CNN

I REPEAT NO TRIAL LAWYERS! GO HUCK!

How come his voting record doesnt compare to the rest of the democrats running..
Hillary has her

edwards and obama..I say no vote from me.they both need to be vetted..
Illinois’ disabled veterans are at “rock bottom” — “dead last” — in benefits and claims processing of applications for disability. But Illinois’ veterans take a back seat because their junior senator is running for president. And that senator, Barack Obama, has missed an astonishing number of hearings and meetings of the Senate Veterans committee. … ..

But Obama has skipped 19 of 37 VA committee meetings in the 109th congress. Obama’s attendance record was the second worst of all Democrats on the committee. He attended just 18 of the committee’s 37 meetings in Washington D.C.

… .. On the campaign trail, Obama stresses the importance of providing “the best care” for veterans and their families: “Providing the best care for our service members, veterans and their families is one thing about this war we can still get right.”

* But Sen. Obama has continually skipped hearings on the veterans budget. Chairman Craig opened a hearing Obama missed and said, “we will consider today … legislation touching on veterans insurance, housing, burial, compensation, and employee benefits.” Obama also missed all four committee hearings in a series that focused on the President’s proposed 2007 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ranking Senator Akaka noted during the hearings that “we must learn a lesson from last year’s budget crisis and do everything we can to ensure that veterans and their family members have access to health care and benefits they have earned.” (From the GPO on 6/23/05, 2/28/06, 3/2/06, 3/7/06, March 9, 2006.)
This guy needs to be vetted,I pray for all those Vets,while this man votes present on important issues..i went listen to her radio show on the web..very interesting
http://www.taylormarsh.com

People who have been impoverished by the easy "Credit" dished out by the credit bankers need to learn how to discharge debt the same way the bankers created the credit in the first place.
A Pennsylvania woman recently discharged 1.3 million owed to the I.R.S. with her own privately created credit.
VERIFICATION: See U.S.A. vs. Jessy M. Snyder, United States District Court, Western Dist. of Pa. # 2007-cv-0331, the record speaks for its self.

What must always be remembered is that the mainstream media amplifies her campaign's errors and diminishes her strengths in ways that are misleading. Foaming expressions of hostility to Sen. Clinton are considered normal among the Beltway pundits, especially on cable television and talk radio. Such constant emotional outbursts tend to distort political news and analysis. In that environment, her opponents are not held accountable by the same standard that is applied to Clinton. For many months, both Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards have been tossing out attack lines that they hoped would bring down her formidable numbers. Obama has not hesitated to use harsh language to question her character, her sincerity, her fitness to serve and her capacity to govern if elected. He has reserved his toughest rhetoric for the Democratic front-runner, while suggesting that he will find common ground with the Republicans. That may explain why Obama has won endorsements from a panoply of Republican operatives and spokespersons, including former White House political boss Karl Rove and David Brooks, the neo-conservative voice on the New York Times Op-Ed page. It is hard to imagine that the Clinton campaign conspired with Bill Shaheen to introduce the subject of Obama's youthful drug use, or urged Bob Kerrey to blather on about the Sen.'s middle name and Muslim heritage. It is much more likely that both men were simply opening their mouths without thinking too hard about the consequences, which is to say, simply being themselves. Expecting Clinton to control every blurted stupidity of her supporters is unfair. These disputes that have lately monopolized so much news coverage and commentary have not dented her national appeal significantly. Although Clinton faces difficulties in Iowa and New Hampshire, the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that she has started to recover the commanding lead that began to diminish in late November, after her poor debate performance. Conducted over the weekend of Dec. 14-16, the Gallup survey shows Clinton gaining six points and moving up from 39 percent two weeks earlier to 45 percent among registered Democratic voters.

Hey John, we support you, but you need to show strength to go against the likes of obama and others instead of continuing to be grouped with the good ole boys club taking the safe place and attacking Clinton, we have stopped listening to the long long biased attacks on Clinton, its these stories that keep her in the news.
Obama takes swipes at you often and he has no experience and allotr of shady dealing going behind the scenes that sre beginning to surface, HIT BACK! Clinton is the easy target for anyone because the media is biased.

Come on John, you can do better!

"Former" Senator Edward can honk/attack all he wants from the "outside" and Hillary will get things done from the inside by becoming our President in 2009!

Thats called a polite political SLAP in the FACE Mr Edwards!

Go Hillary44 08! http://hillaryis44.org/

I agree with the blogers... ending poverty is about jobs, affordable healthcare and access to a decent education.

