News-Record.com

I think most americans can spot the same old tired b.s. coming out of the white house. The speech he gave yesterday isn't going to change the fact that most people are tired of this war, tired of the administration's politics. I think most americans will see this for what it is: a last ditch effort to justify four years of bad choices.

Cutting our losses? What exactly does that mean? What's the whole point of this war is over there? Nobody's really spelled that out for me.

Edwards would never win, either.

Doug,

You might ask him, if he intends to run for the big one in 2008 how can he be considered a serious contender since he wasn't able to deliver his home state to the Democrats in 2004.

Good question, Jon. I think the answer is that Democrats know they don't need North Carolina to win the White House (they would have won last time if they had picked off Ohio). But I doubt Edwards would say that.

I'd ask him this: Since you now say your vote to authorize the war in Iraq was a mistake, what was the mistake? Was it an error in trusting the administration to properly prosecute the war? An error in evaluating the threat? An error in visioning America's proper role in world affairs?

Follow up: What has that mistake taught you that would make you a better leader?

You were doing fine about John boy running again with the right questions. Until you slipped this in at the end.

Addendum: John Hood writes in National Review that changes in the 2008 Democratic primary schedule favor Edwards and may be aimed to hurt Hillary Clinton, whom some party insiders consider unelectable.*Doug

Asking John about foreign affairs in the neo-con NR and Hillary is like asking the Pope are thinking about converting to Roman Catholicism.

The president made me do it with his senior moments along with mine.

The "are" was left out! I was with the President persona today down in Georgia and he said "are" winning in Iraq was a done deal.

I would ask him whether he thinks it is proper to use a taxpayer-funded state university law school as a home base from which to launch a presidential campaign.

Good questions, Roch. Thanks.

Joe, does Edwards have a gig at the University of Iowa?

I'm disappointed to see that the author of this blog is walking into a meeting with Senator Edwards already with a snarky attitude. If I had a question for Senator Edwards, I'd be asking how the Entrepreneurship Center could foster more jobs for North Carolinans and making contributions towards a program he started called "College for Everyone" in Greene County, the poorest county in North Carolina. From WBT.com, June 4, 2006:

"Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards made headlines recently when he delivered $300,000 in scholarships to high-school seniors in Greene County. But for the past 26 years, Woodruff, a former Alleghany County school superintendent, has quietly helped hundreds of Alleghany County residents pay for college. His Alleghany Educational Foundation Inc. has raised more than $1.7 million for the county's college-bound students.

This year, the foundation awarded more than $76,000 to 44 graduating seniors exactly half of the members of the senior class at Alleghany County High School. Every senior who applies and is accepted to a two-year or four-year college gets a scholarship of at least $1,000.

Crouse's share is $4,750 plus some financial aid. That will be enough to begin classes June 12 in a program offered through Lees-McRae College at Surry Community College.

Students in rural areas face many obstacles to higher education, and money can be one of the biggest.

In Alleghany, about 25 percent of the households report incomes of less than $15,000. The median household income is $29,244, according to the N.C. Rural Center. The median household income in North Carolina is $39,184.".

I'd also be asking him what kinds of public events his Center hosts, such as the one tomorrow which gather experts to talk about the aftermaths of Katrina, and about the $2M gift from UNC alums, and his directorship is also paid for by alumns of UNC (not the university). From an e-mail the Center for Poverty sent yesterday:

The Center will host a panel discussion on the progress made in the Gulf Coast since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the challenges remaining for this region. What lessons have we learned in the wake of the storms? Are we moving in the right direction? What would an improved Gulf Coast look like? How can we better the lives of those who call this region home? This panel will be moderated by Dr. Jesse White, Director of the Office of Business and Economic Development, with introductions and questions led by Center Director John Edwards. Panelists include:

Kwame Asante, State Director of the Louisiana NAACP

Xavier de Souza Briggs, Associate Professor, MIT

Walter Isaacson, Vice-Chair, Louisiana Recovery Authority

Bob Moore, Vice President of the Executive Board, SEIU
Wade Rathke, Founder and Director, ACORN

12-1:30 p.m.

