My, My, You Do Go On...

This, from Esquire's August cover story about Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards. He's putting in some time at a Habitat for Humanity building site in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, alongside the actor Danny Glover:

"From the start, it was clear that the actor was not quite as comfortable with a hammer as the candidate, employing the tool in a series of choked-up staccato taps, as opposed to Edwards's longer, more confident strokes, the mark of a man who'd spent the summers of his youth mucking out looms, building mobile homes, painting markings on highways."

Is it wrong for me to give my heart away just because the man can swing a hammer?

Then, later, this -- the "I" here is Mike Sager, who wrote the article:

"'I hope this isn't too personal,' I said to Edwards, 'but I was reading about how Elizabeth discovered her cancer this second go-around. It was a broken rib, correct?'

'Yes,' Edwards said.

'The papers said you were hugging her -- which is always nice to hear, a married guy hugging his wife. It must have been bizarre. What happened, you just hugged her and heard a snap?'

'Maybe it is a little personal,' Edwards said, laughing self-consciously.

'Maybe I don't want to know?'

'It was a perfectly reasonable question,' he said, bailing me out.

'So hugging was perhaps a euphemism?'

'That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it,' he said, raking his forelock with his fingers.'"

My, my. You most certainly do know how to swing that hammer, don't you, Senator?

Down, Goody, down!