Bill Richardson has my vote for smart domestic policy (first stop spending $2.5 BILLION A WEEK in Iraq and bring our people home) new broader energy options that bring jobs to rural areas... so McDonald's isn't the only job around... look at what it's doing for growth in Roscoe, TX and all over New Mexico.

Richardson is the most experienced, has the smartest plans (and I've read just about all of them) and has the b***s to do it.

There's NO way this guy's going to be President. You may as well give it up now. He's a lawyer, and the worst kind, personal injury. You notice he doesn't speak of educating the poorest American, only giving them "government money". You can give a man a fish to sustain him today, or teach him to fish and sustain himself for a lifetime. Edwards wants to give men a fish today, instead of empowering them to better themselves for a lifetime.

Some people seem like anti-reactionary-regressives.

Sorry for the hyphens, but really people realist and pragmatist alike, please try to explore your egocentric and perhaps self delusion with your "mom and pop" and efficient like me conspicuous commentary.

People what about business expenditures. You know tax write-offs! I submit that all these paragons of decency, the "small biz" networked lackeys are highly inefficient.

Many of these legacies maybe largely incompetent, prodigal pampered boys and girls, spoiled and rotten. And this blurs the stratification of capitalist socialism and those that are poorsqueezed (more heavily scrutinized and harrased by 'the burocracy' and those that "serve and protect")!

Edwards got that expensive haircut to benefit charity. Get your facts straight, people.

The best way to solve this problem is to pay poor people not to have children. If the government payed every poor teenage girl starting in sixth grade a $100 monthly check to not reproduce then many of societies problems would go away. Poor parent(s) would want that money coming in so they would work harder to make sure their daughter is not having sex or is using contraception. When the girl graduated from high school the payments would stop unless they enrolled in college- in which case the monthly check would rise to $200 per month for the next 4 years. Payments would stop at the end of the 4 years (college graduate). The amount of money spent on this simple program would be far less then what is currently being spent on various urban programs and jails. It would also rapidly decrease the poverty stricken class and many of the societal ills that follow the culture of poverty that exists in America.

The only way to end poverty is through education NOT handouts. Poor children need to lose their summer vacation and spend more time in school in order to break the cycle of poverty and dysfunctional behavior.

If Edwards thinks that raising minimum wage the solution to ending poverty, he deserves to be criticized. I don't think that democrats realize that employing people is the way to end poverty. When minimum wage goes up, companies can no longer afford to pay for some of those positions. So instead of the working poor, we have the unemployed poor. I guess some are better off, but it is at the expense of the most needy.

Quite the opposite, it creates wage inflation. Wages are dictated by the market, rather, supply and demand dictates the differences in them. If you lock in a high minimum, you push the top higher and, now that more cash floods the market, inflation goes wild and the poor still can't afford what they want. The only thing that makes the poor "not poor" is to convince individuals that hard work pays off. We see this happen with many individuals whom we admire in their rags to riches stories. The basics of any capitalist system maintains that there will always be have's and have not's. It does, however, provide that the have not's are there for a reason...sometimes as simple as birthplace. THAT's the part of the system you can fix. Opportunity for education. You can't FIX people's income, you can FIX people's opportunity to make more.

One way to end poverty – revoke NAFTA. My hometown has gone down the toilet since all of our factories have been shipped to Honduras. I have a college degree and can't find a job anywhere because this place has become a wasteland. Every time a new factory closes down, hundreds of people are out of a job. The last one cost 1400 people their jobs. In a city of 17,000 people, that's a huge loss. Plus, the number of illegal immigrants here is astounding. I don't know how the heck they're making a living, but I sure know I see plenty of them in the line for Food Stamps with several kids in tow. My parents worked hard their entire lives only now to be left with almost nothing. I'll be voting for someone who will get the illegals out and keep our jobs here where hardworking Americans can feed their families without resorting to crime to do it.

Open challenge to all Presidential Candidates;

Use your own money and give One Million Dollars to The Benefactor Project and together we'll create $8 Billion Dollars worth of help for the poor in this country. I'll credit you.

Or shut up.

Everyone feel free to ask the Candidates about this challenge. Do it now because we all know that when whoever gets elected they will soon forget about us.

To whoever gets one of them to put their money where their mouth is. I'll give them a house.

Thank You,
Tom Canavan
http://www.thebenefactorproject.com

Cnn do you always have to picture Edwards pointing as if he's on to somthing big ? He's not

The Clintons can sit on their elite perch and cast aspersions all they want ... we're going to fight poverty and improve the lot for all in America. Go John!!

