I second this opinion and join with you in asking that all early state Democrats really study what John Edwards is saying and look at his voting record and activist activities.

I personally have doubts if Hillary or Obama either one can win the general election. I wholeheartedly root for Edwards and sincerely hope others will see the same things you and I do.

The last thing this country needs now, IMHO, is another four years of a corporate America presidency.

Terry

and I echo your sentiments. I pray that the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will see through the hype and money and choose the one candidate that is definitly the peoples candidate...

Right now, it seems that the Republican frontrunners appear to be Ghouliani, and Romney. While they are trying to cater to their rabid, lunatic base of far-right hypocrites they have tried along the way to attack Democratic candidates. Their attacks, no matter how ridiculous have not gone unanswered.

First, we have Mitt Romney in the debate attacking Edwards premise of two Americas, one for us and one for people like Mitt Romney. Edwards was quick to take Mr. Romney behind the woodshed on that one:

"In the debate tonight, Governor Romney was caught being deceptive about his own record. He is also being deceptive about whether there are two Americas – one for the most powerful and one for everyone else. News flash, Governor: The 98% of Americans who were not born to great wealth or who have not been given special privilege in our country struggle every day to make ends meet and provide opportunities for their families. No small part of their struggle is because the game has been rigged to protect those on top. It is not surprising Governor Romney proposes additional policies to assist the crowd on Easy Street. Unfortunately for him, the millions of Americans who live and work on Main Street know much more about the reality of where we are as a country."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071128-romney-two-ameri...

Thank you so much Senator Edwards. The plain and simple fact of the matter is that here on Main St., we are hurting. Nowhere is the fact of two Americas more evident. While people like you, Gov. Romney are living up the high life, more and more of us are falling behind. Why don't you take a walk away from Easy St. and come see how the rest of us live? We didn't inherit huge sums of money like you did. John Edwards didn't either. He WORKED for his and doesn't forget where he came from. Of course you find that extremely offensive, because your main concern is ignoring the true concerns of average Americans and throwing more money into the pockets of you, and your selfish un-American lot who cannot be patriotic about anything besides war. All your money can't change the truth that you offer us four more years of Corporate Welfare, endless war, and continuing decline of American principles. No thanks.

Next we have this ignorant little ad where Rudy Ghouliani also spells out his lust for greed:

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/

Again, Edwards was quick to respond to this ridiculous ad by Ghouliani:

"It looks like Rudy Giuliani wants to offer America four more years of George W. Bush – no thanks. John Edwards will deliver tax cut relief to the millions of middle class and working Americans who need it, not the wealthiest few like Giuliani who don't. But Giuliani's attack on John Edwards shows one thing – that instead of offering any ideas to help the middle class, he's more than willing to ignore the middle class and attack the one Democrat who has proposed bold and detailed plans to help American families.

"Truth be told, John Edwards has taken on the Giulianis of the world his entire life and beaten them. And, come November 2008, John Edwards looks forward to beating them again, no matter who the Republican nominee is."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071129-giuliani-ad/

Of course who is surprised? Ghouliani has long been proven a hypocrite. It seems the main issue for Republicans this time around is not Illegal Immigration, or keeping a needless war in which thousands of people die and over a trillion dollars are wasted, it is what it always boils down to for Republicans, GREED!! They aren't concerned with real tax reform for the people who need it, middle and lower class workers, but are determined to lower the taxes on the most un-Patriotic among us who beat the drums for war, and expect someone else to pay for their hawkish idiocy.

Of course you are attacking John Edwards. He is everything you are not. He is handsome, compassionate, and intelligent. He has only had one wife, and his kids speak to him. He made his own millions, and cares about working families and how America works for them. Most of all, as stated above, he has been fighting greedy, self-serving people such as yourself his whole life, and has beaten them time and time again. I just hope that both of you win the nomination, so I can watch him mop the floor with you all over the electoral college!!!

