John Edwards, it seems.
Of course, you have to take advice from your opponents with a grain of salt. That said, I’ve been telling folks that Mike Huckabee was always the toughest candidate on the GOP side, and I wasn’t lying.
Now, it seems that Mike Huckabee, the southern governor, finds himself at the top of the heap in Iowa with the southern senator, John Edwards:
Edwards leads with 30 percent in a poll of Democratic voters who said they intend to participate in the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses, followed by Clinton with 26 percent and Obama with 24 percent. When the sample was narrowed to the most likely caucus-goers, based on several questions, Obama leads Edwards by less than a percentage point with 27 percent, with Clinton in third place at 24 percent.
Edwards holds a significant advantage, however, among a group who could be key to the first contest of the presidential year: those who say their first choice is someone other than the top three. Under Iowa Democratic Party rules, candidates who poll less than 15 percent in the first vote at each caucus around the state are eliminated, and their supporters get a second chance to vote for another candidate.
Edwards is on the cover of the newest Newsweek, and inside I found some interesting tidbits about the 2004 race:
The Kerry-Edwards union was uneasy from the start. There were little things: Edwards wanted to lead audiences in his “Hope is on the way!” cheer. Kerry thought “Help is on the way” sounded more dignified. Neither man would budge, and they wound up using two different slogans. There were also larger differences. When Kerry came under the Swift Boat attacks over his war record, Edwards urged him to fight back early. Kerry believed it was beneath him to dignify his attackers with a response. (Emphasis mine)
Sometimes people like candidates for academic reasons. I like Edwards for his political instincts. He won’t be afraid to call them like he sees them (“Hope is on the way!”) and his first impulse will be, when attacked, to hit back.
“Who are they afraid OFF?” or “Who are they afraid of???”
Don’t the HA Happy Hooligans have a copy editor?
BTW…seen The Enquirer front page?
The Piper
They’re afraid of getting a president who’ll be a friend to people who make less than $100,000 a year.
i like Edwards a bunch and might think of voting a donkey if he had the nom. come november.
Dickweed @ 1
I fixed it.
@4…Will…
You’re welcome…
And Merry Christmas!
The Piper
The observations about Edwards seem appropriate.
He may have support in the Iowa state process and be a good campaigner, with making good speeches.
But with his political instincts has he ever accomplished anything in the national legislature?
Does he have any record of accomplishments?
@6…Marcel…
Record of accomplishments? According to The National Enquirer, he’s knocked up some babe other than his wife, Elizabeth. But, then again, it is The Enquirer.
Read it here: http://www.nationalenquirer.co.....rity/64426
Oh…don’t forget his demogoguery and class envy, flaunting his wealth, pissing off his neighbors, and doing his best to be the Huey Long of our time.
The Piper
Will:
I like Edwards – but his poor (weak) performance one on one with Dick Cheney in the VP debate less than three years ago still lingers in my mind. He let Cheney falsely tie 9/11 and Iraq (Zaquari was in Iraq – invited by Sadaam! – Edwards didn’t point out that he was in the Kurd controlled zone as an enemy of Sadaam and was never “invited” and that there have never been any proven cooperation between al quaida and Sadaam Hussein.) and never called him on his blatant lies. We need someone who will stand up and debate on Iraq – and Edwards didn’t vcut it then and I worry he won’t cut it in a debate with McCain or even Huckleberry (oops – I mean Huckabee – who didn’t even hear of the NIE on Iran).
He seemed naive and not nearly forceful enough in being able to point out the logical inconsistencies and outright lies of Cheney. It didn’t bother for vice president – but it does some for president. that and his vote for AUMF makes his foreign policy not as strong as some others.
While he may be as electable as Obama (Clinton is simply less electable due to her perceived negatives) – the republicans will go after his haircuts and house (false issues, though they are) as examples of hypocrisy in being for the poor or middle class. They will also label him as a trial lawyer.
@7: Piper
Now I know where you get your important political information – the National Inquirer. It explains a lot.
Are you voting in favor of the alien invasion?
@2…HT…
If Edwards ever became president, we’d all make under $100K…By the time he would be finished wrecking the economy, we’d all be making minimum wage!
You think Dubya has alienated the U.S. internationally, Edwards would screw up every trading relationship we have throughout the world.
The Piper
@9…CnR…
Alien invasion? Your relatives coming to visit for the holidays?
The Piper
Piper:
The only aliens are the ones in the White House who can’t follow the constitution. They seem to operate as if this is a different country – they like to lie, cover-up, bribe, intimidate and stonewall.
Only the light of day will expose all the illegal activities hiding behind the Bush adminstration lies. It will take years to overturn all the rocks and prosecute the scum running out from underneath.
If that is what it takes to restore our republic – than so be it. If you were a true patriot, you would be raising your voice to run these scum out of the white house for trampling our constitution and lying about it. For burning evidence, for lying to congress about poiticization of the justice department, for politicization of the FDA, the CDC, Interior, the FCC, the FEC and the dept. of agriculture.
This is not partisan anymore – it is a blueprint for a unitary executive and how the republicans will scream when it is a democrat in office in 08. I support the constitution – limit the powers of the presidency according to the constitution no matter who is in office. Never permit allegal and unconstitutional actions.
Piper
John Edwards would swamp any of your sorry party’s candidates in the general election. Boy, you must be ashamed of those vying for the “honor” of being the Republican nominee. What a pathetic group of pandering wannabes.
Will,
As much as I like Edwards’ message, I still can’t forget the VP debate in 2004. Cheney walked all over him. I would have thought a trial lawyer would have better debating skills than a cyborg. So, I am very leery of Edwards, in spite of your post, I don’t see him as the fighter you make him out to be. Maybe you have an explanation for why he didn’t knock Darth Cheney’s block off during that debate?
@8:
Seems I owe you a Coke, correctnotright. Great minds and all that.
@7
Not only that, but NE took the story down this morning. Duh. Maybe somebody such as yourself that claims to be such a devout fucking Christian would avoid, you know, BEARING FALSE WITNESS.
Another fucking hypocrite for Jesus.
16
Be easy on the Piper. He suffers from a major impairment, that of Republicanism. Unfortunately, the condition is not treatable. Fortunately, the condition has become so marginalized that it is not contagious.
7 Hmmm….if the NE is claiming this, the Weekly World News must have it that the mother is a Martian and the kid looks just like Elvis.
@16…Tlazolteotl…
Story’s still up…Looked at it within the past 30-seconds.
http://www.nationalenquirer.co.....rity/64426
The Piper
Gee Piper:
How many things in the national inquirer are actually true?
Hmmm – I guess anyone who believes in the Bush administration, the National Inquirer and the tooth fairy must have it all together….you must be right then!
Well, Piper, that still doesn’t make it true.
Because, you know, Democrats are the only ones who cheat on their wives. Republicans (Giulliani) would (Newt) never (David Vitter) do that!
Wait:
I forgot Reagonomics, the Laffer curve (that cutting taxes decreases the budget deficit), WMDs in Iraq and the Iranian nuclear bomb and that Plame was not an outed CIA agent….all of those other fantasies….
221:
You mean: “Republicans (Guliani) would (Newt) never (David Vitter) (admit) that (Craig)!”
The folks talking about the Edwards/Cheney debate have a different memory of it than I do. The CBS poll after the debate, the one with a sampling that wasn’t packed with Repubs, named Edwards the winner, same with me.
Congratulations to the record-breaking Senate GOP — Most. Obstructionist. Ever.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/
The latest came this morning, when the Senate GOP filibustered an omnibus budget bill, the 62nd Republican filibuster since the 110th Congress began in January.
