JRE still helping the poor in Latin America

[benny05]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30968.html
5 minutes ago

courtesy of Ultraist...

[waiting for hope]

1. I posted the same story ...

So fitting to who he really is. Happy to see him doing what he deems right.

[MonteLukast]

2. *tears up*

I'm glad somebody besides me still believes that's who he really is!

:cry: :hug:

[waiting for hope]

3. Always Monte ...

:hug:

[saracat]

4. The comments following this are horrible. How can people be so vicious?

While I was angry about certain actions taken by John, I am still proud and always will be of being an Edwards supporter. He was the only candidate that really got it. And he is proving it.

[MonteLukast]

5. Politico...'nuff said

BTW-- January 29th is when Young goes on ABC to pitch his book... and February 2nd is Judgment Day.
Mark your calendars for abstinence from Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com; as well as Politico, HuffPo, Daily Beast, and the DU:GD and DU:GDP pages... and get ready to put your favorite Edwards haters on ignore.

I'll be going on a political intertoobz sabbatical until the buzz dies down.

[saracat]

6. Oh, I don't think this is that big a deal, and mostly the book will die.

Edwards isn't that newsworth anymore. And that is probally a good thing at this time. Most of the "haters" just want him to disappear.

[unc70]

7. I expect it to be made into "big" news for a few weeks

WRAL pushed Edwards stories day and night while the health insurance reform was before Congress. I expect Edwards to be back in the news a lot this month, on any pretext. WRAL was recyling stories from last summer with zero new information.

[MonteLukast]

8. The creepy thing is...

... that WRAL is actually the most reliable source out there... and not only does it recycle old stories, it's being fed primarily by an former state treasurer for the GOP. Literally everything else, you follow where it leads, and you'll come back to the Enquirer.

However, Jenny Sanford's book is coming out next month too. And the Olympics start on February 12. Some at least some edge will be taken off.

I'd suggest JRE take his entire family out of the country for vacation next month, if it weren't for the furniture store. They could pull it off if Elizabeth got her family or friends to pitch in...

[unc70]

9. Right on cue come the stories on Edwards and others

I had forgot about Halperin.

[waiting for hope]

10. Noticed that too eh?

Seems that every time something positive comes out about Edwards (John and Elizabeth), this type of crap comes up.

[unc70]

11. The NY Mag article tries to destroy cred/effectiveness of EE on HCR

I expected the various books and articles coming out now would be quite harsh on John Edwards, but I was unprepared how aggressively the NY Mag article villified Elizabeth, even that she was causal in his having the affair.

"A wife whose virtuous image was a mirage." is the second sentence, setting the tone for the piece -- just after the staffer good guys (and sources) and before the mistress. When I first read that sentence, I had a fleeting question ("Did she have an affair?"), that replaced by noting the "virtous wife" allusion (of course, "Jonathan Edwards" was already NLP). How clever; wonder how far they will take this?

The story about the insurance coverage is written to make her look selfish, concerned only about her own insurance and willing to delay insurance for the staff. More likely, she was making sure that the new group policy would not begin until the issues were resolved and she and her family were included in the initial enrollment. If the policy was put in force without her on the roster, later enrollment might be subject to exclusions, limits, waiting periods, or even denial of coverage.

The authors are clear that Hunter is the evil sensual woman, but assert that Edwards is not blameless because she only looks the part of the virtuous wife, but acts equal or superior to John, even making fun of him in front of others. While this sounds a bit silly a complaint to most of us at first, or we think this only happens among RW, we actually encounter this thinking most every day. "The way she complained about him, no wonder he found someone else."

Many online or in person have the same reaction, "How could I have been so wrong about her? Him maybe, but not her."

A couple of other things. Josh's description of Hunter meeting Edwards in the bar seems much as would have expect, with Josh and John aware that Hunter was out of control and trouble. This version is quite different than either version attributed to Hunter, and it makes it even harder to understand why Edwards would drop his guard and act so recklessly. BTW I think Josh was a principal at the widely-reported hedge fund associated with Edwards.