...was one of the biggest backers of the Iraq war, despite being on the Senate Intelligence Committee which we now know had evidence showing that the rationale for the war was pure BS.

He's also pushing a health care plan which would keep the private insurance companies feeding at the trough. 

Sorry, but I'll be backing a real progressive: Kucinich. 

I am from rural, small-town America. That is why I enthusiastically embraced the Rural Recovery Plan put foward by John Edwards. Not only is it badly needed, but it addresses huge swaths of rural voters who have voted against the Democrats, and gives them a reason to come home to our party again. That being said, I realize that it is not only rural and small town Americans who are falling further and further behind.

John Edwards realizes this to. He, like me is sick of conceding rural voters and wants to help them because he comes from that party of America. He also realizes under the neglect of the Bush Administration Americans that live in our cities are hurting too. These voters are in many ways the base of our party. With this in mind, Edwards also wants to address their concerns too. Saturday, he released his "Cities Rising" agenda to provide long needed relief to urban Americans. I want to look at this plan now. First we have the overview by Edwards:

Des Moines, Iowa – Today, Senator John Edwards unveiled his "Cities Rising" agenda to revitalize urban America and make sure Americans living in urban areas have the chance to work hard and build better lives for their children. Edwards' urban agenda would strengthen cities and support families in urban areas by creating more good jobs, strengthening urban schools, expanding affordable housing, ending poverty within a generation, and fighting crime and reforming criminal justice.

"Today, too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country because of where they live," said Edwards. "Many cities are dealing with struggling schools, high-poverty neighborhoods and increasing violence. Urban families are often cut off from good jobs, good schools and opportunities to get ahead.

"We need to make sure families living in urban areas have the same chances to succeed as the rest of America. As president, I will strengthen our cities and build One America, where all Americans, whether they live in big cities, small towns or the suburbs, have access to good-paying jobs, health care, and a great education. With a real commitment to our cities, we can restore hope to urban America and make sure we leave our children, in every part of the country, a better, more prosperous life."

Now, unfortunately despite what Mitt Romney thinks, there are literally millions of us that live in that other America that Republicans cannot admit exists, because frankly, they just don't care. Everyday America has lost high-paying union jobs in manufacturing, and every other industry to to low-paying service type jobs. Somewhere a long the way we traded in creating things to sell all over the world to flipping burgers at Mickey-D's. Now, I see many college graduates wasting their skills working menial-type service jobs, all because they want to live where they were born and raised.

One thing rural and urban workers have in common and have had for sometime now, is we are hurting. America seems to have forgotten that a hard day's work should be equally compensated by a fair day's pay. Our workers watch in horror as big business fleeces American workers and outsources good union jobs to third-world countries to take advantage of virtual slave, and in some instances even child labor.

But nobody has to tell our Urban-American workers that. In places like Detroit, and cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as many other urban places our workers have been forced to swallow that bitter horse-pill. What I want to stress to all Democrats, rural and urban is that we simply must nominate a leader who is determined to fight for us NOW!! The damage is so great if it is not immediately addressed it will soon be irreversable. Say what you want about Edwards and his past but the simple fact of the matter is that John Edwards has the vision, policies and most of all, BACKBONE to fight for us now.

He is not shying away from the problems such as poverty and hunger that beset millions of Americans and workers, but has bucked traditional wisdom that those issues are suicide to fight for us. He has worked hard on really solving problems and has turned those thoughts into a wealth of policy proposals that are the perfect place to start from in fighting Congress for Progressive vision. I believe strongly in this vision for our country and party, and most of all I believe strongly in what it stands for. To me it stands for the premise that the Democratic Party will no longer be ashamed of its principles, and of fighting for our workers, and will stand up and fight tooth and nail for our vision of America and the world once more.

