January 2008 Archives

Matt Cooper has a slightly more even handed look at the Edwards candidacy than the one I wrote yesterday - perhaps I should refrain from writing anything on the day after my last chemo dose.

Then again, Matt doesn't actually mention poverty so I give him one demerit.

My buddy Spence Smith travels a lot. He works for Compassion International - more on them later - and is known to take one day trips to places like Equador or Fiji or Mali. Ok, not really Fiji.

Anyway, he has a great link on his site for what to do if you are stranded at the airport... rule 240.

I heard something this morning I'd never heard before. A person saying they are so angry about the sexist attacks against Hillary Clinton that they would vote for a Republican before they would vote for Barack Obama.

Extraordinary.

I am not an expert in either racism or sexism. What I do know, however, is that if Democrats really want to win in November, they had better come to some place of peace and reconciliation very fast because it looks for all the world like the Republican nominee will be in place next week and John McCain is a very attractive candidate for a whole lot of Americans.

Fantastic quote:

"Joy is the hardest thing, always, for any artist, for any writer, for any photographer," Bono says. "It's the hardest thing to capture because it's impossible to contrive, whereas despair -- you can have a good go at despair."

I am watching John Edwards suspend his campaign and I am sad.

I'm sad that his relentless voice for the poor and against the two Americas in which we live is leaving this race.

I'm sad because we live in a self-obsessed and materially-obsessed culture that doesn't give a rip about the poor.

I'm sad because we are happier debating and talking about the political ramifications of Edwards leaving the race than we are about the moral ramifications.

I'm sad because pundits and critics found it so neat and tidy to pick on Edwards wealth and his expensive haircuts as ways to suggest he didn't really care about the poor. By that same standard they should be picking on Hillary for being healthy and talking about health care.

I'm sad because I'm not sure I see how things change. It sure isn't going to change on the Republican side where the conversation is pretty much about who is more likely to kill more people than the other guy and who is more likely to make more people rich. I am not sure how likely it is to change on the Democratic side when candidates see concerned only with sucking up to the biggest special interest groups intent on sucking in more power for themselves.

I'm sad and I'm ticked.