I saw John Edwards on Face the Nation and I have to say....

he looks great! He looks relaxed, refreshed and ready to continue his fight to eliminate poverty.

Can we really reduce poverty by half in 10 years? To borrow a phrase from the Obama campaign, YES WE CAN!

That is one of the most important issues to Democrats and I am so proud of John Edwards and his passion for this cause. I am also very proud of him for not endorsing either Obama or Clinton during this primary season. (My personal opinion is that he voted for Obama in the NC primary.) He stated very clearly today that he believes his endorsement wouldn't matter in the end and that he views endorsements as being over-rated. I agree with him that sometimes these endorsements do nothing but divide us more.

I think it is very clear that he ended his campaign when he did, and is not endorsing right now, because he cares about the future of the Democratic party more than his own presidential ambitions.

I am proud to have supported his run for the presidency. I will be proud to stand by him as he continues his fight for one of the most important, and moral, causes. Poverty.

**edited to correct the name of the show.

I live in NC and they like him here, and he is right about the endorsement thing. He is not a Super either, so his endorsement would be an Opportunity for his name to get soiled (by Hillary) etc. SO why bother ALTHOUGH, if He was going to Endorse (provided he has talked to Obama about it) I would announce it right Before West Virginia, and have Gore Endorse the Morning After. Then Carter the night after Oregon.

that John Edwards might someday sit on the Supreme Court.

I chose SCOTUS because he would represent an aspect of the law that could use voice on the court. Law practiced for the benefit of the many rather than the elite.

now. This would them give him a record of decisions made. At this point, his legal record is a few years of corporate law and many as a very top trial lawyer. All good, but no work as either a prosecutor or judge. (This is the same reason I think suggestions of HRC are silly - even though I know you don't even have to be a lawyer.)

about the possibility of reducing poverty by half in 10 years. Or 20 years. Or 100 years.

The only "simple" solutions can't be implemented. The simplest way would be to ensure that every child is born into, and raised by, a two-adult-parent family and receives a quality education. Sounds simnple, huh? How ya gonna do it?

You are right though that we cannot mandate the family that someone is born into. We can do something to level the playing field for those who are born into poverty. The best way is to do something to change the fact that we have 2 education systems in this country. One for the poor and one for everyone else. I'm solidly middle class and live in one of the best school districts in the country. Every child should have the opportunities to go to schools like my own children have.

There are things that we can do to help families who are low income. Increasing the minimum wage, access to affordable day care, affordable health care, tax credits and college for everyone are just a few of the ideas that John Edwards has listed as ways to start.

It's just a matter of where our priorities are.

And piss on the idea and say I'm not optimistic.

Nothing CHANGES because people say that it can't be done.
Either you are IN the fight or you are on the sidelines.
Regardless, you are responsible for your actions- or lack thereof.

I'm not advocating doing nothing at all. That's silly! There's a lot that can be done. I'm just saying I'm not optimistic about making enormous gains, because the simplest solutions simply can't be implemented by governments.

I'm watching Meet the Press and so far all I've seen is Chris Dodd and a madly spinning McAuliffe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3268755

Not to be a stickler but BTW, he was on Face the Nation.

That is so noble, imo!

before we can do it, we must somehow eliminate GREED & ENVY & SELFISHNESS..

I have NO idea how we do that..

Every penny given in the quest to eliminate poverty, must come from somewhere.. The ones with one foot still in the "poor zone", or family members still fully planted in it, have always been generous, but NOW they (the mushy middlers) are hurting mightily themselves/ourselves.

the super-rich at the top donate a LOT, dollar-wise, but very little percentage-wise...and THEY write off every penny of it too, so in the end, the tax money they DON'T pay, just gets passed along to the rest of us, or gets added to our deficit..

People will get themselves "out of poverty", IF a few things "happen" for them.

GOOD education
GOOD family planning
DECENT housing
GOOD jobs
GOOD health care

They LOSE money over there, their contracts are ridiculous and their budget is more so every year. Maybe we should start with that while we work on human nature. :)