Letters to the Editor
BadgerBlue
Published Letters: 190 Editor's Choice: 7
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Happy Friend and Mickey - Amen to that
[Read the article: The witch ain't dead, and Chris Matthews is a ding-dong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I couldn't have said it better. I read an article sometime last year in THE NEW REPUBLIC titled HILLARYLAND that explained in great detail how her organization was built in the same model as the Rove-Bush machine predicting this was the type of thing we would see and they were absolutely right. You would think after witnessing the potential crippling damage done to the country due in large part by cynical Republicans' stoking the fire of identity politics largely by the use of exploiting emotional weakness, maybe enough people would put the sake of the country first instead of selling themselves for such a cheap price for some symbolic "victory".
Imagine how quickly the feeling of "victory" would wear off if by trading in thier objective rationality for some perverted "payback", the result of the unintended consequences leads to a Republican President appointing one or even two pro-life judges to the Roberts Supreme Court and they wave goodbye to Roe vs. Wade. Some "victory" to feminism that would be. Will all those here endorsing such a stunt motivated for some symbolic payback take responsibility for thier actions or will a jackass like Matthews serve as the scapegoat?
Traister, in a country where many grounded, objective, and clear minded people have literally suffered and then some for more than a generation due to the constant exploitation of superficial, divisive wedge issues creating ever more sects of one-issue voters that have caused unspeakable damage, why would you in any way want to encourage the practice? With the Bush administration's quest to steal your civil rights still in full-throttle, why would you ever want to celebrate an act that would in any way have a chance of just giving them away? Frankly, with what's at stake for the future, I can't believe it's worth the potential risk.
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As an NRDC supporter, I'm glad to see others are bothererd by this as well.
[Read the article: No bears for oil]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If any of you are bothered by it enough, I'll make a shameless plug and suggest checking out it's website by clicking where Mieszkowski has NRDC highlighted in blue print. I joined about two years ago and I've been impressed with what they are trying to do and sometimes surprised with what they have been able to accomplish against long odds. Donations ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE and the magazine subscription to ON EARTH is absolutely great reading. Whether your passion is saving the whales from Navy sonar tests, wolves, polar bear or even the grizzly, you will find folks just like you at NRDC. Thier strength can be reflected in numbers and it's a great place for individuals who otherwise feel powerless to join and make thier voices heard as one. Try it and you might like it and I bet the polar bears might just love you all for it. It never hurts to look.
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Totoro, though possible, odds are against it.
[Read the article: The knives come out in South Carolina]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While there's certainly a case to be made that Edwards would rather have Obama win the nomination over Clinton, I don't see much chance of an Obama-Edwards ticket coming out of Denver come convention time. After having to sit in the backseat on the '04 ticket watching Kerry's inept advisors fumble at every critical juncture, it's doubtful Edwards would be willing to put up with a VP slot without guarantees of having a say in how things are run and it's doubtful Obama's team would ever agree to that.
I've seen countless stump speeches from every former and present candidate and while most of the others change thier pitches a little to alot over time, Edwards's talk to the audience is almost word for word the same as what it was a year ago. Anybody who's caught him on tour knows that one of his core selling points is his refusal to take big-money lobbyist contributions and it resonates extremely well with his biggest backers. Hitching his wagon to an Obama campaign with considerable corporate funding would likely be deemed by Edwards die-hards as "joining them" as opposed to "fighting them" as Edwards often boasts that he's done so often.
What's even less likely is that Edwards would even listen to an offer for the VP slot from Clinton for more than a span of 5 seconds without hanging up the phone. He knows how much the Progressives that he courts are repulsed by the DLC stranglehold and next to Lieberman, there's nobody those folks have less regard for than the Clinton inner circle. Had that ever been a possibility, Clinton's campaign already would have that deal made and Edwards wouldn't be running in South Carolina where the polls have shown him taking nearly one out of three women voters away from Clinton in a state where she needs all of them to have a chance at catching Obama. That by itself is a good indicator of why he's still trying to hang around in a race for the nomination that's most likely been out of his reach since last summer.