Edwards brings larger Iowa crowds to their feet with "America Rising"

ABC News: Edwards Crowds Rise for 'America Rising'
December 16, 2007

ABC News' Raelyn Johnson reports: As his eight day bus tour through Iowa winds down, John Edwards is starting to bring audiences to their feet when he talks about America rising. “Every time we speak up for 47 million people who have no health care coverage, America rises," Edwards says. "Every time we speak up for 35 million of our own people who went hungry last year, America rises. Every time we speak up for 200,000 veterans who were homeless and sleeping under bridges, America rises.”

It is a newly injected message that Edwards has been preaching to larger crowds than he’s previously attracted. It is met by applause and, at times, standing ovations.

“That rising is going to begin right here in Iowa on Jan. 3,” Edwards told caucus goers Sunday at a town hall in Colfax, Iowa. With both candidates and caucus-goers focused on a cold night in January, Edwards pointed in the direction of the media gathered in the back of the room, predicting, “They all think they know what’s going to happen, they’re dissecting the polls. ... Wait 'til they see what’s coming.”

Having poured many of his resources into Iowa, Edwards acknowledges a win there could help him capitalize on victories moving out of the first-in-the-nation-caucus state. However, following the event, Edwards shot down the theory that he was a one-state candidate, telling reporters the characterization was “dead wrong.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/edwards-crowds.html

Sorry. I should be slapped for that one.:spank:

:spank:
Enough w/the Viagra, Cialis, etc.

:woohoo:

love to see him walk away from this first primary as a winner.

And there is great excitement for him there as well.

I know you've been working hard for John. I hope your canvassing results in an Edwards win in Nevada too!

The mroe they like him. It's not a passing "trend", but the words American wants to hear. Edwards will help the people take back this country from the big corporations who run it now, and that's what the people of this country want, not more of the same. American will rise up fight for their country, and Edwards is the one we need in the Whitehouse to lead that fight! :bounce: :bounce:

As Clinton and Obama destroy each other, Edwards rises.

and wins. Why don't they get the message?

Carol Moseley Braun won her first senate race in Illinois this way.

there was all that talk about how Obama was getting go after hil during the debate, then edwards was the one that really went off on her, i suspect she did not want to get into it with edwards, so she turned around to obama at the next debate and accused him of flinging mud and they'd been fighting ever since. Edwards was just hanging back smiling. he is badass. love him.

flourish -- a touch of Whitman celebrating the common heart with lofty dreams.

The subjects tend to remain in the real-life, practical, day-to-day human condition, blue-jean and lunch pail zone, where they rightly belong in a populist bid, and where they make the most sense to most Americans.

But there is, increasingly, a transcendent poetry beginning to flavor Edwards' addresses to audiences.

Needless to say, I love it.

I long to "believe" again and John Edwards is someone who could really be my next political hero. And Elizabeth only makes the deal that much sweeter.

Yes -- on Edwards and the use of language to lift hearts. Whitman turned his true heart and mind onto the common person, the pioneer descendant in the hillsides and glens, and of course on the wounded soldiers of the War Between the States who lay desperate and alone in those field hospitals.

What modern president wouldn't kill to have had Walt Whitman address the audience for an Inaugural?

Both presidents Bush lack that poetry. There's no poetry to them as people and none ever, EVER comes through in their role as presidents. They mash words into curt slogans. We are a long, long way from John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy.

But it's Whitman's spirit that's cast over Edwards' speech these days with that rise of language I hear more and more from him. I think we've missed language like that, and if Edwards can bring it back and put it in our ears, we'll all be better off. We could all use the lift, and Whitman has the muscle to lift us.

I think Republicans tend to find poetry unnecessary and vaguely decadent. Democrats tend to find poetry as food for the soul. Just one more facet of "the Great Divide".

I invoked Whitman but after 8 years of Dubya I would settle for just one or two coherent sentences, poetic or not!

Inaugural Poem
Maya Angelou
20 January 1993

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers--desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot ...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours--your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

This poem is one of many published by the EServer, a non-profit collective of students and faculty at Iowa State University.

necessary.

You got it right.

Angelou's look is far, far down the foggy road -- backward and forward -- and coalescing in the moment at hand.

Maya Angelou is what's right about our country.

And I cried for joy.

John's upbeat message is tonic to Americans. Obama and Hillary are still in the mud and John's "rising".

Robert Frost wrote a poem titled "Dedication" for JFK's inauguration. However, the glare from the snow blinded Frost- at that time, he was 87 years old, and his eyes weren't so good- so he instead recited a poem he knew perfectly:



Here's the poem he intended to read:

If Frost's physical vision was weak, his spirit-vision was extremely strong.

the paper so Frost could read.

Amazing moment.

I would have SWOONED over him. He's a major babe. Plus, I love his politics and style, and Elizabeth will be a fabulous Forst Lady!

i was so worried this was a diss, but i heartily AGREE ! edwards has poetry in him, just like robert byrd !!! :)

-s

Edwards supporter and genuinely appreciate the poetry beginning to soar through his campaign addresses to audiences.

