(UPDATE BELOW — 8:30 PM CST)
The Washington Post is reporting today that John Edwards has “quit” the presidential race. It’s “breaking nooz”… “hold the presses”…
Give me a break. John Edwards “quit” this race many, many moons ago and nobody in the “Mainstream Media” seemed to acknowledge that fact. Most folks with brains in their skulls already knew full-well the man had been running for VICE president (or at the very least, a high cabinet position) ever since then and there is nothing in today’s news to suggest anything has changed in that regard. The only NEW “news” today is the sleazeball from the “Carolinas” has officially announced (surprise!) he is up for sale to the highest bidder; be it Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for his “services”.
“Not ready to endorse anyone yet“, he says. That statement alone proves beyond any doubt he is neither “leadership material” OR anything less than a phony. If this ambulance chaser (no offense to REAL lawyers with integrity, by the way) has to sit back and ponder about whom he will be casting his vote for now that he is (so-called) “out of the race”, he is incapable of making quick decisions. We all know this is not the case. He has established a long, dark history of calculating his every move for his PERSONAL gain and this “tiger” isn’t about to change his stripes anytime soon, I assure you.
Why do I call Mr. Edwards a “sleazebag” when the politics he SPEAKS of often line up with my belief that society’s rules, laws and policies should, for the most part, benefit the largest economically-aligned groups? Simple — the man is disengenuous. He lives in one of his two “Americas” while shedding his crocodile tears for his fellow Citizens residing in that gloomy “other America”. He rushes to New Orleans after Katrina to swing a hammer on homes of the poor; homes he is about to foreclose on in the background. If — if ONLY this man was genuine, I might have sent him some of my money.
Oh well, just for fun — the “breaking nooz” out of Washington:
John Edwards to Quit Presidential Race
By Dan Balz, Chris Cillizza and Howard Schneider
John Edwards will end his presidential bid today, a source close to his campaign confirmed, effectively narrowing the Democratic field to two contenders less than a week before the Super Tuesday round of primaries. …”
(Snip!)
“… Former senator Mike Gravel is still running but has not attracted a wide following and has not participated in recent debates. …”
(Snip!)
“… According to aides, Edwards will not endorse Clinton or Obama today and has no plans to weigh in for either candidate in the immediate future. …”
I know, I know — John Edwards SAYS he “has no plans to weigh in” in the “immediate future”. Lawyer-speak. “Immediate future” is about as well-defined as the word “reasonable”; another favorite term of those in the legal profession. Again — no offense to lawyers — John Edwards is no “legal professional”, everything he does is for the pursuit of the almighty dollar. There’s a big ole’ bag of money in Washington called “tax dollars” and Mr. Edwards, like Sir Hillary Rodham Clinton and the “Sheriff John McCain” across the aisle, cannot WAIT to get their greedy paws on those pursestrings. Oh, and by the way — I predict he will endorse the Senator puppet from NY quicker than you can snap your fingers.
As for the other “snippet”; today is early voting day in my home State of Alabama and I’m off to do my civic duty by casting my vote in favor of a man who has no chance of winning at all but at least I’ll be able to say I voted FOR somebody versus AGAINST somebody. It’s a good feeling when you can feel comfortable in your own skin and that means everything to me…
Congratulations, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel; I’ll be one of your fifteen Democratic voters from great State of Alabama. Although, I DESPISE your proposals to further regulate our 2nd Amendment, at least you are less of a gun-grabbing foe of our civil liberty Right To Keep And Bear Arms than most of your rivals; BOTH sides of the aisle and you seem to lust for liberty more than you do money and that’s enough for me. And you are correct, Sir, in pointing out that a flat tax (not crazy about your “Fair Tax” as currently written) is much more “progressive” than any other form of taxation — i.e. — “The more you make, the more you spend, the more you spend, the more tax you pay”.
That’s right — we do not NEED an “IRS” — the Internal Revenue Service serves as a tax shelter “holding company” of several thousand OTHER “sub” tax shelters, which serve ONLY the wealthiest amongst us in the end and I’m tired of it. It’s time for the wealthy to start paying their own way and financing their OWN roads, their OWN educated employees, etc., etc., etc. And the only way this will ever happen will be when we finally start scraping five cents off of every dollar, everywhere it is transferred (note I didn’t say “spent”, I said “transferred” — THINK about it). You put it in the bank — “Five cents, please”. You take it out of the bank; same. You buy a billion shares in Sears Holdings; same. Let your imagination run with you.
