Why John Edwards?

My name is Michael Conrad. I am a General Director with Team Edwards, a coalition of supporters working together to nominate and elect John Edwards. I am writing this for two reasons. One is to introduce Team Edwards to other supporters of John Edwards.

http://teamedwards08.blogspot.com/

The second, and far more important reason, is to lay out a few reasons for supporting John Edwards that I feel have been overlooked. There many reasons to support John Edwards. Instead of listing all of them here I think it would be best if I did this in a series. Consider this the first part.

For the first time in a long time the Democrat who best represents our values is also the most electable. That is just one of the reasons why I feel it is so important for the progressive movement to come together and support John Edwards' campaign. This diary would be far too long if I went into detail about all the reasons to support John Edwards, but I'll list some of the things he has done that make it clear that he is the bold progressive leader that both our party and our country desperately needs. If you dispute the point that John Edwards is the most electable Democrat I would like for you to check out the latest post on our blog. If you are already a John Edwards supporter you will be able to find information that will help you when engaging fellow Democrats about supporting John Edwards.

~Snip~


John Edwards' recent confrontation recent confrontation of the Bush doctrine of a "War on Terror" is a great example of this. Confronting one of the most widely used and effective political frames in recent memory was not an easy task but it was something that someone, for the long-term well being of both our party and our country, needed to do. What makes this decision even more important is how it was made. Edwards had a few seconds at the most to decide whether to raise his hand when the question about a "war on terror" was asked. Not only was he the only major candidate not to raise his hand, he did not stop there.

He showed progressive Democrats why engaging conservative myths is important, that it is possible, and how it can be done. Every counter-terrorism/national security expert that I have seen speak (usually on C-Span's "Book TV") has made it clear that the Bush administration has made us less safe, increased the number of terrorists, and fueled their hatred for us. As Edwards himself pointed out, we need to give those on the fence (and there are many) a hand to our side, not a shove to the other. Edwards confronted this conservative myth publicly and vigorously and he offered a substantive alternative to the Bush doctrine.

There are many other examples of John Edwards displaying the bold leadership that we are looking for, and that is what I would like to end with. I like to call it the "John Edwards First and Often Only" List. It is a list of times that during the course of this campaign John Edwards was the first, and often only, candidate to do something of importance. This list was first posted on our blog on Monday April 2nd. Soon after it became very hard to keep track of all of the examples of Edwards demonstrating leadership during this campaign so this list has not been updated as often as we would have liked, but I think it gets the point across.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/6/10/173923/641">Read More Here

The "John Edwards First and Often Only" List

1st candidate to respond to DFA (Democracy For America) with a clear position / plan for ending the war in Iraq.

Note: Recently DFA asked the presidential candidates to respond with a clear, detailed plan for environmental action (on issues like energy independence and global warming) and once again John Edwards was the first candidate to respond.

1st and only of the "big 3" candidates to publicly support the 2006 Kerry - Feingold amendment to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq (both Obama and Clinton voted against it).

1st and only of the "big 3" candidates to support cutting off funding for the escalation of the war in Iraq (both Obama and Clinton stopped short).

1st and only of the "big 3" candidates to make it clear from the outset where he stood on the recent Senate vote on the War in Iraq. Edwards made it clear from the start that he opposed any bill without timetables. Meanwhile Senators Obama and Clinton did not indicate which way they were going to vote and engaged each other in a game of "chicken" (a term Senator Obama should be familiar with) instead of showing leadership. In the end they were among the last to vote. Senator Obama voted first and the Senator Clinton, in typical fashion, followed. At the debate Senator Obama claimed that Edwards was 4 years late to show leadership on the issue. In reality, since late 2005, Edwards has been demonstrating leadership on the issue of ending the war. On three of the most important Iraq related issues, Kerry-Feingold, cutting of funds for the surge, and the recent vote in the Senate, John Edwards showed leadership while Senator Obama played it safe, even though his early opposition to the war gave him the moral authority to lead.

1st major candidate to support Jim Webb's Iran legislation.

1st major candidate to endorse and campaign for Ned Lamont against Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Senate race. Edwards was also the 1st candidate to call for Lieberman to drop out of the race. Edwards said that because Lieberman had just run in the Democratic primary and lost to Lamont, he should honor the result of the primary. Edwards was neutral during the primary, unlike Obama and Clinton who supported Lieberman.

1st and only major candidate to spend no money on polling in the first quarter of 2007.

1st candidate to release a substantive, truly Universal Health Care plan.

1st candidate to release a comprehensive plan for Energy Independence / to combat Global Warming.

1st and only candidate to release a plan for Rural Recovery.

1st candidate to lay out a specific and detailed National Security doctrine - Smart Power. He is also the first and only candidate to release a comprehensive plan specifically to fight terrorism.

1st candidate to say no to debate on / legitimizing FOX News. Not once but twice. Both times FOX news was scheduled to host a Democratic debate John Edwards was the first candidate to say no, and the only one to make it clear that he did so because FOX News is bias and he did not want to legitimize a Republican spin machine.

1st candidate to call for the resignation of Alberto Gonzales.

1st candidate to call for the resignation of Paul Wolfowitz.

1st candidate to accept the offer from the SEIU to work a union job for a day. He is also the only candidate to actually work the job a union worker. The other candidates gave an interview to union workers.

1st and only candidate to mention the passing of the late great Molly Ivins during his speech to the DNC's Winter Meeting. You cannot knock the other candidates for not mentioning her. They stick so closely to their prepared remarks and just because they didn't mention her doesn't mean that they don't respect her. But in brining attention to her passing John Edwards displayed an important respect for powerful progressive voices.

1st and only major candidate who was no support on K Street and is doing nothing to change that. Edwards is not accepting lobbyist money while other candidates, like Senator Obama, pledge to take no lobbyist money but their finance team contacts the spouses of lobbyists and urge them to give money to the campaign.