Agree or disagree, Edwards has been doing his homework for the past four years and has specific plans and a vision.

As for the snarky remark about lawyers, most of candidates are lawyers, and I'd trust a lawyer before a preacher as president.

By the way: one of Edward's cases was that of a young girl who was scalped when her hair was caught in a hot tub drain – the company said it couldn't afford the $1.25 part to make it safe...

and as for Adam – you trot out all the old chestnuts as to why people should not be paid a living wage – not true in the last century – not true now ... and as a small business owner – I know!

Mike Houston. Intellectual growth. Is that what you call listenign to Rush and watching Fox? Guess it depends where your starting point is.
Thank you CNN for takling the comment section off of the Kucinich brother story. Now find the person who decided it belonged on a POLITICAL blog and fire them.

Listen. The poor are the poor. There will always be a section of the population that is just plain out poor. I don't believe anyone can eliminate that. However, the big problems concerning the poor in this country is that, after 15 years of a GOP congress and another 8 with the presidency as well, the Republicans have failed to keep their promises to the working poor and/or middle class of this country. Quite frankly, businesses have been doing well under this regime because they are running this regime. But everyday Americans are just waiting for the pay-out of all these pro-big-business policies in Washington. That's never going to happen. Businesses will never pay what they should be paying, by and large, to their employees because it means more capital being "wasted" on them. They expect the poor to just shut up, take what they're given and never question the fact that CEO salaries have been allowed to rise under the GOP to the point of disgust. I'm all for pro-business policies in Washington, so long as they provide for the majority of people in this country first and CEOs only after. Republican business mentalities almost completely lack ethics, as the Bush administration has so clearly shown. Bottom line: middle-class salaries don't go as far as they used to and the only way to maintain our large middle class is to finally even the playing field amongst them. 1% of this country holds the vast majority of the wealth and their reluctance to grant the wage increase is proof that they love their money so much that they don't want to provide for the community that gives them their wealth. So, you will never eliminate poverty, John, but you are on the right track as to what the US needs to do to get back on track.

Edwards is a joke. Multimillion dollar housing complex, $900 haircut, doesn't sound like a life of poverty. He wouldn't know how to spell poverty if the dictionary hit him in the head, much less alleviate it.

Please! He and the others are millionaires. These people have no idea nor do they really care about poverty. To them, it's a dirty word

I'm from Chapel Hill. John Edwards house is far from the most flashy in the area. If it is indeed the highest value house in Chatham County, it's because Chatham County is small and rural and outside the nearby metro areas. He also works for UNC for only $50,000 a year. He is not Gandhi, he is a normal person who has tried to lead a successful life, as any normal person does. He is the only candidate whose policies are truly left wing and anti-Washington establishment. He is the Dennis Kucinich with a fighting chance. Obama is my 2nd choice, but Obama's attitude towards the corruption in Washington is that you have to "play the game to change the game"...I don't think that belies rock-solid principles. But I like him an awful lot.

Edwards/Obama 08

I applaud the hair stylist that charges $400 a hair cut. That is the beauty of America, create a business, fill a need and succeed. If you create something worth value, people will come. All you critics of the hair cut wish you could experience a $400 hair cut now don't ya?

Edwards – I am inspired by your passion for improving the lives of Americans that are in a tuff place. I am inspired by your convictions and ability to speak truthfully about what you really believe and will fight for. John E. you are a true American, someone to be respected, someone, the right one to vote into office as the next US President in 2008. You are doing a great job and keep up the good work, you will prevail.

So, if the minimum wage becomes $9.50 an hour, then a McDonald's burger will cost $8.00 and my Coca-Cola will be $2.00 and the fries will be $2.00, so that means I will pay for my kids' lunch with a twenty instead of a ten?

Good job Edwards!

Minimum wages should be set as a percentage of the highest compensated employee of a company. This would align the interests of management and workers to a degree as well as keep small businesses from being overburdened an unable to create jobs.

Example:
Set minimum wage to 1%
Assume CEO total compensation of $2,000,000
Lowest Paid Employee compensation of $20,000

Small Business Manager total comp of $200,000
Lowest paid employee $2,000

This should apply anywhere in the supply chain, even to other countries. If we don't do this soon our workers will be permenantly undercut by lower cost workers in other countries.

