I'm Still Voting for Edwards on Super Tuesday

[Vyan]

Crossposted on Dkos

I agree that both Barack and Hillary are outstanding candidates. Both or either would be a massive improvement for America.

You could contrast "Hope" vs "Experience" all you want, but there really isn't an incredibly huge difference between their positions and what either one of them is likely to do as the new leader of the free world.

I'm not voting for John as a "Protest", or simply as sour grapes because his message was never truly allowed to resonate with the public by the corporate media.

There's one simply reason. One simple thing that America can't afford not to have. Just one thing. One word.

SPINE!

Whether you liked him or not, whether you agreed with him or not - John Edwards fought the good fight. He's repeatedly stood up against the corporations who've been sucking us all dry and for those who had no one else willing to stand for them.

As Poligirl noted yesterday, his true supporters are going nowhere.

"Unity" is a good thing. "Change" is a good thing. But I simply have to ask - "Unity on what issue?"

Change into what exactly?

Have we forgotten what we're up against? Do we remember how pissed we were just one year ago? This was how I summarized it back then...

...this pack of rabid criminals running the White House and the Government have got you hopping mad with ignoring Richard Clark, ignoring the Cole, ignoring the PDB, ignoring the attempted invervention on Rice and the Crawford One-on-One with Tenet on Osama, Yellowcake, no al-Qaeda in Iraq, trumped up links between Saddam and 9-11, ignoring the insurgency, ignoring the Iraqi People, ignoring Afghanistan, Body Armor, Abu Ghraib, Tora Bora, Gitmo, revoking Habeaus Corpus, the Katrina aftermath, ignoring both Fact and Science on climate change and stem cells, the Voter Caging, Freedom Fries, the midnight ride to Terry Schiavo's hospice, the Domestic Spying, The NSL's, outing Valerie Plame-Wilson, Diebold, Abramov, Safavian, Guckert, the "fucking faith-based thing", the midnight ride to Ashcroft's bedside, the Partisan Purging of DOJ and Civic Rights Division, Walter Reed, the Cheney Branch of Government and most of all -- the endless lies and bullcrap about all the above.

We thought when the 110th Congress came into power in 2006 that they would change things, right?

How we doin' on Impeachment, eh? Where are we on the penetrating hearings into Bush Administration wrong-doing? Seems to me that Lorita Doan is still in the GSA despite numerous violations of the Hatch Act. When - oh when - will we ever have a vote on Contempt of Congress for Miers, Bolton and Rove?

Time and time again, no matter how strong their rhetoric, when Democrats try and move forward their agenda the Republicans would kick them down the stairs and take their lunch money. Conservatives not only broke the all-time world record on obstructionism in the U.S. Senate - they doubled it, while Democrats did literally - nothing.

Ending Torture? Ending the War? Restoring FISA?

Fogeddaboudit!

Each and every time Democrats were more concerned with trying to "reach across the aisle", not appear to "partisan", not "rock the boat" and the results simply haven't been pretty.

It's been disgusting. Fucking Pathetic.

Two and half years ago John Murtha stood up and called for our troops to be pulled out of Iraq. Republicans decided to embarrass him and other Democrats by voting of an ridiculous sham version his bill. Only three Democrats, including Robert Wexler (who had originally voted FOR the Iraq Use of Force), realized the error of his ways and had the backbone to vote against continuing the war.

Before 2006, John Kerry came right to Dailykos, stood up and called for the Filibuster of Alito.

Chris Dodd stood up to stop the FISA Bill.

Russ Feingold started an earthquake when he simply called for George Bush to be Censured. Not Impeached. Not Prosecuted for War Crimes as he should be - just censured.

While all this was happening both Barack and Hillary were right in the middle of it all and not once did they bother to stand up and show some backbone.

Not. One. Time.

Both of them have begun their health care proposals without banning pre-existing conditions, without banning incentives to deny coverage to paying customers (like Nataline Sarkysian), without an absolute unwavering commitment to ensuring that everyone is covered, and that run-away costs will be reined in. The fact is that once either their proposals hit Congress, their only going to get watered down and weakened.

That's not what I have "Hope" for.

There is no question that both Barack and Hillary would be better for America than either McCain or Romney - but right now I don't see any reason to believe that any of this will "change" if either of them becomes President.

Not unless we continue to DEMAND that it changes. Not unless we require that before either of them get our vote, they speak to our issues. That they come directly here - or to Dailykos - just as Kerry, Feingold, Kennedy, JOHN EDWARDS and others have done - and personally show us some spine.

All of these people came directly to the progressive blogosphere to rally our support and fight the good fight, could you imagine Obama or Hillary doing that as President?

Do realize how powerful that would be?

Do you realize that is never going to happen?

Neither of them is the candidate I want. Not yet. There's still time, they can still take a stand on something - anything - between now and November.

There's still a chance that they can show some passion and committment for something besides bickering with each other.

In the meanwhile, my vote on Super Tuesday will go to John Edwards.

Vyan

P.S. I'm not trying to argue that anyone take my position. It's mine, I'm keeping it.

Also this is not an invite for Clintonians and Obamites to try and pull me, at the last minute, toward their candidate. That's not happening. These candidates themselves have had plenty of time to Show me Something that I've been looking for, I've seen ALL the debates - they've had dozens, even hundreds of chances to vote in the Senate, dozens of chances to take a stand in public - to show the backbone that frankly I know that a lot of Dkos realize is what we absolute need - I don't think any surrogates can show me something they don't have.

Is Obama's idea of "backbone" talking to Ahmadiniejad (sic)? Really? That's "Bold"? Hillary's idea of a tough stance is that the Iraq War is all Bush's fault? Puh-lease!

Corporate interests and their lobbyists control this country. They either write the legislation themselves (like the Bankruptcy Bill) or they block it (Medicare Drug Price Negotiation) when it doesn't line the pockets of their overlords.

We absolutely need Public Financing of Campaigns. That is non-negotiable. Political Ads on TV need to be made available for free (paid for with tax offsets) to all candidates on the ballot with equal time requirements. This is the kind of change we need, but Barack and Hillary don't seem to see that.

These guys need a serious wake up call, both of them.

What we need isn't just "Change" - a swapping of the palace guard - it's Progress!

Vyan