But back to the new policy proposal for Urban America. Sorry about the rant. Edwards points out the areas most needing addressing here:

Metropolitan areas are the center of our nation's economic and cultural activity. The largest 100 cities and their surrounding areas make up just 12 percent of the nation's land mass but produce 75 percent of America's economic output. Today, however, many cities are struggling. The middle class is shrinking in many central cities. Urban schools struggle to attract teachers and suffer high dropout rates. Nearly every big city has very poor neighborhoods, often disproportionately black and Latino, that isolate residents from jobs and good schools. [Brookings, 2007; Berube and Katz, 2005]

This myriad of problems dating back to NAFTA, and even before reflects the poor leadership and disdain for American workers that has become the trademark of our government. Of course we all know this first point, creating good jobs:

In America today, families are working harder to get by. Over the last 20 years, American incomes have grown apart: 40 percent of the income growth in the 1980s and 1990s went to the top 1 percent.

The middle-class is eroding in cities, while the percentage of the urban population that is high-income and low-income is growing. [EPI, 2006; Brookings 2007]

Build the New Energy Economy and Create Green Collar Jobs: Edwards will create more than 1 million jobs, many in struggling manufacturing communities, by capping carbon dioxide emissions to halt global warming and prompting a shift to renewable energy and energy efficient economy. He will train 150,000 workers a year in green collar jobs to meet these economic needs and ensure that the benefits of economic growth are widely shared.

Enact Smarter Trade Policies: Trade deals need to make sense for American workers, not just corporations. Edwards will make sure any new trade agreements include strong labor and environmental standards and will vigorously enforce American workers' rights in existing agreements. He will also expand trade adjustment assistance to do much more for the workers and communities that are hurt by global competition and reform our international tax code to remove incentives for companies to move overseas rather than creating jobs here at home.

Strengthen Labor Laws: Unions made manufacturing jobs the foundation of our middle class, and they can do the same for our service economy. Federal law promises workers the right to choose a union, but the law is poorly enforced, full of loopholes, and routinely violated by employers. Edwards supports the Employee Free Choice Act to give workers a real choice in whether to form a union, and making penalties for breaking labor laws tougher and faster, so unions can compete on a level playing field and the right to join a union means something. He also supports banning the permanent replacement of strikers so unions can negotiate fairly.

Invest in Innovation and Ingenuity: The most important factor for America's future prosperity is investment in education, science, technology and innovation. As president, Edwards will make the Research and Experimentation tax credit permanent. He will encourage research in the life sciences by lifting the ban on stem cell research and doubling funding for key priorities at the National Institutes of Health. He will also strengthen elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education in math, science and engineering.

Now, that first one is genius, and way past due. Even at the Conservative University I go to the Proffessor states that our government has failed us monumentaly by not addressing the Energy Independence issue sooner. One million high-paying jobs in poor communities where they are needed most, by researching and manufacturing the clean fuels of the future to serve two purposes, making us energy independent, and halting global warming. Can we all at least agree that this is what our Democratic leaders need to be not only talking about, BUT DOING? Edwards is leading in a way we should all want to follow!!

What about that second point? No matter who voted for what when, John Edwards has seen the damage done American workers by bad trade deals and has had his fill. Say what you want about when he joined us, but he is here. Enforcing American workers rights, and ending the tax loopholes for companies that outsource are definately two steps in the right direction. We should all support this.

Now we come to the third point. To me, this is what the Democratic Party, especially in modern times should be all about. Making sure our workers are not being shortchanged and cheated by a system in Washington that is purposely set against them. John Edwards supports our unions and workers!! I have been involved in three attempts at getting a union in a workplace. If the Employee Free Choice Act was in place they would have all succeeded, but instead during the time after a majority of our cards were signed, the company was able to poisong the process by promising this and that, always "unofficially". Workers were tricked into giving up their rights to organize. I hope all union workers, and especially those who HOPE to work union will understand that John Edwards would be the most worker friendly President in decades!! We need to fight for him!!

