The Edwards acceptance speech. Who will be giving it?

[topdog08]

I think Mark Shields hit the nail on the head here:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/08/column.shields.opinion.speech/index.html

...In the last six months, the nation's economy has lost half a million jobs.

With this dismal background, the 2004 Democratic nominee will say the following next July: "Our opponents' economic vision has one goal: to get rid of taxes on unearned income -- from interest and dividends and inherited stock portfolios -- and shift the tax burden onto people who work. This crowd wants a world where the only people who have to pay taxes are the ones who do the work.... The character of our country has been betrayed by some at the top who want the measure of an American to be how much she is worth, not how hard or how well she works.... Theirs is a discredited conservative notion that America should ask the least of those who have the most. ... We are committed to a fair shake for all and a free ride for none.

"Mr. President, I challenge you. Explain why you think a multimillionaire should pay 15 percent on his next million while a fireman has to pay over 30 percent on each extra dollar of overtime.... In these times of national sacrifice, we should not be asking less of the most fortunate."

Those are words almost all drawn or paraphrased from a June speech by North Carolina Senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. The fates appear to be conspiring against Edwards, whose moment in the media spotlight and at the microphone was generally expected to be in September.

But the California gubernatorial recall is dominating the political coverage and short reports about Edwards and the Democratic challengers are mostly buried somewhere near the classified ads.

John Edwards may not get to deliver it, but I'll bet you breakfast that large chunks of "the Edwards speech" will be heard next July in Boston.