Meetings Across the River

Tough day for the Blog. So many topics, so little time.

I thought about writing a list of some of my favorite things. The first day of October...It's always nice this time of year - Indian Summer - yeah, right? Today the thermometer read 39-degrees in the morning sun. Then, I thought I might write a list some of my favorite things and other thoughts. I'd conjure up images in your mind, like the taste of my favorite Colombo Peach or Nantucket Berries yogurt, a good cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, the morning papers awaiting on my New England doorstep, the prompt service at Honda Village service center to make a quick fix on the Honda Accord that we've named "Rajon Honda."

But, that's all trivial pursuit of a BLOG column on a busy day. Let's move onto more important topics, like:

1. Sports! Today is the first day of the regular season in the NHL. The hometown Bruins remind me of the 1979-80 NY Islanders. Back then, the Isles - best team in the league in '79 fell mightily in the playoffs to Lanny McDonald and the Leafs only to rebound in 1980 to take the first of four consecutive Stanley Cup titles. Go get 'em Lucic and the gang. My Isles will have to wait for a few years before they can even begin to compete. (The Nassau Coliseum being a blog topic for another day).

2. Music and Entertainment! The Boss - Bruce Springsteen - opened up the first of a gazillion shows at Giants Stadium in scenic East Rutherford, NJ. Springsteen and the E Street Band are sending off the stadium -- "my backyard," according to his Bossness, in grand form by performing full albums within their concerts. Last night, "Born to Run." But, looking ahead, you'll hear "Darkness, Born in the USA and another go 'round of "Born to Run."

Obviously, for most of us, "Born to Run" is among the most influential albums of our lives. I can only imagine what it was like to hear it played live. True Heaven.

I particularly like the song, "Meeting Across the River." Always have and always will be one of my favorites. I often wondered how it was placed on an album of pure 'kick ass' rock songs. I love its placement on the LP, and that is an art that is being lost in the world of CDs ITunes and music by demand. (Can you remember having to eye-ball the needle of the turn-table and place the needle right on the groove to catch your favorite song on the LP?)

Anyway, to finish the thought on "Meeting Across the River," the song took on new meaning for me as I got so heavily involved in the publicity and inner workings of "COVERT, My Years Infiltrating the Mob," which was a frequent topic of postings in the past. I always thought of "Mtg Ax the River" as the PERFECT opening song for COVERT, the movie and I will promise to see that through. (I will make this a full blog topic when the time is appropriate... but, Bruce, if you or Wayne are reading and listening... let's use the Oct 8th show to dedicate the song to a certain NJ State Trooper who risked his life for good and helped "put away" evil. All you need to do is change "Eddie" to "Bobby" and we're set!

Here was the set list from last night:

"Wrecking Ball"
"Seeds"
"Johnny 99"
"Atlantic City"
"Outlaw Pete"
"Hungry Heart"
"Working On a Dream"
"Thunder Road"
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-out"
"Night"
"Backstreets"
"Born To Run"
"She's the One"
"Meeting Across the River"
"Jungleland"
"Waitin' On a Sunny Day"
"The Promised Land"
"Into the Fire"
"Lonesome Day"
"The Rising"
"Badlands"
"No Surrender"
"Raise Your Hand"
"E Street Shuffle"
"Growin' Up"
"American Land"
"Dancing In the Dark"

"Hard Times"

"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"

And, here's a new song that the band debuted:

***

Then, there's POLITICS: Now, the hard part of today's blog which brings me back to the opening lead graph. John Edwards. Ahem.

For some reason, I truly believed that John Edwards was the best candidate for the presidency of the USA as the campaign began with a crowded list of democratic candidates which, of course, included Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Obviously, I was wrong and I've failed to write that in prior blogs - sort of ignoring the whole situation.

Well, no longer. I am going to clip a piece and then add a link to a story that makes a bad situation even worse. I will not offer my view on this, but I print it for a reason. I post it to let you know that I'm not afraid to say, "I was wrong." and I post it to allow you to conect the dots and make your own decision on how you will view John Edwards and his newfound legacy.

