A Fond Adieu

Flickr: Photo by Jonathan Walczak.
To populist candidate John Edwards, who will announce that he is dropping out of the presidential race at 1:00 p.m. in New Orleans.

I loved everything Edwards stood for, but felt his message got lost in his anger. Anger is not a winning political emotion. He would have been better off with a more hopeful message, with a message focusing not on the country's problems but on his solutions.

Speaking of hope, hopefully whichever Democrat wins the race envisions an important job for Edwards. He'd make a great Attorney General. Better yet, I'd love to see him on the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court makes law by reviewing the results of trials, and most of the judges on the current court weren't trial lawyers. It would be great to have a real trial lawyer on the court to balance out all the ivory tower and corporate lawyers there now.

And farewell to Elizabeth Edwards too, my favorite of the candidates' spouses. I'd put my money on her in a candidate's spouse debate, even against Bill.

Will he endorse Obama or Hillary? Media reports say not today, but I would expect him to lean towards Obama given the way he defended him in the debates.

Thanks for running a campaign focused on the issues that matter to real Americans. Godspeed John and Elizabeth Edwards.

Al Gore Endorses Gay Marriage

wikipedia
Good for Al. But now we know that he's definitely not running for President, because in 2008 at least, gay marriage is the third rail of American politics. Of all the major Presidential candidates, only the spouse of one -- the courageous Elizabeth Edwards -- favors gay marriage.

As Al says,

"I think that gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women, to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage," Gore said. "And I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage to allow it by gays and lesbians. Shouldn’t we be promoting that kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one’s partner regardless of sexual orientation?

Al Gore Endorses Gay Marriage (video)

Huffington Post: Al Gore Endorses the Freedom to Marry

Elizabeth Edwards

Every time I see her on TV I think, 'I wish she was running instead of her husband.' She speaks so directly and honestly. Reading this article made me admire her even more.

Wall Street Journal: The Nights and DaysOf Elizabeth Edwards
At home and on campaign, she juggles her difficult choices. 'How are you feeling?'

The Supine Corporate Media

Go watch this clip from BBC Question Time and tell me if we will ever get intelligent television like this on US media. (Via Brilliant at Breakfast, via Hoffmania) Watching John Bolton taken to task is such a pleasant way to start the day.

On American TV, instead, we get Chris Matthews and other mouth-breathing circus clowns laughing about Bush's crimes, or Katie Couric pummeling Elizabeth and John Edwards for continuing the campaign in the face of her cancer (conveniently, Katie forgets that she herself worked throughout her husband's fight with cancer. Do as I say, not as I do.) Couric phrased most of her interrogatory questions with the preface "Some say", then proceeded to spew right wing talking points.

Democrats must bring back the Fairness Doctrine, or our media will continue to be dominated by right wing, completely wrong perspectives.