Setting the Record Straight on Edwards

Last Raleigh Independent has this short article:
John's 'fessing up on Iraq:

Readers of the Indy, or our nascent blog called "dent" (www.indyweekblogs.com/dent) or of OrangePolitics.org, the blog we got it from, weren't surprised to see John Edwards' "The Right Way in Iraq" column on Sunday in the Washington Post, also known as his "I was wrong" column. We all had the heads-up about it from Elizabeth Edwards, John's wife, back on Oct. 21.

Edwards is owning up to his vote for the war, which he admits now was "a mistake." His mistake, he writes, was based on information supplied to him by President Bush and the intelligence community that "wasn't the whole story." Edwards adds: "Had I known this at the time, I never would have voted for this war."

In recent weeks, 2004 Democratic presidential contenders John Kerry, Dick Gephardt and now Edwards--each of whom voted in Congress to authorize the war--have said they're sorry about that.

Edwards first uttered the word "mistake," apparently, in an interview with former Indy editor Bob Moser that took place in Chapel Hill in mid-October. Moser's resulting profile of Edwards as anti-poverty populist--and potential '08 presidential choice of progressives not inclined toward Hillary--appears in the Nov. 28 issue of The Nation.

--------snip------------------

A few days after the interview, Elizabeth Edwards, blogging to OrangePolitics, passed along a hot tip: "John has said that the war was wrong and that his vote for the war was wrong. His taking responsibility for that vote, his direct statement that he was wrong (instead of watering it down with excuses) makes me very proud of him." We printed that news ("Elizabeth Edwards: Blogger") in the Oct. 26 Indy, and tried thereafter--to no avail--to interview John about it. Now, with The Nation story out and his column in the Post, John's finally gotten everybody caught up to his current view, which is that Iraq "is a mess and a far greater threat than it ever was."

A fact for which he is taking responsibility, Edwards says, and he suggests that others--Bush, Cheney--start doing so, too.

I think I have linked here to that OrangePolitics post where Elizabeth shows up in the comments. It is so much fun to be right here on the ground where everything is happening. It is also interesting that pretty big piece of news about a pretty important person first gets aired in a comment on a local blog. It's just cool.

Also, we have to look forward to that Nov.28. issue of Nation... There is a little quote from it - you have to click on the link above - right where I placed the "snip" separator, which is VERY interesting!