Here you go: click HERE

When John Edwards returned to North Carolina in the course of his long quest for the presidency, Andrew Young always met him at the airport in Edwards’s big black Chevy Tahoe. Young drove, and Edwards rode shotgun, silently raising his left hand whenever he wanted a Diet Coke, which Young would wordlessly supply.

When Edwards and his family arrived home, Young had made sure there was fresh milk in the fridge, a neatly trimmed lawn and neatly folded dry cleaning. When he arranged their vacation to Disney World in 2004, he naturally booked himself a ticket. And when Edwards’s mistress became pregnant, Young — at the cost of his reputation, his wife’s and his minister father’s — stepped forward to say the child was his.

Young sometimes described himself as Edwards’s “special assistant” and dreamed of serving in an Edwards White House. Other aides, with a combination of disgust — and, perhaps, a bit of envy — referred to him as Edwards’s “personal servant,” or worse, Edwards’s “butt boy.” The relationship was so intense, at least on Young’s side, that it generated friction between him and Elizabeth Edwards. But if Elizabeth and John Edwards sometimes seemed to feel that Young — at 40 no longer an eager kid, with three children of his own — had gotten too close, there was no getting rid of him. He had made himself indispensable.

“John was his idol — his hero — and probably who he considered his best friend and his mentor,” said Tim Toben, a former John Edwards supporter and friend of Young’s who now lives next door to Young on the rural west edge of Chapel Hill. “He thought that he had offered the ultimate sacrifice and was left on the curb.”

Young has fleetingly emerged from the wreckage of Edwards’s political career as a character from central casting. First he was the fall guy, and now he’s the sellout, peddling his story in a tell-all book. But the real story of Young is about the passions of politics and the classic political triangle of the candidate, his wife and the sometimes sycophantic aide. The consuming devotion that politicians command from a small handful of loyalists is familiar — and not just in presidential campaigns.

“Almost every politician has people like that around him who will do almost anything, sometimes to a fault,” said Gary Pearce, a consultant to Edwards’s 1998 Senate campaign.

Neither Elizabeth nor John Edwards responded to a request ­— relayed through a spokeswoman — for a comment on Young. Young also declined to comment, though he did, through a friend, pass on the names of several allies for a reporter to call. About a dozen former Edwards aides described his relationship with the Edwardses to POLITICO, most on the condition of anonymity to avoid getting dragged into the campaign’s tawdry aftermath.

Speaking on Edwards ...

One of the avid readers of TheBlog@TerryLyons.com repeatedly asked me to post a view on John Edwards. I addressed it briefly and said that I didn't know what to say or do. This past Thursday while I zipped up to Providence, RI and back, I grabbed the Washington Post at NY's Penn Station and read the special section on the Democratic National Convention.

This article was in the special section and I call it to your attention:



Delegates With a Broken Pledge
The Misery and Mercy of John Edwards's Former Supporters
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer


Thursday, August 28, 2008; A25

DENVER, Aug. 27 -- Think the Hillary Clinton delegates feel miserable and dejected? Spend a moment with Deb Nelson.

The high school English teacher from New Hampshire arrived here this week with a scarlet "E" on her chest. That's E for Edwards. She is one of the 26 delegates former North Carolina senator John Edwards collected on the path to ultimate primary defeat in South Carolina and personal destruction in the pages of the National Enquirer.

Nelson, 54, like the rest of the Edwards delegates, will support Sen. Barack Obama. Unlike Clinton delegates, many of whom have parted wistfully, or even grudgingly, from their first-choice candidate, Nelson is more than ready to kick Edwards to the curb. How did she feel when Edwards confessed he had been cheating on wife Elizabeth, with whom Nelson shared chicken salad sandwiches in her kitchen in Hanover?

"I'm sure you can imagine," Nelson said, pain on her face as she shook her head while standing on the Democratic convention floor. "I was . . . words really don't . . . terrible. Terrible. Aghast."

