John Edwards Says Don't Take Murdoch Money -- But He Took 800 Grand?

In Friday's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz reports that the new John Edwards campaign against any Democrat accepting Rupert Murdoch contributions has a slight flaw: 

"John Edwards will never ask Rupert Murdoch for money -- he won't accept his money," said a statement e-mailed to supporters. Not so fast, Murdoch's people say. His publishing unit, HarperCollins, paid Edwards a $500,000 advance -- and $300,000 in expenses -- for his 2006 book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives."

"We assume the senator is going to give back the money from his advance," News Corp. spokesman Brian Lewis said.

Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said his boss donated the book payments to charity and that the expense money went to staffers and vendors. Citing the announcement that prompted Edwards's e-mail -- Murdoch's $5 billion deal to buy Dow Jones -- Schultz said, "This is about whether or not Murdoch should expand his media empire and use the Wall Street Journal to further promote his right-wing agenda."

....While the Edwards mailing accused Fox of trying to "demonize the Democratic Party and call it 'news,' " he has boycotted the cable channel only since Jan. 23. Before that, Edwards appeared on Fox programs 33 times.

(Fox reported the Edwards book deal on Thursday night's Special Report.) But Greg Pollowitz uncovered the real knee-slapping line out of Edwards: "The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media –- all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp."

If our liberal media were really "unbiased and fair," those co-presidential candidates John and Elizabeth Edwards would be in much worse shape in this campaign. There are two relatively new Elizabeth puff pieces this week, which don't mention hiring Christian-hating feminist bloggers, or Mrs. Edwards endorsing "rage," to mention two negative angles. There was the obligatory Dan Balz front-page press release in The Washington Post, and Liz Halloran's piece in U.S. News & World Report. (At least Halloran briefly featured a fine harrumph from Jonah Goldberg.)