John Edwards Says: Empirically, You Know I'm Strong!
Other Dems ‘not even close’ in terms of general election appeal
During John Edwards’ remarks to an annual forum of his fellow trial lawyers in Chicago on Sunday, the former senator spoke passionately about civil justice issues, joked about “that little house that we have in North Carolina” and warned of “a very concerted, very orchestrated radical right agenda” to “hijack the jury system.”
He also, ever so gently, made the political case for the viability of his presidential campaign.
“It’s not enough for you to like a candidate,” said the former trial lawyer, tanned and comfortable in his sharp blue suit. “It’s not even enough for you to agree with a candidate. We must—my party, the Democratic Party—we must nominate a candidate who will win the general election.”
After receiving a standing ovation, and blowing two-handed, operatic kisses to his adoring colleagues in the audience, Mr. Edwards retired upstairs to the Hyatt Regency’s Crystal Ballroom, where he expanded on that political theme for about 50 supporters, many who had paid $1,000 a head.
Amongst friends and fund-raisers, he was much more blunt.
“All the empirical evidence shows that I am the strongest general election candidate,” said Mr. Edwards from a small stage as the Chicago traffic flowed mutedly behind a glass-paneled wall.
The reason, he said, was simple:
“What will happen with almost complete certainty, is in December and January, our caucus-goers, the New Hampshire primary voters, will be evaluating who they think is the strongest general election candidate. They like all of us. I mean, that’s the truth. They like me. They like Hillary. And they like Obama. They are trying to decide who they think will be the strongest general election candidate. And that will get more intense, the closer we get to the caucus and primaries.”
Then came the sell:
“Well, this is not even close—who’s the strongest general election candidate. Every piece of empirical evidence shows you exactly the same thing that your gut will tell you anyway.”
To support his argument, he cited a poll that he said showed him outperforming Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama in head-to-head match-ups with leading Republican candidates.
“I saw a poll a week and a half ago, done by an independent polling firm, testing each of us against the top four Republicans, in about, I want to say, this isn’t going to be exactly right, but in about 20 states, mostly swing states,” Mr. Edwards said. “And I beat every Republican in 20 states. All of ‘em. Hillary won in about half the states roughly, close to half, and Obama, I think, won nowhere, if I remember correctly.”
(The Edwards campaign said it could not locate the independent poll that Mr. Edwards was referring to, but pointed to in-house polling from June that they said showed Mr. Edwards as the Democratic candidate with the most success against Republicans in match-ups nationally and in key battleground states.)
Mr. Edwards also argued that Democrats running for Congress in states like Montana and Georgia and Missouri would all much rather have Mr. Edwards at the top of the ticket. Next Page >
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 49.7
- 43.3
- Obama +6.4
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 56.0
- 35.8
- +20.2
- McCain
- 51.8
- 40.2
- +11.6
Edwards, Rudy, Obama, McCain, it does not matter. Unfortunately it took segregationist Governor Wallace to reveal the truth that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between" Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, opening mail, banning books like "America Deceived' from Amazon, stealing private lands (Kelo decision), warrant-less wiretapping and refusing to investigate 9/11 properly. They are both guilty of treason.
Support Dr. Ron Paul and end this nonsense.
Last link (before Stark County District Library bends to gov't Will and drops the title):
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-38523-0
"your gut will tell you" that I am not black and I am not a woman, so therefore I am the most electable in the general election........Why not just come out and say it John?
As if anyone needed further evidence, this man lives in a world far removed from reality. I wish someone would tell him he has no chance of even the democrat nomination and is merely here to make the others look good everytime he or his wife opens their mouths.
As if anyone needed further evidence, this man lives in a world far removed from reality. I wish someone would tell him he has no chance of even the democrat nomination and is merely here to make the others look good everytime he or his wife opens their mouths.
As if anyone needed further evidence, this man lives in a world far removed from reality. I wish someone would tell him he has no chance of even the democrat nomination and is merely here to make the others look good everytime he or his wife opens their mouths.
Edwards may be right. A significant percentage of the population does not like Hillary. This is a personal issue. Her platform is not material to those people.
