In a post on Daily Kos that I wish I would have written this afternoon, David Sirota furthers my point about the uniquely and deeply disruptive progressive populism of John Edwards:
We are at a historic moment right now — and I say that not in the way the Monday Night Football-mimicking political media bills every single election as “the most important election in our lifetime.” I say it because I believe America is, for the first time in many generations, starting to think in terms of economic class. Put another way, the battle between Democrats and Republicans is being superseded by the battle between The Money Party and The People Party. How this new class awareness manifests itself in one election cycle is far less important than the fact that awareness is rising at all.
This, beyond everything else, is the storyline that will never be written by the Beltway media — because class awareness among the masses is something that threatens the powers that be. The system in Washington is set up to crush class awareness and solidarity among the masses — to break us up along racial, ethnic, geographic and religious lines so that we do not unify in support of an economic agenda based on fairness and equality. This Washington system exists, ironically, to preserve a well-coordinated class war being waged by an economic class very aware of itself — a class war by the wealthy against the rest of us. This may sound like hyperbole, but polls show most Americans know this is the undeniable truth. And no matter whether your personal preference wins or loses tonight in Iowa, We The People have already won, because class awareness and class-based politics is on the rise. [my emphasis in bold]
I am pleased that Edwards fared so well tonight, holding his own against two extremely well-funded opponents. I remain ever hopeful about his prospects in the coming weeks, as I believe Barack Obama clearly benefitted from having Independents and Republicans vote for him in Iowa (not a complaint, just a point to keep in mind). Edwards’ continued viability will take his message to more and more people, and force Obama and Hillary Clinton to sharpen their rhetoric as well.
Beyond that, I am even more heartened by the overwhelming enthusiasm and support for our Democratic candidates:
Percentage of total vote:
24.5% Obama
20.5% Edwards
19.8% Clinton
11.4% Huckabee (R)
No matter who gets the Democratic nomination, America is clearly over the unscrupulous and overly sanctimonious Republican party. That to me is the greatest victory of all.
I have long been a John Edwards fan, but I haven’t been ready or willing to commit to his candidacy until now. It certainly seems to me that he has really caught fire in the past few weeks, and I don’t believe I’m the only one who’s noticed. I just hope it isn’t too late.
I am especially thrilled with the fact that he has continued to attack the rich and powerful, especially those who have bought and paid for our leaders in Washington. Edwards recently said, “We’re not gonna have an auction in Iowa, we’re gonna have an election. We’re gonna decide who the best candidate is, not who the person is who can raise the most money.” This is a refreshing and much needed change after seven long years of bush league government sold to the highest bidder.
Contrary to popular belief, the presidency of George W. Bush has not been a failure. Rather, I submit to you that he and his Republican party have been quite successful in the things they set out to do. The sad fact is that those things were never meant to benefit me and you — it was always about enriching themselves and the people that put them in power. Nothing more and nothing less.
There is a undeniable wave of authentic populism in America right now. You see it in Ron Paul’s fund-raising numbers, in Mike Huckabee’s overnight emergence from relative obscurity, and in the deep emotional response to John Edwards. Very few Americans have shared in the Bush boom, and many are truly struggling to make ends meet. We also have very real concerns about the priorities of our government and our standing in the world.
John Edwards is clearly a threat to the status quo, and those who stand to lose their unfair advantage under an Edwards administration have made a concerted effort to silence his critiques and eliminate his message from our political discourse. But that just makes an ad (via Digby) like this one even more powerful:
Doug Bishop says, “I’m gonna do my best to make sure that my children aren’t the first generation of Americans that I can’t look them in the eye and say ‘you’re gonna have a better life than I did.” Both he and I believe that Edwards is the only candidate on either side who can make that happen.
I sincerely hope he gets the chance. It will be the fight of a lifetime, but one that desperately needs to happen and one that we can win with a President John Edwards.
Digby on Rudy:
I’m finding myself more and more obsessed with the Giuliani campaign because it really appears to me that the Republicans may just nominate someone dumber than Bush and crazier than Cheney. And without the morals of either of them. How is that even possible?
I hate to say it but I think she might be right.
So said Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) to John Tanner, the man in charge of voting rights in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, last week in a hearing on Capital Hill.