The fourth point, investing in innovation and ingenuity should be a no-brainer, and it is a disgrace a candidate for President had to address any of these issues!!! They should have been dealt with a long time ago. We need a leader who is serious about more than lip-service. We need John Edwards to protect working Americans!!

Edwards next speaks on strengthening Urban schools:

Every child should have a chance to get a great education, a commitment that is at the core of John Edwards' plan to build One America where everyone has a chance to succeed. But more than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, we still have two school systems that are separate and unequal. Many urban schools are hamstrung by a lack of funding and inability to attract good new teachers. American teenagers – particularly black and Hispanic students – trail their international competitors, and these gaps are most evident in high schools in the nation's largest urban and older suburban school systems, dozens of which fail to graduate even two-thirds of their students. [Brookings, 2007]

Prepare Every Child to Succeed: Quality preschool education should be as common as kindergarten. As president, Edwards will create Great Promise early childhood education programs, and make them available to all four-year-olds. He will also create a national Smart Start initiative – based on North Carolina's successful initiative – to link together health care, child care, education, and family support services for children under five.

Put an Excellent Teacher in Every Classroom: Nothing is more important in a school than the relationship between a teacher and a child. Edwards will raise pay for teachers in successful high-poverty schools by as much as $15,000 more a year. He will create a national teachers' university – a West Point for teachers – to train excellent teachers for our worst schools. He will also help teachers with extra support in their early years with mentors and extra planning time.

Make Every School an Outstanding School: Edwards will radically overhaul No Child Left Behind to live up to its goal of helping all children learn at high levels, rejecting cheap standardized tests, arbitrary formulas for school success, and unproven cookie-cutter reforms. He will help 1,000 great schools expand or start new branches. Edwards will invest more in low-income children, put us on a path to fully funding special education, and raise graduation rates with adolescent literacy programs and Second Chance schools for former dropouts.

All of these are excellent ideas that should be cornerstone's of what our party fights for in the new centurly. Can we not agree on that at least?

Next Edwards speaks on the need for affordible housing for everyone:

In central cities, homeownership is half the national average. Nearly 6 million Americans live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty inside big cities. Nearly every big city has at least one very poor neighborhood – including 46 of the largest 50 cities – and they often include a racial as well as economic dimension. These neighborhoods isolate willing workers from entry-level jobs and children from good schools. [Berube and Katz, 2005]

Create a Million New Housing Vouchers: Edwards will create a million vouchers over five years to help low-income families move to better neighborhoods. At the same time, he will phase out housing projects that tie families to certain locations and are often lower quality and more expensive than private sector alternatives.

Revitalize Devastated Neighborhoods: It is better to invest in struggling neighborhoods than abandon them. Edwards will reform and expand the HOPE VI program to replace dilapidated housing in areas of concentrated poverty, while ensuring that current residents benefit.

End Predatory Lending: While subprime mortgages can benefit families with poor credit histories, predatory mortgages include deceptive terms without any benefit to homeowners. Millions of families with subprime mortgages have lost their homes or could lose them in the next few years. Edwards will create a Home Rescue Fund to get these families into mortgages they can afford and pass a strong national law against predatory lending.

Strengthen Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws: Housing discrimination is still too common. Edwards will strengthen enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act by the Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development.

Again, these are all excellent ideas that offer real hope at equality for those of us who live in that other America that Romney and the Republicans just don't see.

Edwards goes on to speak on an issue he is second to none on, that of ending poverty in America during our generation:

More than 37 million Americans live in poverty. Poverty rates are increasing in nearly half of large cities, a higher share than in suburbs, and child poverty is rising even more quickly in these areas. Edwards has outlined a Working Society initiative to lift 12 million Americans out of poverty in a decade and end poverty within a generation. [Census Bureau, 2007; Berube and Kneebone, 2006]

Create 1 Million Stepping Stone Jobs: Every American should have the chance to work their way out of poverty, but some willing workers cannot find jobs because of where they live, a lack of experience or skills, or other obstacles, like a criminal record. Edwards will create a million short-term jobs to help individuals move into permanent work.

