The Liberal Patriot Blog
 The Liberal Patriot Blog is dedicated to collecting and sharing information about National and State [New Hampshire] Political Action, News, and Events.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

How soon they forget.....

Here come the attacks... Edwards is heralding poverty as an issue, a hugely timely and forgotten issue that as Tom Oliphant of the Boston Glode has said Edwards was talking about when no one else cared. Remember all that crap in the media about American never knew there was poverty like this!!! WELL I WONDER WHY! The dead from katrina haven't even all been found yet and the media and pundits are criticizing Edwards for talking about poverty too much... I only hope in Edwards "One America" these pundits will be forced to WORK FOR A LIVING for a change!!

Potential candidate Edwards remains focused on poverty
By Natalie Gott, Associated Press Writer

John Edwards is still talking like someone running for president, and for him that means talking about poverty in America.

......some wonder if the former senator needs to move outside his comfort zone and start talking about other issues -- such as the war in Iraq and rising gas prices -- if he's serious about another bid for the White House.

The question of whether (poverty) is sufficient is answered with the question ... 'When is the last time you saw John Edwards on the evening news?'" said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. "I think the answer is, 'It's been awhile.'"
......
Phil Roeder, who runs a public relations firm in Iowa and is active in Democratic politics in the state, said poverty is not a bad issue on which to focus.
......
......Michael Munger, chairman of the political science department at Duke University [says].. The free college program "seemed sort of nice and it's a nice philanthropic gesture, but it doesn't fit with someone" who is trying to build up his foreign policy knowledge, a frequent critique of Edwards during his 2004 campaign.
.......
"He doesn't know anything about foreign policy and this doesn't help," Munger said. "I think it's fairly possible that he just thinks it's the right thing to do."

Full Article from Boston.com

Disclosure: I am supporting Edwards in the pres. primary and I plan to volunteer for his campaign in NH.


Comments:
Jon, I commend you for your support for Edwards. The man has had the guts to speak about issues that people don't want to talk about... he has always understood how the economic dynamics in this country are working. And, he has the talent and the smarts to make his message be heard by Americans. The Two Americas speech propelled him from a fringe candidate to a tough competitor - the only serious challenger to John Kerry. Why? Because he not only knows the issue, but he also knows how to frame it to get America's attention focused on this.

How wonderful it would be to have a person with his intelligence and talent in the White House.... ah, I wish!

Susi, what makes you hope that "Dems can do better?"

Frankly, Edwards is probably the only politician I've ever come across who embodies a vast amount of positives. He has the intellect, charisma, vision, courage, electability (he got the most independents and conservatives to vote for him despite being a very progressive candidate...), and the compassion that I believe we desperately need in this country's leaders! I see a lot of potential in John Edwards... 2008 is far away, however, I'm very impressed by him.

Plus poverty is only one issue, I remember listening to his town hall meetings during the primaries and he has a vision for everything from energy independence to tax reform to college/education reform to cutting down on predatory lenders to a host of other issues. And, it's about time we put some new ideas into effect to change the demoralized state of this nation. It's time for a new "new deal" and currently, I can only see Edwards giving that to us.
 
Susi, just to make the point:

Edwards co-wrote the patients bill of rights and by most accounts, fought the hardest to get it passed through the Senate, which he did. (but it was stalled in the house).

He did a lot of little things that I could refer to... however, the truth remains that most freshman senators don't get to take on the big bills and champion them.

In fact, Edwards got to work on the Patients' bill of rights because of his brilliant closing statement in defense of Clinton in Monicagate, which was praised by people on both sides of the aisle.

Same goes with Obama and Hillary... people who haven't really proposed anything remarkable because they are freshman senator, even though Hillary has so much national clout.

Anyway, you have the right to be skeptical. However, I will say this... that if he was trying to say stuff just to get people's votes then he would have chosen an issue to work on that is more universally supported.. say something like energy independence, etc. Instead he has been consistently speaking about the growing socio-economic gap in this country, which I think is as progressive as you can get and shows that he truly believes in the cause.

Anyway, let's see what his and others' messages are in 08... I think we'll have to judge on what the candidates say and fight for during the campaign.

As for the patriot act, Edwards has consistently said that parts of the act are good however the parts that curtail on our civil rights need to be repealed.

And, oh yeah... how could I forget that Kennedy called Edwards our biggest asset on the judiciary committee. He was the one who grilled Ashcroft the most and impressed a lot of people with it; and Kennedy said that Edwards "single-handedly crushed pickerings".. remember charles pickerings? It would have been nice to see him at work with Miers and Roberts... alas!
 
Post a Comment

< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?