"Edwards has a coherent, consistent message and is running a top-shelf campaign."

[bigtree]

Eugene Robinson
Saturday, January 26, 2008



LANCASTER -- Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys took the stage at a rally for John Edwards here Wednesday, and out of a clear sky it started raining metaphors.

First, he sang "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," about a gentleman who's seen trouble all his days. Then Stanley dismissed the band and gave a haunting, a cappella performance of "O Death," a dirgelike lament whose title is self-explanatory. They don't make metaphors any more obvious.

But when Edwards made his choreographed entrance -- bounding in from the back of the hall and coming down through the audience, shaking hands all the way and flashing his movie-star smile for the cameras -- he looked neither dead nor sorrowful. Of the three candidates leading the race for the Democratic nomination, Edwards is the most consistent performer at campaign events. He never seems tired or preoccupied, never has the wrung-out look of someone who has been riding a bus all day. He always dazzles when he enters the room.

"I am the underdog," he told the crowd, in a part of his stump speech that's new since I last heard it in Iowa. "I don't have $100 million like the other candidates. ... And I don't stand at the debates and have petty arguments."


Ben Jones, who played Cooter on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard," was the emcee for the event, and much of his warm-up monologue was about how the media keep forgetting that there are three major candidates in the race, not two. Truth be told, he has a point. Edwards has a coherent, consistent message and is running a top-shelf campaign. He has beaten his rivals to the punch on several issues, and he's the most skilled debater of the bunch. The problem is that Clinton and Obama aren't candidates so much as phenomena. They take up so much space that it's impossible to see the other guy.

Such is politics. But every time I go to an Edwards rally, I come away feeling disheartened -- not for Edwards, but for the people whose disappointment and disaffection he captures in his cadenced rhetoric about taking back the country from "special interests" holding it for ransom. Dismissing him as a born-again "populist" ignores the fact that Edwards has touched a nerve, especially in small towns and rural areas where, for the unskilled or the unlucky, "the economy" basically means Wal-Mart.

"You have been ignored too long," Edwards told the people in Lancaster. And he's right.

full article: http://www.islandpacket.com/opinion/columns/robinson/story/142245.html

[stravu9]

1. The Best and the Brightest!

John is the MAN!

[SammyWinstonJack]

13. Yes he is!

[smokey nj]

2. I agree with Mr. Robinson's assessment!!

[Kurovski]

3. K&R. (nt)

[NastyRiffraff]

4. Great article! And it's true...

I've heard over and over that he never seems tired, or preoccupied, even in his "36 hour marathons." (I would be a snarling hag!)

The two "front runners" who have reason to be hopeful about their candidacies, are sometimes snappish and look very tired. I can't blame them for that, but Edwards always seems upbeat. He may snarl like a wounded tiger in private...I don't know. But he's always upbeat in public.

[saltpoint]

5. Robinson captures the essence with this piece. Nicely done.

Recommended.

[bigtree]

6. Robinson was born and grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina and attended Orangeburg High School.

Robinson was born and raised in Orangeburg, S.C. He remembers the culminating years of the Civil Rights Movement – the “Orangeburg Massacre,” a 1968 incident in which police fired on students protesting a segregated bowling alley and killed three unarmed young men, took place within sight of his house just a few hundred yards away. He was educated at Orangeburg High School, where he was one of a handful of black students on the previously all-white campus; and the University of Michigan, where during his senior year he was the first black student to be named co-editor-in-chief of the award-winning student newspaper, The Michigan Daily.

http://www.postwritersgroup.com/robinson.htm

[saltpoint]

11. I appreciate that information, bigtree. People like Robinson should be

interviewed on the cable news networks instead of the tawdry choices they often make instead.

He's living history.

[MagickMuffin]

7. I love Eugene

I especially like it when he's on Countdown.

I've never to an Edwards rally, but I have been to several of them when C-SPAN carries them. John is an inspiration to listen to and knows he's up against incredible odds with the juggernaut of the other two candidates and there endless supply of $$$$$$$$$$.

:applause:GO:applause:JOHNNY:applause:GOOOOOOOOOOO

[Lucinda]

8. I would love to have been there. :)

[bigtree]

9. I've always thought

if I had the money and time, I'd follow a campaign around America. I just looks grand.

[onehandle]

10. Kick! nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. It's easy too be upbeat and energetic when you truly believe in the people as John does.

Edwards '08 Of the People By the People For the People :woohoo:

[waiting for hope]

15. The People's President!

:woohoo:

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. He will be! We have got too believe! I am listening to his speech from last night in SC.

Inspiring!

