Elizabeth Edwards and Lance Armstrong are backing legislation sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, that would create a more comprehensive approach to fighting cancer. Both testified before the U.S. Senate today on the importance of cancer research, prevention and treatment funding.
Christine-Modern EnglishThe fireball that has erupted over a comment made at a fund raiser has knocked me off my feet. Over the past few days, what amounts to a standard, though creatively written account of another political event/fund raiser by a citizen journalist has become the fuel for an insane amount of intolerance described here that is almost as hateful as the thinking Barack Obama is being labeled for with his remarks on economically disadvantaged small-town people.
Do I need to get into all the reasons why one might expect a man who has campaigned for last 15 months or so all over the U.S. to know better than to phrase his remarks as such? Well, that is not where I'm headed, and quite frankly, I say this with all honesty, it often falls on deaf ears. However, I do intend to speak out for my citizen journalist colleague, Mayhill Fowler, with whom I, and a number of other of other contributors, have written on The Huffington Post's Off the Bus since June of last year.
Mayhill, as far as I have known, is unabashedly supportive of Obama. She also has very keen eyes and ears as her writing attests. She is very artful at describing the scene and the atmosphere as well as the reaction she experiences at campaign events. Over the last several months, I have read her many posts, of which a vast majority are favorable to Obama's campaign efforts. And I have followed with a slight sort of envy her outright dedication to covering the campaigns, which isn't always possible when you have young children under foot as I do.
Therefore, I am appalled at the amount of backlash she has received for having written her account of this expensive San Francisco fund raiser. I have attended numerous campaign events and throughout my years training as a journalist, I've covered events, people, issues I did and did not care about, much as a citizen journalist or any journalist for that matter would cover. Some were favorable to an idea or candidate I supported, some were critical. But, all were written from the truth as I believe Mayhill's account was written.
What I don't understand is how ordinary Americans can go on the defensive over the work of a citizen journalist, who is more like they are, than any big name paid reporter on any big news operation anywhere.
The value in the citizen journalist's account is that, unlike the paid reporter, they work for free. They are beholden to no one but themselves. And therefore, they are under no obligation to write, cover or opine about subjects but from their own unique perspective.
We must remember the amount of varying viewpoints, accounts, thoughts and questions citizen journalists may pose is the very cornerstone to the idea a free press, most crucial in this age of corporate controlled big media.
Let us not become so embedded in our support of a candidate at the expense of free thought and dissent that we forget the underlying foundation that allows our candidate his or her platform in the first place.
-Christine Modern English
Conventional wisdom repeated often enough gets mistaken for truth--take for example the hoary old chestnut that Clinton and Obama offer almost the same proposals. Well, I've gone through their speeches addressing the economic fallout from the subprime mortgage mess which has metastasized into widespread financial market meltdown, and found distinct differences in approach and emphasis.
It's true that both candidates support passage of the Dodd-Frank bill (more here). But in terms of their identification of solutions, the two differ widely.
First a summary of each candidate's speech, then a discussion of the differences.
Continue reading "Clinton and Obama Speeches on the Economy" »
I listened to Barack Obama's speech in snippets this morning between getting kids to school and other obligations. I usually keep KQED, my local NPR station, on while I'm at home so all day long I heard more sound bites as they pertained to the on-going analysis from every angle.
I read the text while I had lunch, but I didn't get to watch the speech until tonight, when I stole away to bedroom while J., my husband, got the girls ready for bed.
Listening and reading is not like watching.
The transcript of his speech on race, racism, and our flawed, though perfectible, union is here.
Can we get back discussing the candidates and what they bring to substantive issues in ways that either better define our problems, or point toward solutions now?
Cynematic is for less "he-said, she-said" negative campaigning, and for more running a good campaign, winning, and then being a good president. Her personal blog is P i l l o w b o o k.
Dear Senators Clinton and Obama,
May I presume to give you both a little campaign advice from an opinionated Jane Chu Public (ha! I made an Asian American pun!) and voter?
Look, it's always hard to be a Democrat. Most of the time, especially in the progressive wing of the party, we're holding our noses as we vote and hoping for the best. We don't often attend many victory parties. But we keep hoping and voting.
Between now and April 22, when the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary occurs, I challenge each of you to give a public speech where you inspire us. Step back out of the muck--there's been a lot of it lately--and take the long view. Tell us how wonderful our country is when it's at its best, and how we're going to get there again. Because the road to that exalted state seems really far away. Even more distant when the nominee on the other side of the aisle promises "100 years in Iraq" if that's what it takes. Even if it bankrupts our souls and our pocketbooks.
Continue reading "Clinton and Obama: Out of the Mud and Aim for the Stars" »
Karl Rove came out with this weak op-ed in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal grasping at straws to try and plant the seeds of deception in preparation for the general election against Obama.
Attempting to reveal Obama as hiding behind his campaign speeches, and citing Obama’s recent Texas speech, Rove has unknowingly given us dems more fuel to expose the republican candidate no in the GOP wanted as the very thing he spells out.
Rove writes: “As voters see what his agenda is, his opponents can now far more effectively question his authenticity, credibility, record and fitness to be leader of the free world.”
Thanks Karl, I couldn’t have described John McCain better myself!
John Edwards' campaign website says that he is scheduled to give a "major policy address on poverty" this afternoon in New Orleans.
CNN, MSNBC and other major news outlets are reporting that this scheduled speech is now going to be his farewell address to the Edwards' troops.
While I knew there was a good chance this day would come, I was heartened by Edwards' statements recently that he would stay in the race until the convention.
I knew that was probably not the most realistic scenario, but when you've committed to a candidate -- as with any relationship -- it's hard to see it end.
If, indeed, his next speech is one to bow out of this race, I hope that he will keep working on the one big issue that drew me to his campaign in the first place -- his commitment to find ways to end poverty in America. To make sure that children don't have to go to bed hungry anymore. To ensure that families have places to live and decent schools for their kids.
I don't envision either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama taking on that fight. After all, the poor don't have money to give to campaigns and vote in fewer numbers than those in the middle and upper classes.
While he may not be fighting for the White House after today, if fighting poverty and hunger is the cause of his life, I hope he will continue to fight for those causes. An article online today at Time Magazine says:
Edwards' challenge from the beginning of his presidential quest was to stay relevant.
For me, fighting poverty is relevant. John, we haven't had a good gadfly for a while -- what do you think?
Joanne writes regularly about all things political at her blog, PunditMom.
While watching the South Carolina debates on CNN last night, and watching Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama do the "Nuh-HUH! Nuh-UH!" version of political debating, I turned to my husband and said:
"It looks like John Edwards is the only grown-up on that stage."
Looks like John Edwards felt the same way.
During the debate Edwards says, "I was thinking I'm John Edwards and I represent the 'grown-up wing' in the Democratic Party. ... [I]n times like this we need a grown-up."
Indeed we do, John.
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