On the same day that the AP's John Solomon once again tried to perpetuate the tale of John Edwards' $400 haircut, a real story of tragedy promises to draw attention to Edwards' past. In Minneapolis, the powerful suction from a drain in a wading pool partially ripped out the small intestine of a six-year old girl. Hauntingly reminiscent of a $25 million jury award John Edwards secured in the case of five-year old Valerie Lakey, the Minnesota tragedy will no doubt reignite the Republican war on trial lawyers - and Edwards.
The clarion call for tort reform in the face of pernicious trial lawyers, after all, it was the centerpiece of the Republican attack in 2004 on then-Democratic vice presidential candidate and trial lawyer John Edwards. Mississippi Republican Trent Lott famously described Edwards as "a charming guy who was a suing lawyer -- that's S-U-I-N-G lawyer." During his 2004 debate with Dick Cheney, Edwards was forced to defend his role in a securing the 1997 damage award given to the family of Valerie Lakey, who was grievously injured in a faulty hot tub.
The circumstances of the cases are eerily similar. In today's tragedy, Abigail Taylor was the six-year-old girl who "sat on an open drain in a wading pool lost part of her intestinal tract to the drain's powerful suction." In the Lakey case, the "was eviscerated by a public pool's suction outlet 'after a drain cover had become dislodged."
Responding to Dick Cheney's 2004 assertion that "failed to adequately reform our medical liability structure," John Edwards responded forcefully, making it clear which side he stands on:

"We believe cases that don't belong in the system should never be in the system. But we don't believe that we should take away the right of people like Valerie Lakey, who was the young girl I represented--5 years old, severely injured for life, on a defective swimming pool drain cover. It turns out, the company knew of 12 other children who had either been killed or severely injured by the same problem. ... They didn't tell anybody. They could have fixed it with a 2-cent screw. That's wrong. John Kerry and I are always going to stand with the Valerie Lakeys of the world, and not with the insurance companies."

There is, of course, no question where Edwards' potential Republican opponents stand on product liability and tort reform. No question, that is, until they personally suffer the tragic consequences themselves. As I reported in May 2006, Bush family consigliere and Iraq Study Group chairman James Baker III showed that Republicans are just fine with trial lawyers when they need one.
Baker and his daughter-in-law Nancy used the setting of the Larry King Show on CNN to tell the story of the tragic death of his 7-year old granddaughter Graham, who also drowned in a hot tub accident. They used the "emotional hour of heartbreak and hope" to warn parents of the dangers of unsupervised hot tubs and their often dangerous drains, which according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission have claimed the lives of 36 children. The former Secretary of State also called for passage of the "Pool and Spa Safety Act."
But that was then, and this is now. Once again for Republicans, John Edwards is a "suing" lawyer. And with a great haircut at that.