NOW on PBS: John Edwards on Poverty
By Nicole Belle Monday Jul 28, 2008 9:45am
Even though he's no longer running for president, John Edwards is still a man with a mission: to cut poverty in the United States by 50 percent in 10 years. This week, NOW's David Brancaccio talks with Edwards about how he plans to achieve this ambitious goal and what role it may and should have on the upcoming presidential election.
"What's happening in America today is middle class workers, people who are like my parents and my family, the family that I grew up in, they are having a terrible time," Edwards tells NOW.
The current economic crisis has Edwards and his followers more committed than ever, but will their efforts gain enough momentum to make a difference?
The entire program is available in streaming video or audio at their website. NOW also provides John McCain and Barack Obama's positions on poverty.
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John Edwards : "There are Two Families in America."
That's something you don't see in leaders on the right. From Jimmy Carter to Al Gore to John Edwards, and many others, Democratic leaders continue their service to society. That's called character.
I see people like Trent Lott or Phil Gramm or you-name-'em, when they leave public service (as if they were ever really in public service) they go right to work filling the ol' coffers.
The wave is crashing over people faster than anyone can do anything about it right now. So many people are getting sucked down into, or near, poverty every day.
President PNACcio @ 2:
Yeah...usually they become lobbyists for chemical, tobacco, or big oil.
The best solution is worker self-management - how many more times will history have to show us that the economic bosses do not have our best interests at heart?
What IS poverty?
It's a tough call; while I applaud John and Now's efforts, I'm perhaps a bit cynical that it's even possible to reduce poverty by 50%. Some poverty is just permanent, regardless of the economic model (capitalism, communism, etc. etc.)
John Edwards is someone i like, but after revelations of cheating on his wife, makes you really wonder about his character.
Maybe Edwards was concerned about the poverty of the child which is why he met that woman in a hotel.
In all seriousness, I didn't like Edwards as my Senator (hate Dole even more now) but he has certainly made me do a 180. Whatever he was lacking as a Senator and on prior White House runs he certainly found these past couple years.
I always hated the "ambulance chaser" label that is thrown on Edwards. If there ever was a lawyer who wasn't an ambulance chaser it is he. Some of the families he represented had no other means for recourse in their actions and he stepped up to clearly fight for what was right for the injured parties.
displaced @ 6:
Not really, Indian societies in NA and SA eliminated it entirely, along with hunger in the case of Tawantinsuyu. In a Western context, some people may lose out, but poverty is by no means guaranteed.
The conservative republicans who destroyed America's economy are evil! Pure and simple. I don't know why the Obama camp is not destroying them with their own words; such as Phil Gramms whining (its a great republican economy) comments!
It is time to get off the "pie in the sky" rhetoric, and take down the beast. John Kerry showed that by taking the high road against these sociopath's, the only thing it will get you is 4 more years of their bullshit.
If the repukes can get elected on a pack of lies and snake oil, why are the democrats so hesitant to use the truth? Stomp these fuckers out of existence. Good grief, what the hell is it gonna take? You want red state America to support you? What better way than by showing the voters what the republican party really thinks of them! Especially when the entire MSM is part of the GOP, and will do everything they can to get Mclame elected.
Watch the idiot trolls come out of their holes and start with the Edwards bashing today and why he wasn't questioned about his affair and the child that is his etc. The right wing nuts will overlook the importance of the story and will jump on the dirt.
I dont know if John Edwards had an affair and I dont care one way or the other. Is he helping people less fortunate than himself? Is he doing good work for the poor and sick? Thats all that counts in my book, at least the man is not a hypocrite. H enever put himself out there as a saint, you hear that Gingrich, Craig etc.
A PRIMER ON THE MORTGAGE BAILOUT
welcome to the truth.
It's not like one of the current presidential candidates ever cheated on their wife.....oops, never mind.
pissed off patricia @ 3:
I and my Wife were talking a couple of days ago about whether or not we could afford to move back to the USA. If we had our druthers we would be in California with our group of about 40 friends. But on retiring we realized that we couldn't afford the home we built in Tucson because my 401K went the way of most peoples. So we sold that and moved to SC, which i couldn't take, it was more foreign to me than living here or in Laos. So now we call Chiang Mai home because we can live very well for just under $1900. per month, and that's Condo rent, Food, booze and fuel for our motorbikes. So now by living here we are able to save a few bucks and take side trips.
Non of our life would be possible in the US, we would be eating tuna and oatmeal and living substandard.