Edwards at least has national campaign experience. Obama doesn't.
I would say that Edwards has at least a 50% chance.
Good Luck
So Edwards can't find the nonexistent 'independent' polls showing him to be a front runner?
Edwards should produce the poll he quoted or drop out of the race.
Polls I can find online show Obama Barack winning in ~32 states and Hillary winning in ~16 states and John Edwards winning 1-3 states, none of which are his home state.
John Kerry has always said Edwards has a problem with the facts, and Edwards is proving him right.
-------------------------
Professional Fact Checker
What he fails to mention (of course he wouldn't), is that he cannot carry North Carolina. The residents here know that he started running for President nearly as soon as he became senator. He did nothing for the state. His claim to fame is the big lawsuit he won for the girl that was injured in a swimming pool accident.
I want someone that has more experience. Hillary is a better choice for the Democrats, if we have to have one as president.
I love how polling 16 months b/f an election is "evidence" that Edwards is the strongest general election candidate. Maybe he should talk with President Dukakis, who was 17 pts ahead of the first George Bush 4 months before the 1988 Presidential election. Oh that's right, there wasn't a President Dukakis.
I remember when I first heard the term "Empty Suit" used to describe Arriana Huffington's ex. I didn't know of him well enough to assess it's appropriateness. However, in retrospect it should have been set aside, saved and devoted solely for useage in describing John Edwards. He is the living embodiment of the term and the epitomy of every lawyer joke as well. What a laughable buffoon.
He's prettier than Hillary, otherwise he brings nothing to the table.
John Edwards and the rest of the Democrats are living proof that Marxism is alive and well in 21st Cerntury America. The intellectual level of American precedential candidates as a whole is freightening.
Voltaire
Please don't judge North Carolina by the antics of one clown.
I second that JMcKee. This clown is a hypocrite in the biggest way.... his wife pretends to be a gracious southern lady when she obviously has no idea what that means. Meanwhile, Johnny boy campaigns in Iowa for these past several years and disguises it as raising public awareness on poverty so he can (legally) collect contributions through a non protfit organization that he set up supposedly for the same cause...he also collected a $45,000 salary from UNC - Chapel Hill for supposedly teaching a class on poverty while spending time traveling around Iowa....The people of NC recognize him as a joke...and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the rest of the country feels the same....
AND DON'T FORGET....HE WAS BORN IN SOUTH CAROLINA!!!
The Edwards of the 2004 primary campaign - centrist, positive, a sitting Senator from a key swing state - may be more electable in the general election of 2008 than Hillary! or Obama.
However, today's Edwards has none of those qualities going for him.
He has swung sharply left, even trying to outflank both Obama and Clnton on the left. General election ads hammering him in key swing states for being even more liberal than Hillary are easily foreseeable.
He has ditched his positivity theme and regularly and harshly criticizes not only the Administration, but even his primary rivals.
And he is no longer a Senator, with the gravitas that incumbency provides, but risks coming across as a desperate has-been, reaching for greater glory despite never having been re-elected (and thus re-affirmed and seen as successful) in his prior job.
Furthermore, since he and Kerry lost North Carolina in 2004 (and every other Southern state, even border states such as West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and Oklahoma), his presumed appeal to swing states and the South as a whole is questionable at best.
Edwards may be able to sell himself in the primaries as the more pure-hearted liberal, the most opposed to the war, the most concerned about the poor, or the like.
But it's pretty easy to knock down the idea of him being the strongest general election candidate.
Voltaire:
I wouldn't be that concerned about Marxism, Edwards, and the "intellectual level of precential (sic) candidates". I would be concerned more about your own intellectual level and frankly, about the level of your basic intelligence. You are a perfect example of how education has gone to hell in a hand basket in this country. What is probably most disgusting is that you have been passed through the system and perhaps even have a college degree and can't even spell.