It also seems that no one in the Edwards camp realized that Hunter was Lisa Druck, with just who they were dealing with. Apparently no one thought to run a background check on her, maybe thinking a Google search was adequate. I remember when the name Rielle Hunter first surface, DUers were surprised how hard it was to find anything about her on the net, and some suspected that someone, probably in the Edwards camp, had scrubbed the information from the net.

Eventually, someone discovered that Hunter was Lisa Druck. Didn't need Google. "Not her, please not her. He couldn't be that stupid! What was he thinking?" I now know that things were much worse than I had thought at first.

Final question, where were the senior advisors to the Edwards campaign?

[MonteLukast]

12. I sent you a PM, but I'm going to cut and paste here...

... what I think is a VERY important point that has as much to do with the job market as with JRE:

That leaves the process with which she joined the campaign. Sounds like she was just as pushy, and shoehorned herself into the volunteer staff. Somewhere along the line she mentions to JRE dreams of having a film/entertainment career, even though she has no experience. He offers to give her some entry-level experience, if she can produce some adequate samples.

My friend in King said something very important: JRE is the type to give "sad sacks" a second chance. How many employers are willing to do that? How many times do we hear of a skill and qualification gap on the part of our job applicants, but no employer being willing to actually bridge that gap and *provide* some relevant experience? A boss who actually *is* willing to do this, would be damn near your savior!

Read that part again: "How many employers are willing to do that? How many times do we hear of a skill and qualification gap on the part of our job applicants, but no employer being willing to actually bridge that gap and *provide* some relevant experience?"

I will proceed to shove aside all we know about Hunter's hidden agenda here, to make my point.

Before Hunter was a mistress, she was an employee. One with no prior experience in the film industry. She was NEVER going to get the usual channels to give her the time of day for her new career path. Not entry-level in her 40s. Not just starting to break into a new field.

Because employers just are not willing to do it, whether out of bottom-line concerns, time pressure, or simple lack of imagination. They say all the time they face a glut of applicants with missing skills... but they refuse to do anything at all that would ACTUALLY help the jobseekers fill those gaps. They just smile and tell you, "Good luck, elsewhere." They tell you to go somewhere else to get practice.
They make the excuse that they have no money or time, or too many applicants. They tell you that the only good, sane, non-disruptive job applicant is one who just sits back and waits for the phone call. Who waits for the Job Fairy to leave skills and experience under your pillow. Who continually spends their OWN time, energy and money, making themselves attractive to an overly-choosy and capricious "mate", and believes magically that SOMEDAY things will come through.

Bull. There IS no "somewhere else". Every employer thinks the same when it comes to "fit", even if their particular definitions of "fit" are different from company to company.
There ARE no other fish in the sea-- because all the fish are of the same mind. In fact, you have, effectively, ONE fish.

What I fear is our ability to make the leap, get our foot in the door, and get some actual relevant job experience will be REALLY chilled after the Edwards stuff works its way out.
Because JRE *was* an employer actually willing to bridge that gap. He actually was willing to start Hunter on a career path, by giving her a real opportunity to get some real experience.
And now, because of what has transpired, his decision will be seen as a bad move by every employer in the job market... and bosses will be even LESS willing to give opportunities.
His example will be taken, and rightfully so, of the importance of a background check. Never mind that background checks are already too intrusive to the average job seeker. Hunter was one who slipped through the cracks, and because of her, the noose can only get that much tighter for the rest of us... we will have to that much more defend, explain, and justify our lives at job-hunting time.

It's really a lot like airport security. They already overdo it, take our dignity, freedom of movement, and ability to connect with our loved ones away.
But still, somebody slipped through.
And of course, no one bothers to use a little judgment. They act as expected: we will all be forced to suffer MORE intrusiveness... because there's no room for judgment when you're too afraid of the risk.