JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE, AND THAT WAS THE PROBLEM – AT 12:58 P.M. ET:  There is the curious case of John Edwards.  Scott Rasmussen went back and polled his home state of North Caroline to see what his standing is nowadays:

North Carolina voters aren’t in too forgiving a mood when it comes to John Edwards, their one-term senator who just six years ago was the Democratic nominee for vice president.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Tar Heel State finds that just 11% have a favorable opinion of Edwards. Eighty-four percent (84%) view him unfavorably.

This includes five percent (5%) with a Very Favorable view and 71% who regard him Very Unfavorably.

COMMENT:  I wonder about the five percent with a very favorable view.  Relatives?  Old girl friends?

The Edwards case marks a catastrophic failure of journalistic responsibility.  There were warning signs early that this man was a fraud, an ambulance-chasing sleazeball who used junk science in law cases to get very rich, and a self-described "man of the people" who was building the largest mansion in his county.  But he peddled the liberal Democratic line, so no questions were asked by the mainstream media.  It took the National Inquirer, looked down upon by "legitimate" journalists, to expose the truth and bring Edwards down.  Not one newspaper or TV network has apologized to the public for its failure to carry out its responsibility to examine candidates for public office.  And no apology will be forthcoming.

And newspapers blame the internet for their problems.

August 8, 2010