Tag Archives: John Edwards

John, Elizabeth, Rielle and the dumpster fire at the end of the world

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There’s a train rolling to a stop just outside of town. It’s a long train, and each flatbed carries 20 dumpsters. Each dumpster is filled to overflowing with nuclear waste and flaming grease. As the copter shot pulls away the final credits roll over the first few bars of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” We can all breathe a sigh of relief – all is well now, but just a few moments ago this train was hurtling at top speed toward the city center, its murdered conductor’s body holding the throttle in full-steam position.

This isn’t some wholesome, Focus on the Family-friendly Thomas the Train, folks. No, sir. This is the toxic, Viagra-addled nuclear dumpster grease fire Johnny the Train from Hell, and it came that close to plowing headlong into the unshielded nards of American democracy. Read more

Michael Vick and the problem with forgiveness

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has conditionally reinstated former Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick, who was convicted of running a dogfighting ring in 2007. Vick served 23 months in federal prison, followed by two months of house arrest.

Last Thursday the Philadelphia Eagles answered the question as to which team would sign a convicted dog-killer (there were 32 possible answers to the question, and “none of the above” wasn’t one of them), and in doing so touched off a long-awaited PR war for the souls of their stunned fans. Read more

Edwards bows out: sustaining hope in a dirty world

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It was only a matter of time.

John Edwards Drops Out of Presidential Race
— Former Senator’s Campaign Adviser: ‘It Just Became Clear It Wasn’t Going to Happen’

Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., will drop out of the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday.

“It just became clear it wasn’t going to happen,” a senior Edwards adviser tells ABC News’ Rick Klein.

Edwards, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2004 before joining Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., as his vice presidential candidate, had placed poorly in several early contests, lagging behind rivals Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Read more

Is Obama the new JFK?

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Something big happened a few nights ago in Iowa. Barack Obama began the evening as one of the top two contenders for the Democratic nomination and by the time people went to bed he was John F. Kennedy.

This might sound like hyperbole – and to be sure, the race is far from won – but if the results we saw in the Hawkeye State last Thursday are replicated in New Hampshire and beyond, then what we are seeing may be a defining shift in American politics and culture. The key factor is the emergence of the 75-100 million strong Millennial Generation as a political force. Let’s look at some of the evidence.

The Young Voter PAC’s roundup provides ample data for consideration. Read more

All I want for Christmas is for Democrats to stop making Ron Paul look good

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Hey, what’s that in our stocking? It’s Ron Paul! Oh joy – we got The Truth® for Christmas!

Ahem. So those of you who thought Ron Paul was going to go away once the big boys got serious have probably been surprised by his staying power so far. He’s polling in the high single digits (something Ronald Reagan Fred Thompson can’t say) and one pollster thinks his actual numbers are in the double digits. He says he’s raised $19M this quarter. His supporters are insane courageously enthusiastic, and he seems to be showing strength among some groups that you wouldn’t expect – progressives, younger voters, etc.

And of course, he’s left the rest of the pack for dead in the highly scientific S&R reader poll, where at the moment of this writing he has over twice as many votes as the rest of the GOP candidates put together (unless you count “other”).

Election watchers in both parties are trying to better understand Paul’s appeal and what it means for their candidates’ chances. Read more

S&R straw poll results

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We’ve just wrapped our first S&R election reader poll, and here are the results.

Q: Which candidate do you currently favor for the Democratic nomination?

  1. John Edwards (47)
  2. Dennis Kucinich (45)
  3. Barack Obama (36)
  4. Hillary Clinton (9)
  5. Christopher Dodd (6)
  6. Bill Richardson (2)
  7. Joe Biden (4)
  8. Other (3)

Up now in the column to your right – same question, GOP candidates. Let us know what you think.

Clinton statement on NIE report is an exercise in double-dealing misdirection

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As noted yesterday, a new national intelligence report has caught the Bush White House in yet another round of warmongering lies. No real surprise there. The revelation elicited a range of replies from a variety of predictably interested parties.

John Edwards opted for flat honesty:

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. Read more

New polls revive electability questions for Hillary

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I’ve been saying for months now that Hillary Clinton is the only chance the Republicans have in 2008, and some new polls raise the electability question all over again.

First, a new Zogby online poll “shows Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York would lose to every one of the top five Republican presidential contenders.” Her main opponents at present, Barack Obama and John Edwards, both defeat or tie any likely GOP challenger.

However, Gallup has Clinton faring a little better. Read more

Edwards launches “poverty tour”; have-mores launch the lie machine

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John Edwards kicked off Poverty Tour 2007 today.

His opponents and a lot of media people who’d know better if they’d studied a little harder in school will be countering with the even higher profile Idiots and Liars Tour, so brace yourself for all kinds of stupid. You’re going to keep hearing about $400 haircuts. You’re going to hear about new mansions. You’ll hear about “lavish spending.” You’re going to hear lots of talk where the words “slick” and “lawyer” are used in close proximity.

Pay attention: every time you do, somebody is lying to you. Read more

Campaign mobile: it’s 1996 all over again

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Every time a new medium catches our attention we have to endure this awkward period where people who have decision-making and spending authority but no understanding of the medium at all treat it like it’s the old media they’re used to. Old assumptions, old practices … failure. It’s like in 1996 when ad agencies discovered the Internet. “I know, let’s digitize our print ads and use those!” Remember how much fun that was on a 9600 baud modem?

Now it’s 1996 for mobility, and nobody is not getting it quite as dramatically as the political sector. Read more