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Edwards: "If You Actually Say Something They Call You Left Wing" [VIDEO]

Posted by Cliff Schecter at 11:53 AM on October 22, 2007.


John Edwards tells Bill Maher, "We don't need a surge in Baghdad, we need a surge in New Orleans" and "there's no better endorsement a Democrat can get than having Bill O'Reilly be against you."
John Edwards on Real Time with Bill Maher

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This post, written by Cliff Schecter, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

I think this is one of the best interviews he's given yet. Edwards is willing to call global warming a "crisis," talks about getting Americans to be "patriotic about things other than war" and rightly calls out Hillary Clinton for her stupid vote on Iran, which takes us down the same path her (and his) vote did in Iraq.

And we all see how well that's worked out for everyone (not including Blackwater).

Watch it!

Digg!

Tagged as: iran, environment, o'reilly, clinton, maher, election08, edwards

Cliff Schecter blogs at Brave New Films.


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our candidate is prettier than yours
Posted by: KaptainSpiffy on Oct 22, 2007 12:23 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
a bright energetic man. would i trust him? yes. do corporations trust him? not with his record of law suits against them. seems like a very viable candidate to me.

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Edwards Rocks
Posted by: dayenta on Oct 22, 2007 3:47 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The only front-running candidate with a reality-based message. Gee, he must be one of those reality-based thinkers! maybe that IS left-wing!

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Go John Edwards!!
Posted by: Shey on Oct 23, 2007 4:23 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The only electable candidate who is saying the things I want to hear, who seems to have the guts to say what no one else will and seems totally sincere about it. As well as having the DC experience to possibly pull us out of the frightening decline we've been suffering under since the two Bush voting coupes.

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» RE: Go John Edwards!! Posted by: Shey
» Edwards/Kucincih 2008 Posted by: johngary66
Finally, A leader who wants Citizenship to mean being "patriotic about things other than war"
Posted by: Prairie Waif on Oct 23, 2007 7:07 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am so tired of being told that I am "not a REAL AMERICAN" if I do not spout the jingoistic hegemonic language of the "Bush-coalition" pundits and coalition of the gullible/uneducated/bought/or non-bid contractors.

It is refreshing to hear a candidate say that we need to sacrifice for our country in ways other than the blood of our youth and family members, trillions in war debt and too many tears. BUT WILL THE WAR MONGERS be willing to sacrifice themselves instead of through someone elses families trials and tears? They got all in a huff over the SUGGESTION of giving up their SUV's as commuter vehicles. I wonder what kind of patriots this country has produced since Ronald Reagan's America; Flag Waving jingoists who waver in the wind? Or those with the back-bone of the WWII America who gave up nylons, lived with rationing and grew Victory Gardens to sustain the unity of a Nation?

With Edwards, I see hope. As for other candidates, especially in the Republican run, I see the continued division of "us versus them;" this country needs to be unified, not further defined and divided.

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Why Do You Think O'Reilly Spouted?
Posted by: snooper on Oct 23, 2007 8:20 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
O'Reilly clearly had all the GOP talking points ready vs. Edwards - they have not had to use them yet in the media because of Hillary's perceived lead - but they know he is the hardest to beat. The next best thing to Al Gore, maybe even better. Hoping Gore will endorse him.

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Edwards Can Win
Posted by: JackieGiles on Oct 23, 2007 8:59 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Edwards can definitely win! I see him as the only one who can. I believe he truly regrets voting to authorize Bush to invade Iraq, but he has acknowledged that it was a mistake and learned from it. Hillary still takes the "things were mis-managed" line, as though an illegal war is all right as long as it's efficiently conduct ed. She learned nothing and apparently thinks declaring part of the official military of a sovreign country to be a "terrorist organization" is a way to promote diplomacy--or she is using that as a way to wiggle out of her latest mistake. Bush will bomb Iran and use the earlier OK for "going after terrorists" , and the Lieberman-Kyle resolution she voted for to justify attacking the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

I like Obama, but I just don't think he is ready to be President in such difficult times, nor do I believe that everyone who says they'd be willing to vote for an African-American would actually do so. Racism is still a powerful force in this country, and not just in the South. I do believe that an Edwards/Obama ticket would be great. Americans would have a chance to get better acquainted with Obama and he would gain vital experience during 8 yrs. as VP.