General_Rennenkampf @ 9:
I call BS unless you can give me citations. My knowledge of the Aztecs, Mayans, and the Cahokia peoples all had complications of over-population, pollution and even starvation. Unless you are talking about the hunter-gatherer cultures, any civilization basted on pastoralism or agriculture around the world suffers from poverty. Are you suggesting we all go back to tribal cultures?
But feel free to prove me wrong, my knowledge of the Inca peoples is limited. (Or Tawantinsuyu as you call them--show off! :)
displaced @ 15:
I've read in books such as "Rise and Fall of the North American Indian," that Inka socialism basically eliminated poverty and hunger, something commented on even by the Spaniards justifying the conquest, they justified eliminating them despite being superior in that manner in that Satan had somehow done that (WTF?). The Tsalagi, or Cherokees, had no homelessness in the manner of the 19th Century US, owing to their Indianized definition of land ownership, which was that it was held in common. So, since the land belonged to all Tsalagi, the Tsalagi had no homelessness as opposed to the much-larger crowds of homeless and beggars in 19th Century America.
Indian life was by no means all ideal, and I never said "all" Indian societies eliminated it entirely, quite a few of the settled peoples did have those ills, but note that all the examples listed above are in North America, the ass-end of Native society, whereas South America, with the Tawantinsuyu was a much wealthier and more prosperous place. The Mexica, as well, were a new and, actually, rather overextended empire, the equivalent of a society the size of Switzerland conquering a region the size of the Roman Empire and trying to administer to it, and nothing ever works well in that condition, which is why Cortez had all those Indian allies. The Maya collapse had as many reasons as the fall of the Western Empire did, but Cahokia peoples built a series of large societies, equal in size to Medieval European societies in some case, and ended up in trouble because they had no other models to follow.
el matador, the fighting chicken @ 7:
Until this is cleared up, he is poisonous, with zero credibility.
el matador, the fighting chicken @ 7:
Unless you are considering marrying him, what is the difference? He's not running for anything on the "family values" platform like the cheating hypocrite Repimplicans do. It seems as though he is trying to make positive change in the world, which is the best, perhaps, that anybody can do.
MLK cheated on HIS wife, but he accomplished positive change in the world.
Matador, you and I may think that cheating on a spouse is a bad thing to do, but it doesn't negate the good things about a person. Most of us are a list of self-contained contradictions.
I dislike that cheating behavior; but I look at the pictures of those Snorg T-shirt women and I can kinda understand how some might be too weak to look the other way! ;-}
Edwards be the best pick for Obama's VP. I can't say for certain whether Obama intends to actually do some good things or just serve the corporatocracy (the two are mutually exclusive), but if he's planning on doing the sorts of things this country needs done-- like enforcing anti-trust laws and so forth-- he's going to need some assassination insurance.
And that means putting someone to his left in the VP slot.
what do you expect from many of the voters ,they see the democrats throwing in with the repubitches and they wonder where the yellow went when you bush with peposdent, since the last election when the democrats were supposed to have won the majority in the senate nothing has changed , the democrats have deliverd very little to the people who voted for them, we still are in iraq still in afganistan still loseing our jobs still passing bills that wont do anything to change anything , we have an administration who make profits from war , and were about to get another administration wether its obama or mccain who believe in switching the focus on war to afganistan , that besides more of our troops being killed and maimed and more afgans dieing for a stupid slogan of war on terriorism is about to much to swallow , i think wich ever one of these warmongers gets elected that the corporations profits go on and nothings really going to change, we need a man whos for peace and doesnt spout the old be afraid the terriorists will getcha if you dont watch out!
Cheating on his wife....zero credibility. Repugs robbing the country blind, doesn't get a mention. WTF.
Many of the poor or the getting poorer are the very ones who voted in these pukes, and judging from the polls, could do it again. A very, very strange country.
el matador
Don't you think reporters from the Enquirer can afford a camera?
It might be true, but don't believe everything you read in those garbage magazines.
Not too long ago, Obama was gay according to them.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 13:
Intellectual honesty is temporarily offline due to unmitigating cicumstances. As soon as we have a plausible solution to this embarrassing situation we will let you know. Thank you for your patience.
----MSM, liberal blogs and Dr. Matt
P.S. Keep rockin'.
Democratsrule @ 11:
What about his affair? Why wasn't he questioned? What about that child that is his?
How about talking about Monetary Policy or Shutting Down the Federal Reserve when speaking of Poverty? Let's get to the root of the problem.
