Preemptive sliming?

Crooks and Liars wonders what is going on with the claims against Edwards.

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Is John Edwards this election cycle’s Howard Dean? Because now, on the eve of first state primary, the meme being pushed by both the media and his Democratic nominee rivals is that John Edwards’ rhetoric is a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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I don’t know how much this persona is of media creation, because I haven’t seen any stump speeches of Edwards where he seemed unduly angry, although it’s certainly possible. This tidy little categorization–which may or may not be accurate–feels uncomfortably similar to Howard Dean’s smearing as unhinged during the 2004 primaries.

Cruz at DailyKos asks the question “Why shouldn’t Edwards be angry? Aren’t you?”