The bitter taste of betrayal is widespread in this group. Sharon Nordgren, a New Hampshire state representative, was, until the admission, a die-hard Edwards supporter. Nordgren, 64, said she was stunned to learn that while she and others were cheering him on, Edwards was stumping around her state with his paramour, Rielle Hunter, a woman he met in a bar and hired to do biographical videos for him. Confronting this unsavory image again, she made a face that looked as if she smelled something rotten.

How did Nordgren react to the news of Edwards's affair? "Not printable," she said.

Despite his high-profile second try for the White House, Edwards is one party headliner not at the Democratic National Convention. If his name is raised at all, it is in whispers.

His delegates are one of the more underground subgroups here; for them, the tawdry Edwards affair is much more than titillating gossip. As they reflected on the candidate whose campaign led them to the floor of the Pepsi Center here, they kept returning to two main topics.

First: Elizabeth and the couple's three children. "I feel so terrible for them," Nordgren said.

Second: A wrenching sense of lost opportunity.

Kate Michelman, the longtime warrior for abortion rights who took flak from her political sisters when she broke from the pack and backed Edwards for president, said she saw in him a man who understood "the next leg of the journey for women had to be focused on economic security."

Michelman, speaking by phone from her living room, with the sounds of convention speeches coming from the television, said she thought long and hard before getting behind Edwards, instead of joining Sen. Hillary Clinton's bid to become the first woman president.

"I will say, it was a major political decision for me. It was a very important one. One of the most important I made in my political career," she said.

When the campaign ended badly, she says, she called Edwards to buck him up. She reminded him of the post-campaign accomplishments of Al Gore, and told Edwards he should consider carrying the message of economic inequity and injustice around the globe.

"For the millions of women who remain marginalized by economic forces, who have not been advantaged by the progress of the women's movement, for those women, I felt John Edwards represented the greatest hope for their lives and their families' lives," Michelman said. "That is what is just so devastating about this."

Speaking publicly about her feelings for the first time, Michelman said she feels a sense of solidarity with the delegates at the convention, the donors who sent money and the volunteers who toiled on Edwards's behalf.

"The reality of the betrayal, the sadness -- it all etches so sharply," she said.

Not everyone among the delegates, though, is overcome with such raw emotion. Robert Groce, 40, of Summerville, S.C., said he still supports Edwards -- proudly and defiantly -- even though he understands his candidate's political career is almost certainly finished.

Groce fled New Orleans when Katrina's floods hit and he was forced to move away. He had landed in Summerville when he saw Edwards launch his campaign from New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward.

"That touched me very much," Groce said.

The Edwards campaign was steaming into the Iowa caucuses when the Enquirer first alleged that the former trial lawyer had a mistress who had become pregnant. Groce got a call from a reporter for the Charlotte Observer who had " a question about, and I'm quoting here, a 'love baby.' " He dismissed the allegation at the time and allowed the truth of Edwards's predicament to sink in only when he watched the former senator confess the affair on ABC's "Nightline."

Groce was "disappointed" in Edwards. "But I was more disappointed that the media forced his wife and family to live through that pain all over again."

Groce now believes Edwards lied about the affair only because he had to. "Not to cover himself," he said. "He was lying to keep it personal."

Merci Wolff, who began volunteering for Edwards in Iowa in 2004 when she was just 14, said she was missing her college freshman orientation to attend the convention as an Edwards delegate. She said the moment she fell for the candidate came after a computer factory closed in Sioux City, where she was growing up.

"John Edwards came two weeks after the news broke, and he met with the workers," she recalled. "He had answers. He had come from the working class. He knew what they were talking about."

Wolff said she also dismissed the initial reports as, in Edwards's words, "tabloid trash." She believed him until the tabloid reported that its reporters had cornered Edwards at a Los Angeles hotel, where it alleged he was visiting Hunter's baby.

Wolff said she was glad Edwards appeared on television to accept responsibility for the affair (though he continued to deny fathering Hunter's child).

