Help me understand this Edwards house story

So Bush spends his life spending family and other peoples money and ends up building a 10,000 square foot house plus countless additional guest houses on 1600 acres of land in Texas and when purchased the value was seven figures, certainly much more expensive than other houses in Crawford. As you can see from these photos, the Bush compound spares no expense, whether you are talking about the fishing lakes, the bikes paths, the swimming pool, the guest houses and right down to the exclusive country chic interior. John McCain sold his Phoenix area house that was also worth millions but when John Edwards - a guy who is a self made millionaire and not silver spoon fed or a legacy to Annapolis and son of two generations of Navy Admirals - builds a nice property it is suddenly a worth a good old fashioned media smear campaign?

What am I missing here besides the media lapping up GOP talking points? Is it now a crime in the US to live comfortably with the wealth that you generated on your own? Edwards has experienced both sides of America which is a hell of a lot more than McCain or Bush can say so I don't even see where his new house means anything other than being the new Swiftboat campaign.

Back in 2004 I used to choke up my morning coffee when Republicans and their media lapdogs would talk about Kerry being an elitist and somehow overlook the obvious fact that Bush was from one of the American royal families, the top of the top on the old money scale. Is it so difficult to offer a bit of balance these days or will the media continue to regurgitate GOP messages without question?