And this, folks, is why I am throwing away my vote endorsing Senator Mike Gravel in the Alabama Democratic Primary today. He seems to be the ONLY candidate in this presidential race who truly understands what the REAL concept of a genuine “progressive tax”. And unlike Mike Huckabee and that guy with two first names on the Republican side of the aisle — Mr. Ron Paul — we KNOW the eccentric from Alaska isn’t pandering to ANYBODY, which is reflected in his lack of support and lack of respect from the MSM…
And I guess I’m somewhat “eccentric” myself when it gets down to it.
UPDATE:
Guess I need to pay more attention to what’s going on beneath my nose. Apparently, the State of Alabama no longer allows “write-ins” on the Democratic Primary ballots and my first choice, Mike Gravel was nowhere to be seen. I could have chosen “undecided”, but I instantly decided to throw my vote instead to the candidate (BOTH sides of the aisle) who has the highest NRA Rating of ALL candidates; again; BOTH sides of the aisle — Bill Richardson. My delegate votes went toward Governor Richardson (NM) and Barack Obama folks.
Oh well, I can always vote for Mike Gravel as a “write-in” in the General Election I suppose…
***
A big “thanks” to The (ahem… [cough, cough] “traitorous“) New York Times for quoting and linking to this article…
H/T to MemeOrandum
See also (great diversity of views expressed by other bloggers): Liberal Values; The Washington Monthly; Drudge Retort; The Left Coaster; Stop The ACLU (Right); Michelle Malkin (Right); skippy the bush kangaroo; PoliBlog™; The Carpetbagger Report; QandO (Right); Captain’s Quarters (Right)
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2:58 pm on January 30th, 2008 1
[...] talking about this, here’s the list: Captain’s Quarters, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Gun Toting Liberal™, The 7-10, Washington Monthly, Liberal Values, Middle Earth Journal, Rox Populi, Comments from Left [...]
2:47 pm on January 31st, 2008 2
Wow! What bile for a man who committed a venal crime — the crime of being dirt poor and making good with his life. You probably hate me too, because I was born poor and now am making good money too. I can assure you I don’t forget what it was like to grow up poor in America — the poverty, the filth caused by lack of plumbing facilities and lack of ability to clean clothing in a reasonable manner, the smells, the cockroaches, the lack of health care and dental care, the cheap and unhealthy food — but hey, I have lots of money now, so I’m a hypocrite for caring about the poor? What audacity! What presumption!
As for the rest of your bile, more of the same, as far as I can tell. Edwards is a plaintiff attorney. As in, on the side of the little guy going up against the big corporation who gets paid only if he wins. How that makes him some sort of evil leech eludes me.
BTW, the only theory that fits the facts about why Edwards quit when he quit is that Edwards quit because he got an offer from *both* campaigns. Two days before he quit, he had every attention of appearing at a campaign function in San Francisco tomorrow. As in, invitations sent out, airline tickets purchased, the works. Then the announcement. That announcement would not have happened when it happened if he didn’t have a deal already in hand. Otherwise it would have made more sense to try to pick up some more delegates to use as a bargaining chip at the convention. And if it was a deal with just *one* of the candidates, he would have come out and endorsed that candidate. The fact that he says he’s not endorsing means he made a deal with *both* candidates…
3:57 pm on January 31st, 2008 3
I actually kinda liked Edwards. At least, his policies (which were carefully detailed and posted, as opposed to some others) seemed to be more in line with what I support than those of Clinton and Obama. I suppose between Clinton and Obama I’d prefer Obama, but it’s looking to be yet another election year where I hold my nose and vote. Ron Paul, as much as I love him, doesn’t look like he’ll win the Republican nod.
I disagree on a sales tax being a fair tax. Considering the percentage of income spent, those who make less will spend a greater portion of their paychecks on taxes– unless necessities such as food and clothing are left untaxed. It’s actually quite regressive. Rather, I think a flat tax on income may be the way to go. 20% of $1 million is more than 20% of $100. Therefore, those who make more will pay more but will pay the same percentage of income.
12:59 am on February 5th, 2008 4
Another liberal who is Pro gun and for a flat tax!! I am for getting rid of IRS and support GUN RIGHTS! Guntotingliberal I’d love to have a beer with you!
2:23 am on February 5th, 2008 5
Same here, Joe! Welcome, Sir