"I voted for the resolution. It was a mistake." -Fmr Sen John Edwards

That quote is a little over half way down the page. Enjoyable article - sounds like he's doing some real good now.

Cornbread and Roses

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...Who is this guy--and what has he done with the centrist New Democrat who once had Karl Rove quaking in his boots? While he clearly hasn't lost his all-too-palpable lust for the White House, Edwards has largely left behind the Clintonian emphasis on "personal responsibility" and "fiscal restraint" that often struck a hollow note in his campaign speeches--particularly in contrast to his heartfelt cry of "two Americas." The metamorphosis began during the last campaign, when Edwards gradually found his voice as an economic populist. Less than a decade into his political career, he remains a work in progress.

"We might be seeing the kind of transformation Bobby Kennedy underwent," says Pete MacDowell, a veteran grassroots organizer and staunch Edwards critic ("a political Ken doll with a populist streak" is how MacDowell describes him) who runs the NC Progressive Democrats PAC. "After he initially supported Vietnam and went slow on civil rights, Kennedy developed a moral core and turned into the kind of Democrat we haven't seen since. I never thought I'd say this, but maybe that's what we're now seeing with Edwards. Maybe this is his core."

However implausible the RFK comparison might sound, it's hard to deny it on this mid-October Monday in Chapel Hill, when Edwards--fresh from the shelter--shimmers onto the stage of UNC's Great Hall at lunchtime, soaking up Beatles-esque roars of adulation from an overflow crowd of students. It's the first stop on a ten-campus national tour, Opportunity Rocks, where Edwards will urge thousands of students to fight poverty. Even with an unsexy message, the messenger will draw crowds that surprise even his organizers--1,500 at the University of California, Berkeley, more than 2,000 at the University of Michigan.
....
In an interview after the UNC speech, Edwards finally utters the words he'd assiduously avoided during the last campaign: "I voted for the resolution," he says. "It was a mistake." So far, so good. But he goes on, "The hard question is, What do you do now? Looking back, it's easy to say that it was wrong and based on false information. Anybody who doesn't admit that isn't honest, and that's the truth." So what now? "I myself feel conflicted about it," Edwards replies. "But we have to find ways--and I don't mean just yanking all the troops tomorrow--but we have to find ways to start bringing our troops home. Our presence there is clearly contributing to the problem." So does he agree with Senator Russ Feingold that Washington should set a withdrawal deadline? "No. Even if we're going to say that internally, that we're gonna have our troops out by X date, there's no reason to announce that to the world. I think that's probably a mistake." He doesn't agree, either, with Senator Clinton's call for more US troops to finish the job? "No sir!" Edwards says, sitting straight up in his chair. "Did she really say that?"

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20051128&s=moser

His vote for the war was one of the biggest knocks I had against him. It takes a lot of courage to admit a mistake like that...

the whole bit about robin lowman? the bit about dancing naked on the bar in houston in his cheeerleader boor days? what about the sneaky preplanned effort by the repukes to undermine clinton, and with him the system of US democracy? What about the constant lies told the public, or the depravity of the establishment media?
iraq wasn't a mistake; it's still buying the bush criminals time....isn't it?

for posting :hi:

I especially liked this part:

<snip>
While Edwards insists that his latest campaign "ought to be nonpartisan," its success in keeping him in the national limelight will determine whether he can make a viable charge at Hillary Clinton in 2008. In one recent poll Clinton led the likely pack of Democratic contenders with 42 percent; Edwards was a distant second at 14. "I wouldn't put much stock in that, though," says Ferrel Guillory. "For all you read about Hillary Clinton, she's not scaring away contenders. She's going to lead in the polls right up till the primaries start, because she's the celebrity. But the people making her out to be inevitable are Republicans. They'd love nothing better, especially in the South."

Edwards has a leg up in a survey that may mean more. According to a Pew Center poll released in late October, his favorability rating among Democrats not only bests Hillary's, 68 to 59 percent, but even that of the original Clinton, Bill, who stands at 64. And while John Kerry's unfavorable rating is a sad 48 percent among the Democrats who just last year nominated him for President, Edwards's "unfavorable" is easily the lowest, at 32--and the survey showed he's the best liked, and least loathed, among Republicans and independents, too.
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He was out in California right after the vote, and he was truculent in his support for war. He would hear NO argument that undermined his support. He just sounded like our idiot in chief repeating "weapons of mass destruction. . . ." I AM happy he's sorry about it, but let's just look at the facts--2000+ soliders dead, uncounted numbers of Iraqis dead, billions of dollars down the toilet. . . . The information about the yellow cake uranium was IN the news: I KNEW that BEFORE the invasion, because newspapers had printed it. It's impossible to say that he couldn't have known. Just saying "I'm sorry" isn't sufficient. I'll NEVER vote for him.

but I think that the characterization of him as not wanting to hear other opinions is just wrong. It's just simply not tru.

And it's not too late. It's now, and he's leading. Thankfully.

k & r

Listen, we want people to admit they were wrong, but if your response to that courageous admission is to slap them back -- with falsehoods -- he was not truculent in California -- then don't expect others to follow suit.
Maybe, you could say you were wrong and should accept his willingness to admit a mistake and try to work with those who want to remedy it.

I was there. I heard him in California. Were you?

Anyway, it's a pointless argument. He'll never be nominated for president. He and Kerry already blew their wad.

ignorant and obscene.

Can't come up with a peaceful, intelligent answer instead of "blew their wad"?

I don't claim to be an expert on what would qualify as "typical" behavior on a board as diverse as this one but yes, there is a great deal of anger here for democrats who could have taken a stand against the invasion of Iraq BEFORE it happened but didn't.

As for calling cyr330 ignorant simply for voicing an opinion different from yours, that is the real obscenity on this thread.

while it is better than trying to defend his vote, I am still appalled and disgusted that anyone was EVER fooled by bush inc.....they stole the G.D. ELECTION - THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOUR FIRST CLUE MR. EDWARDS.

further showing we are not the party of unity.

I have to wonder whether some people who visit this site want to win the presidency or are truly happy just bickering and being the minority party.
Maybe its true what the pundits say about democrats, we have no courage to stand up and come up with better ideas, all we can do is complain.

Believe it or not, middle America is not ultra left wing, until democrats realize that not everything is going to be ultra liberal, then they will be losers.

Here's a man who is out there helping a shelter, but all folks here do is complain. How many of you were out working at the local shelter yesterday? I know I wasn't, so I can't complain.