A John Edwards Epiphany

I just had a Skype conversation with my sister. I try not to influence her political thinking even though she asks me frequently for my political opinion. I had exchanged emails earlier in the week with her son who thinks I’m really in tune with politics because I have been so public about my opposition the Bush’s war. I had answered his question about my choice for 2008 by saying that, without Gore in the race, I was drifting toward Obama. Two days later, perhaps because of things I had read on DU, I had an Edwards epiphany. My sister called to tell me that she was now convinced that Edwards would be the best president as well as our best candidate. She was blown away that we had both come to that same conclusion on our own. Maybe we just simultaneously snapped out of our media induced stupor at the same time and realized that there is one candidate in the race that most Americans would accept as a leader. We haven’t had one of those for a very long time so its kind of a novel idea.

I listened to John Edwards on NPR this morning driving to work. I was struck by the idea that here is someone I can trust when my list of trusted people, public and private, has been steadily shrinking since the Supreme Court betrayed the whole idea of justice in 2000. Maybe the benefit of this long, brutal primary campaign is that is has given all of us a chance to wake up. It’s a no brainer and now I’m in the fight. I only have to take half of my Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker off my car and that gives me great satisfaction. Any more epiphanies out there?

Greetings and congratulations to you and your sister.

I couldn't agree with you more about John Edwards' trustworthiness. He's a good man. He has a smart wife.

A smart wife doesn't pick anything less than a good man to raise 4 kids with.

Welcome aboard.

I saw John on Charlie Rose and something got my attention. I think it was a level of honesty...or sanity. I've noticed that several of these candidates impress me more in interviews than they do in a debate format where everything seems so rehearsed and measured.

Two Americas speech, I knew he was the one to restore what the promise of America used to be - and I have never looked back. I also have two children, 6 and 3, and their future is everything to me - Edwards nails everything from revamping NCLB, his college initiative, his Green Jobs proposal (Wow, read it here: http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071201-cities-rising/ ) to ending the occupation in Iraq.

Welcome Aboard! and happy to see you! :hi:

I've had a similar experience.

hoping candidates will move more towards the People. I think I've waited long enough. I watched the candidate's forum in Iowa and I have made my decision.

I'm with you FightingIrish, I am a John Edwards supporter.

I especially like the fact that he has such a lot of experience fighting corporations. This is something that we need in order to craft the kinds of legislation that will end the Corporatist Socialism that we live in.

But it was the exact opposite of yours. I simply don't feel John Edwards is someone to be trusted much at all. And that was an epiphany I had back in 2004, before he remade himself completely and gave me even less reason to trust what he is saying. Sorry, once you have an epiphany it's hard to shake. I'm sure I won't shake your sudden realization, and I wouldn't want to. But your epiphany won't change my gut feelings either. I can't help but see him as our own little Mitt Romney: someone who led their life in business or the litigation courtroom and then suddenly decided they wanted them some political prizes. Their idea is to close the deal or win the case by whatever means necessary, saying anything needed to clinch that win, even if totally contradictory to what they said two years ago (we're not talking evolution here). Well, that's just my personal epiphany. I can't speak for anyone else.

Given your premise, How do you account for so many naive fools (a.k.a. Edwards supporters)? To what do you ascribe your superior ability to recognize the truth?

In most cases, I do not ascribe my differences with candidates to their intrinsic character flaws, so I'm curious how it is possible for someone to turn their own opinion into an absolute universal truth.

:nopity:

What a ridiculous post...Mitt Romney. THAT cat is dangerous!! And, he's the one we need to beat!!

Got that Old Time Religion...careful!!

TAGGLINE

Right at the time of the St. Anselm's College speech. But in the past month my support of Edwards has only increased. I'd say I now support him strongly and fully. He's just kicking ass, and I see more and more people coming on board every day. Welcome.

I'm really baffled.

Most Congressional Democrats voted against attacking Iraq. Edwards voted to attack Iraq, even though, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Commitee, he knew better than most that the "evidence" against Iraq was utterly - look up what fellow commitee member Durbin has to say about this.