True to her name, Merci Wolff says she has forgiven Edwards. "It takes a good man to step up and tell the truth," she said. "He admitted he was wrong."

According to news accounts, Edwards has been calling his close friends and supporters, apologizing for all that has transpired. But these delegates said they have not received a call, and don't believe one is warranted.

"He does not owe me a call," Nelson said. But that does not mean she's ready to let go of her feelings about what he did.

"I think he will remain an incredible public servant because of all the policies he supported and the ideas he had," she said. "But it will be a very long time before people are ready to listen to him again -- a very long time before they forgive him."

Ramble On ...

The dogs days of summer and an overload of personal responsibilities requiring my time and attention will limit postings to The Blog at terrylyons.com for many of the weeks to come.

That said, here are a couple of random thoughts:

First, the men's Olympic Basketball team looked great in games against Greece and Spain this week. They will play Germany in the final preliminary game and then face the #4 finisher in the opposite pool in the quarterfinals. From where I'm watching from, that will be Australia. The Aussies face a tough Lithuanian team while Croatia will play Iran in their fifth and final prelim.

One thing you can bank on if they play Oz. The Aussies will not go down without a fight. Whether it was Shane Heal butting hard heads with Charles Barkley in '96 or Andrew Gaze taking down Vince Carter in 2000 to some scuffles in the 'friendly' leading up to these Games, the Aussies enjoy the tussle.

After that?

I refuse to even speculate or take anything for granted. I will say that the USA team is primed and ready to compete. Two good games (vs. Greece and Spain) were very important for the USA's confidence level and I'm sure the performances put the coaching staff in a better frame of mind. The USA is getting a little better each game and that is what it takes to win an Olympic tournament.

Some other general thoughts:

I was very glad to see that President Bush supported both the men's and women's USA basketball teams along with all the other athletes at the Games. USA Basketball President Val Ackerman had quite a treat sitting with the President ... Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are carrying the USA team while Deron Williams is playing at a very high level ... The coverage of the 2008 USA team is very different than that of 2004. The media (and that includes NBC) has been supportive and is praising the team's efforts for their actions on and off the court. The messages of respecting the opponent and the Olympics always comes through. It is a sincere viewpoint that was instilled in this team (from Coach K to Jerry Colangelo) right from the start ... Even Jim Lamply of NBC has had nice things to say about the USA basketball squad. Chris Collinsworth was all-out giddy when he took in the USA vs. China game ... Here is a typical posting of a fans' viewpoint on this edition of the USA men, taken from an ESPN.com post to Chris Sheridan's column:

"The team work attitude is what really sets this team apart. Plenty of superstars but no egos from any player or the coach (yes, I am looking at you, Larry Brown), everyone accepts his role on the team. All the losses in last few years have really help Team USA understand they need to approach international basketball differently and they have worked hard. Let's hope for a gold medal in a week."

***

Mike Breen and Doug Collins have been doing a terrific job and the sideline reports by Craig Sagar have been pretty good. Terrific job by producer-director Howie Singer who is hired by NBC Sports for the Olympics.

***

Look for Jason Kidd to play a more significant role now that it's crunch time, and I don't mean by scoring ... The USA has been playing very strong defense. Look for the number of pass deflections, steals and points of turnovers as the key stats for the USA to get to the gold medal stand.

And, a few non-basketball-related Rambles:

I have nothing to say about John Edwards. A few of the Blog readers, knowing that my Democratic Primary support was behind Edwards, were calling for a posting on the recent Edwards news. Like the Beatles once sang, I say, "let it be." What's the sense in piling on or getting on a soapbox. I will leave it alone.

***

Funny, but I have no desire to head out to Shea Stadium or Yankee Stadium for a "last time in the park" run. Not sure why, just other, more important things to wory about.

***

We're looking at a Toyota Rav4 as the vehicle of choice for the Lyons-Martin family. I will note that the 4 is the same keyboard key as the $.

***

That is all. Not sure when the next posting will be, but thanks for tuning in now and then to check.

