This report makes strong assertions, but offers limited evidence to support them. Based on the facts cited in the article, it is not clear that Edwards willingly misused funds from a charity to finance his political campaign. Yet the overall tone of the article strongly implies that he did, which is likely to unfairly damage his credibility. Of course, one could say that Edwards brought this upon himself, by not encouraging greater transparency from his various charities. Nonetheless, this article crosses the line in my view, and takes sides by making serious allegations without sufficient research. It is not very well sourced, provides insufficient context and most of it is very speculative.

Showing a picture of Edwards speaking at Cooper Union where he gave a substanitive speech on problems facing the middle class and poor and how government can help enforce standards and protect its citizens from abuses such as predatory lending, but then not commenting on the substance of the speech in the entire article is bizarre. Instead the author takes a story already reported and implies that Edwards has no business talking about these issues because he spent 1.3 million of money from his policy institute to tour the country talking about poverty. Obsession with non-scandals such as Whitewater and now this is becoming the NYTimes stock and trade while they tout fictitious stories such as WMD's in Iraq that led us into a ... More »

As it was placed on the front page of the New York Times, this article calls the judgment of the New York Times editor and their reputation as a paper into question. The article is nothing but a smear based on innuendo. It disregards the fact that Edwards has been instrumental in putting poverty back on the national agenda. It disregards the fact that his work has actually helped people. As TPM Election Central is reporting today, the New York Times refused to talk to any of the beneficiaries of Edwards's work. http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jun/22/edwards_campaign_times_refused_to_talk_to_beneficiaries_of_his_anti_poverty_programs It also becomes clear, in reading between the lines of the ... More »

Good piece on how our politicians make their money. Edwards may be one of the worst on this, but he's hardly unique among Democrats or Republicans. As an aside, clearly, I'm in the wrong business. I need to set up a charity with myself as the beneficiary...

This is an extremely unfair article based on a lot of unfounded assumptions and promoting false views about politics in America. I, like others, have written extensively about why this such a poor article at sites like DailyKos, MyDD, Huffington post and others.

Must reading for all who may vote in next years primaries. This story blows the lid off John Edward's claims of caring for those who live in the "other America." It vividly demonstrates just what an opportunist he has been virtually his entire life.

This story is a classic of the snarky school of journalism. It starts with the premise that anything a political figure does is always subordinate to his ambition. Thus it is axiomatically true that Edwards couldn't have set up his nonprofit or couldn't be running for president because he wants to do something about poverty; instead, he talks about poverty because he wants to be president. In Wayne's world, all the street signs point in the wrong direction. The story goes to great lengths to suggest some kind of wrong-doing where the reporter could find none. The quote about Edwards' going right up to the line but not crossing it gives the game away. Imagine how a snarky reporter like Wayne would describe your tax returns: "He ... More »