Let the sniping begin
: In a bit of perfect timing, the Journal this morning has a column saying that if John Edwards is picked, business leaders will go after him as the symbol of the devil incarnate: the trial lawyer (it’s today’s free Journal link):
Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry’s running mate, the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic ticket. “We’d get the best people and the greatest assets we can rally” to the cause, he says.
Other business leaders in Washington have been less public and less precise, but no less passionate. …
None of this is personal. These businessmen barely know Sen. Edwards and would probably find him a far more engaging dinner companion than most of his fellow Democrats — Sen. Kerry included.
Nor is it completely rational. Mr. Edwards’s political and policy views are more moderate — and more in line with business — than those of Gov. Dean, Rep. Gephardt or even Sen. Kerry.
But Mr. Edwards is a trial lawyer. His campaign for the presidency was financed by trial lawyers. And there is nothing that makes America’s CEOs see red these days like America’s trial lawyers.