He voted for the usurious bankruptcy law. He voted for job-obliterating permanent "free" trade status for China. He was a member of a hedge fund that *specialized* in predatory lending.

He used to run around claiming that he came from poverty, until a little digging found that he grew up solidly middle class, and his dad *managed* a textile mill.

This is a man of the people?

Sure, now he's apologized for virtually his entire senate career. But why would you expect that the "new and improved" Edwards would show up for work on 1/20/2009?

Which bill was that?

:shrug:

do you know more than he does? Maybe Edwards and others should have listened to the old liberal lions of the Senate when they were warned NOT to vote for it.

Why the personal crap?

:shrug:

.

complete and total fuckfest of the Constitution.

a co-author on the Patriot Act which is one big reason I don't trust him although there are also other reasons as well. As our NC Senator he was a constant campaigner and therefore an ineffective Senator. He would not have been re-elected to a second term here in NC had he run again. His interest in supporting "union labor" began pretty much commensurate with his 08 bid for the White House, and I have read elsewhere that in most of the labor marches he attends, he is only there long enough to get a few publicity shots with the crowd and then he's gone which tells me he has not changed in his campaign tactics much. Like I said though, he is a professional campaigner, just a lousy legislator. Vote for who you want of course, but for any of the candidates, other than maybe Kucinich, I would recommend taking ANYTHING they say with a grain of salt.

Fool me once, shame on you....fool me twice....uh uh, not gonna happen

I don't get it. I researched Edwards back in 2002. The guy has been running a long time. I've watched him morph into this pretty progressive butterfly from an ugly, finger in the wind, centrist worm. Back when he actually held an office he wasn't liberal or progressive on hardly anything, and that's when he even bothered to show up to vote. His short time in the Senate really looks just like a short pit stop to the Oval office aspirations. I thought he sucked in the Cheney debate and sucked at being a running mate.
But what I really don't get is how people can just look past that short record which not only included the Iraq vote but co-author of the Patriot Act. Edwards was very Leibermanish in the Senate but now I guess he's a pretty shiny new progressive butterfly! :shrug: I hope he just flutters away.

next President is going to do. Look, we have been fed up with this
war for a long time. We cannot spend the next hundred years in the
past ---Look just about all those Dems voted for the war. If you hold
one vote a person made against them you stay frozen in place.
Years ago Edwards came out wrote a piece for the paper (Iforget, Psot
or Times) m The first sentence. I WAS WRONG. To publicly admit
one's mistake shows real leadership. I would say he had an Eiphany too.

While the war is important, there are so many vital issues, it is only
one among many to me. Since he admitted he was wrong I trust him whem
he says he will end the war.

Like I said, I have been watching Edwards have his "eiphanys" for a long time now. His short lived record is not anything to write about. Back in 2002 I had to research further back to his career as a trial attorney and though he was succesful, I thought his style was telling. He's just not the candidate for me. Sorry.

it will probably cost ME more because my insurance is a Union based insurance and costs less than most others.

I just made a mistake yesterday and while I'm not in a position of power, I admitted I was wrong and things went a lot better!

I've been with Edwards for a very long time! I still have Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers on my vehicle, but did buy some of the new "very colorful" Edwards 08 ones about a month ago. Very nice, and very noticeable!

How do I know he's not playing the classic game of telling liberals what they want to hear in the primary before he moves back to the center where he always was? That's exactly why I don't like Hillary Clinton.

I'll take Obama. I know he has always been progressive and can stand by his convictions.

:shrug:

He went to a North Carolina state supported school, that also tells you his family didn't have all that much. He loaded trucks at night to pay for his education. Like Bill Clinton he did grow up poor in the south, Bill spent his life reading and studying every president. Edwards had to hit the work road, and he worked hard for what he earned, he had every lawyer in the state that could get into the court house when he was trying the Lackey Case, turned the companies 100 thousand dollars down, because he had done his work and knew that the company had been in trouble with other people.. won the judgment, and a little girl from a poor family that had her insides sucked out by a faulty pump, because of Johns hard work is now in her own home with her parents being fed several hours every night by a feeding tube, with out Johns help, these poor parents couldn't have kelp the child home, she would have been institutionalized

Saves me from having to pay any attention to the debates.