Make Work Pay: Edwards will increase the reward for working by raising the minimum wage to at least $9.50 an hour by 2012 and setting it to rise over time. In 2001, a $1 increase in the minimum wage alone would have lifted an estimated 900,000 people out of poverty. He will triple the Earned Income Tax Credit for adults without children and cut its marriage penalty for couples. The EITC is particularly important to urban areas – it delivers over $8 billion to large cities – and is used primarily for purposes like buying clothes, repairing furniture and appliances, and other activities that create a positive ripple effect through the economy. [Berube 2006; Sawhill and Thomas, 2001]

Help Working Families Save: Edwards proposed a new tax credit to help low-income, working Americans save for the future. The credit would match savings up to $500 per year. As many as 28 million Americans don't have bank accounts. Edwards will subsidize bank accounts for working families. [Federal Reserve, 2007]

Support Responsible Families: Welfare reform required mothers to work and helped them find jobs, but it failed to do the same for fathers. Edwards will help fathers find work, require them to help support their children, and increase child support collections by more than $8 billion over the next decade and use those payments to benefit children. The U.S. has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world. Edwards believes we should have more support for teenagers struggling to beat the odds.

These are all ideas whose time is past-due once again in our country. We simply must stand for hope, not poeverty. I would like to thank John Edwards for taking this issue, which everyone said was a loser, and taking it the American people and fighting for those in poverty. Real leaders make issues where none exist and Edwards has shown the character and courage to challenge us to do better.

Edwards plan ends with something that is on the rise, crime:

Violent crime increased in 2006 for the second year in a row, reversing a long trend of lowering crime. Violent crime in metropolitan counties grew by 3 percent and murder in those counties grew by 6 percent. Urban households also suffer higher rates of property crimes. [AP, 6/2/2007; FBI, 2007; BJS, 2005]

Put More Cops on the Beat: Edwards supports the COPS program, which helped hire 117,000 police officers and bring down the crime rate. Legislation extending COPS is currently stuck in the Senate. Edwards believes the legislation should be extended to hire 50,000 more officers. He also supports funding for state and city initiatives to prosecute gangs, drugs and illegal guns, while supporting effective youth intervention and crime prevention programs. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 11/26/2007; Brookings, 2007; GAO, 2005]

Help Ex-Offenders Undertake Productive, Law-Abiding Lives: Edwards will help ex-offenders return to productive lives with literacy education and drug treatment, stepping stone jobs, and voting rights in federal elections. He also supports strict oversight for probationers and parolees with certain, swift and graduated punishment for probation and parole violations. He wants to increase resources for overworked parole officers and backs greater community oversight and support for former offenders so that people leaving prison don't go back to crime.

Stop Racial Profiling In Law Enforcement: Law enforcement based on racial stereotypes, such as arrests for "driving while black," violates our principles as a nation. Edwards will ban racial profiling in law enforcement. He also supports efforts to reform mandatory minimum sentences and alternatives to imprisonment – such as drug courts – for non-violent, first-time offenders.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071201-cities-rising/

Again, Edwards shows vision by not only calling for more cops, but for giving more hope to former criminals to not go back to crime. He wants to reform mandatory minimum sentences and wants to keep non-violent drug offenders from being grouped with violent criminals.

I think this plan, which builds on all other plans released by Edwards and compliments them, is excellent. I think John Edward vision of One America, where rural and urban workers are treated fairly and compensated justly, and compliment each other is well worth fighting for. I hope Democrats will realize what is truly at stake for American workers in this election, and will join me in nominating John Edwards for President!!

Best wishes fellow Democrats!!

We all know that the MSM has been doing their best to make the nomination of Hillary Clinton inevitable. They have also been working overtime trying to convince Americans that our nomination is a two-person race. Well, as usual they are dead wrong. Neither of these ideas which have been presented as fact in newspapers and on T.V. news all over this country are true.

