My Partner's Picks after Watching the Forum Live: Gephardt and Edwards?!?

My partner managed to get a seat at the candidates' forum last night, and here's what she had to say. Keep in mind that nobody in the Plaidder household has picked a candidate yet, although she has an animus against Dean because she is convinced that the rest of the country just hates New England too much.

Came across best: Gephardt and Edwards.

She said she was surprised at how well Gephardt spoke (neither of us has ever been excited about him). She also said she thought Edwards was a great presenter and she says that after Clinton, "the Southern accent sounds presidential to me." I said, "Well, does he support the war?" She said, "I can't have a litmus test any more, I want Bush out of there." We argued about this for a while, and she went on to say:

Dean said the right things but came across to her as "smug." She felt that Kucinich did himself no favors by being the only one to play "attack dog;" she said that everyone else was very civil (even Dean) and that it was strange to see Kucinich being the only one to go after the other candidates. Again, though, she liked the content, although we both wonder how he plans to abolish NAFTA. I mean, it is a treaty, and we did sign it.

She said Al Sharpton was probably the best speaker and got a great response from the crowd. It is a pity, as she said, that he has been "involved in a lot of crazy things," but she hopes that maybe he will help with registration and turnout.

On Carol Moseley Braun: "it doesn't seem like she expects to stay in it for very long." Also was not as well prepared as the others, or as confident.

Bob Graham: "kind of reminded me of Admiral Stockdale. He seemed kind of befuddled."

Kerry: she thought he was very dry and wooden, although that might be because he seemed to have laryngitis.

Lieberman: "was a pain in the ass, as usual." She said she was glad to see him being honest instead of saying what the audience wanted to hear, but of course what he was saying was, "Fiscally speaking, I am indistinguishable from a Republican."

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

Liza said as she was leaving she heard a guy say, "That Kucinich is just full of piss and vinegar. That's exactly what we need!"

So, maybe he was just trying to shake the "pacifist wimp" label. Who knows.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

His electability (the ambulance chaser slur and defense) - but mostly his DLC-style support for NAFTA and the corporate trade agreements - hasn't South Carolina lost hundreds of thousands of decent paying textile jobs since then? How can Edwards support that?

If he gives us a strongly pro-union, pro-worker platform, I could vote for him. After all, he did WORK his way up, and wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

He's from North Carolina, LOL.

I've not been able to find anything about his position on NAFTA. I did read that as a senatorial candidate he was against it, but now feels kind of like what Plaid Adder was saying, it IS a treaty we signed, there are other fish to fry.

He has a plan for "Rural Economic Advancement Challenge, or REACH fund, would make a five-year, $1 billion investment in bringing capital and management expertise to small town America. I would also designate small towns hard hit by foreign trade as Rural Revitalization Zones that are eligible for New Markets Tax Credits and other incentives to encourage business investment."
http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/politics/candidates_edwards.cfm

As to the textile jobs--
He offered amendments in last year's trade bill to protect North Carolinian (at least) jobs and to help displaced workers.

He wrote letters to both the Commerce department and the Treasury Department asking to introduce "safeguards to protect American textile workers from surging imports from China" and that the Bushies are "risking U.S. jobs by supporting new tax breaks for foreign subsidiaries of U.S. multinational corporations."

http://216.239.33.104/search?q=cache:KR6bB20R9YAJ:edwards.senate.gov/press/Pillowtex.pdf+john+edwards+north+carolina+jobs&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&client=lgtech-kb
Letters seem neither here nor there, though, LOL. They seem kind of cheesy!

His rating from the AFL-CIO is 96%.

I'm not in possession of all the facts on NAFTA and the other agreements though.

He has an excellent pro-worker record.

It's too bad that he waited a few years too long to run, and got entangled with capitulation to the Bushes. His heart is in the right place, I think.

We all seem to get tangled up in what we think others think about what these candidates think. That's just too tenuous for me. I have a hard enough time disciplining my own thoughts vis a vis my principles.

That said, after watching the AFL-CIO Kabuki Play twice now, here're the impressions these candidates made on me.

Those who gained some ground in my support for their positions: Dean, Edwards, Gebhardt, Sharpton.
Those who lost some ground in my support for their positions: Kerry, Lieberman, Graham.

It saddens me that Lieberman lost some ground, since he's got so little left.

Based solely on my agreement with the positions each candidate has taken, I personally rank them as Kucinich, Dean, Edwards, Sharpton, Graham, Kerry, Gebhardt, Mosely-Braun, and Lieberman.

At this point, again based solely on the positions they've espoused, I could energetically (actively) support a P/VP ticket with any combination of the first four (Kucinich, Dean, Edwards, Sharpton). Any ticket that includes Lieberman would, at best, have me holding my nose -- and probably staying home or voting third party. Other combinations would probably have my vote, if not my "evangelistic" support.

I have not (yet) included in my assessments any comparative expectation of their "winning" or the degree to which I believe them able to actually deliver on their positions. That's not, IMHO, something about the candidate as much as it's about the sickness in our body politic. I'm still somewhat pessimistic that we're able to heal our national fascist fever ... and I will not act to worsen it or delay its cure.

I think a large part of what I find so appallingly disappointing about Lieberman is that he just doesn't seem to get it. Before I can even entertain an assessment of the 'solutions' a candidate might propose, I have to wonder whether they have a firm grasp in the 'problems'. I just don't think Lieberman gets it. What's worse, my prejudices (yes, my prejudices) cause me to expect him to get it even ahead of the others. Sharpton gets it. Kucinich gets it. Mosely-Braun (kinda) gets it. Lieberman just doesn't.

When he mouthed the obligatory "get Bush out of the White House" line ... he smirked. I really don't think he comprehends the depth and breadth of the protofascist infection in this nation and especially in the Republican Party.

On edit: Just guessing at my own opinions, I'm inclined to think a Dean/Kucinich ticket would be one I'd most vigorously support.

(I'll probably change my mind many times in the coming months.)

but he should be after that long in the public eye and God knows he needed a home run.

Missed Edwards (dammit), but I'm not surprized he spoke well.

and he should have been expected to dominate the evening. I'm surprised that anyone is surprised he did well. He's known for his fiery prolabor speeches. Kucinich, too.

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