Howling Hypocrites

This catty quote by John Edwards, aimed at Hillary Clinton during last night’s AFL-CIO debate, struck me as delicious: “You will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine.” This from a man who posed for the cover of Men’s Vogue magazine. Meow. (Perhaps his photo shoot for Vogue is what made Edwards think he was qualified to criticize Hillary’s pink jacket at last month’s Democratic debate.)

Also amusing was the whooping and hollering from last night’s T-shirt-clad crowd of union workers as Barack Obama dished it out to front-runner Clinton for taking money from lobbyists. I wonder if the labor crowd has any idea how much of their dues go to pay lobbyists each and every month. Just for a point of reference, I did a quick search on the California Secretary of State website, and since 2001, the AFL-CIO has paid well over $1 million to lobbyists in the state of California. Imagine what they’ve spent nationally.

Yes, Obama, lobbyists are terrible — unless, of course, they’re earning big bucks on behalf of organized labor to keep unions in the dues-collecting business so they can spend the money to get you elected. Then it’s all cool.