While I usually don't blog polls, I think today's Rasmussen Reports tracking poll should effectively end those myths. It shows Hillary is no longer inevitable, and probably never was in the first place. It also shows that John Edwards is not as distant a third as many would have us believe. Lets look at the new numbers:

In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, Clinton continues to lose ground as well. The former First Lady now attracts 35% of the vote, down from 41% a week ago and 43% two weeks ago. Today’s result matches the lowest level of support recorded for Clinton since Rasmussen Reports began daily tracking in mid-July.

While Clinton has lost ground, Barack Obama’s support remains steady at 23%. John Edwards gained two points on Tuesday to 17% while Bill Richardson is the top choice for 7% of Likely Democratic Primary Voters nationwide. No other Democratic candidate tops 3%.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1...

With a +/- 4% margin of error this poll shows Edwards close, if not tied for second. It also shows Edwards as the only candidate gaining ground. It seems everyone in the media and anywhere else who have been trying to push the inevitability of either Hillary or Obama might not be as smart as they think. Despite all the smearing and ignoring of John Edwards by the MSM, voters seem to feel different about inevitability, and a two-person race. Edwards is remaining firmly in the top-tier through it all.

And this is not the only poll released by Rasmussen Reports today that argues against the inevitibility of Hillary or Obama in a two-person race. Just look at these numbers from purple Colorado, which has been trending red, but could turn blue with the right candidate:

The survey also finds that Clinton trails both former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain by four points in proposed general-election match-ups. In each case, the GOP contender leads the former First Lady 44% to 40%. But Senator Clinton is just a point behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in Colorado (42% to 41%) and she has a three-point lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (43% to 40%).

On top of losing to all Repug candidates besides Romney, Coloradoans simply don't believe that she is the best candidate for their state, or Obama either for that matter, that title goes to John Edwards:

That a large plurality think Clinton will win the nomination doesn't mean they believe she is the best candidate for their state. Nineteen percent (19%) say former Senator John Edwards is "most in tune with" the needs of Colorado; 18% say Senator Barack Obama; just 15% say Clinton.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2008__1...

So, while Clinton is our frontrunner, she is anything but inevitable. While the media fawns all over her and Obama, this is anything but a two person race. Edwards is not only still alive and moving up, but is showing that in the purple states we must win, he will be very competitive.

The myths of inevitability and a two-person race at this point are ranking right up their with the Gods of Olympus in the annals of mythology. John Edwards is every bit as much a viable candidate as Hillary or Obama, and considering his stances on the "War on Terror" and the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment is actually a better choice for Democrats seeking to repair the damage of the disasterous Bush years.

So while the MSM has desperately tried to nominate Hillary or Obama and forget Edwards, this strategy is clearly not working with the American people. As more and more people tune in, expect to see Edwards rise further, and win Iowa, and quite possibly take one or two more early states. This campaign has shown amazing resiliency through all the smears, and all the media fawning over Clinton and Obama and is now poised to surprise a lot of people.

And yes, you can quote me. The race for our nomination is not inevitable, and is a THREE person race!!

The primary season that began way to soon in my estimate is winding down. We settled on a nominee way too early last time, and we are doomed to repeat that mistake and make it worse this time. I have argued consistently against states moving up and causing us to nominate our candidate sooner and sooner. If anything, I think states should move BACK, and give Americans more time to look at our candidates.

Well, despite these sour grapes on my part, the process is full steam ahead. More than likely, we will have our nominee by Feb. 5, a full seven months before the election. This means that we must take a closer look at our candidates and be sure we make an informed decision on who will lead our party, and hopefully our country after the disasterous Bush/Cheney years. Cleaning up this mess is going to take dedication, and new ideas as well as facing hard truths.

