Why I'm Still Voting for John Edwards Tomorrow: UPDATED

As I write this, I realize that John Edwards met with Hillary Clinton on Thursday, and is meeting with Barack Obama today, so an endorsement may well be coming before I vote tomorrow. on Saturday, after her meeting with John Edwards, I know that Hillary Clinton had something very interesting to say:

“There is a lot John and I have in common. I will be a fighter, and I intend to ask John Edwards to be a part of anything I do in the White House.”

As of this moment, I still plan to vote for John.

If he does endorse before I vote, I will listen to and consider what John Edwards has to say, and I will take it very seriously since I will have to assume any candidate he endorses has made a serious commitment to his issues, but I have one thing to say right now.

John, if you or Elizabeth are reading this, I want you to know that I would have great difficulty voting for a candidate who doesn't have a real universal health care plan, with or without your endorsement, and that the celebrity hype surrounding our remaining candidates makes me not hopeful for our country, but frightened that we do not vote for rational reasons.

There's one major reason that I haven't been able to get behind either the remaining candidates since John Edwards dropped out of the race, and you can read a summary of it here. It is the most comprehensive and smartest platform I have ever seen a presidential candidate put forward. It also comes with the rare understanding that there are certain problems, such as corruption of our government by corporate special interests, that currently stand in the way of any real reform on any other issue.

My own top concerns are as follows, although which one takes precedence varies depending on the day:

1) Universal Health Care.
2) Stopping Global Warming.
3) Ending Poverty.
4) Restoring Democracy in the United States.
5) Removing the Corrupting Influence of Corporate Money from our Government.
6) Ensuring Verifiable and Democratic Election Results.
7) Reforming the Media and Guaranteeing Net Neutrality.
8) Ending the War and Preventing Future Wars.

To one degree or another, John Edwards addressed every one of these issues during the course of his campaign. On most of these issues, he was the first candidate, or sometimes the only candidate, to address them, and furthermore, he understood and could articulate the interrelatedness of all these problems.

There is now a widespread acknowledgement, even among the slow-witted punditocracy, who should have noted it BEFORE John Edwards dropped out of the race, that Edwards set the agenda for the Democratic Party and its candidates in this election. His is the original vision, and the deepest understanding of that vision. The other candidate's platforms are truly but pale imitations.

I miss his voice. I miss it sorely. Probably almost nothing could convince me that John Edwards was not the best person to lead our country at this time. He should have been our president. This is why, barring a statement from Edwards himself that changes my mind, I am casting my vote for him tomorrow in Maryland.

UPDATE: Edwards and Obama Cancel Meeting.

From NBC's Mark Hudspeth and Mark Murray
When asked about the AP report that Obama and Edwards meeting is not happening today, the Obama campaign told us to talk to the Edwards camp. However, when pressed, they said it wouldn't be inaccurate to report that the meeting will not happen today or tomorrow.

A source close to Edwards confirms that the meeting has been canceled. But the source doesn’t know the reason behind it; it could be something as simple as a scheduling conflict.

UPDATED TIME: John Edwards to rebut Bush on MSNBC

Tonight, after George Bush's address to the nation, presidential candidate John Edwards will offer a rebuttal on MSNBC. Edwards has purchased two minutes of air time so that he can respond to Bush.

John will challenge the President's remarks with a strong call to the nation to end the war now.

Bush is scheduled to speak at 9:00 p.m. Eastern for 15 minutes. Edwards will speak immediately afterwards.

UPDATE Now the Edwards campaign is saying that Edwards will be on MSNBC at 9:53 p.m. I'd really like to know who pushed back on the original time.

"Tell Congress you know the truth," Edwards says. "They have the power to end this war and you expect them to use it. When the president asks for more money and more time, Congress needs to tell him he only gets one choice — a firm timeline for withdrawal."

Edwards will also appear on Larry King Live on CNN tonight.

John Edwards the fighter

While the media appointed front runners preen their superstar images and bicker between themselves, and the corporate media trivializes the issues, the Edwards campaign, from the candidate himself all the way down to the volunteers, fights on in a battle to save America, and by extension, the world.  For anyone paying attention, there is no doubt that John Edwards is correct when he says "Washington, DC is broken.  The system is rigged, and it's rigged against you." Among the presidential candidates, only John Edwards has vowed to fight and beat the corporate lobbyists that now control our government (as opposed to negotiating with them to take away their power, which won't work), and only John Edwards has the needed experience fighting and beating corporate interests repeatedly in his lifetime. Only John Edwards has never taken money from Washington lobbyists or political action committees (PACs) in any of his political campaigns, including his very first one for the Senate.

