Should John Edwards be deployed to speak for single payer healthcare?

[SeeHopeWin]

He always was the most passionate about this issue, relating it to poverty...etc.

I say yes!

[Mari333]

1. um. no.

Wish it werent so but I think hes kind of toast in the political arena now.

[Ian David]

2. Why should someone who doesn't believe in single-wife speak for single-payer? n/t

[Eric Condon]

38. Yeah, because that's relevant here.

I'm always amazed at how far DU will go out of its way to badmouth Edwards in the most trivial ways possible.

No one likes what he did, but he fought for the issues that matter to us a hell of a lot harder than anyone else who's ever been a serious contender.

My policy is, if you wouldn't say it about Bill Clinton, don't say it about Edwards.

[Ian David]

56. John Edwards fucked us all and he fucked you, too. If he'd won the primary, we'd be TRULY fucked.

If John Edwards had won the primary, we'd be looking at the end of human civilization right now.

So fuck John Edwards and fuck Bill Clinton, too.

[Eric Condon]

65. Look, knowing what we know now I'm glad Edwards didn't get the nomination.

And yes, what he did was morally reprehensible, yes, yes, yes, we all know.

That said,

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/us/politics/25edwards.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1201287694-eSblus/ojEfW91Zrj1idCA


Bear in mind, Edwards at the time was viewed as a top-tier candidate, not a Kucinich type, who sadly is going to be viewed as "fringe." When I see Obama engage in THIS type of rhetoric, then I'll be satisfied. But until then, I'm going to keep defending Edwards, because to date, he's the last politician of his stature I've seen who gave any hope of single payer, the holy grail of liberal ideology, becoming a reality. Don't kid yourselves that it's going to happen anytime soon.

[SeeHopeWin]

58. Funny

But not a relevant point

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. No. John Edwards has destroyed his own credibility

with his reprehensible, dishonest conduct toward his wife and the thousands of people who supported his candidacy. He needs to go home and take care of his family and stay the hell out of politics for a long time, if not forever. And I say this as one who supported him and donated to his campaign.

[AlinPA]

7. Well said. It's too bad.

[gblady]

15. totally agree....

he has no credibility. Actually would not want him out there advocating.

[cwydro]

23. Agreed.

Best thing he can do is lie low.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[cali]

26. Clinton was President. Edwards is a one term Senator and two time loser

in his presidential nomination runs. He never had the stature that Clinton did.

[dorkulon]

4. NO. /nt

[Vinca]

5. Sadly, no.

[emulatorloo]

6. NO! He is under investigation and his wife is promoting a tell-all book about his affair

I was an Edwards supported, but he is still damaged goods. Maybe some day he will be more credible, but not now.

[Inspired]

27. It wasn't exactly a tell-all book about his affair. I guess you didn't read it.

The book is about dealing with the difficulties we all face in life. Whether it be the tragic death of a child, a cancer diagnosis or a betrayal.

It is a lovely book. Elizabeth is a good writer.

[emulatorloo]

32. She is a good writer, and I will no doubt read it someday n/t

[Demobrat]

8. The man is the poster child for dishonesty and sleaze.

Surely we can do better.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Not any more, he can't. He's damaged goods. Probably beyond repair.

[Faygo Kid]

13. Yeah, he's through.

We could debate whether or not that's fair, but he's done, cooked, toast, over.

Weird suggestion from the OP, quite frankly.

[Cha]

34. Like maybe the OP has been

in a cave for the last year and a 1/2.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mnhtnbb]

11. John Edwards is toast. Anywhere he goes, the discussion will be about him, not issues.

Sadly, his opportunity to focus attention on issues like health care and poverty is gone.

[Toucano]

12. No. He is politically dead.

No Zombie Edwards, please.

Besides, there are much better voices and advocates.

[Solly Mack]

14. He'd just be a June bug

and that would distract from the message.

[Subdivisions]

16. Nope. n/t

[mia]

17. No. He will do more harm than good for the issue.

Who could believe any thing he says?

[cali]

19. no, and he doesn't support single payer anyway

the phony should just quietly do good works. he's a shitty ambassador for dems. let him hide out in his megamansion

[lunatica]

20. Not yet

Although I think most people can be redeemed eventually after having terrible scandals destroy their career. Bill Clinton is one example of someone being dragged through the mud for years and coming out practically smelling like a rose.

The people who can never redeem themselves are Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, George Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney and tyrants and dictators because killing people for personal gain or power is irredeemable.

[MineralMan]

21. Absolutely not. He is our party's Newt Gingrich.

Send him away.

[tammywammy]

22. No n/t

[NoPasaran]

25. It's already a doomed idea

Go for it, Haircut Boy!