Many of you know I have been arguing for John Edwards for a long time now. I think John Edwards is the only candidate who has the stomach to truly take on the system and defeat the special interests that have blocked Progressive change under both Republican and Democratic Administrations. I think John Edwards is the one who has learned hard lessons, and wants to use that bitter experience to bring about the change we have all hungered for.

I think furthermore that two issues that have come up recently have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that John Edwards is the one candidate who will fight for our values, and use common sense in making his decisions. These two issues are the sabre-rattling against Iran, and the Peru Trade agreement. Between these two issues, I think Democrats have effectively been shown that our two supposed frontrunners aren't nearly as dedicated to fighting for our ideals as John Edwards.

First, we have the Iranian situation and the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment. Of course we know that Senator Clinton, despite the lessons of Iraq, voted to give the Bush Administration a green light to go into Iran, wasting more young lives, and hundreds of billions of more dollars that could go to solving the myriad of problems that face America. Edwards spoke out against this amendment from the start. He had this to say about Clinton's enabling of the Bush Administration's next war:

“Today, George Bush and Dick Cheney again rattled the sabers in their march toward military action against Iran. The Bush Administration has been making plans to attack Iran for many months. At this critical moment, we need strong leadership to stand against George Bush’s dangerous ‘preventive war’ policy, which makes force the first option, not the last.

“I learned a clear lesson from the lead up to the Iraq War in 2002: if you give this president an inch, he will take a mile - and launch a war. Senator Clinton apparently learned a different lesson. Instead of blocking George Bush’s new march to war, Senator Clinton and others are enabling him once again.

“I have called for strong, capable diplomacy to deal with the challenge of Iran, and a carrots and sticks strategy aimed at results--not the Bush/Cheney path, which would escalate tensions, enable attacks, and lead to unintended consequences.

“The New Yorker recently reported that one reason the administration has not yet attacked Iran is because public opinion has turned against such a course. Senator Clinton’s actions undermine the American people’s opposition to war with Iran. Today’s advancement of the Bush strategy on Iran shows how much we need strong opposition on this issue. I learned my lesson the hard way in 2002, but it appears that others still have some learning to do.”

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071025-stop-enabling-bu...

I guess Clinton clearly didn't learn that you simply cannot trust George W. Bush with young American lives and national treasure. What word is it that is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Edwards was quick to let Senator Clinton know that she made a serious mistake:

"This morning we see that Senator Clinton is defending her vote to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. She was entitled to her vote just like she's entitled to defend it. The problem is her explanation to Iowa voters is different than her explanation to the New York Times. Her backers told the New York Times that her vote was about shifting from primary election mode to general election mode. Now she's telling Iowans something different. Apparently she has an Iowa mode and a Washington mode too.

"We have already seen the devastating consequences of triangulation and manipulation in Iraq. Particularly on the critical challenge on Iran, where the administration appears to be readying the guns of war, Democrats deserve a nominee who only has one mode - and that's ‘telling the truth’ mode."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071025-stop-enabling-bu...

Indeed. It is time that we have a nominee that tells us the truth. Of course, lets not overlook the fact that Edwards was right about this all the time, and Clinton would have enabled George W. Bush to march into another senseless war:

"The new National Intelligence Estimate shows that George Bush and Dick Cheney's rush to war with Iran is, in fact, a rush to war. The new NIE finds that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that Iran can be dissuaded from pursuing a nuclear weapon through diplomacy. This is exactly the reason that we must avoid radical steps like the Kyl-Lieberman bill declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, which needlessly took us closer to war. And it's why I have proposed that we pursue a comprehensive diplomatic approach instead."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071203-iran-nie/

Lets also remember that the key to leadership is not just to critisize, but find real solutions. See his plan for Iran here:

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071105-new-strategy-for...

