Boy, That Didn't Take Long! - Update

I guess Jay Carney of Time had this piece about three-quarters done already before John Edwards announced that he would stay in the campaign for the Democratic nomination for president today despite the sad news today that Elizabeth’s cancer has returned, having been diagnosed as malignant.

The personal considerations here are paramount of course and anything political pales in importance, but they must be addressed, especially since Carney has conjured up this piece of fluff in true “concern troll” fashion.

The first two background paragraphs of Carney’s piece are fine, but then comes this…

He (Edwards) clearly meant it to be inspiring, but there is also something discomfiting about that statement (that the campaign “goes on strongly”). Even more discomfiting was Edwards' claim that by soldiering on while his wife has incurable cancer, he would be proving that he could deal with the pressures of being president. I wonder how voters will react to that sentiment.

Gee, I guess we’ll find out about that, won’t we Jay? And then we have this…

Edwards' supporters, and surely many average Americans, have to be wondering at what point the candidate will decide that his duties as husband and father to three children, including a 6 and 8 year old, trump his duty to his country and the cause of winning the White House.

Is it too much to ask of these pundit types that they actually talk to an Edwards supporter and find out whether or not they will continue to support him as a candidate with the prospect of Elizabeth’s illness in the background? I can tell you that my support for Edwards is unequivocal, regardless of these personal circumstances.

Maybe Carney should reacquaint himself with the story of former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas, a Democrat who ran for president in the 1992 primary before losing to Bill Clinton. Tsongas had been diagnosed with cancer in the 1980s before the disease went into remission prior to his run for the presidency (again, not Tsongas’ spouse, but Tsongas himself), but that did not diminish his support among those in his campaign.

But all of this is prologue to Carney’s true caricature of Edwards, as follows…

Edwards is not a conservative or moderate in the mold of Bill Clinton. In the 2008 race, he had positioned himself as the most populist and liberal of the serious contenders for the nomination. In a time of war and terrorist threats abroad, Edwards chose a decidedly domestic, and almost anachronistic, theme around which to build his campaign—the fight to eradicate poverty in America. Will Clinton or Obama take up that banner? Not likely.

Edwards is “the most liberal,” huh? Well, do you want to know something? I think Edwards should take that as a compliment.

It’s true that Edwards returned to the spotlight through his efforts to fight poverty; I’ll grant that to Carney. But again, if Carney is wondering how Edwards would wage the legitimate war on terrorism, all Carney has to do is ask him!

But no, that gives Carney the excuse to paint Edwards as “too liberal” (horrors!).

Carney then goes on to speculate who would be ascendant among Democrats not named Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama should Edwards drop out, and he speculates that Joe Biden or Chris Dodd would benefit (interesting in Dodd’s case, funny in Biden’s). But to truly capture Edwards’ populism, Carney suggests that Al Gore should return to the fray (??).

I respect Gore as much as anyone, and that goes for Dodd as well, somebody else stabbed in the back by Joe Lieberman. But one of the media-concocted charges against Gore in 2000 was that he was somehow stiff and out of touch to the point of being evasive (as rumored by some), so I don’t know what Carney is talking about, unless he’s trying to sucker Gore into a draft campaign so he and his fellow pundit types can ridicule him all over again.

Update: And by the way, here is the latest from John Edwards...

Dear Friend,

Elizabeth and I are so grateful for your prayers and wishes. Your support means a great deal to us during this difficult time.

As you may have heard, yesterday we found out that Elizabeth's breast cancer is back, but confined mainly to her bones. Although this isn't the news we wanted to hear, we are very optimistic. Having been through many struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up, keep moving and be strong. And that's exactly what we intend to do.

Elizabeth and I have been married for nearly 30 years and we will be in this every step of the way together. We will keep a positive attitude and always look for the silver lining—that's what we do.

Although the cancer is no longer curable, it is treatable, and many patients in similar circumstances have lived full, energetic lives. We expect nothing less for Elizabeth. She expects to do all the things next week that she did last week.

Our campaign goes on and it goes on strongly. We are so proud of the campaign we are running—a campaign based on ideas and reaching out to people. This campaign is not about me or Elizabeth—it's about all the people we have met these past few years and people like them all across America and the world—people worried about feeding and clothing their kids; people without health care; people facing hardships overseas.

Both of us are committed to this campaign. We're committed to this cause and we're committed to changing this country we love so much.

Thank you again for your support and for standing with us.

John Edwards

To send a note of support to the Edwards family, click here.