Edwards Gets The Paine Award

John Edwards recently told his liberal buddies that "freedom does not belong to one political party.'' He also said the idea of America standing for freedom is not new. Now we know why Al Gore picked him: his razor sharp insight.

Edwards made the comments to the "Take Back America'' meeting of liberal activists. The Campaign for America's Future gave Edwards its top award, named after Thomas Paine, the writer and activist from the Revolutionary War era.

This does not preclude John Dean, now chairman of the Democratic Party, from getting the larger award later: The Real Paine Award. He deserves it.