-30-

I am, officially, UNDECIDED....

Breaking news on the campaign trail, as John Edwards will announce that he is no longer campaigning to become President of the United States.

It's a shame.

Best candidate, goes down before Super Tuesday.

I have to give Edwards credit for his decision which will help galvanize the Democratic National Committee efforts in the election.

Certainly, Senator Obama will be the one who is most likely to earn my support.

See:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic candidate John Edwards abandoned his presidential bid on Wednesday, while among Republicans challenger Mitt Romney vowed to keep up his struggle to overtake newly-crowned front-runner John McCain.
more stories like this

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who was his party's vice presidential nominee four years ago, never managed to match the superior firepower of the two heavyweights in the Democratic race -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

His decision leaves effectively narrows both the Democratic and Republican field to two realistic candidates apiece ahead of next week's "Super Tuesday" contests when 24 states hold nominating contests for one or both parties.

Edwards was to formally announce his withdrawal at 1 p.m. EST in New Orleans, a campaign official said.

His decision leaves Clinton, a former first lady and New York senator, pitted against Obama, an Illinois senator.

Among Republicans, it is Arizona Sen. McCain against former Massachusetts Gov. Romney. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is still formally in the race but his lack of money and appeal beyond Christian conservatives give him little real chance.

The Edwards announcement stole the thunder from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who planned to drop out and endorse McCain later on Wednesday after coming a distant third in Tuesday's Republican primary in Florida.

McCain won that vote, cementing his status as Republican front-runner to contest the November election to succeed President George W. Bush.

Romney, who has poured millions of dollars from his personal fortune into the race and vastly outspent McCain in Florida, said it was now a two-man race.

"The options are me or John McCain," he told Fox News on Wednesday. "It's becoming a real race between two people who have two different views about the future of this country."

(Additional reporting by Jim Loney and Jason Szep in Florida, Jeff Mason in Kansas, writing by Alan Elsner; Editing by Patricia Zengerle and Frances Kerry)

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

John Edwards' Campaign is Moving Forward ...

We support John Edwards. Will you? (Click on the John Edwards campaign headline above..)

The goal for my site is - $2,500
We have raised - $350
We are 14% of the way there.

Please join me in supporting John Edwards.

He's the best candidate to bring real change to America. Together, our support will help put John Edwards in the White House.

Will you join me? Join the campaign and make a contribution.

This page was made by Terry Lyons, a John Edwards supporter

The Primary Schedule ...

Things are heating up in the political primaries. I thought this might be helpful to all the voters out there. Here's the schedule of things ahead for the Democrats...Republicans can go find their own schedule:

JANUARY:

15 - Michigan (on 12/01/07 the DNC took away the state delegates)
19 - Nevada caucus (approved by DNC)
26 - South Carolina Primary (approved by DNC)
29 - Florida Primary (penalized by DNC for breaking party rules, resulted in losing their delegates)

February 2008

Super Tuesday - February 5th
Alabama, Alaska caucus, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado caucus, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho caucus, Illinois, Kansas caucus, Massachusetts, Minnesota caucus, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico caucus, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, American Samoa caucus

Late February 2008
9 - Louisiana, Nebraska caucus, Washington caucus, U.S. Virgin Islands caucus
10 - Maine caucus
12 - D.C., Maryland, Virginia
19 - Hawaii, Wisconsin

March 2008
4 - Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Texas
8 - Wyoming
11 - Mississippi

April-June 2008
April 22 - Pennsylvania
May 3 - Guam
May 6 - Indiana, North Carolina
May 13 - West Virginia
May 20 - Kentucky, Oregon
June 1 - Puerto Rico
June 3 - Montana, South Dakota


Adding:

Ed Muskie in a pantsuit?

Here was an exchange on Hillary Clinton's candidacy: (Note: Mike Murphy is a Republican strategist).

MR. RUSSERT: Last week we had Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee on MEET THE PRESS. This week we had John McCain. We invited Senator Clinton, she declined our invitation. Doing very few media interviews. I am told she might be doing “Access Hollywood” on Monday.

