An Edwards supporter ponders: WTF is happening?

I really can not understand why John chose to pull NOW...Without taking part in tomorrow nights debate. Frankly, John's presence has drastically elevated the discourse in each of the debates. John continued to focus on the issues and redirect the energy at the debates, especially when things were getting ugly. Without John, the debate(s) will now become either an ass kicking contest or an exercise in frozen hostility.

So, at the very least, I wish he had stayed through tomorrows debate. Of course, I would have preferred him to stay in at least through Super Tuesday. I feel that many of us did not get to place our votes for our chosen candidate.

I would like an explanation. Last night I was on the phone with the Edwards campaign confirming that I would begin phone banking today in anticipation of Tuesday. Just yesterday I got a fund raising email. John repeatedly said he was in it until the convention. He said that more than just four states would make the choice, and he wanted all the votes to be counted. WHAT HAPPENED?

Look... I knew that the chances of Edwards winning were slim to none after the last 2 weeks. I saw the handwriting on the wall. But John's voice in this campaign was what made it bearable. John turned up the volume on issues that REAL PEOPLE are concerned about. His platform was based on our needs as Americans. I figured he would at least stay in through Wednesday morning. Why the sudden shift?

I feel like the election just turned in to the cluster f*ck from hell. We now get 4 Media Endorsed candidates; Clinton, Obama, McCain & Romney. The media is already narrowing that field down to Obama & McCain.

NONE of the above get my blood pumping. I do not see that they will work at and affect positive, lasting change. I see four more years of the same bullshit we have suffered for the last eight.

Seriously.. it looks like the fix was in the whole time with the media. They decided on the candidates they wanted to push and have done so with glee. I do not have confidence that my concerns for this country will be addressed by any of the people currently running.

Right now I am wondering how I will go forward. I don't see myself campaigning for or donating to either of the two Democratic candidates that are left. I've basically decided to shift my vote to Senator Clinton, but I am not doing it happily. Neither of the two candidates fill me with any great hope for true substantive change for our future. So now that John has pulled, I feel like when the PA primary takes place I will choose what I consider to be the lesser of two evils.

I don't really think that Hillary will become the nominee. I think the media is doing a 24/7 job of beating her down and dressing Obama up. But the thing is, I do not think that Obama has a real chance of winning against McCain. I know that Obama supporters heartily disagree with me, and I understand. I understand that you are champions for your candidate as much as I was for mine. But I am allowed to a personal opinion, and mine is that the press is pushing for Obama because they know he can not beat McCain. I could be 100% wrong about that. Perhaps Obama could win. But from here on out, I see the Democratic party fighting an uphill battle to get through this election.

John really pulled the rug out from under this morning. Lots to think about.

:eyes:

I stand behind my support for him

tomorrow night.

If that's the case, that's some underhanded shit right there, for both the person still in the debate and Edwards.

Because I do not believe that John Edwards would do that.

and I wouldn't blame him if he did.

He could do a lot in that position. perhaps he saw teh writing on the wall and saw that as the best chance to make a difference.

(Of course it's still speculation.)

I wouldn't be surprised if he endorsed someone before Tuesday.

In the meantime, he is technically still a candidate. He's just not campaigning anymore. He's still on the ballot in many states, and has not released any of his delegates.

Somehow , he was forced out.Why is he saying stuff about stepping aside to let the Democratic party make history whenhis candidacy was all about the issues rather than race or gender?

The historical candidacy argument doesn't pass the smell test - when it was obvious 2 anyone with 2 eyes that this race could at some point come down purely to a historical vote. I am particularly suspect of that reason when Edwards said he was in the campaign to the finish.

This all just doesn't add up. Edwards emphatically said he was in this for the long haul, and then to pull out less than a week prior to Super Tuesday?
I don't get it. NPR this afternoon had a clip of his comments on Sunday saying he was in this race and would not pull out. I love JE, I support him and believe in him, but I have the feeling that the other shoe hasn't dropped. There is something that has yet to come to light.

I see your point, and I agree that probably is why.
But he did a LOT of good in those debates and I really, really wish he had
stayed at least through Friday morning. John knew that it was an uphill battle.
He is a fighter. I just wish he had hung on a little bit longer. He was the only thing
that was making this process not totally unbearable.

It makes no sense to leave before the debate tomorrow or before Super Tuesday. The elite in this country have shoved Clinton and Obama down our throats, with help from the MSM. Now we have no real choice. Why didn't people question why these two were annointed? Why weren't people suspicious? Why did people let this happen?

Its been nothing but declaring HRC the victor since last night.. and contrasting the coming race between her and McCain. So if you're already voting for Hill, you're in line with what the MSM is trying to set up. There has been little mention of Romney today. There has been little mention of Obama EXCEPT to trash him.

Which is not to say that it isn't happening.
When I watch, it is always Obama this, Obama that.

