Who's Afraid of John Edwards?

[stickdog99]

Glad to see that Norm has finally seen through the built-to-lose heat sink that is DK.

[Nordic]

I think Edwards is the only Democratic contender who could win a general election against the Republican '08 nominee. But I think most Democrats will only realize that in hindsight.

And you damn well know the Republican power brokers already know that. It's funny how the Dems don't know what the Repubs do.

How more obvious can it be, than the media utterly ignoring Edwards? For months and months now it's been Hillary vs. Obama. I wrote about this a year ago, in December of 2006, on Dailykos, here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/ ... 856/284931

And even now, tonight, they are refusing to mention him, even though he beat Hillary Clinton.

That alone, made me want him to win. Even though I don't really care for the guy.

But if they're treating him like that, then they are scared of him. And if thye are scared of him, then he's the guy I want to win.

[judasdisney]

I notice very little discussion of the voting machines. Did we forget the documented hacks of the past 6 (plus) years?

Is it suddenly "paranoia" to speculate that a Vote Hack can also be flipped in favor of a specific Official Narrative? Which might include a Democratic President who can be blamed for everything?

Obama and Edwards must be divided: Divide and Conquer is the only way to split the progressive vote. The two progressives MUST win Iowa so that they can become adversaries and split the progressive vote.

Hillary -- the Corporate Establishment candidate and Neocon Favored Scapegoat -- cannot win unless Obama and Edwards are split.

Obama & Edwards had to win Iowa.

Or are we all suddenly amnesiac about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Rolling Stone article and all of the other documentation that votes are being hacked, manipulated, stashed, suppressed, fabricated & destroyed?

When our analysis here, on this board of all places, fails to account for the Election Fraud factor, I'm left to wonder.

[chiggerbit]

Anybody notice how well Ron Paul did? He smoked Giuliani, Paul, 10%; Giuliani, 4%. Heehee, sorry, I dislike Giuliani more than I do Paul. I still think Paul could be a dark horse for the Republican side, maybe not enough to win, but enough to make an impact on the nomination. I wonder, if he had used his ads to emphasize his stand on pot,--that it should not be the federal government but up to the states on its criminality-- whether he would do even better, pull some support from Obama's younger supporters.

[mentalgongfu2]

I notice very little discussion of the voting machines. Did we forget the documented hacks of the past 6 (plus) years?

Machines are not used in the caucus, at least not on my side of the state. It's the age old method of counting out people (for Dems) and paper ballots (for Repubs).

[barracuda]

Worthwhile analysis from wsws.org:

The small number of Iowans who will cast votes, as well as the small size of the first primary state, New Hampshire, makes it far easier for political establishments in both parties and the media bosses to manipulate the outcome of the nomination campaign.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/elec-j02.shtml

The system is set up to be fixed. That is why it exists, why it has been constructed this particular way. The puppetmasters leave very little to chance, but always try to keep their options open.

[Jeff]

That alone, made me want him to win. Even though I don't really care for the guy.

Edwards left me cold in '04 but he seems a changed man. He seems authentic now. Sunny's suggestion that the change is due to his wife's battle with cancer has the ring of truth for me.

[Gouda]

The message:

Iowa results shake establishment of both parties

Not so sure about that.

Obama gives Keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention, JULY 27, 2004

In the end, that's what this election is about.
Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?
John Kerry calls on us to hope.
John Edwards calls on us to hope.
...

In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead.

July, 2004, Democracy Now: Last night, one of the most celebrated and legendary figures of the Democratic Party, Senator Ted Kennedy, shared the stage with a young rising star who was just one year old when Kennedy was first elected to the Senate. Barack Obama is the Democratic candidate for US Senate from Illinois. Political analysts say his speech last night secured his status as a rising star within the party. Here is Barack Obama.


****

OCTOBER, 2006



Heady stuff.

Clinton, Iowa, September 2007:
Obama introduced by President Carter's onetime National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski

Looks to me like someone got fast-track Established.

[Nordic]

If Edwards is indeed authentic, then he's the guy I would want.

But I kind of cringe when I see him laying on the "sincerity". It seems phony to me, but I hope I'm wrong, I really do.

My problem with Edwards is his vote for the IWR and the Patriot Act. Those show that either he was just going along with the war-fever, or else he just had some terribly bad judgement. Either way, I have trouble getting past that.

I don't mean to start any arguments here, just stating my own feelings about it. I don't really feel strongly about any of the candidates (except for my negative feelings about several).

I'm quite impressed with Obama the man, but I just hope he isn't getting in over his head, i.e. thinks he can handle the Military Industrial Complex and Big Oil, when in fact they've got him by the short hairs.

Ya know?

I fear that they're using Obama and he hasn't figured it out yet.

[Jeff]

Looks to me like someone got fast-track Established.

Zbigniew Brzezinski is a senior adviser to Obama. Some "Change."