General_Rennenkampf @ 16:
Thanks GR! And here I was thinking you were full of shit. lol
CatAtomic @ 19:
And that means putting someone to his left in the VP slot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=act6JIFZG-M
CatAtomic @ 19:
And that means putting someone to his left in the VP slot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=act6JIFZG-M
(annoying blue lines again. But then I like working blue.)
scruzman @ 24:
What the hek are you talking about? Why wasn't he questioned? I wasn't aware he broke any law. Should he have been waterboarded too? If the child is his and he takes care of it, what business is it of ours? He never preached about being pure, so leave him alone!
Note that the PBS video ends with a teaser for an upcoming story on the $50-billion fence proposed for the US-Mexico border. Interesting.
29 Democratsrule
"Ma, ma, where's my pa?"
"He's gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha."
displaced @ 26:
You're welcome.
If this guy (my guy) were the nominee we'd be 20 points ahead instead on statistically tied.
Good grief.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 13:
Indeed. I'm surprised the far-right blogoswamp hasn't been all over the alleged Edwards affair. I think it would be a good starting point for a healthy discussion of how well presidential candidates respect their marriage vows.
Yet the far-righties have been strangely silent. Curious.
Johnny2BadObamaCavedOnCampaignFinance @ 33:
Bullshit. "Fine Americans" like you would abandon the pertinent issues and just harp 24/7 on is he or not cheating on his wife.
[Deleted. Blogwhoring-Sitemonitor]
"It's your own damn fault. Get off your lazy ass and marry a rich beer heiress like I did".
liberalMcSuuuurgeNmoderation @ 4:
If the federal government didn't have gobs of taxpayer money as a ripe target for looting you wouldn't have all sorts of groups lobbying our representitives for creative ways to spend that money, our money.
Money = Power. Once you remove money from washington, you will stop attracting crooks to the positions that are supposed to be reserved for people that will represent the interests of their constituents and not large corporations and other special interests. Bailing out private investment firms, waging wars across the globe, subsides to oil companies, and other big corporations... Why the hell are WE giving OUR money to whomever congress deems appropriate? If THEY feel so strongly about it, THEY can give THEIR money to whatever cause they like.
Oh, and while we are talking about money... how about they do their GOD DAMNED JOB and stop the reckless deficit spending that is destroying the purchasing power of our money. Inflation screws over people on fixed or tight incomes (elderly and poor). This "I care about the poor" stuff sounds really fake. If they really cared they fix the problem they created.
noitaluspacne:
AMEN!
If we weren't importing poverty to the tune of millions of illegal aliens our economy would be in much better shape. Without illegal aliens, businesses would have to pay the working class a decent wage.
The real shame here is that greed knows no party. Big business is hooked on illegal alien labor and is in the pockets of both political parties.
Rusty Shackleford @ 34:
What are they supposed to do, Russ? Anyone with a computer and a mild curiousity about politics knows about this story. The National Enquirer either has the goods or they don't, but it's up to them when, if, and how they take the next step.
And I suspect they're waiting to see what Obama does before they decide. 'Two Americas-Two Families' Edwards is still is a favorite among voters for Obama's VP slot.....Rasmussen
The amount of vile hate out there is amazing and seems to be directly proportional to the individuals level of challenge to the status quo.
This after a cursory glance at news.google results for John Edwards.
The same level of hate shows up for Al gore whenever he says anything.
After a few weeks or so it seems to moderate though.
Left&Left @ 35:
I'm just not feelin the love from you today.
No "troll" meme?
You're slippin.
Raising the minimum wage to $8 + an hour is a moot point if there are no jobs . This century it was good jobs that built the middle class , just as it the lack of , that is destroying it .
On another thread ( offshore drilling ) one person posted that he owned the company that both built the drill rigs and did the drilling , yet failed to say where that eqt. was being built ( the companys head office is in Norway I think ) it all boils down to corp. greed , the almighty dollar , not so almighty now is it .
dennis @ 23:
Apparently you must be experiencing self-projection, princess, as well are more obsession over me. You speak of "Intellectual honesty" over a national enquirer piece versus the known fact that McGrampa cheated on his wife. Yes, we know this is embarrassing for you and your ilk. As soon as we have a plausible solution to this embarrassing situation we will let you know. Thank you for your patience.
P.S. Keep on obsessing over me.
princess @ 40:
Reich-wingers citing the National Enquirer as "fact". ROFL. Yeah, nice “Intellectual honesty”, princess.
At least he's not running for president, unlike the low-life McGrampa who cheated on his wife. But, we all now that's part of the reich-wing MO.
Rusty Shackleford @ 34:
Reich-wingers hold their own to much, much lower standards and expectations.
