John Edwards
I ran into this post from John Edwards' campaigners.
I would still welcome any discussion about the Edwards campaign.
He's a good man.
He's still in my own 'top-tier' of the Democratic field.
Even though Edwards is from the South and I hail from the North, my own Grandfather worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania in his youth and went on to send his
children to college so they could have a better life than he did.
Our stories are much the same.
I can identify with the place from which Senator Edwards has come and I appreciate his view of where
he thinks we should be headed.
I think he made a mistake recently in his comments to Howard Dean during the "Rock the Vote" debate, but I can
understand why so many of the contending Democrats feel the need to take the front-runner down a few pegs.
I don't think, however, we should make suspicion-generating statements about our geographic differences
when we are talking about leadership and cooperation.
Senator Edwards should emphasize we're in this together.
I look forward to seeing what Senator Edwards has to say on Meet the Press with Tim Russert this Sunday.
A Good Article on the Political Effects of Temporary Upswing in Economy
Bottom line, it's mostly about public perception.
People are easily swayed to believe all is suddenly rosy wth our economy.
Most people do not have a good understanding of the economy and rely upon Greenspan, Buffet,
brokers and talking CNBC heads to drive their opinions.
I heard Ron Brownstein on CNN yesterday chatting manically about the latest news as if we hadn't lost
2.7 million jobs in the last two years and that the news of 126,000 jobs (mostly McJob quality) was the ticket for a Bush reelection in 2004. (That's 126,000 jobs nation-wide..there are 50 states..58 counties in California alone..average out 126,000 jobs amongst 50 states and then by county).
Brownstein's a professional...he should know better than to mislead CNN viewers.
How disappointing.
Most people do not understand what this huge defecit will eventually mean for them personally if we do not turn things around.
From the article:
"...The train wreck that has been arranged for the day when the government's ravenous appetite for IOUs to finance unheard of red ink collides with both the capital needs of a recovering economy and the huge cost of my generation's impending retirement will come after next year's election. It will come, but deficits do not matter politically the way they mattered in 1992 when they were an obvious factor in the stagnation that hurt Bush's dad.."
"...There is not going to be a repeat of the third quarter performance. The latest round of tax cuts has been mostly spent, imports will go back up, there is a much smaller volume of mortgage refinancing to provide extra cash, and states and localities have only just begun slashing services and jobs.
Nonetheless there has been an unprecedented amount of budgetary and monetary stimulus applied to the US economy over the last 30 months and at some point it is going to respond. The political question is partly how much, but it also involves whether the output recovery is perceived by people as actually improving their standard of living.
For the perception question to be answered favorably for Bush, there have to be a lot more jobs producing more after-tax, after-inflation income for people who live off their paychecks and pension checks..."
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Another note on the subject.
Check out the headline:
DISASTER FOR DEMS
By JOHN PODHORETZ
NY Post
I would imagine "Great News for Americans" would be a healthy title...even though I don't
agree that the news is all that great.
I don't believe that Podhoretz considers Democrats to be "American".
There was a word I used to like to use as a kid to describe the attitude of people like those at the NY Post..
the word was "skeevy".
I looked the word up..it was actually in the dictionary.
It said:
Skeevy:
Adjective; Personal attributes that may arouse nausea an another.
Used in a sentence: "From a distance he's suave and debonair; but when he gets close, you can see he's all skeevy with his greasy hair, unshaven face, and mix of body odor and cheap cologne."
I suppose that sums up the way I view the NY Post. The cover looks inviting,
but when you get close, they're pretty skeevy.
Here's the line Skeevy Podhoetz used to end his ninth-grade-reading-level column:
"That's pretty impressive, even before you think about the 7.2 percent growth figure. The dark lining in this silver cloud is, of course, the loss of 2 million jobs - but that will be ending. Even if growth slows down to a less sizzling pace of 4 percent or so, there will be sustained job creation throughout 2004.
And if that does happen, it's almost a certainty that one person will be keeping his job: George W. Bush"
Wait until growth comes down to a fizzling pace.
I shake my head increduously and wonder how people can be so gullible.
Sanitizing the truth may become Bush's downfall
It's time to remove your news filters, Mr. Bush
This opinion rings of so much truth.
Bush has obviously been avoiding the subject of casualties in his speeches. He's attended no funerals or memorials for soldiers. I heard a father of a deceased troop stating that Bush never called him. Shouldn't a father of a
troop who gave all expect that call?
In public, Bush has been making strong and unrealistic suggestions to the American media, suggesting they self-censor when it comes to the news that isn't "pretty".
Bush's reliance upon a rarely-used rule allowing him to censor
the media's showing of the dead as they return from overseas is causing many Americans who may have been shakily supporting him to now think of him as a leader without a lot of empathy or character.
How do I come to this conclusion?
I talk with people.. everyday Americans like you and me.
"Time to remove your filters, Mr. Bush. It's a messy world out there, but we all have to live in it."
Civil Rights Attorney to Dean: "Confederate Flap: Stand Firm, Howard Dean"
By Constance L. Rice, LA Times
"Go for it. And you don't need to apologize."
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Giant union throws its weight behind Dean
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Dean: Brutal Ruler Doesn't Justify Force
