Now Edwards Camp Wants Public Financing -- Fancy That

I find this hypocritical. Edwards retired from the Senate after just one term, a good portion of which was spent on the 2004 presidential election rather than serving North Carolina. Even worse, Edwards made the same votes as his fellow Democrats while he was in the Senate -- most notably the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act.

Aside from a hindsight apology, why should we acknowledge any difference? It's easy for an outsider to criticize those who make the difficult decisions. Maybe Edwards should have stayed in the Senate to pass better public finance legislation.

If Edwards had been a principled politician, he would have started out by endorsing public financing and followed it. Now that his funding and poll numbers are flagging, it's hypocritical to accept public financing and attack his opponents for not doing the same.