The other issue which show clearly that both frontrunners, Clinton and Obama simply are too afraid to fight the entrenched special interests is the Peru Trade Agreement. Evidently the loss of countless high-paying union jobs is no big deal to them. They continue to fight for big business over us, and signed onto yet another unfair trade deal. John Edwards didn't:

"I grew up in Carolina mill towns and so I've seen firsthand the devastating impact trade can have on workers and communities," said Edwards. "Presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO promising that they would create new jobs. Instead, in recent years we've lost millions of manufacturing jobs, seen wages stagnate, and run up larger and larger trade deficits.

"For too long, Washington has been looking at every trade deal and asking one, and only one, question - is it good for corporate profits? And they haven't looked at all at the harm it will do to workers, their wages, or to the U.S. economy. Like the failed free trade agreements before it, the Peru Agreement puts the interests of the big multinational corporations first, ahead of the interests of American workers and communities."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071027-peru-trade/

Along the way he challenged Clinton and Obama to take a stand for American workers:

"I grew up in Carolina mill towns and I've seen firsthand the devastating impact trade can have on American workers and their communities. America is bleeding jobs. Now, more than ever, it is time we take a clear stand against the Peru trade deal and any other NAFTA-like trade agreements that will needlessly cost America more jobs and hurt middle class and working families.

"Sadly, Senator Obama has chosen to support the Peru trade deal. While I am disappointed by his choice, and I hope he reconsiders, at least he has taken a position. Unfortunately, Senator Hillary Clinton still refuses to say whether she is for or against the Peru trade deal.

"On all issues, whether it is Iraq, Iran, Social Security or trade, voters deserve straight talk and a leader who will have the strength to tell voters where they stand.

"I believe the Peru trade deal continues failed trade policies. It is wrong for America, and I strongly oppose it. As president, I will promote smart and safe policies by negotiating better deals and rejecting bad deals, enforcing the terms of those deals, helping dislocated workers and communities and ensuring the products sold to American families are safe.

"For the sake of hard-working families in Iowa and all across America, I hope that Senator Clinton will finally take a stand, do what is right and join me in strongly opposing the Peru trade deal."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071104-peru-trade-deal/

Unfortunately, Senator Obama did take a stand, against American workers and fair trade, Senator Clinton, well who knows:

"I'm disappointed by today's vote to approve the Peru trade deal and expand the failed NAFTA model that has cost us more than a million jobs. However, I congratulate the 132 members – including a majority of the voting House Democrats – for their courage in standing up and voting against this flawed deal. The vote should be an alarm bell for President Bush: other flawed trade deals, including South Korea and Columbia, need to be improved before they are brought before Congress.

"I believe that American workers and businesses can compete with any worker or company in the world as long as our government stands up and fights for a level playing field. American workers deserve trade agreements that strengthen and maintain, rather than undercut and erode, labor rights, environmental standards and wages.

"While I believe Senator Obama is wrong to give this president authority to risk American jobs with more bad trade deals, at least he has taken a position. Unfortunately, Senator Clinton has still refused to take a position on this proposal. I believe voters deserve to hear the truth and I urge Senator Clinton to join me in calling on members of the Senate to reject the Peru trade deal in the coming weeks."

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20071108-peru-passage/

To lead our party takes more than big talk and MSM fawning. It takes courage and the conviction to fight for our ideals. Unfortunately these two issues show that John Edwards is our only candidate who is willing to do that. I think Democrats and American workers need to take a long look at who is really representing them, and who they can really trust to fight for the ideals of our party. With the whole world watching, Senators Clinton and Obama failed that test.

John Edwards is the leader we can trust to tell us the truth. He is the leader that has learned his lessons and become a better person for it. He is the leader that doesn't have a primary mode and a general mode but fights for us everyday. He has constantly not only spoken to the problems faced by real Americans but has proudly put a Progressive vision for the world in the form of policy proposals for all to see. These two issues show why he is head and shoulders above both Clinton and Obama in this primary.

"It's rigged"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTp0PYVLZA

You tell 'em, John!

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My Mac won't embed this.
He doesn't comply with Rich-text formatting.
;-(