Rusty Shackleford @ 34:
They can't go after Edwards without bringing up McCain's shyt about his former and current wives. One was loyal and the other was his mistress; he got a marriage license for the mistress before divorcing the former wife, crippled and disfigured from a car accident while he was in Vietnam. The MSM would be forced to talk about that, and since he's their man, they are effectively shut down from bringing up Edwards' alleged affair.
And Edwards isn't running for public office, so the only one who should be on his ass about the alleged affair is Elizabeth Edwards, not the public. He wants to reduce poverty, I'm willing to help and I don't care about women he's screwed.
What's troublesome is ReThugs like Mitt Romney or Larry Craig - those in the "Family Values Party" who would swear up and down on a stack of Bibles that they haven't cheated on their wives and get caught with their slips showing.
Well, maybe you shouldn't have given Bush four more years.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 45:
<blockquote
Reich-wingers citing the National Enquirer as "fact". ROFL. Yeah, nice “Intellectual honesty”, princess.
I didn't cite the Enquirer as fact, Sk8trboi. Making up stuff I didn't say or even allude to is your standard and lame M.O. It's all you ever have, Glock boi.
But you have no problem in the world citing the National Enquirer as fact every time you ejaculate here when there's a thread about Rush Limbaugh and you without fail mention his drug abuse problems- their story.
Ouch, you really are having a bad day today, princess. Seriously, your obsession has gone from mere admiration of me to full blown psychotic, princess. Perhaps you should quit reading people magazine and National Enquirer when you're sitting in the check-out line buying more diapers and Kool-Aide. Your anger is reaching new heights. Seek therapy....really.
dennis @ 40:
Ooooooh, "the national enquirer"....
I think you give them far more credit they deserve. The reason why they haven't gone with it yet is because they are trying to decide if they go with the alleged Edwards affair, or if they are going to run another "batboy" sighting... decisions, decisions...
dennis @ 49:
I didn't cite the Enquirer as fact, Sk8trboi. Making up stuff I didn't say or even allude to is your standard and lame M.O. It's all you ever have, Glock boi.
But you have no problem in the world citing the National Enquirer as fact every time you ejaculate here when there's a thread about Rush Limbaugh and you without fail mention his drug abuse problems- their story.
That story turned out to be true, as anyone with a computer and even a mild interest in politics knows.
The Edwards story... well, keep hope alive, lil' d. Maybe it'll turn out to be true, and when people bring up McCain's immorality, y'all can say "well, the guy you guys didn't nominate did it too, sort of!"
Tequila @ 48:
I think the people who voted for Bush are the ones who gave him four more years...
liberalMcSuuuurgeNmoderation @ 4:
Is it also called 'character' when John Edwards is 'Servicing' his little trist, and she now has his child, while his wife is battling cancer? ...as he hides out in motel toilets???
Rusty Shackleford @ 52:
That story turned out to be true, as anyone with a computer and even a mild interest in politics knows.
The Edwards story... well, keep hope alive, lil' d. Maybe it'll turn out to be true, and when people bring up McCain's immorality, y'all can say "well, the guy you guys didn't nominate did it too, sort of!"
I don't think Rush's drug story was broken by the national enquirer...
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 46:
Seriously. Can you imagine the furor if Obama had made propaganda films for the enemy during wartime? We'd never hear the end of it.
Rush's drug problems are true and factual. Reich-wingers have zero concept of reality. Princess is proof of that.
Once again, princess fails to make an analogy. But, she always has the National Enquirer to provide her own brand of "reality"
Lukes @ 54:
I dunno, but is is called 'character' when you go around servicing your little trist with farm animals?
Rusty Shackleford @ 56:
Exactly. The reich-wingers still give the discredited smear boaters credence and they have been thoroughly debunked. Yet again, we shouldn't be surprised since reich-wingers clearly have zero credibility, morality, or standards.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 59:
You don't have to do any supposition. Look at their track record with:
Kerry, Murtha and Cleland. For example...
All distinguished veterans, all smeared and dragged through the mud. Heck even they did not spare decency with a triple amputee, and during the GOP convention they thought wearing a purple heart band-aid was actually funny.
But say anything about McCain and watch their faux self righteousness come out in full force.
The funniest part of the hissy fit from princess is that she brought of Drugbaugh and no one else did. LOL. Talk about hero worship.
Priceless. Absolutely.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 61:
No, the funniest part is that you claimed I cited the National Enquirer as fact, when I didn't. And you can't cite where I did.
Not priceless. Only so typical.
You forgot to mention O'Racist or Drugbaugh.
Try again....we'll wait......
