I hate to nitpick but..

John Edwards has long struck me as one of the all-time greatest phonies. BUT so far he is at least affecting a populist phoniness.

In his message to supporters, Edwards listed five priorities to change America. Among them: "Guaranteeing health care for every single American," "Strengthening our middle class and ending the shame of poverty," "Leading the fight against global warming," and "Getting America and the world to break our addiction to oil."

Plus he's at least one candidate who is willing to acknowledge that We Are Not OK. Whether or not he can be trusted to make good on his rhetoric if elected is another issue altogether.. but at least he's adding a valuable dimension to the discussion.

Also.. I don't think the T-P likes him very much either. But they could at least just say so instead of snarking out and going all "earth toney"

Clad in blue jeans, an open-necked shirt and with his sleeves rolled up, Edwards chose the backyard of a victim of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans' devastated 9th Ward for his unorthodox announcement.

or worse, putting headlines on NOLA.com that read, "Lower Ninth USED to launch Edwards'Bid" or worse yet.. playing up a "leak" of the announcement as some kind of gaffe that overshadows the event itself. All very childish.

Oh wait a minute... it gets worse. NOLA has simply posted a story on the announcement by Nedra Pickler. Figures.