One word says it all: BACKBONE.

[FlyingSquirrel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/us/politics/03edwards-transcript.html

And now we move on. We move on from Iowa to New Hampshire and to the other states to determine who’s best suited to bring about the change that this country so desperately needed. Because what we’ve seen here in Iowa is we’ve seen two candidates who thought their money would make them inevitable. But what the Iowa caucus-goers have shown, is if you’re willing to have a little BACKBONE, to have a little courage, to speak for the middle class, to speak for those who have no voice.

(snip)

But I want all of us to remember tonight while we’re having all these political celebrations, that just a few weeks ago in America, Nataline Sarkisian (ph), a 17- year-old girl who had a -- needed a liver transplant, and whose insurance company decided they wouldn’t pay for her liver transplant operation.

Finally, her nurses spoke up on her behalf. Her doctors spoke up on her behalf. Ultimately, the American people spoke up on her behalf by marching and picketing in front of her health insurance carrier. And, finally, the insurance carrier caved in and agreed to pay for her operation. And when they notified the family just a few hours later, she died. She lost her life. Why? Why?

James Lowe was born 51 years ago in the United States of America with a severe cleft palate, which kept him from being able to speak. And he lived for 50 years in the greatest, most prosperous nation on the planet, not able to speak because he didn’t have health-care coverage and couldn’t pay for a simple operation. Why?

Doug Bishop, who’s actually behind me tonight, Doug and his family worked at the Maytag plant in Newton -- Newton, Iowa. For generations, for generations, they worked. They sacrificed. They did everything you’re supposed to do in America. And then recently, this plant closed. And the jobs went overseas.

Why? The reason is because corporate greed has got a stranglehold on America. And unless and until we have a president in the proud tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, who has a little BACKBONE, who has some strength, who has some fight, who’s willing to stand up to these people, nothing will change.

We will never have the America that all of us dream of. The promise of America, which has been available to so many of us, will not be available to our children and our grandchildren. And I take this very personally.

(snip)


And you have created and started a wave of change, a tidal wave of change that will travel from here to New Hampshire to Nevada to South Carolina, all across this country.

Because we know the torch has been passed to us. We stand proudly on the shoulders of our parents and grandparents and all those generations who came before us. And we take our responsibility seriously.

And this tidal wave of change that began tonight in Iowa and that will sweep across America, when that wave is finished, when it is done, every one of us are going to be able to look our children in the eye and say, we did what our parents did for us and what our grandparents did for us.

Which is: We left America better than we found it, and we gave our children a better life than we had.

[Triana]

1. "And unless and until...

... we have a president in the proud tradition of Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, who has a little BACKBONE, who has some strength, who has some fight, who’s willing to stand up to these people, nothing will change."

John Edwards is right about this.

MARK

MY

WORDS

[Dawgs]

2. And who showed the least amount of backbone 5 years ago, HELLO?

The greatest example anyone can use of how someone didn't use their backbone was when certain Democrats voted for Bush's illegal war.

Sorry, Edwards loses on this one.

[FlyingSquirrel]

3. Take it elsewhere dude

That's been repeated over and over and over and over and over ad nauseum in every little post that ever gets created on this board. Obama was NOT in the Senate. There is NO way that you or anyone else can predict how he would have voted. Take your talking point and shove it up your ass. I'm done being polite to Obama supporters if this is all they have to say.

[Triana]

4. Tx FlyingSquirrel (kick)

[Dawgs]

6. "nah, nah, nah, nah" - Dude, take the fingers out of your ears. Edward supporting war happened.

You can't hide from it.

[Dawgs]

5. So that's what it takes to be an Edwards supporter. Plug your ears and ignore your guys judgement.

It's been repeated over and over because Edwards backbone contributed in getting tens of thousands of innocent people killed. I'm just responding to the topic thread.

This has nothing to do with Obama. You morons are arguing that Edwards has the strongest backbone. I'm arguing that Edwards has proven to have the weakest. And, instead of choosing to show why I'm wrong, you try to push away. Well I'm not going anywhere, you punk.

Edwards has proven to be all talk and no walk. You might be okay with how his support of Bush has helped to destroy the lives of Iraqis, but I'm not.

And, his vote on the Iraq war is a fact. Pretending that Obama wasn't against the war is a talking point.

from Obama's anti-war speech in 2002
"...But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

...

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells..."

[FlyingSquirrel]

10. No. What it takes to be an Edwards supporter...

(in my case, at least) is to not go through each and every Obama or Clinton thread repeating the exact same talking point that has already been hashed out multiple times, over and over as if you had something new to add to a discussion.

To not use the same talking point to attack every positive thing Obama or Clinton ever said.

Your point has been discussed ad nauseum. Rather than sticking my fingers in my ears, I'm simply stating that it's already been brought up innumerable times and responded to innumerable times. Start yet another thread about it if you must, but don't hijack this one.

[Donnachaidh]

7. oh yeah -- let's conveniently leave out the FAKED INTEL used to

convince people of the need to go to war.

Remember THAT?

And how about all the people in the house and senate NOW that STILL fund this war? John has already said he was wrong -- has Hillary?

[Dawgs]

8. Are you talking about the fake intel he didn't read or the real intel?

I agree with you about Hillary. She is much worse.

[avaistheone1]

9. Obama probably would have not done any differently

given what the Senate and Congress knew at the time.


Speaking of backbones, does Obama have one?

Obama: The No-Show Candidate
CNN is finally recognizing Barack Obama’s appalling missed-vote record, leading the coverage with the fact that Obama has missed more votes than any of the other congresscritters running for president, and pointing out that while he’s all over Hillary for her IWR vote, he missed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment vote because — you guessed it — he was out campaigning, in New Hampshire.
http://news.lavenderliberal.com/2007/11/03/obama-the-no-show-candidate/

So Obama's campaign was more important than our soldiers welfare. Nice.