Is John Edwards a Hypocrite?

The Republicans would sure like us to believe that; early poll numbers suggest that he would be the most successful Democratic candidate against all of the Republican candidates. People talk about his $400 haircuts and, more recently, his paycheck of $55,000 for speaking at UC Davis. Is this guy, who is running a campaign based on poverty, to be trusted? Or is he just a con artist using the poor as a campaign tool?

Well, I'm sure there is some truth to the latter, because I have a general inclination toward distrusting all politicians. But, his critics seem to ignore the reality of politics. It seems as if they are saying "He is wildly wealthy; he cannot truly care about the poor!" It is as if they are saying he should not be accepting big paychecks, because it necessarily distances him from his own campaign. But, the political reality is that if he wants his campaign to be strong, he has to accept big paychecks. If he were "noble" (I put that in quotes because so many people have an unbelievably skewed perception of what it is to be noble) and denied big pay-outs, his campaign would crumble. Politicians and their campaigns rely on money. Without money, there is no campaign and obviously, there is no victory.

Yes, John Edwards may be out of touch with the poor of America, but he has done the most out of all of the candidates to help the poor. And it's going to take the support an out-of-touch rich white guy to help diminish poverty in America (if that's even possible, that is).