Former Iowa Congressman Dave Nagle slammed John Edwards today in a blog post on the Des Moines Register Web site. Nagle seems furious that Edwards would support the state of Michigan in its bid to become more significant in the primary process.
Nagle also rips Edwards supporters Rob Tully (an old friend of mine) and Roxanne Conlin, who ran for governor of Iowa in 1984. Her daughter was a high school classmate of mine.
Here is Nagle's rant in all of its ugly glory:
”I’m running a national campaign, so I’m going to campaign in the states that are participating in the process,” Edwards told The Associated Press in an interview. “My job is not to make the rules, my job is to run.” August 21, 2007
I feel like the groom who gets up on the morning of his wedding to find out his would be bride ran away the night before with his best man. I am not sure whether it is that feeling or the shock you get when your own dog bites you.
Yesterday John Edwards, the man who Iowa created in 2004, who New Hampshire allowed to survive and South Carolina bestowed victory upon, turned on his friends for a political opportunity he sees in Michigan. Edwards declined to honor Iowa and New Hampshire’s first in the nation status.
Why would he do that? Simply because he sees a state that labor controls and he believes he controls labor. For Edwards apparently friendship is an overvalued commodity.
Here is a fellow whose campaign has already been rocked by the use of poverty funds from his foundation for campaigning, who decided to sign his book deal with the owner of Fox News and received that famous haircut. He was already being compared to Elmer Gantry, the fraudulent preacher of the Sinclair Lewis novel.
But here is what is really scary; Edwards’ principle advisers in Iowa are Rob Tully and Roxanne Conlin. Guess who is advising Iowa this Saturday at the DNC Rules and By-Laws Committee meeting, which will attempt to finally resolve this conflict between Iowa, New Hampshire and states like Florida and Michigan? Well, that really wasn’t a hard question.
But we should not be surprised. After all, it was two of Clinton’s top advisers, Governor Tom Vilsack and Jerry Crawford who first created this problem.
Frontrunners, like Clinton and Edwards, want big states first because of their money advantage. At least first Joe Biden and then Governor Richardson and finally, tepidly, Chris Dodd promised to honor Iowa’s status.
But, like they say, with friends like Edwards, Iowa doesn’t need any enemies.
Comment Preview