But we really don't have a lemon in the lot. They all have different strengths, but not that different. Whichever one we get, even Biden, I'll vote for.

But I have to say that whoever wins is literally going to ride the whirlwind because not one has any experience in the climate changes that are rapidly reshaping our world and our place in it. None of us do. They are all ably prepared for the world in which we grew up...but what's coming? That's going to change all the rules.

Am definitely not for Hillary, and Obama ...something about Obama doesn't jive with me...I've noticed some of his recent "stronger" bouts with Clinton, but I still have a nagging doubts...

The right will crucify, and vilify Hillary and Obama is never going to win the GE He is black and stands no chance in the election process. Edwards is white and so our progressive mature population will not be traumatized. I really think it is going to have to be Edwards or Biden. Both Obama asnd Hillary are fine candidates the population is not ready for too much change.

"I trust you"

Judging by Time's latest saintly cover shot of Obama ... they'll be pimping him instead of Hillary from now on. Edwards is far too threatening for the media elite, so they'll do all they can to disenfranchise him. Hillary and Obama are corporate-friendly, so they'll reap all the positive spin.

Time to get to work for Edwards. We'll have to work twice as hard, but it's definitely doable. Start spreadin' the news !!

See our intrepid volunteer Yannick, and more-

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/asdjrocky

It will be a sad day for America if John Edwards isn't elected as our next President.

...me too.

:kick:

for POTUS in 2007


I will gladly get "hammered" and flamed for this....but every day I am literally shocked by people saying that the Hil is not at the top of their list, they like Obama but are really hearing and liking Edwards.

Because really, before I started talking to people, I thought I was pretty much alone with my thinking....and what I am finding is there is more and more support for Edwards...that is astounding to me and a real delight.

From universal healthcare to Iraq, he's flip flopped on every major "progressive" issue.
His supporters deserve better.

some sort of magnetism.

I would just like to comment on you comment by saying that Edwards blue blazer is far from empty....it is filled with just the stuff this country needs....

Love ya, though for trying.

:loveya:

...I read some of the responses here and it amazes me how easily a bad track record can be erased and forgiven with a mere half-assed “I was wrong”. (I say half -assed because Edwards pats himself on his back for admitting he was wrong for voting “yes” to the IWR, but he doesn’t come clean about co-sponsoring the Joe Lieberman resolution).

Someone said we don’t have “lemon” among our dems running. All I can say is that some of us here have to take off our rose colored glasses.

Voting for a person because of a one liner like “Two Americas”, is just plain nuts.

When I see Edwards I see a man who’s an ex-senior advisor to a global investment firm seeking to become king of the world.

Man...wake up. Edwards is boots on the ground. Obama is young and lost...Hillary is bought and sold...and the status quo (save Dennis and JE) are chumps...filler, fluff, poofy, bullshit artists. Dennis is a visionary who sees this country's potential to re-invent itself...just too plugged into Labor. Therefore wisdom being 20/20...one would hope...is helping this race produce a real, humanist, intelligent, issue oriented, "ELECTABLE" (I hate that term...so vapid, but relevant)candidate for the Presidency. John Edwards is a man of real conviction, who bailed out of the Whore House that IS the US Senate, and marched on to run for the Presidency...to make an impact in the route this country is headed. Too bad Prescott Bush's Gran-baby bought and claimed the race as his own.

Edwards may have been a trial attorney...but he grew to that stature under his own volition...certainly NOT through the efforts of some fucking Nazi Collaborating,De-Americanizing-agenda riddled family-monied fascists named BUSH...

I wonder how many more stupid posts are going to run on and on about "Flip-Flopping"??? What contemptible drivel...get on with the issues, folks. Don't let the neo-cons wedge this election...hell, they can log in and read, too...y'know !! Think about it.

TAGGLINE

Edwards is a fraud. You are a victim.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Yet another new league record.

To truly believe you're smarter than everyone else.

Where's the proof he is a fraud?

