I usually see one or more diaries like this in the list, but none right now, so I’ll try and fill the void. Most of these are usually a little more subtle than my title, but the message is the same, and the elicited comments are frequently worse. Reading one of these is sadly similar to listening to taunts from the fans of an opposing football team. I wish our pride and our chance at going to state were the only things at stake in this election.
I’m an Edwards supporter. I’m still an Edwards supporter. I will continue to be an Edwards supporter. There seems to be a common (but not universal) opinion here those who continue to support Edwards are:
- Stupid
- Insane
- Traitors to the Democratic Party
- Third party moles (all of the above)
Rather than addressing the above in one of the hourly "We’re Number 1!" diaries via comment, I thought I’d use economy of scale and do it once here. Plus, it’ll prevent me from losing it again and telling someone to shove it. Sorry about that.
First, welcome to my state of mind per a comment I posted the other day:
I'm scared and I'm pissed. I'm getting older, and there's a very good chance I'll die before my wife does. Thank God. I have a vision of her in a nursing home, alone, lying in her own shit, having no possessions of her own thanks to heartless medicaid laws, nursing home theft, and an entire corporate demographic devoted to bilking retirees of their assets.
You fucking betcha I'm pissed off, and triangulation and feel-good bipartisanship don't cut it for me. If getting the hypothetical "moderate Republican" vote is more important than my vote, then fuck the other candidates.
I don’t know how to protect my wife when I’m gone and she ages. Hell, my late stage health problems may leave her destitute well before she needs elderly care. I don’t think the analogy of corporate vultures feeding off our elderly is hyperbole; I think it’s a whole fucking industry.
Others may hear my issues being addressed in Barrack’s and Hillary’s speeches. I just don’t. Sorry.
Others may also think that Edwards=Nader. This argument is based on the assumption that Hillary a) will lose the general, or b) by winning will trigger the apocalypse or something. I don't buy the assumption.
IMHO, Edwards supporters continue to support him for one or both of these two reasons:
• He articulates a necessary message that the other candidates won’t or can’t articulate
• It’s a long-shot, but he may win, or be strong enough to broker delegates at the convention
I’m supporting him for the first reason: he speaks for me.
I know the other candidates aren’t idiots, and I’m assuming they have decided that an angrier and more populist approach isn’t viable with the general electorate. As other diarists and commenters have pointed out, both are handicapped by stereotypes if they get angry: bitch or angry black man. Both stereotypes will play very well to the Republican base and will be used—our candidates don’t need to provide more YouTube fodder for the swiftboaters. Both must also beware of being too populist, otherwise big money will attack them, probably fatally.
This doesn’t change my position. Edwards can say these things, because he is a long shot. That’s why I continue to support him. He’s the engine dragging the dialog left. He’s telling those people like me who lie awake at night trying to find a way to keep their loved ones and themselves from falling into a black hole that the Democrats do hear and do understand.
Even if he doesn’t win the nomination, he’s having a major impact on how the Democratic Party is perceived. Not just by loyal Dems, but by those independents and moderate Republicans the other candidates want to reach out to. I believe he substantially helps the other candidates by saying what they can’t say, but what we average Americans need to hear. Those folks in the flyover states may think he’s a little too radical, but they’re hurting and they know the Dems hear them, because of what John says every time he’s offered a bully pulpit. They may not vote for John, but they very well may vote Dem because of John.
John Edwards speaks for me and he fights for me. He gives me a voice in this election, and even a 17% voice is better than I’ve ever had in any election. I’ll support him as long as he asks for my support.