The ever-sensible (save about his ALL CAPS TENDENCIES) InstaPundit has taken some heat for his very sensible link to Virginia “a really great ‘Future‘ book” Postrel’s post about John Edwards. Glenn echoed Virginia echoing John Hood that Edwards being a trial-lawyer was not a bad thing.
But Glenn, et al., are absolutely right. Whatever people say to pollsters, Edwards will build a wealth of capital by telling the story of his clients. Say Erin Brockovich three times and then tell me Americans hate trial lawyers.
The real challenge for Edwards will be the “media filter.” “A friend” (who doesn’t want his/her name here) writes,
“Fitness for office, gravitas, experience, these things matter little to the men and women trapped on a bus covering these guys for the next two years. Being a good guy, not being a phony, they matter more to the working press. It’s hard to overstate the effect of Bush’s genial personality and Gore’s cloying, arrogant style. The worst thing you can be is a phony, in the eyes of the press. I fear that Edwards is going to be made to look like a phony.”
Forget the liberal bias of the press. Who’s writing about the frat-boy bias?
I don’t find this to be much of a threat, although the Washington media horde seems to live in an alternate universe. You simply cannot spend 5 minutes with the guy in a room and not like him.
As Edwards has said many times, you cannot be a successful trial attorney, whose trials used to last several weeks to several months, and be a phony. You can’t sit at a table 10 feet from twelve other people for 3 months and be fake. They see through it.
He really is a good guy, and Elizabeth is going to wow them.
Say “O.J.Simpson” three times, and then tell me Americans love trial lawyrers.
I’d have to disagree with the press disliking a phony. Bush presented an image of a patriotic, hard-working, God-Fearing Businessman From Our Heartland.
In reality, he lived off of family connections, dodged the draft into the TANG, (when he wasn’t AWOL). He ran companies into the ground but got off with money, and finally made a pile by taking people’s land for a stadium.
As a governor, he’d be a better examplar of What Would Pontius Pilate Do? than ‘WWJD?’. He had no problem taking credit for an education bill passed over his veto. His proposed federal budget was a mass of warmed over Reaganomics lies. He was being sued by a whistelblower, and perjured himself (‘I talked with him, but didn’t discuss it’, or something similar).
But you wouldnn’t know this by reading what the ‘boys on the bus’ wrote. They had no problem in averting their eyes as often as needed, for as long as needed.
So it isn’t phoniness that the media objects to, it’s the alleged phoniness of certain people.
Re OJ: That’s just the point. When people are asked, they think of cases like OJ. But the lawyers in that case were criminal defense lawyers (but see The Practice). My point is about trial lawyers who defend victims against large, heartless sorts. That’s a hero in the America I know and love.
Re phony: I don’t get the press at all. They love complexity. But most importantly, they love people who, one on one, seem genuine. Genuine fake or genuine real, doesn’t seem to matter much.
Perhaps in academe/government one may believe that the polity distinguishes between white and black hats among lawyers. You may say Erin B all you like, but it was Hollywood’s fantasy film by the same name that created the fictional personae advertisement of at least $100 mil without a nickel being spent in answer.
I for one look forward to a contest with the trial lawyers actually having one of their own whores on the stand. What could be better than airing the effect of unbridled litigation on our medical system. My guess is that an overwhelming majority will be for the doctors, and against the lawyers, no matter how “sincere” the trial lawyer comes off. Do you think it would be possible to get a union thug on the ballot in the number two spot? Regards, Casca
I do think the ‘phony’ issue is going to be a problem for Edwards — and not just because of the press. Edwards can come off as very scripted and rather oily, and I think a lot of viewers are simply turned off when they see him on TV.