My first champions in politics were John and Robert Kennedy, who unlike Dubya, could appreciate poetry.

Actually, that should be, 'Unlike Dubya, the Kennedys could read, period."

painting pictures (without solutions) for his audience's enjoyment.

Edwards has laid out his plans on issues in much more detail than any other candidate, especially Hillary. Not to mention he came out with his Health Care plan way before Hillary did. Thats what drew me to him. Because he seemed to know his shit on the details of policy.

What planet are you living on?

detailing of the issues.

It's white-hot, start to finish.

I'm speaking of these statements:

"Every time we speak up for 35 million of our own people who went hungry last year, America rises.

Every time we speak up for 200,000 veterans who were homeless and sleeping under bridges, America rises.”

sorry, what are the plans for these two statements? I must have missed something.

COMPASSION....plain and simple, rather than ignoring problems as the current administration has up to and including today. Katrina victims, homelessness (which is on the rise) hunger (on the rise), veteran cuts, dollar drops, etc.
Yesterday, I heard Bush speaking on one of the news channels, he was going on and on, telling me how good the economy was. I realize Mr. Bush's economy is good, but.....come on' .....it has come at the cost of millions and millions of Americans.

John Edwards is right on target. He has details on his website. I am truly grateful we have a candidate who is actually For the people!

He has published 80 pages of solutions right on his website. Whether you agree with his solutions or not, you can't say he's just painting pictures without any substance.

http://johnedwards.com/issues/plan-to-build-one-america.pdf

and they go nowhere without passage in Congress. Here are the problems as stated with raising minimum wage. (and as a point of interest, I am not against raising minimum wage because it sounds like an obvious solution)

Here is another pov on raising minimum wage. I may not agree with it, but it exists. Especially the resistance to it by Republicans.

http://www.watchblog.com/democrats/archives/002994.html

Remember 94? I'll take Edwards when it comes to coattails any day. And perhaps what we call solutions, are his plans, which of course need cooperation from Congress. So tell me, what are Hillary's plans?

When he had a chance to do something for the poor, what did he do?

He suffocated them with the Bankruptcy Bill and lobbied for no caps on interest rates on Credit Cards.

History is the best predictor of the future. Edwards talks a sweet game but fell on his sword long ago when he had the chance to walk the walk. Now he's back to Talk the Talk...all BS and I guess you're swallowing it hook, line and sinker.

Can you explain this to me then?

YOU get over YOURSELF. I'm a grown man, I don't fall for anyone hook line and sinker. I'm a Proud Progressive, and there is no way someone like me could support someone like your candidate in the primary. Anyone that connects themselves with B&M, Mark Penn, and the DLC, has nothing to say to me.

http://votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=WNY99268

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY
RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2008
POLITICAL COURAGE TEST WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY

Key national leaders of both major parties including:
John McCain, Republican Senator
Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman
Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor
Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman
Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President

News organizations throughout the nation also urged candidates to supply their issue positions through the Political Courage Test.

Go try to sell your carp somewhere else.


This is Edwards country

crowd a couple of times and <it/they> will leave you alone :-))

Seeing as how he's not actually president yet he can't exactly sign legislation yet.

What a weak attack by this Hillbot. I've never once seen this guy say anything positive about his own candidate, he'd much rather bash Edwards instead of pay attention to his corporate candidate.

You're a joke, Edwards has the most detailed plans on the issuers. But to be fair to you, we do know what to expect form Hillary... more of the same.

Go get em Johnny!

I could see myself literally crying if he got the nomination. He's my pick, but I rarely allow myself to believe he has a real chance, so I won't be as disappointed if it doesn't happen. But I do see a glimmer of hope in Iowa.

And welcome to DU VarnettaTuckpockt! Glad to have you on the team.

:hi:

John is the only candidate that can win across the country and across parties.

Hope ya need lots of kleenex!

Welcome to DU! :hi: :)

Go, Johnny, Go!:kick:

Kickin' that wall down!


:kick: :hide:

THE best choice.

to be able to speak such truth to power
in an official capacity.

Or Edwards weekly press conference? What a difference it will make.

and then I think about how it could be with a weekly dose of John's optimism and bold leadership that could turn us around as a country. I traveled in Europe when I was young, but I worry about what that must be like for young people today, to go abroad and be looked down upon because they are Americans. I hope for the day when John will restore us to a place where we can be proud of our country.

K&R

And I think he will.

Wow, this is really getting exciting!

And it's getting closer all the time, too.

For us political junkies, this December has been a strong hit of the best stuff there is.

I envy Iowans and New Hampshire voters for getting first ups.

I've seen this posted in diaries at Daily Kos -- meant to tack it into a different thread but never did -- so why not here.



(thanks to philgoblue)

It all depends, I guess, how you go about cherry picking. You can pick 'em sour or sweet from the same tree.