Bob Shrum Blasts Edwards In New Book

“Kerry said that he wished he’d never picked Edwards, that he should have gone with his gut.”

Time Magazine published a very interesting excerpt from Bob Shrum’s upcoming book, No Excuses.  It’s definitely worth a quick read; I hope the entire book is as interesting as this excerpt.  Here are the highlights…

Shrum describing a conversation between John Kerry and John Edwards during Kerry’s running-mate search, where Edwards shocks Kerry:

Kerry talked with several potential picks, including Gephardt and Edwards. He was comfortable after his conversations with Gephardt, but even queasier about Edwards after they met. Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he’d never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he’d do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade’s ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before—and with the same preface, that he’d never shared the memory with anyone else. Kerry said he found it chilling, and he decided he couldn’t pick Edwards unless he met with him again.

Shrum discussing Kerry’s request from Edwards that he not run against him in 2008 should they lose the general election in 2004:

Kerry tried to get a better personal feel for his potential number two; as rivals for national office since 2000, shortly after Edwards had entered the Senate, the two men hadn’t spent a lot of time together. Kerry also wanted a specific reassurance. He asked Edwards for a commitment that if he was chosen and the ticket lost, Edwards wouldn’t run against him in 2008. Edwards agreed “absolutely,” as Kerry recalled him saying.

Shrum noting the abrupt end of Kerry and Edward’s relationship after the election:

Kerry’s relationship with Edwards would sour after the election—and mine would simply fade away. When Elizabeth discovered she had breast cancer, John and Teresa reached out to help the Edwardses find the best doctors they could. Marylouise and I called—but afterward, never heard from John again. Maybe we shouldn’t have expected to. Kerry told me that the Edwardses simply stopped returning calls or talking to him and Teresa. Within months, Edwards started preparing for a bid in 2008. Kerry said that he wished he’d never picked Edwards, that he should have gone with his gut.

The Washington Post reports another excerpt from Shrum’s book and the Edwards campaign’s response to the specific allegation…

Shrum recalls asking Edwards at the outset of that campaign, “What is your position, Mr. Edwards, on gay rights?”

“I’m not comfortable around those people,” Edwards replied, according to Shrum. He writes that the candidate’s wife, Elizabeth, told him: “John, you know that’s wrong.”

Edwards’s pollster, Harrison Hickman, who was in the room during the discussion, says Shrum “is sensationalizing and taking out of context what was an honest discussion about [Edwards's] lack of exposure to these issues and openly gay people. I don’t remember anything that expressed any kind of venom or judgment about gay people.”

Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz says Shrum “has a very casual relationship with the truth. Bob is obviously more interested in selling books than reporting honestly and accurately about what happened.”

Needless to say, the aforementioned information could lead to some rocky times for Edwards in the near future.  Although, there are at least two conditions that would need to be met in order for Shrum’s words to have a chance of adversely affecting Edwards:

1. First and foremost, it’s necessary to keep in mind that Bob Shrum is a political strategist, who worked for John Kerry back in 2004.  Accordingly, the veracity threshold for matters relating to the Kerry-Edwards dynamic is, or at least should be, much higher than if Shrum was a well respected journalist/author unconnected to either campaign.  He would need to meet this standard by providing strong evidence for his claims or additional similar examples substantiated by well regarded third party.
2. These, and other allegations in the book will need to grow legs.  Meaning: This book will need to create an incentive for others to start piecing together Edwards’ comments about his deceased son.  If it turns out to be the case, that Edwards ended up delivering the “I’ve never told anyone this before” story on several occasions to various audiences or to various people, then he’s going to be in for some trouble.  It’ll certainly turn off many voters to him.  Moreover, it’ll make people reevaluate and further scrutinize his conduct relating to Elizabeth Edwards’ most recent cancer announcement.