His fight won't be easy, but he's up to the challenge.  Edwards has been taking on abusive corporations for over 20 years.  His career as a trial lawyer proved that he's not afraid to fight and win battles that others think are unwinnable.  

It's no exaggeration to say that the corporate interests in Washington, and their mouthpiece of a party, the Republicans, noticed this a long time ago and have been trying to take Edwards down ever since.  It's no accident that almost every time the corporate media covers Edwards, they include some slur about his looks or his hair designed to make the former football player and courtroom tough guy look effeminate.  It's no accident that they overemphasize his wealth and constantly remind us that he lives in a big house, inaccurately calling him a hypocrite.  It's no accident that they fan the flames of anti-lawyer prejudice.  Edwards is a real danger to their continued control of just about everything.  They fear him greatly, so they will do anything they can to smear his good name and tarnish his image.  

It's a testament to the man's integrity that they have never, thus far, found anything he has done that is actually dishonest, unethical, or illegal.  They don't have much to attack him on, but they're prepared to be awfully inventive in their efforts to harm John and US.

John Edwards's battle against the corrupt corporate influences in Washington is truly a David versus Goliath struggle.  John is well on his way to winning it, and he can, if enough average Americans have the good sense to help him. A recent Gallup poll showed that three quarters of Americans agree that politicians taking money from lobbyists is unacceptable, but whether or not that translates into support for John remains to be seen.

Democrats couldn't ask for a more perfect candidate.  Intelligent, honest, and well spoken, easy on the eyes and easy to relate to, kind and accessible in person, tough, determined, and indomitable when it counts.  

He's the most electable candidate too. In head-to-head matchups against Republicans, he beats all the potential Republican contenders by the widest margins.

That pretty much sums up John Edwards, and when you add to that the fact that he's from the South, which has produced every successful Democratic presidential candidate in over 40 years, you have a man the Democratic Party would be foolish not to rally behind.

But thus far the Democratic Party has not rallied behind him, and this can be attributed to the corporate media's influence, plus the growing rift between traditional Democrats and DLC corporate controlled centrists.  The battle John Edwards is fighting is not only a battle for the survival of American democracy, but also a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. Will the Democratic party choose to represent the people, or the corporations? It remains to be seen. I'm supporting Edwards - the people's candidate.

John Edwards: 'Just Say No' to lobbyists!

In a new YouTube video from the Edwards campaign, John Edwards, speaking in New Hampshire, borrows a famous phrase from Nancy Reagan: "Just Say No!" The only drug Edwards is talking about here is the drug that Washington, DC is on -- lobbyist money.

This won't be the first time that I've seen Edwards's rhetoric compared to Reagan's, but there is a major difference. John Edwards is not anti-government; he is anti-bad-government. Edwards is using the Reagan phrase to combat the corruption in Washington, for which the Republican Party has been largely, though not exclusively, responsible.

Will corporate greed be all that we value as we move forward into this global economy, or will we put workers and families first, so that all jobs paid fair wages, every American has health care, and corporate profits work for democracy, not the other way around?

Edwards says there is a clear choice ahead for the Democratic Party.

The choice for our party could not be any clearer. We cannot replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats. Just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of another is not what we need. The American people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale, the Lincoln bedroom is not for rent, and lobbyist money can no longer influence policy in the House or the Senate.

Now, the Clinton campaign has tried to make this all about Clinton, but it's clear that that's not what it's about. The Lincoln bedroom phrase may be recognizable shorthand for undue favors being given to political friends, but Bush has also rented out the Lincoln bedroom. Furthermore, the reference to the House and the Senate shows that this is about corruption throughout the federal government.

Rather than being distracted by accusations that this is an attack on another Democrat, I think we should ask ourselves, what kind of Democratic Party do we want?

Personally, I think lobbyist influence has run rampant in Washington for way too long. I'm with Edwards on this, and I'm glad he's finally speaking out more publicly about other politicians taking the lobbyist money that he has refused for his entire 10 year political career.