Not an Epiphany, But Perhaps a Re-evaluation

On tonight's PBS News Hour program Ray Suarez interviewed John Edwards.

I have felt turned off by Edwards for at least two reasons, one of them too personal to be defensible.

I have an aversion to anyone with a southern accent which I associate with insincerity, if not hypocrisy, as one who grew up in the Northeast, but lived and worked in Atlanta for 26 years. That is my personal problem, and is assuredly not defensible as either critical thinking, nor empathic feeling.

My other problem with Edwards has also been about hypocrisy, namely his. He has been campaigning as one who understands and hates the gulf between the haves and the have nots. But he has not repudiated nor apologized for the reality that he's built himself a mansion, and seems to be comfortable paying several hundred dollars for a haircut. Though I have a hard time agreeing with him he seems to be using his financial success as an example of what those he professes to support might expect from life if he is elected. That's at least a stretch.

Nevertheless, tonight he seemed genuine, honest, authentic and consistent in his responses to questions from Suarez about his views on the problems we face as a country and people. He got my attention and admiration when he said that we need to be patriotic on issues other than war.

Overall, having listened to and watched him in that interview I've decided to re-evaluate my earlier thinking and feeling about him, especially since I've lost respect for Clinton after she voted to label Iran's military as terrorists, giving Cheney/Bush their pipe dream, and her adding Sandy Berger, an ackonwledeged criminal who had his security clearance suspended, to her campaign team.

I still like Obama as the most honest and authentic candidate.

Having said all that, I want the DNC to be as hardnosed as the RNC, and work hard to come up with a candidate who can win the White House and candidates to get a veto proof Congress. I'm not against Republicans, I'm against anyone who thinks himself and operates as if he is above the law.

That will be the legacy of Cheney/Bush. They and their ilk are hateful people, out for themselves, using money and intimidation for their own ends, what I call the 2000 Supreme Court appointed Mafia, and the 2004 stolen election(think Ohio) Mafia.







A Voice Crying in the Wilderness.