Posted on 04/01/2005 6:52:48 AM PST by Constitution Day
Edwards says "Two Americas" theme still resonates
By MIKE GLOVER, AP Political Writer
April 1, 2005 9:24 am
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said that the "two Americas" theme he sounded in the last election still resonates with voters increasingly divided along economic lines.
"I still think it is the right message," Edwards said in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday.
Edwards' visit to Iowa was rich with symbolism, raising money for Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, and thanking supporters who helped him to a second-place finish in last year's leadoff Iowa caucuses.
At the Boswell fund-raiser, Edwards delivered a fiery campaign-style speech ripping President Bush and sounding a sharply populist theme.
"George Bush's ownership society is a private club that keeps out people who work for a living," Edwards said. "We've got CEOs sitting by their swimming pools paying lower taxes than their secretaries."
Edwards ridiculed those who suggest the Democratic party should vary its positions.
"I know what the soul of the Democratic Party is," Edwards said. "We actually believe that everybody ought to have a chance to do well."
Edwards said efforts to end economic disparity "is a test of character for America."
Edwards was taping a statewide television program on Iowa Public Television on Friday and meeting with supporters to thank them for their help in the last election.
"It's right to still talk about the two Americas," Edwards said.
His surprise showing in last year's Democratic caucuses helped boost Edwards onto the ticket with nominee John Kerry, and there's speculation that he'll again seek the Democratic nomination in 2008.
"I'm coming to Iowa to talk about poverty," Edwards, who is now running an anti-poverty program at the University of North Carolina, said in his AP interview.
Edwards said it's too early to speculate about 2008, saying he's focused on helping his wife, Elizabeth, recover from breast cancer.
"Right now, the focus of my family is getting my wife well," said Edwards. "Right now, my attention is on doing something about poverty. I'll decide those other things down the road."
While Edwards has been spending time on anti-poverty issues, he is not oblivious to politics. He's formed a Washington-based political action committee to help other candidates in next year's election and already has made a stop in New Hampshire.
With his visit to Iowa, Edwards will have touched bases in the two states that traditionally launch the presidential nominating season.
In the 2004 campaign, Edwards was generally credited with giving the best stump speech of the field, citing his background as the son of a mill worker who understands the plight of American workers struggling to support their families, not focusing on those of privilege.
He describes those two groups as the "two Americas" and said the same economic concerns continue to drive voters.
"There's a great concern about security, and security meaning the struggles of most Americans, most middle-class families and those trying to get into the middle class," said Edwards. "Simply, put their bills are going up, their health care costs are going through the roofs and their paychecks aren't going up and they are struggling more and more."
While Democrats continue to study the lineup of primaries and caucuses that will yield a nominee in the next election cycle, Republicans already have settled on the Iowa-New Hampshire combination.
Some Democrats assume their party will do the same and are making early contacts with key activists in those states.
With President Bush leaving office and Vice President Dick Cheney ruling out a run for the White House, the race is the most open of any contest in decades. The next presidential election will be the first since 1952 where neither a sitting president nor a vice president will be on the ballot, ensuring an early start to the competition.
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Editors: Mike Glover has covered politics since 1982, when he began covering the Iowa Statehouse.
Is he running for VP again?
I don't think Hillary will pick him, because he's prettier than she is.
Thus spoke the Breck Girl.
Yeah. "Two Americas" --
1) The America that sees John Edwards for what he is -- a power-hungry ambulance chaser who lied to NC voters to get elected and spent 6 years in Washington furthering his own am bition.
2) The America that doesn't.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I'm sorry, that's about the only response I can come up with when Breck Girl speaks about his Two Americas.
He's just not worth correcting anymore.
Steal 1 FBI files --- go to jail
Steal 950 FBI files --- become Senator
Steal 1 Code-level document --- go to jail
Steal ALL Code-level documents to coverup 911 Attack -- Work for Kerry and Celebrated
Murder 1 American --- go to jail
Murder handicapped American under color of law --- become MSM "hero"
"WELCOME TO THE REAL AMERICA WHERE CRIMINALS GET TO BE
CELEBRITIES AND CELEBRITIES GET AWAY WITH MURDER."
"TO DIE FOR" Columbia Pictures
Oh, there are two Americas, all right. The red and the blue. If the Dems want to keep sucking up to the blues and dissing the reds, fine by me. They'll keep on losing elections.
That sorry POS scum sucking lawyer is cluttering up our state again. Jeeze!
His party is the death culture; the GOP is the "life culture". So his spin, using his "burden on society and medical community" wife who has breast cancer, is to focus on "poverty" and how eevil the Republicans are: That they are as the grim reaper to the poor. What a horrid spin he has wrought.
That the poor are as a burden to society? What's he suggesting here? That they get Mr. Felos for their attorney so they can die poor, but with "dignity"?
Mr. Edwards is either ignorant; or a macbre and manipulating spectre.
"I still think it is the right message," Edwards said in an interview with The Associated Press Thursday.
Damn these guys just can't seem to learn. How many times are they going to return to that playbook? Maybe we can get 60 Senate seats in '06.
You know its been said the definition of an idiot is someone who does the same thing repeatedly and expects a different outcome.
Y'all can keep him.
PLEASE?
Two Americas...One Loves America and the other hates America.
Oh, I like that.
The only people that resonated with were the democrat base. That "2 Americas" speech went over like a lead balloon with the rest of the country.
I take that back. Actually the speech was not ill recieved as a "lead balloon", but it did not move middle America once the economy started to come back last spring.
His Two Americas: The people he can sue, and the people he can't.
Well, that line worked pretty well for Marx too.
VIDEO
John Edwards Attends to His Hair
Guide Rating - rating
*****
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/multimedia/v/edwardshair.htm
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