I just feel like those 2 candidates were shoved down our throats with such force... I can't find the enthusiasm to support anyone right now.

in the media depends on who we favor. I hear some people yelling about the same segment I've just watched and they think someone was being treated unfairly while I think they were given favorable treatment ! The eye of the beholder :-) Best of luck to you Liz !

the race card again, thus the set up being handed to all of us, McCain vs Clinton, this is what the media has been pushing for a long time. Are you angry now?

he did get it, and I.m just sick about this
Undecided

he sold us and the poor out for a seat at the table of power.

Edwards always was a phony, just like Barack and Hillary

And if you think Edwards, Barack and Hillary are all phony.... why are you here?

what is it that you support? hope or change?

I can't... I WONT believe that.

If you are that fickle, I kinda doubt you were on his side.

However, I do think you ought to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Give the dust time to settle.

I thought John was a but of a phony, based on his votes. I am disappointed with the voting records of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton also.

after he dropped out?

there was a fundraising drive before the one that ends tonight. I gave $100 that was eligible for matching.

He's right.

:shrug: maybe they got really bad news regarding her cancer and he decided he had sacrificed enough for his family already. Who knows?

I agree with you, Edwards truly lifted the tone of the conversations and brought the important issues to the table in a way the other two haven't . I will miss his voice in this process. :cry:

I'm incredibly disappointed, but he strikes me as a man of Integrity, so I'm sure he must have some sort of rationale for his decision.

I'm not sure who the hell I'm gonna vote for now....

And today's speech didn't really answer any of the questions I have. It just added to them.

I'm in Oregon, and we don't get to vote until May, but I'd been getting in touch with everyone I know who lives in a Super Tuesday state and talking up Edwards. Then he goes and quits, right out of the blue!

It wouldn't be so painful if he hadn't kept saying he was in it until the convention. The whole "Your voice will be heard" really resonated with me, and now I feel like a chump for having gotten so worked up over a candidate again, after all these years.

I'm a Cubs fan. I don't need this kind of heartbreak in the off-season.

*sigh*

And it's a sad feeling

I imagine John Edwards could possibly have gotten some very bad polling numbers after his final appearance in Minnesota yesterday. Numbers that were bad enough that he felt actually staying in through Super Tuesday would embarrass him publicly and diminish the gravitas he'd developed over the past 6 years of campaigning.

It's the only scenario I've come up with, short of an issue with Elizabeth's health, that explains how he could be campaigning so robustly just hours before ending his campaign, without offering an endorsement to either candidate.

Elizabeth is a straight shooter. She wouldn't want you to feel sorry for her, but, she wouldn't want you to wonder either.

I could be wrong- maybe there is a problem. I'm worried about it but not freaking out because of what I said above.

by the CEOs of GE, ExxonMobil, Halliburton and Google, accompanied by Queen Elizabeth, G.H.W. Bush (representing Skull and Bones), a vampire, a little green man, and of course Oprah. They told him to pull out. You just can't say no to those folks. :shrug:

Still, after reading your comment, I have to admit that I feel bad to even try to sell him to you.
Don't read any further unless you're interested in talking issues.
My favorite candidates all lost in the last several elections as well,
and I know how much that sucks.

Sorry man!



******************************************************************************************

Don't get me wrong: I am shamelessly advocating Obama, and I will ask for your vote.
Still, I believe that this should be a point of principle for Edwards voters,
because these are the hallmark issues of the Edwards campaign.

And Hillary Clinton does not support these issues with the same conviction that Obama does.

Hillary Clinton will keep us in Iraq longer than Obama, and she voted to begin the war.

Not so with Obama:

“When I am this party's nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I supported Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don't like. And he will not be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for America to torture — because it is never ok… I will end the war in Iraq… I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus. I will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century: nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. And I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now.”

— Barack Obama, Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy /


Hillary Clinton takes corporate lobbyist money. Not so with Obama, and you can check
www.opensecrets.org for details.

“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not get a job in my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”

— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics /


Hillary Clinton has fought poverty in some meaningful ways, but it is not her life's work.
Obama has been fighting poverty as a community activist since 1983: it is his life's work.

“I'm in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of Chicago; for the same reason I fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade… That's why I'm running, Democrats — to keep the American Dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality.”

— Barack Obama, Speech in Des Moines, IA, November 10, 2007

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/poverty /


Aren't these issues what John Edwards' campaign were all about?

What you said was considerate- as was what you posted.

I read it.


Thank you.

I am as bewildered by you by the timing of this decision. However, I try to keep reminding myself not to judge based on so little information. I also trust JRE and EE that they have good reasons for making the decision they did. That helps me to accept this more easily. At the same time I understand that many have made far more sacrifices than I have to help JRE win and may feel completely differently.

In your shoes I'd feel the same. I hope and believe that John will play a big role in the next Dem administration.

was dropping out - and like you, was shocked since he'd said he was in it all the way to the convention. Why not go through Super Tuesday, it's only a few more days. Then I thought about his wife, and what she has been through and wondered if maybe there's been some news.