H/t Scarce at the Daily Kos..

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/1/821...

What a happy day!

 
Right on, Ed! We want to be listened to!

Tonight JRE is on Larry King Live, I'm guessing the second part of the hour, and maybe only the last 10 minutes or less of the second hour since Barbara Walters is the main featured guest.

I want to say something here, and understand that I write this with the greatest respect for all of us in the forum.

As you know, I am an Edwardian through and through. I'm saddened by the timing of certain candidates in this race. To me, JRE should have taken on Barack Obama early on, but I guess he felt he didn't have the stomach to do it, given that he witnessed first hand discrimination in the places where he lived, and he had African-American friends who often joined the family for after football practice suppers. He went after Hillary, which ended up helping Obama in the long run. I'm not a Hillary fan, but I kept thinking she might pull this off, and with her, you knew what you got since nearly all of her weaknesses (along w/Bill's) were open. I liked it that she embraced John's UHC and Poverty plans.

But let's face it, and JRE has said this many times in recent days, and he probably will restate tonight:

Clinton has a tenacity that one can admire. But pollsters, the media, etc, are touting the math, and she will have a difficult time making a case against the math (particularly of the superdelegates). The BSM (b-s media) are against Clinton now. I suspected it might happen sooner, not this late, and while I have not talked to John and/or Elizabeth since Super Tuesday, I think they thought the outcome would not be like this either.

So, here's what I suggest to this group, and it's only a suggestion, OK?

Those of us in Velvet Blue states (IL and MA) can vote as we wish (meaning write-in ballot). Voting for whomever will still produce electoral votes for a Democratic candidate. I don't recommend McCain as your choice, however, or Barr, who is running as a Liberatarian. Nader is not a good bet either.

But what I do suggest is rethinking: do we want another 4 years of McSame or McBush? I think we should try to pull ourselves together as much as possible, as John will continue to ask us to do. We don't have to endorse anyone. But we have to fight these goons as much as possible via downtickets as well as the WH nominee, if for any reason, the SCOTUS, in which I think the Dem nominee will appoint someone at worst a "moderate" and at best, a true champion of our personal, commercial, and civil rights.

Thus, here's what I think we can do:

1) Not post on GD-P for now about Edwards; he's often said it's about issues, not him. GD-P are into the primaries like the BSM; gotchas, etc, not the issues.

2) Post mainly videos about Edwards' unity messages (more to come from ultraist, I'm certain, I know her personally)

3) Quit our bitching about Obama here. He's likely to be the nominee unless Clinton can pull a rabbit out of her hat, and if she can, we can support her too, but work on a strategy to bring the camps together. Obama is not my candidate (he's my jr senator, and not a bad one, just mediocre), but we have to push him too, is the way I look at it. We may or may not be successful, but our votes matter and he does have to earn them. It's OK to make him work for all of us, but do it constructively.

4) Support downticket progressives with volunteer time and/or change (most of us don't but we try where we can help): this could be our One Corps initiative this year. Rocky has been working hard for Charlie Brown, and I like Ed Fallon a lot. I'm about to support Kevin Miskell in Ia-04 since he is a JRE Democrat (my IL district has no JRE Dems but a handful). Your states probably have some JRE Dems who are worthy of your attention and time.

5) My comment at the Daily Kos on a related subject, which I hope ties my message together:

There are many Edwards supporters who have been disenfranchised in the process too. Just yesterday, someone posted a diary about Edwards saying we needed unity in the party, and quite a few Obama supporters continued to trash Edwards for not endorsing anyone.

This election is about our issues, not about the candidates themselves. We need progress to begin ASAP.

I like this diary in general because I agree that we need to come together but also feel good about what Democratic candidates accomplished: we helped our candidates outraise the GOP, got more voters to the polls, and we did it with passion.

