The first snippy attacks between same-party candidates is happening now between John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.

Edwards, speaking at Manhattan’s Riverside Church:

“Silence is betrayal, and I believe it is a betrayal not to speak out against the escalation of the war in Iraq, If you’re in Congress and you know that this war is going in the wrong direction . . . it is no longer O.K. to study your options and keep your own private counsel.

“Silence is betrayal. Speak out and stop this escalation now.”

Clearly speaking of people like Hillary who aren’t calling for a immediate withdrawal.

Hillary responds through her adviser Howard Wolfson:

In 2004, John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration’s Iraq policy.

See, what’s funny here is that John Edwards opened his campaign from the 9th ward in New Orleans in December but nobody paid attention or cared. There was a Saddam hanging and Gerald Ford death during the time as well.

Ain’t this the truth:

“Clinton now faces a double-barreled threat from two charismatic contenders, Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama.”

Edwards, clearly from the left and Obama from the who knows where. The party in-fighting will be the most entertaining portion of the entire 2008 campaign.

Video excerpts of Edwards’ speech here