[frogmarch]

14. Fine article!

Wish I'd been at the Lancaster rally. Heck, I wish I could be at all the JE rallies!

[stravu9]

16. Go John!

:dem:

[bdamomma]

18. What is latest update on how John is doing in SC?

is he still in third place?

[bigtree]

20. he's been polled as close as 3-4 points away from Clinton

I think if Obama's numbers hold down below 38% it will elevate the Edwards total as the voters who would drop off may not be predisposed to vote for Clinton.

[bdamomma]

22. God, I have my fingers crossed for John

Are they expecting a big voter turnout? I guess I have to wait until the polls close at 7 p.m., this is nerve racking. I want John to place in 2nd.

[bigtree]

23. Turnout at one polling station in Columbia appears light so far this morning,

but Democratic state party officials are predicting a record turnout by the end of the day.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/26/a-lot-on-the-line/


No problems with machines, weather

COLUMBIA, S.C. --"Everything's going smoothly," said state Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire.

Polls were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and state Democratic officials expected record turnout for their party.

However, in Columbia, some voters left one precinct rather than shiver in the chilly morning air after a poll manager decided to only allow five people inside the building at a time, said Dwight James, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The civil rights group had monitors at polling places around the state.

Elsewhere in the city, former President Bill Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards went into different polling places. Clinton was within sight of voting booths, thanking people for coming out, signing autographs and posing for pictures.

In Charleston, Burke High School was busy Saturday morning with a steady stream of voters. Within the first hour of voting, dozens had cast ballots at the predominantly black, center-city school. Many voters wore mufflers and gloves against the cold.

"I would say we're going to have a good turnout because of who the candidates are," said poll manager Barbara Holmes.

In the Democratic primary in 2004, 280,000 people voted. South Carolina's early position on the election calendar this year, combined with the intense race between Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Edwards had state party Chairwoman Carol Fowler expecting that record to fall.

http://www.thestate.com/presidential-politics/story/297464.html

[ClericJohnPreston]

19. I gladly

:kick: &R.

Go, John, Go!

[stravu9]

24. I Like the Way you Think!

Hooray for John!

[Blackhatjack]

21. If Eugene Robinson and Others Had Spoken Up Earlier Edwards Would Be Leading Today...

It's a nice piece. Very factual and convincing. Better late than never.

However, the more interesting story might be how they were prevented from speaking out earlier in Edwards' favor.

[Control-Z]

25. That, unfortunately,

will NEVER happen.

Edit: to K&R

[Seabiscuit]

26. How were "they" "prevented from speaking out earlier in Edwards' favor"?

I don't understand. By "they" are you referring to "Eugene Robinson and Others" in your title?

Regardless, who muzzled them?

Meanwhile, K&R for Robinson's piece on Edwards!

[OneGrassRoot]

30. On one hand, I agree...

I've been very vocal about how concerned I am about the Corporate Media controlling everything, manipulating and distorting stories for their own agenda. Them trying to keep Edwards out of the mix has been evident.

Perhaps I'm very naive, but I've felt all along that, even though the Powers That Be selected their storyline before the race began and will use every device possible to continue that storyline, too many things can derail their plans. We're dealing with human beings...human beings trying to control things behind the scenes, our candidates are human beings (yes, they are, though many dispute that at times), and the electorate is comprised of human beings (again, often in dispute, I acknowledge).

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN WHEN DEALING WITH HUMAN BEINGS, especially over several months. Look at what happened between Clinton and Obama in a mere one week. Fair or not, anything can happen within a campaign or externally in the world to affect how this plays out.

So, having said that, the fact that John has been consistent and steady in his message, and the other two candidates have gone in a direction that was rather predictable, unfortunately, may bode well for him.

I really hate that the media thing has become a game. They're supposed to be The Fourth Estate, for cryin' out loud...but it's a sham and a game.

Perhaps them making John invisible, and such an apparent underdog the entire time, will come back to work FOR John when the media (and the public) tire of the intensity of the battle between the other two candidates. Everyone loves to see an underdog rise to the top.

I'd be concerned about attention coming to him at this stage of the game, if in fact that ends up happening, if he were inexperienced. But given his experience of going through this campaign process in 2004, whenever the attention and the heat come his way, I'm sure he can handle it.

So, yeah, I'm pissed the media has acting as though he's irrelevant thus far, but I'm hoping the joke will end up on them as the American people give the media a big "Screw you!" and vote for who they want.

Of course, I'm prefer they want John, but as long as they vote their conscience, it's all good. :patriot:

[Gloria]

27. Has Eugene said this on TV? Everytime I see him, he's talking about

you know who....anybody but Edwards. Wish he would have mentioned this a few times...

