Here's what I like about our candidates (in their own words)

[MethuenProgressive]

Chris Dodd: "I'd try to restore the constitutional rights in our country. ...I would do that on the first day ."

John Edwards: "It is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war."

Hillary Clinton: "Require President Bush to begin removing the troops from Iraq within 90 days of passage, or Congress will revoke authorization for the war. Require the Secretary of Defense to certify that all troops sent to Iraq have the training and equipment they need."

Bill Richardson: "Institute a "Heroes Health Card" that would provide our returning servicemen and servicewomen with a choice of physicians wherever they live. Will call on every provider in America to accept this card and coordinate care with the veteran's local VA hospital."

Barack Obama: "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

Joe Biden: "We need to end the war in Iraq and to restore our place in the world."

Dennis Kucinich: "Everyone should have health insurance? I say everyone should have health care. I'm not selling insurance."

Mike Gravel: "The entire deaths of Vietnam died in vain. And they're dying in vain right this very second. And you know what's worse than a soldier dying in vain? It's more soldiers dying in vain. That's what's worse."

[MethuenProgressive]

1. A posititive thread gets *zero* comments? Says a lot about DU....

Maybe I should've called Clinton "shrill" or Obama "non-threatening"...

[ljm2002]

2. All good statements...

...I liked Edwards' statement especially: "It is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war."

It never ceases to amaze me how much our national discourse tends in that direction: "patriotic" == "mindless flagwaving support for whatever darn fool military adventure our current president has gotten us into" (of course, this definition only applies for Republican presidents; patriotism under this definition does not require any kind of support for any action taken by a Democratic president).

I'd like to see the Edwards campaign take this farther, and have a contest or something along the lines of: What Patriotism Means To Me. Could be an essay, a work of art, a youtube video -- but we do need to change this dialogue.

Myself, there are many things I love about this country. I am especially fond of weird and quirky Americana: art cars; gas stations with giant cement dinosaurs in front; tee shirts that say "I used up my sick time so I called in dead"; stuff like that. Many other things too, but it's just an area of our national character that I love.

[L84TEA]

3. It is like a dream team sorta...

Can't we just mold them all into one??

Some with experience... a dash of intelligence.. a slice of compassion.

Ok so I got a lil corney... forgive me!