Durst me, I know what a victim looks like. I don't know too many people who would ever call me a victim?

Tell me, seriously, what is your real problem with Edwards?

You never to anything but sit back and snark. (That's easy.)

Try doing something hard for a change.

Hearing Edwards in depth on a few occasions -- especially his interview on Charlie Rose -- I have fewer concerns about his past inconsistencies, and definetly believe he has the right message.

So...I ain't no victim homes...Used to be...

Edwards is the best choice for the party and the best choice for the US.

I've met Edwards, Hillary and Obama and I'm not sure I can completely trust any of them. I'd say Obama is the most trustworthy. But Edwards was on the picket lines in NY and LA -he came from nothing and he understands there is a class war going on and only one side is fighting. Edwards expresses empathy for poor and working people. He also has concretely articulated what he will do. The other two are not as convincing to me on bread-and-butter issues.

On the IWR he apologized for his vote and has articulated a clear strategy for withdrawal. Obama gets credit for opposing the War,, but he should get less than full credit because he did not have to vote on the issue. Opposing the War is a lot easier to do as a private citizen or state politician than as a Senator. Hillary voted for the IWR strictly as a political calculation - she did not want to be excoriated by the Repukes in the 2008 General Election.

To me, economics and the various components of the so-called "War on Terror" (A possible Iran Attack, Gitmo, the Patriot Act, Los Desaparecidos, The Iraq War, etc.) are the issues of the day and Edwards seems better on them than any other candidate.

I do have to admit checking out the others, but I don't want a repeat of the previous election. I think he's someone more of us can get on board with.

Of the top tier, I think Edwards has both the most populist and the most progressive agenda.

back and forth on the two... I love them both... seems to me John learned after 2004 that D.C. can go screw themselves and he's done trying to play the insider game.. and Dennis has never played the D.C. game... I think they'd make a good team...

On Edit: They both have fabulous wives.... Great in their own right.. Their husbands are lucky to have them.

sent John Edwards $100 and ordered Edwards bumper stickers!! Let's hope lots of others join us!

the world, and John can take on the corporations and work on good trade agreements and jobs and the New "Green" Deal that we desperately need in America. It would be nice to know that both backs were protected by one another.

Edwards is the candidate who will fight for the working class
and the disadvantaged among us. He also supports our unions.

He has proven this time and again.

He came from poverty, he understands what it is like
to be poor.

rather than doing so because he didn't raise NEARLY as much as he had hoped, which was why he chose to FOREGO matching funds back in Feb.

He'll probably have (at best) about $15 million to spend from March to September, vs. about $100 million (or more!) for the Repub. So while the Repubs will flood the airwaves with TV ads and flood mailboxes with flyers and flood town squares with rallies complete with big signs and bunting and free buttons for everyone, and the RW media machine will run endless attacks on Team Edwards, we will have (hopefully) thousands of volunteers going door to door... with home-made flyers and register-to-vote information, and Edwards trying to get on the morning news shows to get his P.R.

Unless John Edwards is just going to be so darn persuasive that populism in this country suddenly rises up all at once and becomes dominant, and he can do that while sitting at home with essentially no expenditures, then an Edwards candidacy is a risky path for Dems and progressivism in general. I'm sure there are many ways for the Dems to lose this election, and going in with our hands tied behind our back seems like one of the best.

Another way to say this is that this is not a philosophy class or a theoretical election, therefore there is more to it than just "the best policies". While that is certainly a part of the mix, it is not all there is to it. The strategic context as well as non-policy qualities like organization and willpower are significant factors to be considered as well. To me, that is what the campaign is about. We can all read the policy statements on their websites. The other things we need to know come out during the campaign.

I've got an epiphany....... Hilary Clinton is the best presidential canidate. I'm just saying......

I don't have a voice in this nomination, thanks to the Florida "Democratic" Party that took away my right to vote. But I listened to Edwards and I was thrilled.

I'm not certain whether he or Obama will win the nomination. I'm dead set against Clinton, and Kucinich doesn't have a chance. But either of those two guys would be fine Presidents. I'm leaning more towards Edwards, because he is angrier. Anger and passion will be needed to win against Republican dirty tricks, and I'm not convinced Obama can be angry enough.

