Edwards Takes Public Cash to Identify with Poor :-)

(ScrappleFace) — In a reversal of a previous decision, Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards announced Thursday that his campaign would accept public funding “as a matter of principle to demonstrate that I identify with the poor and downtrodden who live in the second America.”

The decision, which Mr. Edwards noted is “consistent with my previous statements to the contrary,” could ultimately bring $105 million to his campaign if he should secure the Democrat nomination.

“I’ve raised enough money, and personally have enough money, to run this campaign without taxpayer dollars,” said Mr. Edwards, “but if I did that, I’d be nothing but another fat cat with a rich crony network living in the first America — unable to relate to the ordinary working poor, the non-working poor, the undocumented poor and all the other little people who populate the other America.”

The former senator from North Carolina explained that the common bond shared by those in the “second America” is their dependence upon redistributed taxpayer dollars.

By receiving federal matching funds, he said he’ll be able to “relate better to my brothers and sisters whose hope rests confidently in the goodness and power of our benevolent federal government.”