John Edwards announces his 2008 presidential candidacy

I like John Edwards... he's a hometown boy and to use a phrase that has been bandied about this week I believe him to be a fundamentally decent man, but I don't think he's electable. There's just not enough solid political experience there. I may be wrong.

Of course it's not quite 2007 and who knows what's going to happen. george may piss God off so much by 2008 that the rapture will have occured and we'll be marching to Armegeddon.....which would be much more interesting than a presidential election.....

Interesting

Am i the only one that was reminded of Al Gore watching Edwards in his alpha male stance?

Probably

Yes, I think it's safe to say you were the only one.

Ok, I take fiull credit for being the only perceptive poster on this thread.

ooh....delusional as well.

You're not a good judge of dilusional, as you have so aptly proven time & time again....

Madam


Scrolling.

Is it only a rumor that the Trial Lawyers specializing in Personal Injury will congtribute to Edwards' campaign only if he shuts off the sound of the Ambulance siren?

This thread has certainly drawn out the lunatic fringe.

Am i the only one who notices how LoneStarMadam pushes around other posters in these threads with her alpha male(tm) stance?

We all know Possum R FartBubble is the only aplha male on a2k.

I was actually tipped off to the existance of Lone Star Madam -- who seems to imply that (s)he once ran (or still runs) a bordello -- by an abuzz/a2k veteran. I suspect this is yet another name within a fake name. So, ebrown, I was warned and am ignoring this person.

Edwards Pushing Universal Health Care
Edwards Pushing Universal Health Care
By Larry Margasak
The Associated Press
Monday 01 January 2007

Washington - Democratic presidential contender John Edwards says it is more important to invest in universal health care and lifting people out of poverty than to reduce the budget deficit.

The 2004 vice presidential nominee said in an interview broadcast Sunday said "there is a tension" between the two directions, but he has made his choice.

"If I were choosing now between which is more important, I think the investments are more important," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Edwards' proposal, which includes tax cuts and a million housing vouchers for the poor, may place him at odds with Democrats in charge of the congressional spending committees.

The incoming Senate and House Appropriations Committee chairmen, Sen., Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin, have announced a plan to fund most domestic agency accounts at 2006 levels.

They envision some increases to avoid layoffs of federal employees and for politically sensitive programs such as veterans' medical treatment.

Edwards said he wanted to get the country "out of this ditch we're in fiscally" but acknowledged his plan "means you cannot do about the deficit what you'd like to do, that's true."

The former North Carolina senator, who announced his 2008 candidacy last week, said he believes in a trade policy with "labor and environmental protections that are achievable" by U.S. trading partners. But, he added, if the protections "are being used as a ruse to create a protectionist barrier, then I am not for that."

Edwards said he is not ready to take a position yet on gay marriage, and acknowledged his upbringing in the rural South makes this a troubling issue for him.

"It's easy for me to say, civil unions yes, partnership benefits, yes," he said. But on gay marriage, he said, "I'm just not there yet."

Edwards, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio have been the only Democrats to announce their 2008 White House bids.

Vilsack was asked on "Fox News Sunday" about two polls that showed him running third in his own state - in one case behind Edwards and Sen. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and in the other, trailing Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Edwards.

Vilsack said the polls show he would win his state's caucuses if they included individuals who may become Democrats just to attend the caucus meetings.

Both Vilsack and Edwards said energy conservation would be a major campaign issue.

Vilsack, asked whether he would take on Democratic interest groups that might disagree with him, said members of a blue ribbon panel told him, "Look, you've got to do some things that the Republicans won't like; you've got to do some things that the Democrats won't like."

Vilsack said he's not sure that opening up more areas to drilling is the answer to energy problems.

"And it's not because of special interests. It's because of the situation involving oil today," he said.

"Ninety-five percent of the oil that we know of in the world today is going to be extracted at very high cost. We're going to have competition for oil from India and China and other expanding economies.

"We should not be relying on oil. We should be looking for alternative sources. We should be aggressively promoting alternative sources."

