Edwards Evening News: Why John Edwards Must Be the Nominee
by jsamuel
Mon Nov 12, 2007 at 07:42:42 PM PDT
- Why John Edwards Must Be the Nominee
- Edwards's Scissor Hands
- Fighting for What We Believe In
- Diary Round-Up
- jsamuel's diary :: ::
John Edwards must be the Democratic Nominee. Not because I like him for who he is (although I do), but because he brings the policies and the plans that will make America into what we know it is capable of. No other candidate offers this to us. John Edwards does it with every ounce of fight he dishes out. 80 page book of his plans
1. Why John Edwards Must Be the Nominee
http://www.opednews.com/...
Gore isn't running. So we must consider who the very best candidate is, on the key points of this election:
Win-ability
Polled head-to-head against each of the leading Republican presidential nominees, John Edwards wins each match-up by 5 points more than Hillary Clinton. As there must be no margin for error this time, that is truly significant.
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Corporate pirates' worst nightmare
Big business has been given a free pass by the supply-side globalization crowd since Ronald Reagan got into office, and in those 26 years what they have achieved is the ruin of the American middle class, the destruction of trade unionism, and the creation of a wealthy class that functions beyond law, beyond taxes, and beyond recourse. One percent of our population now lives lifestyles that the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire couldn't even have dreamed of. While Bill Clinton did much good, he also, working most of his term with a Republican congress - favored the very economic policies that have got us to this point. Hillary hasn't proven she doesn't have identical economic philosophies. Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover would be smiling, as the policies they advocated were much the same, and look where that got us. Similarly, the media elites want to expand their oligopoly of ownership, and therefore define our entire national political and cultural discourse.
No more! It is now time, as in 1932 for Franklin Roosevelt, to bring in a leader who not only knows how to call large corporations to the mat for their misdeeds and abuses, but is willing to ASK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO SACRIFICE AND PARTICIPATE IN THE REBUILDING OF THIS COUNTRY. It is time for those companies that have "moved their corporate headquarters offshore", usually to a post-office box in the Cayman Islands, but sometimes - like Halliburton recently did -to Dubai, to be taxed where their real offices are, here in the United States. If they don't like it, they lose their government contracts.
I have followed the campaigns closely, and while I don't agree with every point Edwards makes (Civil Unions for gay couples? C'mon John, just go the extra step..), I have said for several years that after the utter disaster visited upon our country, our constitution, our treasury, our military (where does the list end?) we need an FDR to recreate a middle class, to restore social safety nets, to recalibrate the balance of wealth, and to reinvigorate the populace; to make us feel we are united again. And restore our goodwill in the world community.
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2. Edwards's Scissor Hands
It was hard not to think of this passage on a brisk morning last Friday in Cheraw, South Carolina, as Edwards warmed up a crowd of some 200 locals. A few days earlier, Edwards had led the Democratic field in its first thorough grilling of Hillary Clinton--at one point urging her to shift from general- election mode to "tell-the-truth mode." Now he was eager to revisit the moment. "I want to start by saying a few words about the debate that took place in Philadelphia a couple of days ago," Edwards announced. "You know, I have a really simple rule: When you get asked a yes or no question, you can't answer yes and no. That doesn't work. ... We certainly can't afford to have a Democratic nominee who does that." The crowd chuckled, then nodded along in approval.
Though Edwards was the debate's consensus winner, the distinction had come with a caveat: What if he'd unwittingly turned Clinton into a sympathetic victim? It was a reasonable question, but one that ignored a key biographical detail: Having spent two decades doing rhetorical battle in some of the most hostile courtrooms in North Carolina, with juries ready to punish the slightest hint of overreach, Edwards arguably has a better feel for how voters will react to his words than any candidate in recent memory.
"There are a lot of people that the jury doesn't want to see you pound on," Edwards told me later. "What happens is, psychologically, they'll put themselves in the shoes of the witness. And you don't want them to do that." Then he picked up on the analogy between a trial and a campaign: "Tough is fine. Juries don't mind you being tough. Voters don't mind you being tough. ... If you're being factual and you're giving them information that's defining their choices, nobody's offended by that."
3. Fighting for What We Believe In
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Edwards, who still has as good a shot of winning the opening-gun Iowa caucuses as anyone, gave an effective speech and benefited from his early-evening slot on the political dance card. Even though he opted for a softer tone on Saturday night in a speech that broke little new ground, Edwards stressed his signature argument that the problems facing America cannot be solved by incremental solutions. "We've got to tell the truth," he declared, making a populist pitch. "Corruption has crept its way into our government over a period of decades. And you see it everywhere." The key word here is "decades," since it implies that Bill Clinton's presidency was also in the thrall of special interests.
Edwards... intuitively understands that the only way to dethrone an establishment favorite, especially a former first lady named Hillary, is to challenge her directly.
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Edwards Questions If Clinton Will Actually "Turn Up The Heat"
"The war in Iraq isn't even history yet, but the Bush Administration is repeating the march to war with Iran – and they're getting help from a person who should know a lot better – Senator Clinton.
"On Saturday at the Iowa Jefferson Jackson dinner, Senator Clinton unveiled her new campaign slogan to 'turn up the heat' on the Republicans.
"Well, somebody will have to tell me how you 'turn up the heat' by voting with Bush, Cheney and the neocons on their path to war with Iran. Because I don't believe that's turning up the heat – I think that's giving them exactly what they want.
"Senator Clinton had her chance to stand up and she chose not to use it. Our nation needs leaders who have the strength and backbone to fight the president on his march to war with Iran – not quicken the pace."
4. Diary Round-Up
Edwards's Scissor Hands and Clinton's 5 P's
