So this is fun: In a statement from Wal-Mart today, former Senator John Edwards had a staffer contact the electronics manager in a Raleigh, North Carolina store to try and get his hands on a PlayStation 3. Problem was, later that night he reportedly told a story to people on a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union-sponsored call that his son had ridiculed a classmate about his shoes, which were purchased at Wal-Mart.
Upon hearing the news, the company invited Edwards to visit the local store to check out its electronics as well as its shoes for men and boys. And then they basically said he can get in line with everyone else.
The Company noted the PlayStation3 is an extremely popular item this Christmas season, and while the rest of America’s working families are waiting patiently in line, Senator Edwards wants to cut to the front. While, we cannot guarantee that Sen. Edwards will be among one of the first to obtain a PlayStation3, we are certain Sen. Edwards will be able to find great gifts for everyone on his Christmas list – many at Wal-Mart’s “roll-back prices.”
I have to hand it to Wal-Mart on this one. That’s pretty sweet of them to basically put the smackdown on Edwards like that.
EDIT: So it turns out, as reader Matt so elegantly put it, that I’m a clown. Well, sort of. The misguided staffer turned out to be doing the requesting for himself, not for the former Senator, but name-dropped Edwards to do so. However, this still does not change the fact that Wal-Mart issued its statement, which was what I was originally commenting on above.
Former Senator John Edwards Turns to Wal-Mart for PlayStation3 [walmart newsroom]