And I understand how Obama supporters are angry with Clinton, but if the issue is about hope and change, then get with the program, and quit the insults to the rest of us. Let's get it on to the WH and help downticket candidates so that we will move our country with a mountain of strength. God knows after Shrub and an abysmal Congress, we are all needed to make it happen. Our country is in shambles, but generally, we can be optimistic, and we can fix it.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/5/12...

I do think Hillary should go the distance for now, but I think it will be difficult for her to win. And perhaps the rude, ugly comments we have seen from Obama supporters will lessen.

This group means a lot to me, even though I don't get over here enough since I am one of the bloggers at EENR and my own blog, Benny's World, but I think we, hand in hand with JRE and EE, can start the healing process. I have faith we can do it, and I also believe that JRE will do as Al Gore has done for Global Warming: do to alleviate poverty as much as possible. But we need to elect the most progressive candidates to make it happen.

Pax and

My fellow blogger Iddybud penned a post entitled Angels among us about a baby that was thrown out of train and survived in Europe.

In the midst of the tornado rubble that inspectors were going through in Tennessee yesterday, they found an eleven month old baby. At first, they thought it was a doll, then they did the following:

So when two rescuers came upon a baby, they thought he was a doll. Then he moved. We grabbed hold of his neck (to take a pulse) and he took a breath of air and started crying," said David Harmon, a firefighter from a nearby county who was combing the field for tornado victims.

His momma, only 24 years old died in the same field where he was found, a few hundred yards away. No telling what she did to protect her child but couldn't save herself.

Maybe there were angels for Kyson.



No doubt there is joy and sorrow in the Stowell household for the days to come. But amazing strength that he made it. I bet Iddybud and Elizabeth Edwards would love to hold that child and give their empathy and comfort to that family, but there were so many who lost their families and friends that night.

My condolences to all of the families who lost loved ones in those terrible storms on Tuesday night. But in the Elizabeth Edwards tradition, I say Kerri Stowell's name so that her child will remember his lost momma's name too.

Source: Huffington Post

By Karen Dalton-Beninato


Gulf Coast voters have an Edwards endorsement today from Levees Not War with the unambiguous headline, "Democrats need a tough candidate who won't hesitate to kick the Republicans in the balls." They say:

"It is not often we wish we lived in New Hampshire (nice place to visit), but we sorely wish we could be there on Tuesday to 'vote early and often' for John Edwards . . . It is not only that John Edwards had the good sense and correct priorities to launch his campaign for the presidency from New Orleans (take note, presidential debate site committee). And it's not just Edwards' plan to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq within 10 months--something his competitors haven't offered. We don't favor Edwards only because he alone has spoken consistently as a populist public defender against the 'iron grip' of corporate special interests on Washington. Nor is he our favorite merely because he has the best health care plan (Paul Krugman's praise sounds right to us).


We vote for John Edwards for all of these reasons, but especially because Democrats need a tough, combative lead candidate to whip the Republicans, who are vicious fighters in a presidential campaign--especially when they're desperate. Barack Obama is marvelous and would also be a good president, but we worry he doesn't have the aggressiveness to kick the Republican operatives in the balls, the way they always do to Democrats. In Nov. 2004 it was Edwards the courtroom attorney who wanted to challenge the Ohio vote counts before conceding, but John Kerry decided otherwise.

John Edwards has the optimism, the intelligence, and the gut-fire and bulldog tenacity to get the job done . . . He's also a realist. He knows the status quo won't give an inch without a struggle. About dealing with corporate interests such as the drug and oil and insurance companies, he says, "Some people argue that we're going to sit at a table with these people and they're going to voluntarily give their power away. I think it is a complete fantasy; it will never happen." We often say 'We Want Roosevelt Again.' We know we're not going to get Franklin Delano, but in John Edwards we see just about the closest thing to FDR we've seen in many years."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-dalton...

---

You bet! Edwards will kick some elephant butt if he is the nominee.

Vote for the rebuilding of NOLA and the middle class in America!

 
This is a citizen made video, not from the campaign.


It's called a Bridge to Nowhere, but it's about getting our country back.

