Posted on 11/26/2007 10:17:55 AM PST by SmithL
BOW, N.H. (AP) -- Democrat John Edwards says his experience as a trial lawyer makes him the presidential contender best able to give voters hope — and to give the establishment grief.
Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, has focused his campaign on pledges to change a government system he says is rigged against most voters.
"While you shop (for candidates), I hope you will think about two key things: Who can you trust to tell you the truth about what's wrong in Washington, and who can you trust to fight like hell to make it right?" Edwards said during a town hall-style meeting. "Those are the two things we need in the next president of the United States."
Edwards then turned to his background as a trial lawyer and work on behalf of plaintiffs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Edwards then turned to his background as a trial lawyer and work on behalf of plaintiffs.
His hard work on behalf of plaintiffs which included lying to juries in order to convince them to dig into the deep pockets of defendants. Yeah, that's who we should trust to tell the truth. Give me a break!
That sounds like an astute political move. The only people the public holds in higher regard than politicians are attorneys. Doh!
Work on behalf of plaintiffs? Was he referring to his occupation as an “Ambulance Chaser”?
Sure, just what America needs in a president - a junk science-abusing, phony fetus-channeling, cornpone legal hustler who made millions victimizing honest physicians and driving up the cost of malpractice insurance, with the result that more pregnant women are forced to have dangerous and painful C-sections because obstetricians don’t dare risk being sued by the likes of Edwards for delivering babies the natural way. Right.
He can channel the dead......let him TRY to channel voters to vote for him.
One of the biggest problems with our economy is the anchor that these bastards have put on it with constant litigation. Just look at the number of pages of cover your ass warning on a product like a lawn mower.
Exactly. Tort reform is one of a short list of things we need before the US can regain lost stature in manufacturing. Look at the crap we’re forced to buy because everyone’s too afraid to build it here.
Edwards touts record as crook, now , thats better
I directly blame Edwards and other ambulance-chasing lawyers like him with screwing up the best medical care system in the world—all the while, filling their own pockets.
I have never met a lawyer who admitted to shame in anything.
And I know a few...
But Edwards is part of the establishment?
Perhaps Edwards should learn to STFU.
You either don't know or don't care what context that comment was made in if you are posting it to bash lawyers.
Its a common misunderstanding. Most folks just remember the line, not the basis for Dick the Butcher’s lament.
The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers ... - Shakespeare, Henry VI.
You either don’t know or don’t care what context that comment was made in if you are posting it to bash lawyers.
_____________
Correct. The quote, in context, means: let’s create anarchy and destroy the rule of law. Probably stated by a liberal.
I’m quite sure that you are referring to the modern spin that the phrase was a compliment to lawyers, but that has been rather totally debunked.
For example, one law firm states:
"Contrary to popular belief, the proposal was not designed to restore sanity to commercial life.
Rather, it was intended to eliminate those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution — thus underscoring the important role that lawyers can play in society."
-from Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky - Law Firm
and also:
“As the famous remark by the plotter of treachery in Shakespeare’s King Henry VI shows - “The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers,” - the surest way to chaos and tyranny even then was to remove the guardians of independent thinking.”
-from the book, Thinking Like a Lawyer
The argument of this remark as in fact being favorable to lawyers is a marvel of sophistry, twisting of the meaning of words in unfamiliar source, disregard of the intent of the original author and ad hominem attack.
Whoever first came up with this interpretation surely must have been a lawyer.
The line is actually uttered by a character “Dick The Butcher”. While he’s a killer as evil as his name implies, he often makes highly comedic and amusing statements.
The wisecracking villain is not an invention of modern action movies, it dates back to Shakespeare and beyond.
The setup for the “kill the lawyers” statement is the ending portion of a comedic relief part of a scene in Henry VI, part 2.
Dick and Smith are members of the gang of Jack Cade, a pretender to the throne.
The build up is where Cade make vain boasts, which are cut down by sarcastic replies from the others.
JACK CADE. - Valiant I am.
SMITH
'A must needs; for beggary is valiant.
JACK CADE. - I am able to endure much.
DICK. - No question of that; for I have seen him whipp'd three market-days together.
JACK CADE. - I fear neither sword nor fire.
SMITH. - He need not fear the sword; for his coat is of proof.
DICK. - But methinks he should stand in fear of fire, being burnt i' th'hand for stealing of sheep.
You can almost hear the rim-shot after everything Dick or Smith say here.
Cade goes more and more over the top - like Edwards does with channeling the dead and Reeves walking again - and begins to describe his absurd ideal world:
JACK CADE.
Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows reformation.
There shall be in England seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hoop'd pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass: and when I am king,- as king I will be,-
ALL. - God save your majesty!
JACK CADE.
I thank you, good people:- there shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord.
DICK. - The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
The audience must have doubled over in laughter at this.
Far from "eliminating those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution" or portraying lawyers as "guardians of independent thinking", it's offered as the best feature imagined of yet for utopia.
It's hilarious.
A modern translation would be "When I'm the King, there'll be two cars in every garage, and a chicken in every pot" "AND NO LAWYERS".
It's a clearly lawyer-bashing joke. -hilarious when the idiom was contemporary
There is more to the point, but "nuff said." - Thank you for your post. - Bill
Often, there is more than one intended meaning to a line such as that. Shakespeare was a master at writing plays that could appeal to both the common and the learned.
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