Mudcat's rhetorical style speaks to me as though I'm sitting on a dock near Lake Ruralsville, reaching for a can of Diet Coke in the cooler; he's handing me some peanuts he picked up at the fishin' store, and we are playing "Go Fish", a simple card game while we take a break from rod and reel fishing.
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Yesterday at the Huffington Post, Mudcat had a good hook to talk about the recent local and state elections in by using a song that the Clintons had for their campaign song, 'Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow' in bringing our Reagan Democrats back to the cabin. He observed:
I think yesterday answered one huge question concerning red state politics. Will the Reagan Democrats who left our party in the eighties continue their return? When a Democratic candidate can get through the red state culture as Steve Beshear did in Kentucky, the answer is a resounding yes. However, if a Democratic Presidential candidate can't get through the culture, or worse, hits the cultural wall head-on, a Democrat can't win. The science is literally everywhere.
You can guess what this is leading to, so I'll post a little more:
I know people say "trust me", and then you think they must be lying. But as a red state Democrat who has been fighting these Republicans for a long time, just trust me this one time when I tell you that John Edwards is the only Democrat who understands and can get through the red state culture and psyche.
Admittedly, I live in Central Illinois, a Red-state district. Been reading RK because
John Edwards helped campaign for Tim Kaine.
Know this although Kaine supports Obama despite the Edwards support for his campaign, and still fights for rural Dems.
But I but write here because I live in the rural area by knowing some Central Illinois Dems would say the same things Mudcat is presenting at the moment.
Obama has no such plan, but I would not by a wooden yardstick be critical if Obama is still working on his agenda.
Mudcat continues to deal the cards here:
That is one of two reasons I am with John. He can head to a red state, connect with the people, and look like he was born on that stump. The absolute truth is with the eminent coming of the Republican onslaught in '08, John is the only electable Democrat. And believe it or not, the Republicans are coming with the fury of Hell. For those who think the Republicans are done for, we must never, never, never forget they are like a cornered animal and will do anything next year. A snake can still bite you until you cut off its head.
But as he picks up another card and discards one, he makes his strongest point about why we should be in John's corner:
Money has now completely taken over our electoral process and government. It's nuts. Somebody has got to do something and now. We need somebody who is mean enough and not afraid to fight the incredible money and power of the huge corporations and special interests. John is perfectly suited for the tough job that lies ahead, and I promise you, there will be a fight to get our government back.
John will fight them. Of that, I am sure.
Go Team Virginia :)
Look what happened when we had an excellent candidate who couldn't win.
John Edwards can win.
It's that simple...
Thanks!
Steve
Obama needs a little seasoning to his very young, but productive Senate career. I hear the GOP fears an Edwards/Obama ticket the most.....not only an unbeatable ticket, but a hold on the White House for 16 years !
Obama will only be 63...AT THE END OF HIS SECOND TERM IN 2024 !
My implication was that Obama would grow in the VP position, then lead for another 8 years.
My apologies if I wasn't clear.
I wish he had experience running a big organization, though.
I want vision, intellectual curiosity, and moral judgement in my next Decider-In-Chief :)
"Look your children in the eyes..." is one of my favorites, thanks for posting it Quizzical.
I admit that he would be an even better candidate in four years, but we need him now. The truth of the matter is that the only candidates who match him in the foreign policy area are Richardson, Biden and Dodd. For one reason or another, those candidates are not moving voters. Hillary Clinton is running a safe, anoint me campaign while she coddles special interests. John Edwards has no background in foreign policy. He is a trial lawyer. Talks great. It means nothing.
In the Congress he has been ducking votes right and left, e.g. Kyl-Lieberman and recently about the AG he was "out of town". He was, and I think he does it on purpose.
One can say that about any candidate, but Obama is truly concerned about the resources to run his campaign, not about us, in which he matches Clinton. I don't get it why he needs to be out of town when he has more than enough to run ads anywhere.
As a constituent, I wrote him about problems of transportation in the Gulf Coast since it affects farmer exports from the Midwest, but it took his staff months to answer my question about rebuilding the roads; at best, his response was non-committal.
Hmm. Do we want that in a President? Admittedly, GWB is a decider, but I don't think Obama is an uniter either if he cannot make up his mind.
Our country can't stand any more wreckless free trade agreements.