Benny's World

Friday, April 06, 2007

JRE Buzz: Saturday Morning Edition

OMGawd, the last few days have been cra-a-zy on the blogsophere, and quite a bit of it about the Edwards campaign. Good and bad, but I will report the good.

Yesterday, Edwards announced he would not participate in the CBC/Fox News Debate in Sept. Personally, I don't know what the CBC was thinking on this one as Fox wants to control the whole thing. Edwards campaign is about transparency. He's saying Fox News is Faux News with a direct bias against Democratic candidates, and they ain't being honest with the viewers. Here's his statement, through Deputy Campaign Director Jonathon Prince:

"We just called the CBC to let them know that we're looking forward to their January debate with CNN but we're not going to participate in the proposed debate with Fox. The CBC champions critical issues that matter enormously to the future of our country, and we look forward to discussing them throughout this campaign and at their debate in January. But we believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective. If there was any uncertainty as to Fox's objectivity, it was put to rest when they attacked Democratic candidates, Democratic constituency groups, and the Nevada Democratic party when their last proposed debate was cancelled for lack of support."
It will be interesting to see what the other candidates do, but the rumor is that Bill Richardson wouldn't like participate either. Both Edwards and Richardson are smart on this one as the DNC isn't allowing this to be one of their 6 sanctioned debates. Thank you, Howard Dean!

Now, on to some other news.

The Edwards family (all but Cate) was traveling and doing some town halls. There are some good vlogs and CJ reports about them. Most seemed impressed with Edwards' ideas and specifics with them. Rather than list them, I suggest going to the JRE Blog Roundup that was posted yesterday.

Elizabeth was on Oprah. I admit I thought the whole hour was going to be with EE, but it lasted maybe 5-7 minutes. I have mixed feelings about it because Oprah didn't appear to be her sympathetic or empathetic self. I hope her reaction to JRE and EE's decision to continue on, "to live life" isn't based on her support for Barack Obama or is a talking point for him.

I just listened to JRE's Saturday morning e-cast about Form One. http://johnedwards.com/media/podcasts/20 070407/

Edwards explains that it takes 7 hours to fill out a 1040EZ form. He's right that the average American has to spend hours, sometimes days to gather the data, then one calculates the tax etc. In his proposal, the IRS would do the work for us, send us our numbers since they already have the data, then either we agree and sign it, or do our own with a different form.

The big winner would be those who qualify for Earned Income Tax Credits and never it knew it.

I like this idea because it's example of how government should work for us when we've prepaid for their services.

The man has plans. I cannot wait for the SC debate on the 26th. The candidates will try to gnaw and attack his ideas, but I think SC viewers will see the campaign is about us, and not about big money or egos.

Lastly, I want to encourage BW readers to tune into Daily Kos about 8:30 CT for the Edwards Evening News. There are three anchors: TomP from St. Louis, Ladylib from TN, and Sally in SF. You get daily news about Edwards, and the water is really fine for a swim if you wish. Bloggers are friendly.

Update: Watch this awesome video of stops in NH earlier this week, courtesy of the Washington Post.


More buzz l8tr...

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Dry Rub: Eliabeth Edwards Gets Some Good News

Filed at 10:13 p.m. ET

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards said Tuesday that she got some good news: She has a type of cancer that is more likely to be controlled by anti-estrogen drugs.

Mrs. Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, expressed frustration with reports that she's likely to die within five years. She said doctors can't give her a reliable life expectancy and even if they could, the information would be of no comfort to her.

''I don't care,'' she said in an interview with The Associated Press as she campaigned with her husband. ''I'm going to fight exactly as hard if they tell me that I've got 15 years or if I've got 30 years. I'm still going to fight to get rid of this -- if they tell me I've got 15 minutes I'm still going to fight. It doesn't matter what the prognosis is. So it's not an important piece of information to me.''

The Edwardses announced nearly two weeks ago that her breast cancer had returned and spread to her bone. They said they had no intention of ending his bid because doctors told her that although she's likely to die from the disease eventually, the campaign wouldn't interfere with her treatment.

Backbone. Love her and her hubby, they are worthy of the WH.

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Monday, April 02, 2007

Elizabeth Edwards is Great

If John Edwards wins the POTUS, his spouse, Elizabeth Edwards is interested in doing her own thing.

[E]Edwards says the first lady has a "great big megaphone and you get to talk about things you care about and I hope I'd be busy doing that and mothering my adorable children as opposed to sitting in Cabinet meetings."Read the rest here and she will be on Nightline too.

Update: good multimedia diary by Be Inspired on the Daily Kos that links the Edwardses and the need for universal health care for all.

Also, I heard from a little birdy that Elizabeth will be on Oprah's show on Friday, but it is taping tomorrow from Davenport, IA.

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Sunday, April 01, 2007

JRE Buzz: End of March Madness 2007

John Edwards went to three different states yesterday: SC, South FL, and NC. Unbelievable.

And he passed the $3M mark on ActBlue, according to Mike Baker of the AP.

Dr. Frank Lives on the Kos reported that Edwards was on fire tonight too at Yancy's club in Raleigh.

Frank Rich starts the April showers (that really bring May flowers) with this post about Elizabeth Edwards.

When Ms. Couric gratuitously reminded Mrs. Edwards that she was "staring at possible death," Mrs. Edwards countered: "Aren’t we all, though?" It’s been a steady refrain of her public comments that "we’re all going to die" and that she has the right to make her own choice to fight for her husband’s candidacy even as she fights for her life. There are no euphemisms or equivocations in her language. There’s no apologizing by either Edwards for the raw political calculus of their campaign plans. There’s no sentimental public hand-wringing about the possible effect her choice might have on her children. The unpatronizing Mrs. Edwards sounds like an adult speaking to adults.

Good analysis of the article by Maccabee on the Kos. Read the entire text here. Otherwise, Truthout.org will likely re-run the piece on late Sunday or early Monday.

Newsweek also has a piece about private lives in a public campaign. I heard about this article on some FN media watch show earlier today. The pundits on that show were actually supportive of EE's and JRE's actions, albeit I think Tony Snow's public announcement also swayed their consensus.

Snip:

Elizabeth's diagnosis has made presidential candidates' health a top issue for the first time since Bob Dole ran against Bill Clinton in 1996. Republican front runners John McCain and Rudy Giuliani--survivors, respectively, of skin and prostate cancer--will soon face questions about their own long-term prognoses. Edwards has said he does not want anyone to vote for him because his wife has cancer but says it's appropriate for voters to evaluate how he handles Elizabeth's condition. "When people think about electing a president," he says, "they think about the substance and they also think about what kind of human being you are."

BW readers may note I added another blog today on my blogroll: Georgia Votes Edwards. The blogger notes that JRE will be in Macon on April 14th. She has some nice polling data and information and links to Georgia women's blogs too. As many of you can guess, I have a couple of big group blogs on the blogroll, but I tend to like the more niche blogs more.


More buzz l8tr..

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