“In just one session, a minority in Congress has prevented a mind-blowing 62 pieces of legislation from going to the floor for an up or down vote,” said Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey. “Our report shows how over and over again, the uncompromising minority has thwarted the will of majorities in Congress and of the American people, holding the Senate floor hostage to a radical right-wing agenda.” […]
Eric Lotke, Campaign for America’s Future research director and lead author of the new report, calls the obstruction a “deliberate strategy.” He observes that the congressional Republicans block legislation, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done. “It’s like mugging the postman and then complaining that the mail isn’t delivered on time.”
Brian Young, noting the historic quality of the achievement, added, “Only a group with a near-pathological disregard for the actual health of our democracy, only a group with a single-minded focus on the cynical political strategies of their consultants, only a group with an imperious disdain for the people of the country could’ve pulled off such a feat.”
Quite right. This was a record that wasn’t meant to be broken. The “Roadblock Republican” label is not meant as a compliment.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
Edwards, Paul and Huckabee are obviously disparate in significant ways — ideologically, temperamentally, and otherwise. But there is a vital attribute common to those three campaigns that explains the media’s scorn: they are all, in their own ways, anti-establishment candidates, meaning they are outside and critical of the system of which national journalists are a critical part, the system which employs and rewards our journalists and forms the base of their identity and outlook. Any candidate who criticizes and opposes that system — not in piecemeal ways but fundamentally — will be, first, ignored and, then, treated as losers by the press.
It is very striking how little Edwards’ substantive critique of our political system has penetrated into the national discourse. That’s because the centerpiece of his campaign is a critique that is a full frontal assault on our political establishment. His argument is not merely that the political system needs reform, but that it is corrupt at its core — “rigged” in favor of large corporate interests and their lobbyists, who literally write our laws and control the Congress. Anyone paying even casual attention to the extraordinary bipartisan effort on behalf of telecom immunity, and so many other issues driven almost exclusively by lobbyists, cannot reasonably dispute this critique.
Yet because that argument indicts the same Beltway culture of which our political journalists are an integral part, and further attacks the system’s power brokers who are the friends, sources, and peers of those journalists, they instinctively react with confusion, scorn and hostility towards Edwards’ campaign. They condescendingly dismiss it as manipulative populist swill, or cynically assume that it’s just a ploy to distinguish himself by “moving left.” In the eyes of our Beltawy press, the idea that our political system is “rigged” or corrupt must be anything other than true or sincerely held.
10 Well, Piper, since most of the “trading relationships” you’re referring to have resulted in the export of decent paying jobs and the import of products like lead-contaminated toys, we might be better off without them.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/....._1219.html
The GOP’s clamor to identify itself as a party of Christian piety has failed to include some key elements of the faith — namely Christian principles, according to a Washington Post columnist who says modern Republicans recall the hypocrisy of the Ku Klux Klan.
“As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it’s a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party,” writes the Post’s Harold Meyerson, who is also executive editor of The American Prospect. “My concern isn’t the rift that has opened between Republican political practice and the vision of the nation’s Founders…it’s the gap between the teaching of the Gospels and the preachings of the Gospel’s Own Party that has widened past the point of absurdity…”
That gap, according to Meyerson, is particularly visible when it comes to GOP stances on torture.
“Virtually the entire Republican House delegation opposed the ban on waterboarding,” he writes. “Among the Republican presidential candidates, only Huckabee and the not-very-religious John McCain have come out against torture, while only libertarian Ron Paul has questioned the doctrine of preemptive war.”
NEW YORK As an ex-Mormon, Arizona Republic editorial cartoonist Steve Benson has strong opinions about current Mormon Mitt Romney. He said the Republican candidate’s recent speech on religion should not be trusted by media people and other Americans.
In his talk, Romney said “I believe in my Mormon faith” while also noting that the church’s “teachings” would not influence his decisions if elected president.
“Yeah, right,” responded Benson, adding that “Romney also believes in misrepresenting what his Mormon Church actually espouses.”
