jack and emma claire

Just when you thought Wal-Mart couldn't sink any lower . . .

The story is that a volunteer for Edwards' One America committee asked a representative from Wal-Mart for help in getting a new XBox for the Edwards family, presenting it as a request from the family.

Meanwhile, this was all going on as John Edwards has been criticizing Wal-Mart for its labor practices.

So, Wal-Mart sends out a press release saying, "While the rest of America's working families are waiting patiently in line, Sen. Edwards wants to cut to the front."

The statement from the Edwards camp is that, sure, a volunteer asked for an XBox for the Edwards family, but that the volunteer wanted an XBox for himself and decided that a little name-dropping would work wonders.

It would be funny if it wasn't so infuriating.

Come on, does anyone REALLY think that John Edwards would risk having a story come out that suggests that he can put aside his well-established commitment to addressing economic disparity in the United States to get Jack and Emma Claire an XBox?