborhood particularly affected by foreclosures. He told reporters, “This is not complicated, this is wrong,” as he walked the streets, but the WSJ did some checking afterwards– and four of the foreclosures came from Fortress Investment lenders.

Apparently it’s more complicated than Edwards knows.

Remember this the next time Edwards attacks “shameful lending practices”. His own firm, the one who used his consulting to operate and acquire companies like Nationstar, conducts those same practices. Will Edwards return the $150,000 in contributions to Fortress managers who run these lenders? Will he return to that Cleveland neighborhood and apologize for his hypocritical posturing on their streets?

And will Edwards finally get seen for what he is — an ambulance chaser, a poseur, and a fraud?

His two Americas theme begins to make sense when you look at his Janus styled approach to issues. What’s worse than, “an ambulance chaser, a poseur, and a fraud”? A two faced Janus of an ambulance chaser, a poseur, and a fraud. Or perhaps the “J” can be dropped as well.

Edwards calls Iraqi leader weak

Pot calls kettle black.

The first cup is for the guest, the second for enjoyment, the third for the sword. ~ An old Arabic saying

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Helping Others By Helping Himself?

It looks like John Edwards believes that charity begins at home after all, even when home is a 28,000-square-foot mansion. Edwards’ Two Americas rhetoric has given him a reputation as a voice for the poor, but the New York Times reports that his non-profit for fighting poverty mostly benefitted the vote-poor John Edwards:

Iowa Voice (Brian) Grassley Gets It On Immigration

In other words, we don’t trust them to fulfill the promises they make now because they’ve yet to fulfill the promises they made in 1986.

John LRR™ Edwards has outlined a six point plan discussing how his administration would handle the problem of terrorism. Bob Owens quickly takes it apart point by point at Confederate Yankee. Here’s a taste:

“Rebalance our force structure for the challenges of the new century”

• Force Structure: The force structure of our military should match its mission. The Administration’s mismanagement of the military has not only breached the faith at the highest levels—it has led to a very dangerous situation for our security. We are sending some troops back to Iraq with less than a year’s rest. Edwards believes we need to ensure that our force structure is well equipped for the challenges of the new century. We must have enough troops to rebuild from Iraq; to bolster deterrence; to decrease our heavy reliance on Guard and Reserve members in military operations; and to deploy in Afghanistan and any other trouble spots that could develop. As president, Edwards will also double the budget for recruiting and raise the standards for the recruiting pool so that we can reduce waivers issued for recruits with felonies, which have skyrocketed under President Bush.

Stripping the politics out of this statement (if that can actually even be done) and looking solely at the policy, Edwards is suggesting that our troops need a full year’s rest between deployments, that our troops need to be “well-equipped,” that our standing military needs to be larger, that we need to deploy more troops to Afghanistan, and that we need to significantly increase recruiting and standards for those recruits.

Correct me if I am wrong, but as I recall history, the idea of our soldiers needing a year between deployments seems to be a modern phenomenon. Our soldiers in the Continental Army did not get year-long rest breaks in the Revolutionary War, the World Wars, or any other conflict in this nation’s history until the current war in Iraq. I seem to recall that units were sent into battle, fought, and took brief “R&R” breaks of much shorter durations during a major conflict, sometimes lasting just a few days or weeks, and other times lasting months.

Captain Ed focused on the last of the six points:

In the thirteenth century, the fabled (and almost certainly mythical) Children’s Crusade set out to bring peace to the Holy Land. According to the legend, a young boy proselytized throughout central Europe that Jesus had told him in a vision that an army of pure children could liberate Jerusalem just by showing up, and that the waters of the Mediterranean would part to greet them when they arrived in Italy. They set out in boats instead, sail to Tunisia — where they all get sold into slavery and are never heard from again, even in legend.

One might think that anyone relying on this kind of strategy 800 years later would automatically discredit himself as a leader. However, John Edwards thinks this is a better way to fight terror than actually fighting terror:

I recomend both posts highly.

Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd, just to add two names to the list.

Democratic presidential candidates Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd will not participate in a Democratic debate co-sponsored by Fox News Channel this fall, joining their three top rivals in bypassing the event.

I guess they’re afraid that someone at FOX will huff and puff and ask them a real question.

Their decisions, acknowledged by campaign aides Wednesday, is sure to disappoint the Congressional Black Caucus, whose political education and leadership institute is Fox’s partner in the debate.

Better to disappoint the Congressional Black Caucus than to offend the tin-foil hat brigade.

But Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, and Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, have been under pressure to shun the debate from liberal groups who say Fox is biased against Democrats.

They join the distinguished trio of John (“just the poor kids who get sent to war“) Edwards, comrade Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, who have already announced that they would not participate caved.

But Colorofchange.org, an organization of black online activists, and the liberal MoveOn.org have agitated against Fox with an Internet campaign that includes video excerpts of conservative Fox commentators. MoveOn this week initiated an e-mail campaign urging backers to call Biden’s campaign to demand he back out of the debate.

Wow. Just Wow.

Imagine the future. . .

President Hillary Obamwards announced today that from now on all questions for the president will have to be vetted by press secretary Michael Moore.

I’m going to have nightmares.

That’s what it sounds like to me.

Edwards, who supports a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, said he would keep the country safe by going “after terrorists where they are.”

Now I’m not sure how he thinks we can go after terrorists where they are if we surrender and declare defeat, but hasn’t the president often said that the reason we are in Iraq is to do just what Edwards advocates here?

Here’s more.

The Edwards campaign later issued a statement, saying: “We don’t need more political huffing and puffing, we need a smart strategy that uses American power to stop terrorists from hurting us and to stop people from becoming terrorists in the first place.“

Somebody on Edwards’ staff may want to check his talking points. Again, this sounds a lot like what President Bush has been saying for months.

Of course he took time out from supporting the administrations’ position on the war to prove his moonbat credentials.

“There is an entire new generation of young people in the Islamic world sitting on the fence,” he told reporters, and their status as adults “depends on whether America can change this dynamic that George Bush has created that America is a bully, that we are selfish and that we don’t care anything about what is happening in other parts of the world.”

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney had the best reply.

“Remember that old Edmund Burke quote, it’s a famous quote, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ And that, I am afraid is the boiled down version of what John Edwards said, is that good men should do nothing. Put their head in the sand and hope it all goes away,” Romney told an audience in Jacksonville, Fla.

The saddest, sickest part of all of this is that Edwards can’t see how clueless he is.