I have yet to be disappointed on hearing an Edwards speech. I am leaning strongly towards Edwards.

From the moment it was clear he was in the running, JE was my choice! Sure, I like some of the others as well, but NOT AS WELL as I like JE. Billary's my LAST choice. I confess, I WOULD choose her over Juliani or McVain, so that about defines how I feel about her.

I'd actually love a combo ticket of the both of 'em! :bounce:

during, I think a labor issue. Glover is a locked in, Edwards guy.
So am I. It's a matter of trust with me.

Last time (2004), as my screen name suggests, I had no difficulty choosing a candidate, that is until CNN's 600+ airings of the sound-engineered "scream." I was a country volunteer coordinator for that ill-fated campaign. I put everything I had into it, working more than full time for free. I stuck with my candidate to the bitter end (till he left the race). This time, in the absence of Gore in the race, I had no candidate. I drifted back and forth leaning toward Obama and then Edwards, and then repeated the cycle.

Friday, was my wake up call. I Have been so disillusioned by all of them. Hillary and Edwards because of their votes in 2002. We lost a chunk of our constitution and went to war unjustly because of them. Edwards admits he was wrong. Hillary can't or won't. That's a deal breaker for me. I also reject Hillary for so many other issues it would take a separate article, but especially for her implied nuclear threats (not taking them off the table against those we are not at war with means she's indirectly threatening nuclear attack). She took Obama to task for "taking nukes off the table against Pakistan, an "ally." She thought she made Obama sound naive and wrong-headed, but instead she really stepped in it.

And in recent months, I've been uncomfortable with Obama's frequent reliance on GOP talking points, warmed over. And I see that I cannot do Bush lite. On both Social Security and Health Care, for example, he just doesn't get it. I had been leaning toward him because he opposed the war and had the courage to support Howard Dean, a risky move for a would-be Senator. I thought he had courage. But, as he's tried to finesse his reason for opposing the war, I believe his position was not for the right reasons.

I wish Obama well. A number of people I really like and care about are supporting him.

Lately it seems Edwards is the only one in the top tier who is telling it like it is. You can always tell by whom the media labels "angry." That, BTW, is directed at women, who generally are turned off by candidates who seem too serious or stern. It's the anger psychobabble unplugged. I believe that if one isn't outraged at the current goings on, one's not paying attention. As a woman, and a feminist, I also reject the current mantra from NOW and elsewhere that we should vote for a woman just because she is one, or an ethnic candidate just because... How I would love to vote, for either or both combined. But I can't this time because it's the wrong two candidates. I finally see it, and I've made my decision. Edwards 2008. He's the one most strongly posing alternatives to the current morass in every aspect of of federal policy. More later...

just because she shares my gender. I have chosen to support John Edwards because he is passionate in offering real alternatives to the corporate/facist mess this country has become and in addressing the needs of regular working people and families. :hi:

Like you when Dean dropped out I went shopping around and found Edwards (I still have Dean's'04 sticker and a JE '08 on my car)so when he announced it be came easy for me. I have heard Obama analyze but not give as specific of a solution to me, this seems to be he is not doing his homework on the solution else whys he would have thought about where he is going to go with a solution. I believe it was the Moveon environmental debate where he was summarized as long on platitudes short on solutions and one of his responses were something about he did not know but would be putting out a position paper later that week. I'm sorry but that type of unreadiness shut the door for me. As for HRC she is always railing what a F W is and the truth is in 6 months FUGWB is going to be ill relevant and it will be who can offer the best vision for the future. The sheeples will follow the repugs because they are saying where they want to go instead of MFing W whether they like where they will be taken or not because it is better to know you how you are going to hell than be lost and aimless. JE taps into the peoples belief that they can do anything and is offering a course of action.

I'm still learning voting histories, and other policies of the candidates. And reading the debates that go on here. Now that I'm starting to look outside of my favorite candidate, I have a whole new learning curve. Time is needed.

But one thing I said from the very beginning, and it's coming from a superficial context, I think John Edwards has the broadest appeal to the voters.

