More on John Edwards Entering Presidential Race

One thing I like about the internet is that we're not so dependent on what two or three news sources say about a news event, particularly when that even is so open to interpretation and spin, such as when someone enters a presidential race. For years, I got tired of twenty-second sound bites announcing a candidate, or those jaded pieces by big name print journalists talking more about what their colleagues think than what a candidate says.

On Truthout there's one piece from AP that gets close to being jaded:

Edwards' "town hall" Friday night was his eighth Nevada visit since the 2004 election, his sixth this year.

He called for universal health care and said his health plan, along with anti-poverty efforts, would take priority over deficit reduction if he was elected.

He called for an immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops in Iraq and said his vote authorizing the president to go to war was a "mistake."

His call for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants won tepid applause, and one loud boo. His proposal to require those immigrants to learn English was cheered.

(snip)

State GOP chairman Paul Adams dismissed the former senator as a has-been.

"When all is said and done, Nevada has already rejected Edwards once, it will do it again," Adams said.

(snip)

Edwards appearance in Portsmouth, N.H., earlier Friday drew about 800 people, about half the number who came out to see Obama on his first trip to the state.

Edwards said the turnout showed he still had lots of friends in New Hampshire. Many stood in line for more than an hour only to be turned away because there was no room.

The last two paragraphs I quoted are amusing. Half the audience of Barack Obama—but so many people turned up they had to turn some away? What? There's a place for objective news but this is uninspired reporting and, in the end, not all that objective. John Edwards is a fine candidate and if Barack Obama decides to run, he'll be a fine candidate as well. Let's hear what they have to say.

And what was the point of getting a quote from the local Republican official in Nevada? I'm fairly sure he didn't attend the event and therefore shouldn't be quoted on what Edwards is saying. Dismissing Edwards as a has-been is purely political but it would be useful to put such a statement in context. Bush and the Republican Party are exhausted of ideas and have given the American people a disaster in Iraq and a disaster in New Orleans and just lost the 2006 election. A growing number of people know who the has-beens are. Actually, there was a man who was the vice presidential candidate in the 1920 election; he was on the losing ticket and was regarded as a has-been for several years. His name? Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

So it's a pleasure to find a article about John Edwards that takes a more positive view, even if it's mildly partisan; here's an item from Bob Geiger on The Huffington Post:

In the backyard of a Hurricane Katrina victim in New Orleans' 9th Ward, former Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards announced today that he is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. And, in what can be better characterized as a talk than a formal political speech, Edwards changed the dynamic of the fledgling Democratic race for 2008 with both the tone and substance of his message.

(snip)

...Americans are bone-tired of disliking and disrespecting their president and, I believe, are unusually anxious to begin the presidential season to, if nothing else, give them the feeling that a change is coming sooner than later. People hungered for a change in the Congress and made it happen -- now that strong desire to take out the trash moves to the executive branch of government.

Second, Edwards is starting his campaign in an interesting way by making it not about him personally, but about the problems of the world, the loss of global American prestige, our domestic strife and the extent to which his campaign is about getting people to make change now and not wait for the actions of a newly-elected president.

I appreciate Mr. Geiger giving us something to think about and something more alive than an article following a recipe for conventional reporting that in the end isn't all that informative.