Benson is the grandson of former Mormon leader Ezra Taft Benson.
He told E&P that, in his view, a Mormon believer is required by church doctrine (as dictated by the church’s “living prophet”) to “obey God’s commands” over anything else. He said “Romney, like all ‘temple Mormons,’ made his secret vows using Masonic-derived handshakes, passwords, and symbolic death oaths that he promised in the temple never to reveal to the outside world” — and that Romney also secretly vowed to devote his “time, talents” and more “to the building of the Mormon religion on earth.”
So, said Benson, the only way Romney could be truly independent of the church as U.S. president would be to disavow Mormon doctrine. “He hasn’t done that,” said the Creators Syndicate-distributed cartoonist.
“When Mitt says he belongs to a church that doesn’t tell him what to do, that’s false; it’s a 24/7, do-what-you’re-told-to-do church,” asserted Benson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1993.
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp.....1003686826
That was the year Benson left what he calls the “Mormon cult.” One reason for his decision was disgust with the way Mormon officials tried to fool church members and the general public into believing that Ezra Taft Benson — Steve’s then-94-year-old grandfather and church president — was still capable of leading the church. “He was not mentally or physically in a place where he could make any meaningful decisions,” recalled Benson. “I know it because I saw his condition with my own eyes.”
@20…CnR…
Enquirer…with an “E”…Least you could do is spell it correctly.
The Piper
Correcting a spelling mistake is the best you can do for a response to that comment Peeper. Quick, what is the spelling mistake in this message?
In case I made the test to difficult Peeper there is a hint to the answer in this message.
@21…Tlazolteotl…
Hey! Did you hear me defending any of them? Let alone the biggest Lewinsky of them all?
My point simply is that it’s in the public interest to know this stuff, and it’s germane to millions of voters in judging finess to serve and character.
Besides, Edwards is wrong on so many issues of importance to Americans, he would lose running against a dead Dick Nixon.
The Piper
Warning Peeper. I have attempted to throw you off the scent in the above message.
A dead Nixon would be a better President than a live Bush!
@32…PM…
Well, aside from butchering my moniker, you misused “to.” Should be “too.”
The Piper
@27…AF…
Then I assume that you have no Japanese or Korean-made electronics in your home? You drive, and always have and always will, only American-made car? Your clothes and shoes are all made in the USA? You vacation exclusively in the USA? Your employment allows you to deal only with US-based and US citizen-staffed companies? And you never eat at anything but American cuisine-restaurants?
The Piper
Congratulation Piper YOU have demonstrated some intelligence. You are now moved up one rung in the Republican party hierarchy from stupid fucking republican status to dumb fucking republican status. Post your address and I’ll send you a Starbucks coffee cup with puddypud’s photo on it.
@38…PM…
My address is nearly staring you in the face. Figure it out for yourself, but I’m holding you to your pledge of a mug. Card layed is a card played.
The Piper
Puddybud’s Mommy
Any chance you could be persuaded to undergo a post-birth abortion? I’d be happy to finance the procedure.
37 Of course not. No more than you or anybody else. Then again, I’ll betcha we’ve got a lot more old stuff (old enough, in fact, that much of it actually was manufactured here) that we take good care of, fix or get fixed instead of tossing into the trash, than a great many people do.
@24:
Edwards may have “won” the debate because Cheney scowled the whole way through – but most commentators picked up on how Edwards looked naive and was trounced on foreign policy – by Cheney no less.
No – I distinctly remember trying to cheer on Edwards on demstic issues and then being disappointed at how feeble he was in refuting the al quaida/Sadaam canard.
He ended up being a liability on the ticket in many ways because of that debate (not experienced, lacking in foreign policy knowledge were the claims) – when in comparison to Cheney he should have been an asset.
Maybe he has grown up – but can we afford another poor debate performance? Especially, as this was Dick cheney and even a sleeping debator should have torn him apart and made him pay for his lies.