[Kittycat]

28. He needs to spend some time with his Family(ies) and stay out of the light for a while.

[Inspired]

29. DId he support single payer healthcare as a candidate? I don't think so.

[Muttocracy]

30. "always"? Mitt Romney may have more of a track record on health care than Edwards. nt

[cali]

31. and Howard Dean most certainly does.

johny hedge fund should just stick to keeping out of the public eye as much as possible.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Warren DeMontague]

35. Yes, if you're the insurace companies and you want the debate to become all about some guy's dick.

otherwise, no.

[Oregone]

36. I don't even think he was pro single payer

Wasn't he for the whole bait and switch mandated private insurance scam?

[burning rain]

37. We should take care to avoid sanctimony and sham...

and Edwards is Mr. Sanctimony, and Mr. Sham.

[Adelante]

39. When did he support single payer?

I must have missed it.

[TexasObserver]

40. No. We want to pass it, not kill it.

[McCamy Taylor]

41. Yes. Health insurance industry has been attacking him for 2 solid years via the press.

That makes him an excellent representative for the rest of us.

[cali]

49. no they didn't. they scarcely bothered with Mr.CorporHedgeFund.

[demwing]

42. NOPE. He's a distraction.

More time will be spent talking about Edwards than about healthcare.

[SoCalDem]

43. John Edwards needs to stay off the stage..for a long time

He had a chance to be Sec of HHS, or some other position of respect, but his hubris took him elsewhere..and he needs to live there for a long time..

[karynnj]

57. Only his DU supporters and a few media followers ever thought

that Obama would pick him as VP, AG, HHS etc. The likelihood is that Obama may have seen that not one of JRE's former peers in the Senate supported him. I think Feingold spoke for many when he said Edwards' was running on close to Feingold's record - not his own. (Not to mention that many Obama people, both in his campaign and his administration were Kerry people - and it means something that NONE of the many fund raisers and strategists and other campaign people who were with Kerry when he opted out went to Edwards. (Obama also put a LOT of Clinton people in his administration) I assume BOTH those groups were not impressed with the negative campaign that Edwards ran in 2007.)

[rvablue]

44. I'll add my NO to this very long list of noes. n/t

[HelenWheels]

45. Sorry, but No

I supported John for president up until the truth came out. In fact, I sent a check to his campaign the day before he came clean. His career is over. It's too bad Elizabeth is so sick as I think she is the winner in that family.
Gee, do you think I could get my money back?

[smalll]

46. He could make it personal -- for example, when the average American husband sleeps around,

it would give him some peace of mind if he could rest assured that any love child's baby-mama would recieve proper pre-natal care, even if she's unemployed and uninsured.

Or what if he catches some kind of VD and brings it back to his wife? Surely the innocent spouse deserves health care to cure her sexually transmitted (from her husband) disease and/or to treat its symptoms. (Plus, it would be pretty hard for a lot of husbands to cheat on a wife with cancer if she had no medical coverage at all, and he knew she was just slowly dying.)

Or finally, what if, instead, the wife catches him in the act with his paramour, pulls out a gun, and commits a "crime of passion" by shooting a few holes through the cheating rat? If the rat survives, the LAST thing he needs to be worried about as an ambulance full of EMTs whisks him off to the hospital is "how much is this all going to cost?" and "is this going to wipe out my lifetime savings and sink me so deep in debt I'll never get out from under it?"

[tammywammy]

47. bwah. n/t

[tritsofme]

48. I can only assume that this OP was made in jest.

Surely no could really believe that Edwards could be an effective spokesman for anything.

His only connection to today's political conversation is the fallout from his scandals. He has no future with anything in politics, good riddance.

[GreenArrow]

50. I might be in favor of him being deployed

say to Iraq, for instance, or maybe to some Antarctic base to study penguin shit, but not as a spokesperson for single payer which he never even supported.

[karynnj]

51. No - he did not even run on single payer and he has LESS credibility

than virtuously any other possibility.

[RainDog]

52. no.

edwards is, politically, a dead fish head in the alley trash. (he's worse than that, imo, for his behavior while his wife was undergoing cancer treatment.)

[suffragette]

53. No, because then the topic becomes Edwards rather than health care

[Crabby Appleton]

54. NO, and you forgot the sarcasm tag

[BlooInBloo]

55. You're kidding, right?

[SeeHopeWin]

59. No, I wasn't kidding

But maybe I should say I was...A solid NO from the DU folks, I did not expect that.

[cali]

61. well,I think the main points are that he'd be weak spokesman

for something he never supported, and that he'd be weak spokesman because he's tainted by scandal and thus is a distraction. People were, I'd guess, surprised that you missed things so obvious.

[Mudoria]

60. No

At this moment I have no interest in anything John Edwards has to say about anything.

[dysfunctional press]

62. that's a plan that only republicans could love.

john's political career is OVER.

and one-term senators don't get to come back later as 'elder statesmen', either.

he needs to find some ambulances to chase, or something.

[ecstatic]

63. LOL. Good one! nt

[saltpoint]

64. No.