What does the brek girl know about poverty…Nothing, raise the minimum wage, sure that will work by putting businesses out out of business. I hope he wins the Democraps nomination.

Posted By Mario ID : December 19, 2007 8:31 pm

–

If your parents are going to let you use the computer to post your kindergarten insults, at least learn how to spell Breck correctly.

mr edwards,i think the min wage idea is at least a start,but if you sir want to win this election may i advise you go with the issues that effect the working class,(BLUE COLLAR) the backbone of this country,for without us its just you, heres what this country desires, if were going to pay 3.00 or more for gas then we want free health care, i dont mind 4.00 a gallon if i can go to the hospital for free, we want a new fuel,e-85.hyd-etheylnol-new lines in alaska,we dont care just do it,we want our boys home from iraq,we want you to leave iran alone unless they threaten us, in fact leave everybody alone unless they threaten us,get a grip on all these somalis, its like going to another country in this country? close the boarders,with our military and our tech are you telling me that we cant? bring back the steel mills,i cant find any good concrete stakes in the u.s.do not bale out these banks,they made there bed now they can lay in it, you look to me as a fighter, you want the people of this country to back you fight for you,? stay with us,we want the truth no matter how bad or good it is, we want someone for us,we are americans,we fought and died for this country, do you think we would nt fight for someone who will fight for us? she hasnt always done right by me but i would use my last breath to keep her, and anyone that wouldnt isnt from here!!

John Edwards is the only candidate with the people of America on his mind. The others seem to pander to popular culture and who is more holier than thou.
Jon Edwards has a clear plan to do what is write for the elderly, the children, and the poor. He is the only one with a plan to do what is right for America.

Devoting his entire life to ending poverty is a bit of a stretch, but that's neither here nor there. Saying that you want to end poverty is nice ideology, but there is little to no pragmatism in his rhetoric. ALL of the candidates on the Democratic side want to increase the minimum wage (this is not HIS issue alone), but this does not end poverty. Ending poverty (which is a generational task) means instilling a drive for education with our children and making education available to all kids(i.e. free pre-K), making health care affordable and having good preventative health care, increasing tax breaks for the poor, etc., etc. Frankly, of the top tier candidates, the only one who has done any of the aforementioned practical steps has been Hillary. Edwards had a chance to do something while in the senate, yet all he did was vote yes on a bankruptcy bill that was completely counterproductive. No thanks to Edwards or Obama. I'm sticking with Hillary.

Well, he certainly ended his own poverty. Not much progress on helping others yet.

Posted By John, Minneapolis, MN :

ha, ha! that is very funny.

i don't think edwards is a bad guy, but come on, hillary didn't really attack him. she just said, what are we going to do about it other than talk?

he still didn't answer her question.

Where i live is on the other side of the mountain from John, or East TN.We understand being poor and never missing a days work.We both understand being giving a chance to grow. Doesn't everyone.?

If you want to end poverty and unemployment then cut off welfare for all able-bodied Americans (Not to mention all the illegals on it) and start punishing employers for hiring illegal aliens. There's 1 absolute cure to boredom.. a JOB. If you're too retarded to have a job paying better than $5.50/hr by the time you're in your 20s then maybe you should just stop breeding as well. Require IQ test scores of > 100 in order to vote. A little chlorine in the gene pool couldn't hurt either.

When will (some) people realize that no matter how much you raise the minimum wage we're still going to have poverty. All that raising the minimum wage does is make it harder for small buisness owners to have their businesses and it will force them (and many many bigger companies) to let people go. This will cause those people not having an income to support themselves and their familes, which will then have an impact on most everyone in the country. It is a snowball effect and that's not what this country needs. What we need is our jobs back in our country made by our people. Giving people a few more bucks an hour isn't going to solve anything – but give someone a job – that will have an impact.

Hillary claims that she helped Bill run the country and that is why she is qualified to run the country. Well, Bill's (and Hillary's – if we are to buy into her claims of experience) policies contributed to the outsourcing and offshoring of American worker jobs to China, India, etc. Jobs get people out of poverty! She is a fool to think she can attack Edwards on this issue.

I'M VERY SORRY PEOPLE , BUT HE IS A TRIAL LAWYER AFTER ALL!!

Edwards claims "ending poverty in this country is the cause of my life" that is a life wasted, because neither he nor anyone else will ever succeed in "From each according to his means, to each depending on their needs" That is straight out of Marx. Edwards is not alone, Hillary also leans in that direction. I will put my life on the line to stop them

Ending poverty is easy: Stop paying people to be poor. The current practice of robbing all the country's productive, tax-paying, Peters to prop up all the dead-beat Pauls never has worked and never will.

