At the HuffingtonPost the title for this story is "Edwards Consultant Mudcat: 'Who Screwed Us, The Clintons Screwed Us.'" I started reading the little piece imagining that it would be an inside the campaign story with Edwards' campaign consultant David "Mudcat" Saunders bitching about something unfair done by the Clinton campaign out on the trial. When I read the post by Nico Pitney I realized the "us" Mudcat is talking about are rural Americans. I followed Pitney's links and discovered that according to the Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh who recently interviewed Saunders at an event in rural New Hampshire, "Mudcat" argues that the impact of the Clintons on Rural America is like a that other famous Arkansas export--Wal-Mart.
"Who screwed us?" he asks, voice rising in incredulity. "The Clintons screwed us." And, he adds, "Anybody that says different is delusional."I am not a fan of Wal-Mart but the problem with comparing Hillary to Wal-Mart is that most people have positive feelings about the low prices they find at their local store. That's one of the reasons Wal-Mart is so damn successful.
The Clintons did it with NAFTA, and the Bubbas know it, Mudcat says. Why, it's no wonder Hillary once sat on the board of Wal-Mart.
"The slogan of Wal-Mart is the same as what the Clintons' policy has always been for rural America: 'Always less,' " he says. (Actually, Wal-Mart's former catchphrase was "Always low prices," but you get Mudcat's drift.)