Edwards said Americans must make sacrifices in energy use, including changing their personal vehicles.

"There has to be a willingness to give up some of the vehicles they drive, and I myself have driven," he said.

Edwards said he is not advocating a gasoline tax increase at this time but added, "You can't take it off the table."

Edwards is still trying to pay off his debt from his last election failure. I wonder whose childrens future he will mortgage with this coming second failure.

Did Edwards Mention His Dad Was a Millworker?
By Kathleen Parker

Some days nothing goes right. John Edwards had one of those days the last week of 2006 when he announced his candidacy for president -- and hardly anyone noticed.

On the other hand, who didn't already know? Edwards -- who, if I'm not mistaken, is the son of a millworker -- hasn't stopped running for president since he started four years ago.

He paused briefly to run for vice president in 2004, when John Kerry dragged him off the dance floor and made him his main squeeze. But no sooner did they lose than Edwards began running again.

Like Forrest Gump, he can't seem to stop.

Edwards staked out the last week of the year for his kettledrum run at history, which is traditionally a slow news week when the media are bereft of stories to report. Luck apparently didn't get the memo.

The slowest week of the year suddenly became one of the busiest, thanks to that party pooper and thunder thief, Mr. Grim himself. As Edwards talked to a camera and a few reporters, America's eyes were riveted on the Reaper.

First he came for James Brown.

Then Gerald Ford.

Then Saddam Hussein.

The singer, the president and the tyrant robbed John Edwards of his moment. He was the tree that fell in a forest to the sound of one hand clapping.

Poor John Edwards.

No one, Republican or Democrat, has worked harder on his resume or more carefully calculated the timing of his announcement than Edwards, who, by the way, may be the son of a millworker. Could just be a rumor.

Nearly every time we've seen Edwards in the past year, he's been dripping with sweat from raising roof beams and digging out muck in New Orleans, where he and a corps of volunteer youths have been rebuilding the city that George Bush ignored.

It was from New Orleans -- specifically the Katrina-ravaged Ninth Ward -- that Edwards, looking lean in jeans and blue shirt, made his announcement. A simple, Everyman affair, there were no bands or flags, no pennants or patriotic paraphernalia.

Just the raw facts cast against the dreary background of a storm-ravaged house under repair.

In case this isn't perfectly clear, Edwards isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. Even though a mega-millionaire, he still identifies with the downtrodden and underprivileged. Because -- I think I'm right here -- he's the son of a millworker.

Not only has Edwards been toiling in the fetid muck of Katrina's aftermath, he's been scouring the planet for the meek and disenfranchised. He established a poverty institute at the University of North Carolina and has visited several of Earth's most ravaged nations. He also has apologized countless times for voting to invade Iraq.

The trick for any politician -- but especially a populist like Edwards, who is trying to build a case for ending what he calls "Two Americas'' -- is to appear to be a regular guy. Not too rich, too scripted or too sophisticated. This is increasingly difficult for the multimillionaires who pursue high office these days, but Edwards has mastered the act.

At his announcement, he spoke without notes, just talkin' about a few modest goals: ending the war in Iraq, universalizing health care, ending genocide and poverty.

Passionate, but not overwrought, he conveyed the persona of a deeply caring man who wants to make the world a better place. Either that, or the persona of a deeply cunning litigator adept at pulling a jury's heartstrings, which usually precedes the pulling of someone else's purse strings.

Even the sans-serif font on the John Edwards logo is plain and straightforward. But that's where simplicity ends and sophistication triumphs. In Edwardsian politics, sans-serif is a tactic and simplicity a strategy.

No sooner were Edwards' words ignored than they were captured in a YouTube segment and posted on his "Tomorrow Begins Today'' Web site, which features an array of high-tech options for the wired generation. Visitors can sign up for e-mail alerts, mobile phone messages, and even click on a bar for espanol: El manana comienza hoy. Nothing unsophisticated about that.

Edwards, the aw-shucks country boy, may have unfortunate timing, but his mama didn't raise no fool. Neither did his daddy, who, you may have heard, was a millworker.