John Edwards Slammed for Pushing SUV "Sacrifice"

DETROIT

A day after Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards called for Americans to sacrifice their SUVs to conserve fuel and clean up the planet, critics are howling that his remarks are hypocritical and akin to "book burnings of the past."

"Last time I checked, America is about choice," wrote Jason Vines, Chrysler Group's vice president of communications, on the company's TheFirehouse.biz blog. "This kind of reminds me of book burnings of the past. Shouldn't a president try to preserve freedoms? So let's lay off any suggestions of "vehicle choice by government committee. Trabant, anyone?" Vines' column had the headline: "Drive as I Say, Not as I Drive."

A Trabant is a tiny East German car with a two-stroke engine that has come to be the symbol of repressive regimes.

Brit Hume, writing on FoxNews.com, points out that Edwards is, in fact, an SUV owner himself. The Edwards campaign admitted to Hume that the former senator owns a Ford Escape Hybrid SUV and a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica SUV, but said he is driving them less frequently. Hume also notes that Edwards "lives in a 28,000-square-foot mansion in North Carolina."

Edwards said on Wednesday that he would ask Americans to give up their SUVs as part of his plan to cut carbon emissions. "We are the worst polluter on the planet," he said. "America's going to have to change."