This simple rebuttal was in reference to Tanner’s appearance before the Georgia NAACP where he actually said “because our society is such that minorities don’t become elderly. The way white people do. They die first.” More importantly, Tanner’s statement follows years of advocating for a law requiring a photo ID to vote, which was clearly designed to disenfranchise elderly black voters in Georgia. So when Tanner finally appeared before his committee, Davis wasted no time in exposing his utter idiocy and willful ignorance:
Other money quote, “once again you engaged in an analysis without knowing the numbers.”
I point this out not because it’s amusing (though it clearly is), but because Davis’ levelheaded, unemotional, and irrefutable line of criticism and questioning is the perfect tonic to the past seven years of faith-based fear-mongering. This is precisely how you defend the truth against the Bush administration’s known proclivity to fix facts “around the policy.”
Why we as people aren’t more forceful in the prosecution of bald-faced lies is beyond me, but if there is one lesson I hope we learn from the Bush era it’s this: we cannot afford to let these little lies and even bigger crimes against humanity go unpunished, for every day that passes without a sound provides more cover to their actions and legitimacy to their deeds. We must work day and night to expose every falsehood and fraud perpetrated by these mendacious criminals, and enlist friend and foe alike to turn back their massive onslaught against what is fair and right.
To do any less is to concede that all is already lost.
The NSA (National Security Agency) and AT&T program to wiretap and data-mine American’s internet and telephone communications is both astonishingly massive and unquestionably illegal. Thankfully, the class-action lawsuit filed by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation — based just around the corner from me on Mission Street) threatens to bring these crimes to light, which is precisely why we see such frantic attempts by both the Bush administration and AT&T’s lawyers and lobbyists to prevent the truth from ever seeing the light of day.
Their wish is either a dismissal of the lawsuit (no luck so far) or retroactive immunity (where Congress gives a free-pass on seven years of blatantly illegal intrusion into the lives of innocent Americans — still a very real possibility given how corporate money has thoroughly corrupted Congress). Clearly, the Bush administration knows that protecting AT&T saves their collective ass as well. For both parties, the cost of getting caught is immense.
Earlier today, Glenn Greenwald interviewed Cindy Cohn, EFF’s lead counsel in the AT&T lawsuit. Their discussion brings a new level of clarity and coherence to the story. Specifically, the case against AT&T is clear, as Cohn states:
We have evidence of an NSA-controlled room in the Folsom Street AT&T facilities in San Francisco. We have evidence that AT&T diverted copies of everyone’s Internet traffic into that room. And we know that there’s very sophisticated equipment in that room that is capable of doing real-time analysis of the Internet traffic that is getting routed into there.
For most of our legal claims, that’s enough to win, and we’re done.
And yes, for those of you who follow my humble blog with any regularity, you’ll recall that she is speaking of the building right outside my home in San Francisco. Sweet.
AT&T’s lawyers have mounted an argument that paints their illegal activities as a “good faith” effort to help the Bush administration fight terrorism. In a word, bullshit. Cohn continues:
Remember, these phone companies are very sophisticated about these FISA laws and the other laws that explain how and when they can cooperate with law enforcement. These aren’t some rouges. This isn’t Joe’s Phone Company. They are very sophisticated and know the law better than almost everyone.
But even if they didn’t, I don’t think it takes a lot of thought to wonder: “huh, the FISA law says that the exclusive means by which the Government can get information is either by a warrant or a short-term certification from the Attorney General in an emergency situation. Huh - do either of these two things justify ongoing wholesale surveillance of all of our customers for five years and counting?”
The answer to that has to be “no.” I don’t think you even need a law degree to figure that one out.
Nor even a college degree, as I can attest. Face it, there’s nothing complicated about it, which is why we see such a sustained campaign to find a way out of this mess…
AT&T is desperately trying to buy immunity in Congress, while Bush is doing everything he can to ratchet up the fear of another terrorist attack that will come the moment he can no longer spy on us, and neither one seems to have any shame whatsoever (no surprise there). If you weren’t already shocked and appalled by their brazen disregard for the rule of law, spend a few minutes reading the discussion between Greenwald and Cohn. It’s enough to make your blood boil.
