Sunday, August 10, 2008
SMARMINESS
There's so much to say about John Edwards' much-deserved public melt-down, it's hard to know where to begin or end. I'll only make one point -- Edwards is and always has been a smarmy, oily, obvious fake. The question is, how does someone like that do what he's done?
Of course, in terms of politics, Edwards really hasn't done much. He was an undistinguished one-term senator (hmmm), who ended up not even being able to carry his home state as John Kerry's running mate. But Edwards made a large fortune as a personal injury plaintiff's lawyer, and had a loyal following in politics. How does such a nasty, shallow, preening huckster do this?
This isn't the first time I've asked this question. Edwards is of a well-known type in the world of trial lawyers. In any jurisdiction, you can find near-perfect clones of him: Typically young, good-looking, well-dressed, typically personal injury plaintiff's lawyers, who use an unctuous, TV-preacher rhetorical style in the courtroom. You see them and think, "There's no way this kind of crap can win!" But it does -- over and over again. These guys use an exaggerated "gosh darn it, we little people need to stick it to those rich corporations" kind of style, while making the most childish kind of emotional appeals for their clients -- and wearing two thousand dollar suits and glossy Italian loafers. Anyone who's spent any time in a courtroom in America immediately recognized John Edwards as one of these fake, over-the-top showmen.
So what is it about these kind of men that leads to success? Is it just the outward trappings of alpha-male-dom that triggers basic monkey-troop submission among the betas? Do they plug into some pre-programmed groove already plowed by the equally smarmy and ridiculous mega-church televangelists? I honestly don't know, but there it is: In the right circumstances, the outrageously smarmy guy can succeed.
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 6:18 AM
|
|
