Edwards and Amazing Grace in SC

[bigtree]

Fri, Jan. 25, 2008

Edwards aims for rural tone
S.C. native touts Southern roots, sings with bluegrass legend



GAFFNEY, S.C. -- The campaign speeches this week end with a poignant moment: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards joins hands with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley to lead the crowds in singing "Amazing Grace."

The traditional mountain music of Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys now has more prominence than "The Rising" by New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen, the unofficial campaign anthem at Edwards' rallies in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The tone of the campaign has also changed as Edwards has returned to his native South for Saturday's S.C. Democratic primary.

Edwards' basic message of the need for "economic fairness" is still the same. But some of the edge has been rounded off.

In front of more politically moderate S.C. Democrats, Edwards no longer uses phrases such as "corporate greed" or talks about corporations stealing children's futures.

Instead, Edwards emphasizes his Southern roots, his understanding of small towns where textile mills have closed and of the decline of rural America. And he promises never to forget these people if he gets to the White House . . .

article: http://www.charlotte.com/politics/story/461927.html




On November 10, 2007, Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys performed at a rally for presidential candidate John Edwards in Des Moines, Iowa, just prior to the Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Between renditions of "Man of Constant Sorrow" and "The Orange Blossom Special," Stanley told the crowd that he had cast his first vote for Harry S. Truman in 1948 and would cast his next for John Edwards in 2008. --Wiki


related: Eggs, bacon and side of Edwards
http://www.charlotte.com/286/story/461928.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. Edwards is the ONLY real answer

to the problems the American working Class is facing.

But Dear God, please No, we don't need anymore Walmart-ization of America aka: HRC

[NJSecularist]

26. Oh gag

Edward supporters go crazy over a photo op... shocking.

[Sweet Pea]

2. Oh gag n/t

[AndyA]

3. Yes, gagging is what you'll be doing if someone else makes it to the White House.

Start practicing now, you'll need to be good at it if you were expecting change from any of the others.

Edwards is the only one in a position to bring real change.

Of course, maybe you like things the way they are... :eyes:

[Sweet Pea]

7. Please.

Spare me the "Edwards is the ONLY 0ne!" crap. The only change he cares about is the kind of change he can put in the bank. Teh house, the haircuts, the bank account, the bogus "Poverty Center" at UNC, the hedge fund paycheck and the *zero* taxes he had to pay on that and you STILL think he's the champion of the poor?

man....have you drank the koolaid.

[AndyA]

9. Your responses prove you are ignorant of the facts.

And therefore, not worth the time to bother with.

Get the facts. You are wrong.

Good bye. :eyes:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

16. Edwards lives in a HOUSE?!

:wtf: Who does he think he is, anyway?! Why doesn't he live in an abandoned car like Hillary and Obama?

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. ...

:spray:

[Kucinich4America]

18. Now that's not fair....

We know that poor downtrodden Hillary had to camp out in her VW bus after she left the White House, and they wouldn't let her park on the side of the highway in Arkansas, so she had to drive all the way to New York state, hoping that she would receive a vision of hippie idealism on the site of the original Woodstock, and that's what inspired her to become the Most Liberal Senator on the Planet Earth.

Geezus, did I really just type that? I think somebody spiked my coffee with the brown acid..... :hippie: :crazy:

[Yael]

22. Damn

Can I get one of whatever that was? You need another one too. This round is on me. :thumbsup:

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. ...

:evilgrin:

[saracat]

10. I am sure UNC is impressed with your no nothing evaluation of its Poverty Center.

Koolaid is not available on our menu but you sure have the RW talking points down.

[bigtree]

11. this looks like a good effort by Edwards and his tenure at the poverty center. . .

No longer representing North Carolina in the U.S. Senate, Edwards directed the Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chaired the Center for Promise and Opportunity (http://law.unc.edu/Centers/details.aspx?ID=425&Q=3 ), a nonprofit organization dedicated to studying and alleviating poverty.

Edwards toured ten major universities in order to promote "Opportunity Rocks!", a program aimed at getting youth involved to fight poverty.

Edwards and his wife began the Wade Edwards Foundation in their son's memory; the purpose of the nonprofit organization is "to reward, encourage, and inspire young people in the pursuit of excellence." The Foundation funded the Wade Edwards Learning Lab at Wade's high school, Broughton High School in Raleigh, along with scholarship competitions and essay awards.