Tyler Durden @ 60:
You can now include Wesley Clark as well.
dennis @ 62:
I take reading and comprehension are really not that stressed in trolls school, eh?
ysbaddaden @ 64:
Drugbaugh wanna-be (not princess) Mark Levin called General Clark a "fake General" and "fake soldier" just last week.
Tyler Durden @ 65:
Princess went to school to find a husband....most hicks from Georgia major in husbandry [sic].
Tyler Durden @ 53:
No, actually it was the result of our democratic process, including the inaction of people who didn't even vote at all.
dennis @ 40:
peaceful easy feeling @ 68:
I could have swore it was because Boosh got more electoral votes than Kerry....
Someone please tell me his man.... John Kerry- Alarming News along with the cretin John Edwards, isn't the guy I've been called a traitor and and an idiot for for not voting for him as President.
Please, someone, tell me these aren't actual photos of a man who came perilously close to the highest office in this country at this most perilous of times.
Yeesh.
Look at the facts before the media helps you believe he's such a good person: He's a politician first, (someone who embellises for a living), a ambulance chasing lawyer second (who embellises for a living) who is personally worth hundreds of millions. What does he know about poverty? He's never worked up a sweat except campaigning against Hillary. Don't be fooled by everything you read.
dennis @ 71:
I recognize the individual words as English, but they seem to be in random order...
Judging from the link, lil' d's post seems to refer to John Kerry - the candidate from 2004. I guess if none of the slime the Repigs throw will stick to Obama, then they reach back for the Golden Oldies. I can't wait to see what they dig up on McGovern!
Tyler: Eddie-Bear didn't give them much of a reason to vote for him and Kerry, since they didn't put up much of a fight.
Rusty Shackleford @ 73:
Kerry and Edwards are both phonies, phonies both practically deified by liberals. But anyone who didn't vote for these two men are idiots and traitors, (at least from what I've read here a thousand times at least), because these two just happened to suddenly realize the errors of their ways regarding Iraq at just coincidentally the same time they decided to run for President.
dennis @ 75:
Whereas Bush and his lapdogs never realized the error of their ways. I say better late than never, but I reckon you'd disagree since you seem to be clinging bitterly to your support of Bush and his policies.
I don't get how Kerry and Edwards are "phonies", though. Kerry, unlike Wet Start Johnny, is a genuine war hero and reasonably good senator. Edwards, unlike Wet Start Johnny, is a self-made success and was a reasonably good senator. They aren't "deities" as you claim, but most rational people would agree that they are superior human beings to Bush and McCain.
This dude's populist shtick is the most transparent thing ever. He needs to disappear. The news will break soon about his love child, and that shit won't be good for the Dems.
I like him and hope he continues his good work but lets not be like those Republicans and be apologists and/or pretend nothing happened when one of their ilk does something stupid/immoral. All press should be looking at the issue and then move on.
NishNish @ 77:
Funny - the Enquirer had photographers staked out at the alleged tryst hotel. Where are the pictures?
Back to the question of poverty: In 1958, my dad got a job making about $11K a year. He turned around and bought a 3-bedroom, two-story with a yard and a garage, walking distance from a grade school, a high school and a state university...for $9K.
In 1970, in a different city in the same state, again walking distance from schools at the same levels, he bought a similar 4-bedroom house for 29K on a salary of 30K.
Today, who the hell in the middle-class, much less among the poor, lives anywhere in the US, much less a major city, where the price of a house is LESS than the annual salary of middle management, or a teacher, or a cop?
WTF happened to the US economic model? Oh, yea...the RNC: ReagaNaziCorporation.
It's tough to maintain a good, fair tax base when your country has a service oriented economy, with little union power, and a flood of cheap labor coming from the south willing to work for next to nothing and not ask too many questions. It's not going to improve unless the people who make all the money in this country start paying all of the taxes. Unfortunatly, those people own all the media, make all the legislation, and control all the government local, state, and federal. Welcome to the third world, it's encroaching your neighborhood as I type.
YOU PEOPLE THINK HE HAD A AFFAIR? GOOD GRIEF< WHO CARES? JOHN MCCAIN WAS THE BIGGEST PLAYBOY ON CAPITOL HILL AND HE WAS A MARRIED MAN AND HE MET CINDY WHEN HE WAS MARRIED AND LEFT HIS FIRST WIFE AFTER HE WAS SEEING CINDY FOR MONTHS.
GIVE ME A BREAK.
I THINK AMERICANS ARE STUPID!~~~~~~IF MCCAIN WINS, WE ALL GO DOWN.
[Woefully off topic BS-Sitemonitor]
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