'The client never speaks' — Edward Bennett Williams on why John Edwards should shut up

The legendary attorney — Williams, not Edwards — had only one rule for someone who sought to retain him.

It's above.

There's another saying, less easily attributable, you've perhaps heard, to wit: "A man who represents himself in court has a fool for a lawyer."

That also holds for a attorney who speaks for himself on TV yet doesn't understand the simple fact that putting a shovel into a hole invariably results in the hole getting deeper.

Sometimes smart people are the dumbest ones in the room.

Edwards's ongoing self-destruction via media is a case study in how not to deal with a crisis.

The only thing that might explain his behavior is that he's retained Gary Hart as counsel.