[Not Sure]

28. The author hits it right on the head with this:

"Edwards has touched a nerve, especially in small towns and rural areas where, for the unskilled or the unlucky, "the economy" basically means Wal-Mart."

Edwards is the only who will pay attention to those folks after this November.

[SammyWinstonJack]

29. ...

:thumbsup:

[donkeyotay]

31. "You have been ignored too long," Edwards told the people in Lancaster. And he's right.

I remember the '92 election between Bush and Clinton. The dissatisfaction with the direction the country was headed in was palpable, and one big issues was getting the corrupting influence of money out of the elections. That's when Perot popped up, made lots of good populist-sounding speeches, and sopped up a lot of that discontent with a third party. Nothing got done. This time we need something to be done about the corruption. We have been ignored too long.

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. ...

:kick: for Edwards'08

Of the People By the People For the People

[rabies1]

33. I will be so shocked if he doesn't win. He HAS to in his own state.

If for some reason he doesn't it's because word hasn't gotten out enough on this guy.
I get so pissed off at the media for treating him as if he was absolutely non-existent. This man has the only message worth hearing. I wouldn't mind a black man or a woman - IF either of them had the best plan. Let the other two bicker like school kids - At least in the primary I'm going to vote my heart - Edwards 08.

[7horses]

34. Go, John go!!!

[MissPuddy]

35. PLEASE stay in the race, Edwards! These are podunk states!

The recent Primaries have been in podunk states! Look at the number of people voting! Let's see how John can do in highly populated states with blue-collar workers!

STAY IN THE RACE TILL THE END!!!

[Kindigger]

36. Define irony

A candidate from a podunk state.....nevermind.:crazy:

Florida....nevermind :puke:

[midnight]

37. I will vote for Edwards.....

"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow," Anyone who is not singing this song would not understand the last seven years. O Brother Where Art Though. Go John.... You might be in a tough spot John, but aint we all.

[robcon]

38. It's not the message, it's the messenger. He isn't genuine.

He's changed his positions so dramatically, he has trouble generating belief in what he says.

[midnight]

39. I'm not sure what your talking about?

[robcon]

44. NYT editorial (I agree with it.)

"We have enjoyed hearing Mr. Edwards’s fiery oratory, but we cannot support his candidacy. The former senator from North Carolina has repudiated so many of his earlier positions, so many of his Senate votes, that we’re not sure where he stands. We certainly don’t buy the notion that he can hold back the tide of globalization."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/opinion/25fri1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

If you need details on Edwards' backing off his prior votes and positions, look at the Russ Feingold/Edwards thread.

[ChiciB1]

41. But Obama & Clinton Are!! Yes, Of Course... Poduck Messenger...

THE MAN, who is talking TO YOU and not AT YOU, and you still CAN'T SEE!!!

What's The Problem??? I have to LIVE with these mistakes being made too!! I recall the time BEFORE The Idiot, Decider. I talked and showed people research I had done, I said this man isn't someone you could trust, I asked them to consider WHAT they were doing by supporting a MAN like GEORGE. And yet, THEY listened to THE MEDIA! THEY listened to the POWER & THE MONEY talking! They watched the show being put on and gobbled up their popcorn and "laughed" at me!

You see, I lived in Texas for a very long time, went to school there for years and graduated there. I go back for class reunions and back in 2000 I TRIED TO TELL people... BUT THEY wouldn't listen. Some still don't listen... but we have been friends for such a long time and the DAMAGE has been done, so we AVOID talking about "it" when we are together. However, since some will NEVER see, THEY still send me EMAIL about BILL CLINTON!! Even after ALL the DAMAGE that has been done.

So go ahead... DON'T LISTEN and when you find that MORE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE... You KEEP LISTENING!! After all, America gets the best GOVERNMENT MONEY CAN BUY! It's just TOO BAD, I have less money and I can't BUY that much anymore!

Can YOU HEAR ME NOW???

[stravu9]

40. And the Democrtic Party DOESN"T CARE!

? :shrug: go figure!

[omega minimo]

42. !

:kick: & R

[ChiciB1]

43. Thank You BigTree For this Beautiful Post!! I UNDERSTAND What This

is ALL about, and so many others do! I will always be with John Edwards! So you keep going John Edwards, just keep going!

I'm sure, some here at DU will peel away, because everyone ONLY wants a WINNER, and the COST doesn't matter. No matter, I'm LOYAL and I'm NOT FOR SALE!!

My family and I will be WITH YOU!!

[midnight]

45. He looks like a man who is at peace..... You have my

vote John...