Finally something Edwards says with which I agree – to raise the minimum wage. But it's that other thing Democrats want to do that would cancel out any forced wage increase.

Don't let liberals play with taxes.

John Edwards is the internet candidate. Both appeal to the lowest common denominator and both are detrimental to any intellectual growth.

What does the brek girl know about poverty...Nothing, raise the minimum wage, sure that will work by putting businesses out out of business. I hope he wins the Democraps nomination.

John Edwards does not know working poor if he has a $400 haircut, and lives in the largest assessment value house in the whole county.

Just how poor must someone be before they can try to help poor people?

He's committed his entire life to ending poverty? He's committed his entire life to ending his and that's fine, I don't begrudge him that.

But obviously, whatever he's been doing to end poverty isn't working – so why should he be given the highest office to do more of the same – FAIL.

His voting record and his campaign rhetoric clash – but then so does Clintons. Neither accomplished their so-called goals during their "life long battles" for us. We can't afford to have these two fighting for us any longer.

Presently, I'm leaning toward Obama, but Edwards is a very close second because I truly believe that he is the most committed and forward thinking candidate when it comes to eliminating poverty in the US and on earth. He recognizes that we are all connected and that modern terrorism is fed by the discontent and actual poverty of most of the world's peoples, who still exist in a state of odious slavery just to satisfy the greed of the few.

Make the right choice by first advancing your values to be more humane and less materialistic; then vote for who you think will be best for you, us, and the world over the long term.

Go, Obama (or Edwards)!

All that John wants is to be somebody's VP and he is banking on Obama for that to happen. Unfortunately, Obama is sinking without Oprah. John knows he will never win.

His $400 hairs cut could have created a barbershop and helped a family have a living situation

We know John Edwards cares enough about poverty to use it for political gain. He might even care enough to make other people give money to the poor through his policies as president. But his entire life makes clear that under no circumstances does he care enough about the poor to make any real personal sacrifices. We're on to you John.

HELLO! (Waving and jumping) Please give me all the oil from Iraq, and after I cash in I could help those in need in THIS country.They just don't seem to like being helped in Iraq! Who knew? They didn't like Saddam, they don't like each other.I bet those in need in America would like to cash in since they can't figure out whether to accept our help or not.

John Edwards talks a good message however his Senate votes don't seem to match that message.

That bankruptcy bill he signed on to will do more to hurt poor people, and more to keep them in poverty. His right to work bill will keep unions out of companies and unions usually mean larger salaries.

John Edwards is a brilliant, capable, devout man and I trust him, not only to diminish poverty for the 37 million folks who experience it, but also to provide them health care. Edwards has been taking public financing, has taken on industrial dominance as a lawyer, and has been involved with many poverty campaigns in the interim between is 2004 effort and his present one. ALL of these things and more make him the epitome of a candidate that is FOR AMERICA'S poor, uninsured, and without equal opportunity to succeed.

I don't trust anyone else.

Hey John tell the people about all the Money you made on the Middle class with HEDGE FUNDS?????????????

Yet another reason to vote for Edwards: Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt! Whoot! Go Edwards!!!!

Well, he certainly ended his own poverty. Not much progress on helping others yet.

Good for you John. At this point you are my second choice but you are really look strong. Hillary is not even a blip on my radar.

He did that by sueing whom?

More committed to ending his poverty that anyone else.

Somehow the words lawyer and poverty don't seem to mix.

If Edwards thinks that raising minimum wage the solution to ending poverty, he deserves to be criticized. I don't think that democrats realize that employing people is the way to end poverty. When minimum wage goes up, companies can no longer afford to pay for some of those positions. So instead of the working poor, we have the unemployed poor. I guess some are better off, but it is at the expense of the most needy.

I'm with you, John. You've got my vote!

I hope not! Pardon me for being sarcastic, but I hope that extreme "freak" LiBeLs/slanderers-accusers are truely not commited to perpetuating and enabling a downcast, downtrotten, and stuck in a rut underclass.

Ending poverty in this country is about jobs, the government can play a big part on this by fomenting the need to re-build our fragile infra-structures, bridges, roads, electric plants to begin to use new energy and new distribution lines, also in health care to automate and reduce waste, prevent medicines and more nurses. it is not enough to say you are anti-poverty you have to be smart about it and I believe Sen. Clinto is doing just that.