Bad News for Edwards
Aug 17th, 2007 at 6:11 am by Susie
UPDATE: Here’s Edwards’ statement.
There’s probably an explanation for this, but it really doesn’t look good. However, this is exactly the kind of story that’s planted by another campaign, and they do have their own agendas. So you should reserve judgment until you hear Edwards’ explanation:
As a presidential candidate, Democrat John Edwards has regularly attacked subprime lenders, particularly those that have filed foreclosure suits against victims of Hurricane Katrina. But as an investor, Mr. Edwards has ties to lenders foreclosing on Katrina victims.
The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through…[subscription needed for rest.]
I don’t get this. Other than proving how unfair the media is to Edwards relative to the other candidates, what are we supposed to take from this? That John Edwards is evil for having investments? That lenders shouldn’t foreclose when borrowers default? I guess they’re supposed to cause their hundreds of investors to go into bankruptcy while they eat those costs so that 34 people don’t get into similar trouble?
How does this even compare to Hillary hiring a union busting pr firm to craft her policies for her? That actually goes toward what she’s going to do while in office. This crap doesn’t really tell you much of anything other than that Edwards is a lawyer and that he has clients.
When I say “looks bad,” I mean only that it can simplified into a sound byte that his opponents can use it against him. I’m not saying it’s accurate, and it’s not a moral judgment. I really like and respect Edwards.
i hope they’re looking at every candidate’s investments then… dem OR gop, because you know they all have money invested somewhere. but you know the storyline here, edwards is a phony because he’s rich and he really doesnt care about the little people…
Hillary gets massive PAC money from hedge funds, her daughter works for a hedge fund, and she did some dicey trades on pork belly futures with a Tyson broker. Of course, Tyson is big in hogs in Ark. However, Edwards is not a loan broker, never made any subprime loans, never foreclosed on any loans in New Orleans, is not a partner or investment officer with Fortress(FIG). But, how many who cited the WALL Street Journal article(or misused it for some slant) were so confused by its dishonest lines that had no basis in fact. If anything, the Wall Street Journal piece is an example of how some in New York spun the Journal for some really dishonest hit jobs.
Now, just who was that, because, if having money is immoral, then how many others running for President were subject to the same kind of hit job from the Journal. Strange, Bain Capital was not part of the Journal piece with a focus on Mitt Romney.
More swift boating by yellow journalism for its MASTERS; Murdock et al