John Edwards is the most repugnant piece of subhuman slime to ever ooze
into the American Political system. No one who has ever run for
President in the last 60 years has been such a hypocrite, such a
scumbag and huckster, such thief, and such a poverty whore. John John
whines about
"the poor" while living in a 26 million dollar house, he gives his wife
(whom he sends out to do the real hard work) a million dollar tennis
court for a "birthday" present, has ruined hard working doctors in North
Carolina, put legitimate businesses in the same state out of business,
and has added nothing to anything or anyone anywhere other than lining
his own purse. His wife complains about their truly poor neighbor who
lives down the road calling him names like "savage" and redneck", all
while pretending to be "of the people".As a native North Carolinian, I
can tell you that John John won't win his home state if he does get any
nomination. He already stole one election in North Carolina but could
see he'd not be reelected and chickened out to try again, an almost
unheard of thing for an incumbent Senator. John Edwards is lower than
pond scum. At least pond scum is some sort of life. I'd rather be
governed by the dead, rotting corpse of Richard Nixon than by John John
Edwards, metrosexual extreme. I'm just sorry John John's wife's cancer
isn't contagious to her spouse. Lizzie's disease sure hasn't stopper her
from whoring out her cancer trying to suck sympathy from the electorate.
Hey, if John John really wants to know about poverty and how poor people
live, let him come and live with me for a few days. Of course, he
doesn't give a damn about about poor people, other than exploiting the poor. A
vote for John Edwards is a vote for subhuman excrement. Given a choice
between Hitler and Edwards, it would be a tough choice, since at least,
as repugnant as he was, Hitler experienced poverty.
John Edwards sucks.
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco? At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his own money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco? At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his own money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco? At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his own money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco. At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his OWN money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco. At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his OWN money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco. At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his OWN money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
FredZepplin....you are a serious right-wing douchebag. I'm sure you voted for Dubya twice right? That complete moron got us into the most expensive, waste of a war in Iraq, but instead you're so frickin' worried about 400 dollars haircuts? How 'bout being worried about a 2 TRILLION dollar tax bill for the Iraq fiasco. At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his OWN money. The problem is, there are so many morons just like you out there, who just vote straight down the party ticket. Keep drinkin' the kool-aid fool!
uofmbadazz, at least I'm smart enough to post only once. Geez, who'd you learn computer skills from?
One thing I forgot to add, is John John Edwards isn't a "native" North Carolinian" or the "son of a mill worker" that he claims. John John is from South Carolina and his dad was a mill OWNER in Robbins, and a quite well off one at that. Just more Edwards lies. Hey, uofmbadazz come on down to NC and see how much Edwards is hated. Com'on down...........
In public he says his appeal is strongest in the General Election, citing his Southern roots and vague references to where he stands on the issues. The insinuation is, he's more "traditional" in a manner that will appeal to independents and even Southern conservatives.
In private he says he's the most liberal, far Left Democrat in the field.
"At least Edwards is paying for those haircuts with his OWN money."
Actually, he paid for it out of campaign funds. Read his fundraising literature; I'm sure it goes into detail about spreading his message, how bad the Administration and the GOP are and how desperately funds are needed to oppose them, how he's better than his rivals at accomplishing various goals dear to liberal hearts. A lot of people have ponied up and given their hard-earned cash as a result of such appeals.
And Edwards thought nothing of spending it on multiple $400 haircuts until he was caught. And this is -after- he was caught on camera spending an agonizing, hilariously long time carefully, carefully primping his hair with a hairbrush.
A President is not just a head of government - a prime minister whose sole function is to carry out policy effectively. He is also the head of state, the symbolic leader of the country and its people. Being able to convey authority, seriousness, and credibility matter; being seen as a vain, foolish fop matters.
Just what we need a lawyer running the country. This guy is a fraud with his poverty tour. If he really was concerned he'd be giving away his own money. It's always the liberals who want to take other peoples money and give it away but when their own tax returns are made public they give little if any to the poor.
For all the latest election '08 and general political information, visit www.DCbriefing.com!
Edwards is deluded if he thinks Americans consider him more electable than the other dem candidates. By what measure? Does he prance around at night in front of mirror singing "I feel pretty, oh so pretty..." God I love lawyers!
Edwards is deluded if he thinks Americans consider him more electable than the other dem candidates. By what measure? Does he prance around at night in front of mirror singing "I feel pretty, oh so pretty..." God I love lawyers!