Oh, what I was getting at is that there is the subject of the individual candidates. And then there is the other part of the nominatin process- the voters. So even though Kucinich has great appeal in almost every way for me, I can see the voters would never line up in the same numbers behind him as they would some other candidates.

To be honest, we can hardly go wrong with almost all of our candidates. But I think we better start looking at the bigger picture in order to nominate our candidate with the greatest potential for winning.

It's not just all about the most ideal candidate. It's about whether they can win this thing.

When Kucinich and his wife flirted with a Ron Paul ticket that was my epiphany. Edwards had been number two before that and he is now my number one. I already started sending him money too. I suggest you do the same.

The approximate numbers were Edwards 33, Kucinich 32, Clinton & Obama tied at 7, Biden had maybe two or three as did Gore. Captain Dan and Rod Schneider each had 1.

I've been thinking lately that Edwards and Huckabee are the promising dark horses. Of course, I haven't said that to my Republican friends. I want the worst gopper candidate to win the primary. Now who would that be? Guliani? The guy has so much baggage he's going to need a train car to cart it all around in.

The result would be fundies starting their own third party and/or not voting at all.

Nice!

when it comes to corporate ties.

When I first began to pay attention to this race I was looking seriously at Obama, because I thought he was the best candidate for change. Upon investigation of all the candidates it didn't take long to see that Edwards is seriously the candidate for extreme change, which is what we really need. He is ready to fight the corporate bullshit greed and corruption that is strangling us Americans.

I think we're seeing that Americans are now looking hard at their choices, they want radical change, they want someone to represent them instead of representing big money, and they will be choosing Edwards for the Democratic nominee.

Any man that can win a seat in Jesse Helms country , knows a great deal about campaigning. Go John Edwards....

We need a person, now more than ever, that has some ideas--real ideas.

behind John. And I see true fire in both of them without being hateful. Joe's a bit snarky in his comments about "what are they talking about!" when he feels the rest are off topic, but he says it b/c he feels they're not seeing the easy answer, and I appreciate that in him b/c what he follows that up with has always been right! He & Edwards would make a great tandem. Hope, Conviction & Experience!

I still haven't conceded the 2004 (LMAO) election and thus . . . to me it's only right that we run the real VP of the United States of America. LMAO! Seriously - he was initially my second choice in the 2004 . . . I swung back and forth between he and Wes C.

The key thing here? I want to win. I want a Democrat in the White House so bad. Aside from agreeing with him on every issue except for the troops out by as late as 2013 . . . I think he can win. I think even if 'those people' elect Slick Mitt - he'll beat the stuffing out of him. I definately think he can beat Huckabee . . . do you really want me to get into what a bloodbath it would be against the Ghoul?

Mine wasn't an epiphany - but it's nice to read yours. Get involved in his campaign. I've gone to foodbanks as a volunteer effort in my One Corps chapter . . . when your standing next to people who haven't heard his message with his button on your shirt - they see that what his supporters are made of.

Kucinich made his devastating announcement favoring Ron Paul as a running mate I am beginning to think the deal is sealed and Edwards has moved up a notch.

Did Kucinich say that? ! ?

Go, Johnny Go! And just to be even more ridiculous, for all those females like me... Annie Git Your Gun and let's be rid of the "chickweed" that's taken over D.C.

And don't let the subtleties pass you by!!

If just one member of my family - either sister, brother or Mother or Dad would have that awakening, indeed....just realize that they have been voting against their own interests, I would be beside myself w/ joy.

What a thrill. I don't hold put much hope of ever sharing that experience w/ someone on my family.

from up the street knocked on my door a little while ago and asked me if I had anymore John Edwards Yard signs. I have 2 in my yard so I gave him one of mine! I DO have some extra "posters" but they won't hold up if it rains, so I'll have to order a couple more plastic ones. The guy told me he finally decided that Edwards seemed like the only candidate who he felt was talking to HIM!! Made MY day anyway!

I guess I can shell out a few more bucks for the guy!! I would love to see them in all the yards around here! Sends a very good message!