I expected more from a trial lawyer – but he lost it on foreign policy. I now worry about him trying to justify his vote for AUMF (Iraq war) and losing that whole issue.
I like Edwards – I just don’t think he is a tough enough debator. He does Ok with his fellow democrats because he doesn’t have to challenge underlying false assumptions – but that is what he did not due 4 years ago and what he will need to do this time.
Okay, Piper, if the best you’ve got is “but Clinton got a blowjob!” then I feel pretty sorry for you.
Liberals: Why do you liberals all possess such short memories? Puddy remembers this as plain as yesterday.
It was the National Enquirer who broke the “Stay Out of The Bushes” Scandal with Jesse Hi-Jackson’s love child with Karen Stanford. The brat was 20 month’s old when Patricia Shipp in the National Enquirer broke the story during the GWB first inaugural week in 2001.
Remember this was the same Hi-Jackson who was “counseling” William (Free Willie) Jefferson Clinton during the DNA stain on the blue dress affair. So when you add 9 month’s gestation to the 20 months of alive on planet Earth Jesse was in the bush!
Oh yes, I remembered on of my favorite black commentators.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/.....on501.html
Remember this slogan, “Stay out of the Bushes”? He knew what the outcome would be. A Love Child! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Child_(song) Waaaaaa haaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaa HAR HAR HAR HEE HEE HEEEEEEE
It was hidden by national liberal MSM and tv news.
So yes I can trust the National Enquirer.
Here is one of my favorite commentators on Barack Obama:
http://www.nationalcenter.org/.....90707.html
Speaking of John Edwards:
Two America’s anyone?
One where your house is 28K sq. ft. sitting on 102 secluded acres surrounded by a forest of deciduous and conifer trees and with many no-trespassing signs you call home and another where your house is over 10K sq ft and you deliver your gorebasms you call home.
Another where your house is 2000-3000 sq ft and you pay mortgage payments every month balancing your budget or you live in a tenement in the big city with drafty walls, bad plumbing and cockroaches!
Heh, indeed:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/12/19/153027/87
@33:
Piper is this your candidate of choice?
“Besides, Edwards is wrong on so many issues of importance to Americans, he would lose running against a dead Dick Nixon.”
Please – oh so right (wing) piper – illuminate us with your great knowledge of the correct way to view the issues.
Such as:
Iraq, the deficit, health care, the trade deficit, the sinking dollar, the loss of good jobs, the corruption in the Bush adminstration and the “retroactive immunity” for telecoms.
Tell us how Bush and the republicans have been correct on a single one of these issues?
Explain how so many republicans have been indicted and convicted of corruption in a republican-controlled and politically compromised justice department?
Explain how the Bush administration and the republicans are so competent:
Start with Katrina, the FDA, Interior, the FEC, the CDC and explain the misuse of science and cronyism and blatant incompetence.
List how these people have been competent (hint – all are republicans that are either indicted, convicted, resigned in disgrace or under investigation – and this a short list):
Brownie bushco
Alberto Gonzalez bushco
Jack Abramoff K street
rep Bob Ney
Scooter Libby bushco
David Safavian bushco
Steven Griles bushco
Sen Larry Craig
Sen David Vitter
Rep Don Young
Sen Ted Stevens
Tom Delay
Rep Jerry Lewis
Rep John Dolittle
Duke cunningham
What happened? John Edwards not Time’s “Person of the Year”?
http://www.time.com/time/speci.....oftheyear/
Based on these HorsesASSHole comments you’da thunk he got screwed!
@47:
thanks TJ – in Puddy’s fantasy world the democrats all have illegitimate kids that they can’t abort because abortion is illegal.
that is the only way puddy can see the republicans winning – a scandal. they sure can’t win on any actual issues – so let’s make up a scandal, so that the legitimate parents have to issue a press release that it is their own kid. How pathetic – the republican smear machine is in full force! Swift boating isn’t gonna work this time – people are on to the republican lies.
