Comments on: The Heart Of The Democratic Party

By: tennesseewoman

tennesseewoman — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:43:39 +0000

Now, we may be looking at (on the Rep.side) John McCain and Huckabee as VP, oy vey!
Without John Edwards, I have no one I really like to vote for! Maybe all the independents could get it together to vote for John (where he is still on the ballot) or do a massive write-in vote! He is my hero in this war on big corporations! And again, a voice for labor. (to echo mediamaven).
Does any one think that John might run as an independent? A third party?

By: MediaMaven

MediaMaven — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:29:56 +0000

There has been much discussion about Endward’s giving voice to the poor. But for me, what was most outstanding was that Edwards was a mighty voice for labor. We haven’t heard that in a long, long time. I didn’t hear Obama or Hillary say they would appoint a Secretary of Labor who would uphold the right of workers to organize, who would appoint members to the NLRB from labor backgrounds, not members in good standing of National Association of Manufacturers or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or promise to be the best union president in U.S. history. Maybe they said it, but I missed it. And it’s unfortunate that so many labor union leaders rushed like lemmings to the poll leaders instead of standing up for the candidate that best represented their members’ interests. Edwards understood the best way to help the working poor is to help them organize and drive up the cost of their labor in relation to the profit margins and return on equity of their employers. Our economy is out of balance because there has been since the passage of Taft/Hartley a relentless, legal and illegal, assault on the right to organize, the right to collectively bargain, the right to a fair contract, none of which we have had for far too many workers. I believe Edwards would have done something about that.
May God bless you John, Elizabeth and your entire family. You tried, but not enough of us would listen.

By: Alecia

Alecia — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:30:24 +0000

Some of the old “bulls” needs to be targeted as well as they
tend to indoctrinate new members as to how to turn a deaf ear to the people who have just elected them.

By: redX

redX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:39:50 +0000

Thanks for instead trying to turn it into a “let’s bash the Clintons” or a “let’s bash Obama” thread for everyone who has done so. Class acts, all.

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If Edwards was not there to challenge them where would we be? I like to bash them both and hope that they will move a bit more progressive - instead it seems that they just consider anyone that does not support any Democrat to be a Looney Lefty.

By: masaccio

masaccio — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:22:09 +0000

I’m really sad that John Edwards has withdrawn. After the last election, he began a process of change. It was clear that he had learned a lot from the 2004 election. He got a chance to see the people of America close up. He began to study the problems they faced, and he looked more closely at himself and his positions. The changes he made in his policy views grew out of this period of self study. I don’t care about his prior record. When he talked, you could hear conviction in his voice, a voice formed the same way every lawyer presents the case of a client: by listening and studying, and by giving the client real presence in the courtroom, a presence that the judge must take into account in decisions.

Edwards was that voice for the poor and the middle class: the victims of the Republicans.

I really wanted to vote for him, and I may do so anyway.

By: redX

redX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:00:19 +0000

I would like John Edwards to have the opportunity to give voice to these essential concerns on the United States Supreme Court.

Justice Edwards has a very nice ring to it.

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That will be the day. The only people who get on the SC are the ones who love big biz, the only difference being if the want to allow things like flag burning and civil rights that should have been granted in the previous generation.

By: pmorlan

pmorlan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:49:19 +0000

I’m still voting for Edwards in my primary. Obama and Hillary will have to win the nomination without my help.

By: redX

redX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:27:30 +0000

I will not forget when Robert Kennedy decided to rejoin the presidential race

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anything is possible, but he would just be giving away delegates on Super Tuesday. That and the fact that he tried a number of stories and policies - even finally that he was most electable in the general and it barely registered a few seconds on TV. He also does not have all the DC lobby money.

By: redX

redX — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:25:41 +0000

The Democratic party has long been the champion of the downtrodden and folks in need. Although we have sadly forgotten that obligation to the least of these our bretheren the last few years

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I think it goes beyond this, the party is no longer the party of the people or labor. There is one uni-party that is down with corporation and taking billions of dollars with things like HMO and Prescription drugs, printing money at the Fed like water.

Note above I use “a voice” meaning a leader. Grass roots could be king, but the media is up for the task of taking people out and setting the agenda (and when that fails real assasins, ex. JFK, MLK). I will be quite keen to see if should Obama make it if he actually goes anywhere with the drop-in-the-bucket items that he has touched upon (campaign finance reform, government spending database, etc).

By: klynn

klynn — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:25:25 +0000

I will not forget when Robert Kennedy decided to rejoin the presidential race and delivered his famous speech at the University of Kansas on March 18th, 1968.

Go read it herehttp://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/RFK/RFKSpeech68Mar18UKansas.htm:

This speech will make you think of John Edwards…

I quietly hope John makes a similar decision as he listens to the remaining candidates over the next month and he does not hear a voice for the “folks left behind.”

He was looking good in Ohio…