Great Hall, Student Union

I'd be asking him those question. I suggest you stick to the issues at hand instead of handing snarks.

Excuse my attempt at humor, Benny. The fact behind it is that Edwards is spending a lot of time in Iowa, where he is not promoting jobs in North Carolina or hurricane recovery. He's promoting his presidential candidacy. If you want to be president, you have to start running years ahead of time.

I anticipate we will give him an ample opportunity to begin our conversation by addressing any subject he likes, which may be the work of the UNC poverty center.

Thanks for the clarification about the humor, Doug. He does visit Iowa, but at Iowans' requests. They really like him and Elizabeth Edwards both and cannot get enough of him to talk about issues with the citizens, especially in smaller venues. He also visits with those in poverty to obtain a greater understanding get ideas on tackling the issue, albeit those meetings are private.

You might ask him too about his wife's upcoming visit to Greensboro on October 14 at the Converge South conference. She's one of the discussion leaders. Ed Cone said the N-R wrote a nice blurb about it although it was not up on the company's website.

Benny, I think all the things you mentioned would be much more impressive if they were not being used as part of a strategy to run for president. Regardless of the funding, the use of a taxpayer funded state university for this purpose has the appearance of impropriety. And elected officials need to avoid these types of appearances.

Benny, I see you live in Illinois and have a blog dedicated to John Edwards. It's an interesting idea that a candidate campaigns in another state by request. I guess it would be snarky to note that a lot of North Carolinians requested that Edwards visit here more often while he was in the Senate -- the same request made to Elizabeth Dole now. Both pursued bigger agendas.

Too funny, Benny. You don't hesitate to discuss JRE's political involvements on your blog, but think the N&R would be snarky to do so. You think the N&R should ask Edwards about the Entrepreneurship Center, but Google says you haven't mentioned it at all on your cheerleading blog. Too funny.

Excellent point, Doug. Once elected to the Senate it became readily apparent that the concerns of the citizenship of NC were secondary to the opportunistic Senator Edward's desire to run for the big job.

Benny, if you get the chance to discuss policy with our former quite absentee Senator, with respect to the poverty issue you might suggest one way to resolve that problem would be to encourage those caught up in that cycle to finish school and get some kind of diploma or certificate, stop having children that they're unable to support, do their darndest to live in a relationship where there are two parents at home to create stability, etc.

In fairness, this isn't about bashing Benny, and I shouldn't have been argumentative. I was soliciting questions for Edwards and Benny offered some. At the same time, I was primarily directing the invitation to local folks. It still surprises me when comments pop up from distant locations.

John Edwards has just left the building. I'll post a new blog as soon as I can, with answers to some questions but not others.

Edwards has spoken about personal and community responsibility when in June at the National Press Club, he said in his speech:

"In a Working Society, we’ll make a priority of strengthening families.

As a start, we would cut the marriage penalty that still hits poor workers, because penalizing marriage makes absolutely no sense. We would also cut taxes for low-income single workers, who are the only Americans living in poverty and paying federal taxes, to draw them into the workforce. And, as I mentioned earlier, we would create opportunities for young fathers to work and take responsibility for their children, and reward them for doing so.

But after that, there’s only so much the government can do. So the real burden of promoting strong families falls to us.

All of us—parents, clergy, teachers, public officials—we need to say that it is wrong when young men father children but don’t support them.

It is wrong when girls and young women bear children they aren’t ready to care for.

It is wrong when corporate America – through movies, music and advertising – promotes a culture of reckless behavior to our youth.

And it is wrong when all Americans see this happening and do nothing to stop it.

Fighting poverty is a job for government, it is a job for communities, it is a job for all of us."