During the summer and fall of 2005, he visited homeless shelters and job training centers and spoke at events organized by ACORN, the NAACP and the SEIU. He spoke in favor of an expansion of the earned income tax credit, a crackdown on predatory lending, an increase in the capital gains tax rate, housing vouchers for minorities (to integrate upper-income neighborhoods), and a program modeled on the Works Progress Administration to rehabilitate the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. In Greene County, North Carolina he unveiled the pilot program for College for Everyone, an educational measure he promised during his presidential campaign, in which prospective college students will receive a scholarship for their first year in exchange for ten hours of work a week.



"The effect of his work as a lawyer has reached beyond the cases he's won, and beyond his own income. Other lawyers have filed countless similar cases; just this week, a jury on Long Island returned a $112 million award. And doctors have responded by changing the way they deliver babies, often seeing a relatively minor anomaly on a fetal heart monitor as justification for an immediate Caesarean."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/31/politics/campaign/31EDWA.html?ex=1199595600&en=d2c0270df8c07f83&ei=5070

[jsamuel]

4. This is exactly what Edwards talks about when he says he can campaign anywhere. He grew up in rural

areas and he knows what it is like to live there.

[bigtree]

21. Edwards goes where his rivals haven't

January 25, 2008

John Edwards did something Thursday that his rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have failed to do: He went to The Beacon.

The drive-in's Panther Room, a customary campaign stop in Spartanburg, was standing room only as the former North Carolina senator gave an abbreviated version of his stump speech, met with supporters and tried to convince them that the Democratic primary, which is Saturday, remains a three-way race.

"You've got a chance to say to the rest of the world, 'We've got somebody from South Carolina who understands our lives. We don't want the national media telling us who we're supposed to vote for. We're going to make our own decision,' " Edwards told them.

Edwards has been campaigning hard in South Carolina, his native state, all week, hitting a healthy number of small towns that have been largely bypassed by Clinton and Obama. Edwards' parents have campaigned for him in Union. Edwards himself was joined by legendary bluegrass singer Dr. Ralph Stanley in Gaffney this week. Celebrities Danny Glover and Madeleine Stowe joined him Thursday in Spartanburg.

He's attracted a sizable number of undecided voters to his events, and there's a good reason for that: According to a Clemson University poll released Thursday, only 51 percent of likely Democratic voters in this state say they have a "good idea" who they will vote for Saturday.

Hezekiah Michael, a 53-year-old black man, said he also looked beyond skin color.

"You've got to realize something," Michael said. "Me and John are about the same age, and I know the particulars that he came up in. I came up in the same era. There is a relativity between his life and my life. I live right around Beaumont Mill. So, I know how life was impacted by the displacement of the mills. I like him. I like that down-to-earth tone that he comes across with. It ain't a black thing. Because I can relate quite well to how he came up and how he arrived . . ."

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080125/NEWS/801250335/1051/NEWS01

[bigtree]

6. Old-Time Songs

Known in the world of bluegrass music by the popular title, "Dr. Ralph Stanley" (after being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1976), Stanley was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992 and in 2000, and became the first person to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in the third millennium.

In 2006 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Stanley's work was also featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge "O Death". With that song, Stanley won a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance. He's featured in the Josh Turner hit song "Me and God," released in 2006.

Ralph created a unique style of banjo playing, sometimes called "Stanley Style". It evolved from Scruggs style, which is a three finger technique. "Stanley style" is distinguished by incredibly fast "forward rolls," led by the index finger, sometimes in the higher registers utilizing a capo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Stanley

[MagickMuffin]

5. Still drawing large crowds.............;=D

Which is great way to reaching people.

However, the article mentioned the money issues and not being able to advertise. And of course they mentioned how John is mostly excluded from the media.

[chimpymustgo]

8. His speech is damned good. And there's some of the music in a DKos post.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/25/105927/599/453/442961

It's on youtube and worth a look and listen.

[bigtree]

12. thanks!

cool

[frogmarch]

13. Thanks for the link, chimpymustgo :-)

I've liked bluegrass ever since I saw Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou? I really, really liked Ralph Stanley's rendition of "Oh Death" in the movie.

Now to watch the video of the Edwards speech!

[frogmarch]

14. Thanks, bigtree!

Also enjoyed the linked "Eggs, bacon and side of Edwards" article. :thumbsup:

[bigtree]

15. it looks like a campaign I'd like to follow

like a deadhead

[avaistheone1]

19. Looks like a good scene!

[chimpymustgo]

20. Kick for more to see! Here's the youtube video. Good stuff

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/25/105927/599/453 /...

[stravu9]

23. kick

:patriot:

[ClericJohnPreston]

24. Great stuff!!!

Looking forward to a great night tonight. :hi:

:kick: and R