Face it – the republicans are corrupt, inept and have no new ideas. 8 years of bush has alienated all but those who are too blind to see – puddy – sorry for your lack of sight.
How many wives do McCain and rudy have between them?
Maybe John Edwards can tell us why it’s so cold lately.
http://www.washingtontimes.com.....Y/10575140
Wondering about that…
Can anyone decipher what the idiot @50 wrote?
When did I talk about anything he farts in #50. I brought out a real news story written in the National Enquirer which was validated and Jesse said he screwed up, and idiot#50 goes apoplectic. This is why lefties have mental issues.
Puddybud,
I see your Jesse Jackson and raise you a Strom Thurmond!
By the way you write an argument notcorrectstillnotright, donkoinfanticide may have been the correct choice!
Poor Puddy – ad hominem attacks are the refuge of those who have little actual facts. You argue like a third grader – you are right – so there!
– that you cite the national inquirer is demonstration enough of your desperation and lack of real arguments.
Now, let’s not be too hard on the N.E. just because they got this story completely wrong. After all, they broke the story about Laura Bush moving out of the White House over W’s affair with Condi. And they broke the story about W drinking again. Two out of three aint bad.
Tlazolteotl: I know the relatives of lady who is the Thurmond love child. Been over to their house to eat!
WTF incorrectnotright. Can you read a thread.
First clean out the cobwebs from that single celled organizm called your brain.
Second read what was written above.
Third navigate down to what I wrote in the National Enquirer
There see how simple that was.
Now we jump to John Edwards. He gave the two americas speech not me. Unfortunately for me I don’t live in “his” america. I ain’t rich, butt maybe you are!
You are naturally stupid, grown on the vine, cultivated with Pelletizer’s (TM) pellets and plucked just for this occasion!
Let me help justnotcorrectstillnotrightverystupid:
Blog posts 9, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 discuss National Enquirer and is the Edwards story to be trusted.
I deliver a true story covered up by the liberal MSM which was very true. And…………. I’m not sorry if you brain exploded.
Name a President that has been elected on a platform of class warfare. His shameful condescending to the poor is truly disgusting. He tells people the deck is stacked against them and they have no chance, when he himself lives in a $28 million mansion……paid for by suing big corporations. The guy is so fucking creepy he is reptilian!
Heaven forbid that a man who got rich through hard work and talent would want others to have the same opportunities he had. What a hypocrite!
He tells people the deck is stacked against them and they have no chance
No, he doesn’t. You should listen more closely before spouting off in public.
My Goldy Itches:
Hairball, gack, awwwk. I have to agree with ATJ. That’s not what John Edwards was saying. Hairball, gack, awwwk, pssst.
Shit, you too can become a lawyer, chase ambulances, sue in class action lawsuits and get rich.
He is trying to make a distinction. Unfortunately for him it’s a bad distinction when he had stock in companies he was dissing, owns a very large house, has big SUVs in the garage and runs in circles we can’t hang. So which America is he proposing we join or leave?
Objectively you have to evaluate what he said. Sure there is poverty in America. I have been saying this about my people in the inner city who live in poverty. For the last 43 years donk have neglected my people in the inner city. So if there are two Americas, the one which he lives in; the lap of luxury, and the other which subject people to menial existence, it’s John Edwards party that perpetrated the menial existence crime on my people.
The Prosecution Rests!
I don’t know what it is exactly about Edwards but every time
I look at him I want to slap the shit out him and I have a bad shoulder. I pretty much don’t have respect for anyone
who appears successful but did so like him. Ambulance
chaser piece of SHIT. Want affordable health care? Insurance companies need to have their liabilities capped and it could become a reality. I heard Edwards’ wife had
a hard time finding a physician because they were worried
about his slimy ass.
Why do my posts look fine and turn out all fucked with
some long lines and others short after I click? Am
I retarded or something?
Am
I retarded or something?
After reading #63, I’ve got a notion.