(h/t Taylor Marsh)

Source: ABC News

WESTWOOD -- A Northridge teenager awaiting a liver transplant died Thursday after she was pulled off of life support.

CIGNA Insurance Company initially refused to cover the cost of the transplant for Natalee Sarkisian, saying the surgery was too experimental.

On Thursday, friends, family and members of a nurses association held a protest outside CIGNA headquarters in Glendale, urging the insurance company to reconsider.

But the decision came too late for Natalee. Just after six o'clock tonight, her condition worsened.

Natalee's family took her off life support and she passed away.



Read more: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=...

---

So, despite the fact that Cigma was swayed by the protesters both on the property and on the Internet, Natalee died.

SiCKO Nightmare.

Today, I was reading Taylor Marsh's blog. The post was about Clinton getting boo'd at the Heartland Forum in Des Moines yesterday. Taylor believes Clinton can take the boos and was right to stand her ground in not committing immigration reform in the first 100 days of her presidency, if Clinton is in the WH. I don't have a huge problem with her answer either as the Rethugs won't do anything about the path to citizenship for undocumented workers either.

As this was Taylor's main post of the day (hey it's Sunday, so not unusual on a smaller blog to leave the threads open longer for comments), there were many comments about it. Most of the readers tend to pull for Clinton over there, and Taylor has been pretty harsh about Obama and his candidacy in general. But she surprised me in posting this comment amongst the others:

Everyone needs to get off of Iowa. It's one flippin' state. It's who has longevity. Clinton was *never* supposed to be this strong in that state. It's a very conservative place. She's got strong Democratic ideology, unlike Obama. They're also not progressive where women are concerned. Don't forget that point, which is important.

http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.p...

I don't know about you, but to me, Iowa does matter, considering that the majority win translates into more funds, endorsements, and other votes for the candidate in NH, NV, and SC. That certainly happened in 2004 for Kerry in which his support surged in NH after winning IA. But another point: many of the Iowan women I know are pretty progressive. They have a Lt Governor, Patty Judge, who is progressive. Many more Iowan women are getting involved with politics, and they are progressive as well.

Clinton was ahead in the polls until recently. And it seems to me that some of her supporters, including Taylor Marsh (who hasn't officially endorsed Clinton, but posts more positive spin on Clinton's actions, and wants a "viable" woman candidate in the WH) are trying to downplay Clinton's chances in Iowa by saying IA isn't as progressive "where women are concerned."

Iowans: I'd like your take. I think Taylor's comment is a bit over the top.

If it weren't enough that Mrs. Clinton performed poorly at the debate last night, Joe Lieberman comes to Clinton's rescue for Halloween (or an early Guy Fawkes' Day celebration).

In discussing his amendment and defending it, as well as Clinton's vote on it:

Lieberman explained, “I thought it was so direct, factual, based on evidence the U.S. military has given us of the involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in training and equipping Iraqi extremists who… have been responsible for the killing of hundreds of American soldiers.”

Chuckling a bit, apparently in disbelief, Lieberman asked, “How can you vote against a request that the administration impose economic sanctions on a group that the U.S. military has presented us ample evidence is a terrorist group killing American soldiers?”

Here's Clinton's defense of the vote:

On Tuesday night, Clinton explained her vote by saying, “I’m not in favor of this rush to war, but I’m also not in favor of doing nothing. Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and the Iran Revolutionary Guard is in the forefront of that, as they are in the sponsorship of terrorism.”

Lieberman has to help out "his girl" (for those who of you who think that is sexist, remember Hillary told the AFL-CIO "I'm your girl") with this comment:

Lieberman acknowledged Tuesday that some senators don’t trust Bush, but said, “At some point, we’ve got to get over this distrust and partisanship.”

So, it's no longer that Bush has the ring, all. But someone else does.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21553970 /

Me thinks Al Gore will not be endorsing Hillary Clinton anytime soon.

Many good wishes for this strong lady, loyal Democrat, and blogger!