Edwards has spent the years since his VP run preparing himself to be president--he has well formed positions on the major issues and is ready to govern. i, too, hope Al Gore will endorse him.

The media has tried to reduce the campaign for the Dem nomination to a 2-horse race. The Republicans want Hillary because she would be the cheapest, most efficient "get out the vote" tool they could hope for. Their second choice would be Obama. They'd pretend to be respectful and would not openly play the bigotry angle, but behind the scenes, they'd be whispering, implying that blacks would be "taking over" the country if he was elected. Sadly, that would probably kill his chances.

Edwards is not in bed with the corporations, the insurance companies, the Halliburtons and the Blackwaters. He came from "nothing", econimically,and became wealthy. That's no crime, especially since he did it by defending ordinary people from powerful corporations and insurance companies.

Bill O'Reilly and the Republicans are scared to death that Dems will nominate Edwards. So are the neocons and so are the Corporate Democrats.

If you support Edwards, please send him some money, write letters to the editor, look for an Edwards support group in your area by going to John Edwards website, write to your State Democratic Party and contact CNN and MSNBC. Tell them you are tired of hearing only about Clinton and Obama. DO SOMETHING--ANYTHING!

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Somebody tell Bill Maher, please!
Posted by: Linda in VT on Oct 23, 2007 11:49 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
First of all, I support John Edwards, big time, for all the reasons other commenters have given.

Now -- I can't seem to get through even to post a comment on one of Bill Maher's sites, so would somebody please tell him, re: his comment that if the first primary were in Vermont, we'd be making alternative fuel out of syrup -- No, we wouldn't, because we're already making it out of cow manure. Several of the larger dairy farms in Vermont have invested a million dollars apiece (theoretically to be refunded by the Federal Government) to set up systems to process methane from cow manure into electricity, which they sell into the grid. Consumers can purchase Cow Power for a few additional cents per kwh. Byproducts of the process are non-smelly natural fertilizer and bedding for the cows themselves that is more sanitary than sawdust. If Maher would get Senator Bernie Sanders on his show (a treat in itself!) he could tell all about it.

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JOHN EDWAEDS WILL VOTE FOR-----YOU
Posted by: SALLY EVANS on Oct 23, 2007 9:07 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
REMEMBER, IT ISN'T THE CANDIDATE WITH THE MOST MONEY BUT WITH THE BEST CHARACTER AND THE BEST IDEAS THAT WILL WORK FOR YOU.

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Ethanol and Biofuels
Posted by: Urgelt on Oct 24, 2007 9:46 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Edwards is polished.

He drops the ball on ethanol and biofuels. Those things solve the *last* problem: oil dependency. They don't solve global warming. The CO2 impact of switching to biofuels is negligible.

Plays well in Iowa, though.

He drops the ball on nuclear power. Nuclear is kinda scary; I've been reluctant for many years to support any of it, and the moratorium on building new plants suited me just fine. Until, that is, the IPCC published their findings about global warming.

Nuclear is the most mature alternative technology we have. It delivers electricity at a cost competitive with coal. The industry has a darned good safety record. I can't see us gaining traction with solar and other alternative technologies until prices come down and technologies mature - which may not happen for ten to twenty more years.

I'd be happy to phase out nuclear power when other alternative technologies are finally delivering cost-competitive electricity. But ruling it out now is not good policy.

Finally, Edwards' stand on health care does not do what I think is necessary. It does not put it into the public sphere. Americans will continue to suffer at the hands of extractive monopolies and escalating costs.

Edwards is by no means the worst of the Democratic candidates. I'll grade them by how close they are to the same corporatists who financed Bush's gravy train. By that measure Edwards does well. Clinton, on the other hand, has sold her soul.

If Edwards is the Democratic nominee, I'll hold my nose and vote for him, and hope some sense finds its way into his environmental policies. If it's Clinton, I'll depart the mainstream parties for the first time in my life and vote for the Greens.

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» RE: thanol and Biofuels Posted by: drmflorida
» RE: thanol and Biofuels Posted by: JDMB