Allan Nairn recently on Democracy Now:

Another key Obama adviser, Anthony Lake, he was the main force behind the US invasion of Haiti in the mid-Clinton years during which they brought back Aristide essentially in political chains, pledged to support a World Bank/IMF overhaul of the economy, which resulted in an increase in malnutrition deaths among Haitians and set the stage for the current ongoing political disaster in Haiti.

Another Obama adviser, General Merrill McPeak, an Air Force man, who not long after the Dili massacre in East Timor in ’91 that you and I survived, he was—I happened to see on Indonesian TV shortly after that—there was General McPeak overseeing the delivery to Indonesia of US fighter planes.

Another key Obama adviser, Dennis Ross. Ross, for many years under both Clinton and Bush 2, a key—he has advised Clinton and both Bushes. He oversaw US policy toward Israel/Palestine. He pushed the principle that the legal rights of the Palestinians, the rights recognized under international law, must be subordinated to the needs of the Israeli government—in other words, their desires, their desires to expand to do whatever they want in the Occupied Territories. And Ross was one of the people who, interestingly, led the political assault on former Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Carter, no peacenik—I mean, Carter is the one who bears ultimate responsibility for that Timor terror that Holbrooke was involved in. But Ross led an assault on him, because, regarding Palestine, Carter was so bold as to agree with Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa that what Israel was doing in the Occupied Territories was tantamount to apartheid. And so, Ross was one of those who fiercely attacked him.

Another Obama adviser, Sarah Sewall, who heads a human rights center at Harvard and is a former Defense official, she wrote the introduction to General Petraeus’s Marine Corps/Army counterinsurgency handbook, the handbook that is now being used worldwide by US troops in various killing operations. That’s the Obama team.

[chiggerbit]

I had a different kind of "opinion survey" last night. Odd, mostly because the Iowa caucus is a done deal, but I think they said it had to do with some tv station, channel six somewhere--wherever it is, it's not available here in my corner of the state. They wanted me to rate Hillary against each of several of the Repubs, and Obama the same, but no mention of Edwards. Then they wanted to know how I rated each of the Iowa Senators. But the oddest question of all was whether I thought the draft should be re-instituted.

[populistindependent]

I notice very little discussion of the voting machines. Did we forget the documented hacks of the past 6 (plus) years?

Is it suddenly "paranoia" to speculate that a Vote Hack can also be flipped in favor of a specific Official Narrative? Which might include a Democratic President who can be blamed for everything?

Obama and Edwards must be divided: Divide and Conquer is the only way to split the progressive vote. The two progressives MUST win Iowa so that they can become adversaries and split the progressive vote.

Hillary -- the Corporate Establishment candidate and Neocon Favored Scapegoat -- cannot win unless Obama and Edwards are split.

Obama & Edwards had to win Iowa.

Or are we all suddenly amnesiac about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Rolling Stone article and all of the other documentation that votes are being hacked, manipulated, stashed, suppressed, fabricated & destroyed?

When our analysis here, on this board of all places, fails to account for the Election Fraud factor, I'm left to wonder.

It is virtually impossible to hack a caucus, since everything is out in the open. I can't even imagine how one would go about it.

[populistindependent]

If Edwards is indeed authentic, then he's the guy I would want.

But I kind of cringe when I see him laying on the "sincerity". It seems phony to me, but I hope I'm wrong, I really do.

Who cares if he is "authentic?" Authentically a super-hero, or what? He is a politician. The question is what effect is he having on the people, what might build around him, what breakthrough might happen as a result of his candidacy in the national political discussion and in people's thinking? Those are real questions in the real world, not merely a matter of how we feel about the performance of some celebrity when compared to other celebrities. It isn't entertainment, and it is not a search for the perfect guru, either. People are hurting. The times are desperate. Put things in perspective and focus outside of yourself.

"Phony" is a word from an intentional right wing think tank smear campaign being waged against Edwards - actually against all of us. It is a charge that no one could ever refute, of course, and so it is a clever form of character assassination.

You are already "wrong" in thinking that any of this has to do with how you feel.

"The guy" that you would want? Who cares about that?

[judasdisney]

It is virtually impossible to hack a caucus, since everything is out in the open. I can't even imagine how one would go about it.

You can change your party affiliation -- or even register -- at the door on the day of the caucus. In the 2008 Iowa caucus, up to 60% of the caucus participants were first-time participants.

With a track record of pouring money in from Republican-affiliated 527s to influence non-GOP races in 2004 caucuses (including the famous "Volvo-driving, latte-drinking" anti-Howard Dean ad), it's remarkable to say "I can't even imagine how one would go about" hacking, stacking, or redacting any stage of the democratic process -- or that they're interested in doing so. Because they've shown a healthy and wide imagination for how to go about it.

[judasdisney]

81% of NH primary votes were counted by Diebold optical scanners

The day before NH's primary, Obama held an 11-point lead in most polls, and Hillary's own in-house poll allegedly showed a 14-point lead for Obama.

Now, the narrative is "polls are fallible." Yeah.