It needs a K & R...

Thanks, Benny

Senator John Edwards sent the following letter to news networks, asking them to make video footage from the presidential debates that they broadcast available to the public.

May 3, 2007

Mr. Jim Walton – CNN
Mr. Leslie Moonves – CBS
Mr. Jeffrey Zucker – NBC Universal
Ms. Anne Sweeney – Disney-ABC Television Group
Ms. Paula Kerger – PBS
Dr. Howard Dean – DNC

Dear Messrs Walton, Moonves and Zucker, Mses. Sweeney and Kerger, and Dr. Dean:

Selecting a president is the most important responsibility Americans have. In an age of 30-second ads, 7-second sound bites and media consolidation, making an informed decision is harder than ever.

That is why I am asking each news network to make video footage from the presidential debates that they broadcast available on the internet for the public to view and use responsibly. I am also asking Chairman Dean, who is playing a valuable role in organizing many of the Democratic primary debates, to use his influence with the networks to make the debates more broadly available.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-rele... /



Designed by Redjet, a JRE supporter

T-minus a few minutes with the debate. Post your thoughts here. A CJ/DUer I know is in the Press room and is getting ready to live blog!!

From Elizabeth Edwards:

You all have hugged me, and I thank each one of you. From the posts on the blog here (and nearly everywhere, it seems), to the emails offering support and prayers and remedies and affection, to the cards and letters I cherish, to the flowers and teddy bears, the elixirs and photographs -- including the astounding twelve dozen -- yes, you read that right -- twelve dozen beautiful pink roses from Democratic Underground -- you have hugged me, you have made a difficult time easier, and you have hardened my resolve (okay, maybe my resolve was pretty hard already) to fight this.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/3/3...

The DU sent her roses of courage, just as we did with Barbara Boxer and Helen Thomas.

Many thanks to Onebluenation who got this started.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

Also feel free to visit the Daily Kos as another blogger posted there too about this gracious gesture:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/30/13...

From the JRE08 blog a few minutes ago:

"George Bush's expected decision to adopt the McCain Doctrine and escalate the war in Iraq is a grave mistake.

"The new Congress must intercede to stop Bush from stubbornly sticking to the same failed course in Iraq and refuse to authorize funding for an escalation of troops. They should make it clear to the President that he will not get any money to put more of our troops in harm's way until he provides a plan to turn responsibility of Iraq over to the Iraqi people and to ultimately leave Iraq. George Bush wants to dig a deeper hole, but we need to climb out.

"The situation in Iraq demands a political solution -- the Iraqi people must take responsibility for their country. Escalating the war in Iraq, which our own generals agree won't help, sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people, to the region, and the world. In order to get the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country, we must show them that we are serious about leaving, and the best way to do that is to actually start leaving and immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops. Once the U.S. starts leaving, the Iraqi people and other regional powers will be forced to step up and engage in the search for a political solution that can bring an end to sectarian violence and allow reconstruction to take hold, creating -- as should have been done long ago -- Iraqi jobs for Iraqis."

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/1/9...

Bold, my friends. We need to support the troops, but the Iraqis need to learn to lead and get on with their country. Here's what Elizabeth Edwards said in Des Moines and I posted at DK:

About Iraq: "We need to get out of Iraq."

We need to do it not only for our men and women in uniform want a future for themselves instead of just fighting, but also to teach the Iraqis to fend for themselves and to grow their democracy. She gave a wonderful analogy of teaching one of her daughters how to make a bed, and one of the things a mom does is to show her how to make one, but not (as the mom) make it herself. Takeaway: the current Administration has made the bed for the Iraqis so many times and has not tried to teach them anything, so they have no incentive to learn. If we said, "we are leaving" and when, they will be motivated.

Also, the war is expensive, and going towards a trillion and more in cost. Republicans are borrowing our children's lunch money to pay this awful debt, and is strangling our budget where we cannot spend it on other things we need.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/28/81...