MR. MURPHY: Yeah, I don’t understand it, because if she doesn’t grab this thing fast—and it’s not her fault, she’s just not what they’re looking for, but she’s making it worse with this kind of campaigning—she’s going to turn into Ed Muskie in a pantsuit and there’s no chance. She has, I think, about 10 days, which means South Carolina, which is even harder for her.

MR. RUSSERT: Here, here’s the calendar, Mike Murphy. Let’s put it on the screen. New Hampshire is this Tuesday, then Nevada. That’s a caucus on January 19th. South Carolina on the 26th. Super Tuesday on February 5, that’s Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Massachusetts, Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Oklahoma.

Des Moines Register ...

Des Moines Register editorial board members took the first plunge in the primaries by providing the Hillary Clinton and John McCain campains with a solid shots of momentum by virtue of the paper's official endorsement. The editorial spoke of Clinton's 'readiness' while it questioned Barack Obama's 'experience.'

The Boston Globe also backed McCain but its editors chose Obama for their support in near-by New Hampshire.

I solidly remain in the John Edwards camp.

I am very interested to see if the endorsements breathe new life into Senator McCain's campaign. Originally, I thought McCain would breeze to the republican nomination, only to see the likes of Rudy Guliani and O-Mitt Romney jump to the frontrunner spots on the other side.

John Edwards ...

I have been enjoying the videos posted to John Edwards.com that offer a split screen on some of the comments made by his opponents. It reminds me a bit of a Jon Stewart line from his show that simply says, "Don't you think we keep track and record this stuff?"

Anyway - if you are looking to part with a few bucks, I highly recommend spending it on the future of the United States of America. To help, drop a couple dollars into this:

http://johnedwards.com/action/contribute/mygrassroots/?page_id=Mjg0NzA


Click on the deadline above -

John Edwards to make a move?

It was great to see the ovation bestowed upon John Edwards when he joined Bill Maher on the stage for a live interview on HBO. Maher, to my surprise called Edwards a 'sure' way for Democrats to win the election over a Republican nominee.

Edwards certainly did not disagree.

Even though Edwards is trailing HC and BObama in the current polls, we can all remember quite well that Howard Dean was the front runner at the same point in time in 2004.

Edwards is confident.

Edwards is smart.

Edwards should be the next president of the United States.

In a blog about the TV appearance, one of the first comments/replies read like this:

Bill Maher is right to look at Edwards as a sure winner. He has laid out a very specific detailed policy on domestic issues and foreign policies alike. And he's done it courageously, and usually before everyone else unlike some of his main competitors who choose to borrow from the policies of others who have laid out their plans to the American people beforehand. Once the mainstream media moves beyond the excitement of the first Black president or the first woman president and looks at whose offering for hope and new direction without many details (Barack), once they examine who is offering little details on how they will move this country in the right direction so they can stay on top of public opinion polls and avoid too much scrutiny (Hillary) they will be forced to look at the best of the Democratic ticket - people like Edwards, Richardson and dare I say Biden who would make an excellent President if he ever learned how to close his mouth.

America was wrong in 2004 when they chose Kerry to lead the Democratic ticket instead of Edwards. If the choice was reversed I think this country would have had a different 8 years than we've had under Bush/Cheney. We can't get it wrong again.

Clinton unveils healthcare plans ...

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced her new plans for nationwide universal healthcare today and became the third Democratic presidential candidate to promise better, cheaper healthcare for all Americans.

Previously, candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama separately announced their plans to create healthcare plans to become the base of their 2008 presidential campaigns.

On the other side of the aisle, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani proposed a plan, similar to that of President George Bush, whereby individuals would be provided with tax breaks in order to use the money to secure their own health plan or to increase healthcare benefits from a limited plan through an employer.

Here is a pretty interesting blog that covers the various healthcare issues


Former Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney used the healthcare issue to blast the democrats and to lump all democratic healthcare plans into one campaign bashing bucket.

