Edwards scared of 'rabid Republican' neighbor

I couldn't make this crap up if I tried. This story is unbelievable. - Marc

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home — and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor. Shame, shame on you!

Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way off his property. Which is his right. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person. You know this is prejudice right?

"I wouldn't be nice to him anyway," Edwards said in an interview. Oh my, the humanity! Where is your tolerance? "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

But Johnson defended the occasion he brandished a gun, saying those on his land didn't have the proper approval. Yeah!

"I use the gun for protection, and I considered that an appropriate time," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to take drastic measures."

Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres. Slummy? 28,000?! And I thought you Democrats stood for the little man? And a 28,000 foot home is environmentally-friendly how? Effing hypocrits.

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage that he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

"I have to budget. I have to leave within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place." Exactly Monty.

Johnson, who has posted a "Go Rudy Giuliani 2008" sign on a fence just 100 feet from the entrance to the Edwards' driveway LOL, has criticized Edwards for the scale of their nearby home. The property and home, which includes an indoor basketball court, an indoor handball court and an indoor pool, is valued at $5.3 million.

The Edwardses are still putting the final touches on the property, which they purchased in 2003.

"I thought he was supposed to be for the poor people," Johnson said. "But does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me." You have a great point there Mr. Johnson!

Johnson said he has put his property on the market, in part blaming the high property taxes for his decision to leave. He also wants to move for another reason.

"I don't want to live somewhere where someone's always complaining about me," he said.

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Some comments from conservative bloggers -

• "The Edwards family: They’re all about the little guy, even when they’re complaining about him in the press," writes Bryan Preston at Hot Air.

• "Since when do presidential candidate's wives get to use their platform to beat up on the little guy?" asks Dan Riehl at Riehl World View.

• "What makes the guy rabid?" asks Brennan Monaco at American Pundit. "The fact he owns a gun? Would that then make the framers of the US Constitution promoters of 'rabid' behavior?"