In terms of being housed in a state-run university, let me intenerate, that (1) he is no longer an elected official (2) the Center is funded through donations--most centers are at any state institution and generally, endowments that establish centers have to report to the state about their sources of funding. Given that the Center is in the Law School, they probably looked into the legal aspects before they extended an invitation and for him to accept.

I cannot speak for his time when he was a senator and when he met with the constituencies, but I recall one of his "thank you, NC" press conferences as he was leaving the Senate, quite a few stood up and said nice things about what he did for them. One of them said something about Edwards helped one rural community to obtain some matching grants so they could start a public library, something the community wanted. But to add, in case you missed it in the News-Observer on Monday, there was a nice piece about the Wade Edwards Learning Lab and how a high schooler was working there part-time (in fact they employ many students for part-time) and she was learning about financial responsibility. http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/482373.html

Lastly, there is a difference between a newspaper blog and my personal blog. I expect newspaper reporters to be a little more objective. My blog is clearly slanted towards the positive vision of John Edwards.

I do believe John Edwards, who is no longer in office, has more freedom at present to explore and to discuss more ideas than most our elected officials who keep bickering in Congress. He has been trying to help others who want to create some positive change, such as Heath Shuler.

Thanks to all who stopped by my blog and you are welcome to stop by again, and I also invite you to Edwards' blog at http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com. You can post questions there in many ways, and he tries to answer them once a month. I've had one of mine answered about the topic of immigration back in April.

Benny, I am an editorial writer and columnist, not a reporter.

Doug, my error. Sorry.

Hope the meeting was interesting.

Best to all in NC.

Well, I'm glad you are going to ask Sen. Edwards for his comments on the current administration. It's obvious that you aren't an unbiased observer in this. Since the Bush administration's only contribiution to this country has been lies, lies and more lies, it won't be hard to top them. The debacle of the current administration reaches every part of our fiber from their attacks on the wrong country, the needless sacrifice of American lives for a presidential ego, a soaring deficiet that was a surplus when he 'took (literally) office, and every over disgusting and embarassing screw up that he could do to our country and in front of the global community. Our national pride is shot and we are the laughing stock of the world. How hard do you think that will be to top. We are now nearing the 5 year anniversary of 9/11/2001 and because Bush had a personal agenda to attend with regard to the war, the massacre still hasn't been avenged. Bush has used America and American citizens at every turn and every opportunity. Before you start telling me how red MY HOME STATE is, I would like to tell you that in spite of the Republican's mouths flapping we are not nearly all red. I coldn't sleep at night if I thought someone mistook me for a neo-con Republican! Oh, yes, I AM A PATRIOTIC AMERICAN and don't you go there! God bless America and God bless John Edwards. Throught the Grace of God we will have him as the next President of the United States to lead us out of the mess of the current administration. Why don't you ask him what his first act as sitting President will be?

The interview was yesterday, CG. Please see my more recent posts for my comments about it.

Carolina Girl, John Edwards has less experience in holding public office than Pluto The Dog.
Before he "bought" his Senate seat he had held NO elective office, not even dogcatcher. He has no military experience, no civic service experience, never owned a business, has no experience in foreign affairs, and has never run a city or state as governor or mayor.
His entire term in the Senate was squandered running for an office he was entirely unqualified to fill, and thank God the voters knew it. He did NOTHING for us here in NC while he supposedly "represented" us. He should pay back his salary to the citizens of NC in reparations for NOT doing one single thing for us because he was too busy trying to be a big-wig politician, which is the one thing he is NOT qualified to do.
In the end, Edwards has only one quality: Presidential hair.
What would his first act as sitting president be? To get his hair styled, of course.

i like the story but what about immigration, what does this has to do about immagration?

i like the story but what about immigration, what does this has to do about immagration?

i like the story but what about immigration, what does this has to do about immagration?

You're a little late on this one, Ronnie. Edwards has come and gone, gone, gone.