Romney's web site lists his view on future healthcare.

The Romney Webmaster and PR team seem to be overlooking Mssrs. Edwards, Richardson, Dodds and Obama, among others, just by their URL and arrogance to claim its a two horse race in the presidential race?

In addition, Romney's plan calls for State-by-State regulation of healthcare rather than a universal plan to be instituted by the federal government. And, he backs 'free-market' proposals for private companies to delve into the healthcare business that his government policy would turn its back on.

Great. Thanks Mitt. Keep your daytime job.

Wise Words...

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts recently said that ousted Bush administration and Republican strategist Karl Rove had “proved the politics of division may win some elections but cannot govern America.”

It made me think about the election to come in 2008 and the strategies that the candidates would create as they begin their pursuit of the presidency. Would they stay on the path to create further division between the parties? Would they cater to the base that seemed to put President Bush over the edge against his Democratic opponents of Gore and Kerry?
President Bush gave his longtime supporter Rove a White House send-off befitting the most honored of soldiers. The emotion-filled send-off might make you sick, if you were the mother or father of a soldier killed in action in the Middle East or Afganistan.

Yet, somehow, didn’t we all find ourselves feeling sorry for Rove, in some shape or form?

Was that the intention of the administration? Was it an attempt to appeal to the forgiving part of every human being’s soul? An attempt to manipulate every US voter’s soul?

Senator Edwards is pouring his heart and soul into the Iowa caucus. He is taking a calculated risk of putting his focus in Iowa at the expense of campaigning in New Hampshire.

As I recently toured in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, I notice the campaign headquarters for Mr. Obama but did not see much of a presence for Mr. Edwards. It made me wonder and I tracked down and emailed the field campaign manager for the seaboard region of New Hampshire, roughly an hour north of Boston, Massachusetts. The Edwards campaign responded to me in less than 12 hours and mapped out some dates (in the works) for an Edwards tour through New Hampshire at the end of August.

It is a full four months before the crunch time that will lead to the key portions of the campaign, the Iowa caucus in early January (12th) and the New Hampshire primary (22nd).

I can’t wait to watch it play out.

John Edwards ...

I believe the next USA election is the key to turning the United States around and placing it on a path to future success as a worthy leader for democracy and a better planet earth.

Please see this site and contribute to John Edwards' campaign, if you can:

http://johnedwards.com/action/contribute/mygrassroots/?page_id=Mjg0NzA

The issue of "Hair" ...

The media's focus on a particular 'issue' has always been of interest to me. The hard-hitting journalism, the investigative reporting, the back alley sources have all produced some amazing stories.

I believe the next United States Presidential election is the most important election in the history of my country.

I think it can become a turning point for positive change, especially in the world of international relations or foreign policy.

Americans are now looked down upon in most of the world. It's a damn shame, but it is true. And, to some extent, we deserve it.

I think the next election - regardless who wins - can be the point at which our fortunes change.

Now, that said, how on EARTH can someone's hairstyle become a point of focus in an election? The dumbing down of our news reporting and television coverage allows it to happen. (see John Edwards sarcastic take on that subject in this Youtube link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1qG6m9SnWI

We must take a stand on the dumbing down of America and the news.

The only way to do that is to change your viewing habits.

If a network goes the tabloid way - don't watch. Tell your friends not to watch. Take a stand.

So what will be left to watch?

Here is the list of networks gone bad:

Fox News - (never had a chance)
CNN - (it used to be the anchor)
NBC, ABC - (can be saved)
CBS - (I don't blame Katie, it went downward years ago)
The networks all broker with their government sources on what to cover, how and when.

So, I have turned to the BBC for their website coverage and I often enjoy the BBC Americas news program.

It's not perfect. There will always be a filter between the truth, the media and the public.

The old saying in journalism, attributed to the Washington Posts's Ben Bradlee, "We don't print the truth, we print what people tell us is the truth."

Food for thought the next time you watch the security level raised or lowered?