Tuesday, November 28, 2006

MSM ignores Edwards’ latest stumble

Yesterday I posted concerning the Manchester Union Leader’s report former Senator John Edwards would hold a book signing that night at a local Barnes & Noble that pays its employees a starting wage of $7 an hour.

Just behind the B&N is a Wal-Mart that also sells books and pays it workers a starting wage of $7.50 an hour.

Edwards has frequently criticized Wal-Mart for is employee wage scale. He’s encouraged people not to shop at Wal-Mart.

So why was Edwards holding a book signing at a B&N that pays its workers a lower starting wage than a nearby Wal-Mart, the Union Leader asked?

I asked two other questions:

Are people who know Edwards really surprised to learn he's holding his book signing at Barnes & Noble?

And don't you think most of those people are already asking themselves: "I wonder who John will blame for this one?"
Today, Edwards gave us his answer to my second question. It included a major stumble MSM are ignoring. From an AP report:
"I've never asked anyone not to shop at Wal-Mart," he said. "I understand people need to buy inexpensive goods... But there are other companies, like Costco, who can do it and pay a decent wage and provide health care coverage, and I don't think that responsibility should be passed to taxpayers."
So Edwards effectly blames Wal-Mart. OK, nothing new there.

But to justify blaming Wal-Mart, Edwards cites “companies like Costco” which he says “pay a decent wage and provide health care coverage, and I don’t think that responsibility should be passed to taxpayers.” (bold added)

Did Edwards mean to say the government shouldn’t provide health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, with the cost of that coverage “passed to taxpayers?”

Does Edwards think there’s any way the government can provide health care coverage to the uninsured without the cost of that coverage “passed to taxpayers?”

MSM should be asking those questions but so far news organizations appear to be giving Edwards a pass.

Just completed searches of network news sites and news.google.com come up “empty” regarding any MSM follow-up on Edwards' extraordinary stumble.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is John Edwards? and why did he write a book?

Anonymous said...

I always love it when millionaires like John Edwards tell the rest of us where to shop. Sorry, John, my family cannot afford the high-priced places where you buy your stuff!

Actually, if one looks at the whole picture, Wal-Mart is one of the best anti-poverty programs we ever have had in this country. However, Edwards is not interested in the facts.

I remember when the wife of his running mate in 2004 declared that "Wal-Mart destroys communities." Now, keep in mind that Theresa Kerry shops at places where people must have invitations and get past security guards. Regular people cannot shop in those places, but no doubt Theresa really means, "Let them eat cake."

Mr. Dart said...

As a sidebar... the "C" level executives at Costco are major donors to Democrats and left-leaning causes. There's a tad more to Silky Pony's pimping for Costco than just his daily anti-Wal*Mart spew. Why he thinks demonizing an American company where 180Million citizens freely choose to shop every week is good politics is another story. With the rise of the Economic populists/ anti free trade protectionists in the 2006 election expect more of this stuff from politicians though.

Anonymous said...

I noted this on another blog, Costco costs to join and they sell in bulk most working poor are neither going to pay to join somewhere to shop nor can they afford to shop in bulk, usually they buy week to week, paycheck to paycheck which just shows how Mr Edwards really doesn't know about the "2 Americas" at all. I would also note those same people are not shopping for books at Borders they are going to the Library if they even have time to read