To those of you who followed Lamont vs. Lieberman, you may remember that any statement made by Lamont was termed a "negative attack" by team joementum. Well, apparently Edwards gave a great speech in a church in NY City that irked team Hillary. Despite NEVER mentioning HIllary or even "senator", Team Hillary went Lieberman on Edwards.
http://www.nypost.com/...
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night ripped into 2008 White House contender John Edwards - her first direct assault on any of her potential Democratic presidential rivals.
Clinton's surprising broadside came just hours after Edwards, in Harlem, delivered a sharp condemnation - clearly aimed at Clinton, although he didn't mention her by name - against those who fail to "speak out" against the war in Iraq.
"In 2004, John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration's Iraq policy," said Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson.
It is the first time that Clinton has slammed one of her Democratic rivals by name and comes a full year before the first presidential contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Clinton's full-blown response to Edwards signals that her team considers him a top-tier threat.
compare this Lieberman like whining with what was actually said by Edwards:
That is why I have spoken out against the McCain Doctrine of escalation. That's why Congress must step up and stop the president from putting more troops in harm's way.
If you’re in Congress and you know this war is going in the wrong direction, it is no longer enough to study your options and keep your own counsel.
Silence is betrayal. Speak out, and stop this escalation now. You have the power to prohibit the president from spending any money to escalate the war – use it.
(for those who don't know "silence is betrayal" is a phrase MLK used and Edwards attributed that in the larger speech)
see this report from HuffPost.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
And Edwards's second-biggest applause line at Riverside came when he again apologized for that vote: "The issue, brothers and sisters, is not only how we got into Iraq, but how we get out of Iraq. I want to say for anyone in this room that doesn't know it that I voted for this war and I was WRONG, and I take responsibility for that...The best way to make clear we're leaving Iraq is to actually start leaving.''
He exhorted ordinary citizens to demand that their government respond to them - just as President Bush has said the Iraqi government must respond to the will of its people: "You tell your elected leaders to block this misguided plan. You tell them that the reward of courage is trust.''
But his stiffest words were for his former Congressional colleagues: "Congress must step up NOW and stop this president from putting more troops in harm's way. Silence is betrayal! Speak out, and stop this escalation NOW, Congress. You have the power to prohibit the president from spending any money to escalate the war - use it!''
And Senator Clinton's campaign team seemed to think she resembled these remarks; after the speech, one of her closest advisers, Howard Wolfson, complained to The New York Times that "In 2004 John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration's Iraq policy.''
One of the many ironies of this was that Howard Wolfson, was sent on loan to Lamont AFTER the primary victory. I hope Wolfson goes 0 for 2 now that he's on team Hillary.
You can see the speech or 10 minutes of it here:
http://johnedwards.com/...
UPDATE: hat tip to thirdparty of LamontBlog
The similarities between the first two "official" attacks from the Lieberman 2006 campaign and the Clinton 2008 campaign are stunning:
Here was Sean Smith's first reaction to Lamont's official announcement on March 13, 2006:
"Attacking Senator Lieberman's character and integrity was a predictable but dishonorable way to begin this campaign," Smith said. "Mr. Lamont is clearly going to run a very negative and angry campaign where the truth doesn't get in the way."
And again, here's Wolfson today:
"In 2004, John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration's Iraq policy," said Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson.