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I can't speak for John. I can say this that, you know, being a southerner, being a rural American who's been completely devastated by the trade policies of the Clintons, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that he does not endorse Hillary Clinton.[...]
Like I said, that when I'm traveling now up through north Georgia, passing towns and be going through South Carolina and turn over into the Appalachians and everything looks like, you know, Sherman went through it but didn't burn thing, I think there is accountability involved there. For Hillary Clinton to continue to talk about the unintended consequences of NAFTA -- they weren't unintended, they were unconsidered. You know, we all heard about the giant sucking sound when they first started talking about this. I just don't think the Clintons have been a friend of my people out in rural America.
Ouch.
By the way, for those of you who aren't aware, Mudcat Saunders was a key advisor to Jim Webb in 2006 and to John Edwards this past year.
'I believe that Nafta should exist,'' Mr. Edwards told editors and reporters of The New York Times at a meeting yesterday in New York, as he sought endorsements heading into next Tuesday's primary. ''I think Nafta is important -- it is an important part of our global economy, an important part of our trade relations.''''It's important to be straight with people about the jobs issue -- about trade and jobs,'' said Mr. Edwards, of North Carolina. ''The kind of trade policy I'm talking about -- not an extreme trade policy, but the kind of trade policy I'm talking about -- is not going to save all those jobs. And I think people deserve to know that.''
Mudcat Saunders was a key advisor to Jim Webb in 2006 and to John Edwards this past year.
However- Mudcat also helped Mark Warner win in 2001
This is obv. good news for Obama. With Edwards out, and Obama's speech coming before Edwards announcement praising Edwards, as well as the speculation that Obama would offer Edwards Attorney General- I think we will see at least 75% Edwards supportes vote for Obama, and Edwards' delegates going to Obama.
Great catch Lowell, I have had the privledge of working with Mudcat before and he is an honest man that holds nothing back.
You mean there's a Lurleen Wallace aspect to this? Gosh, that's just not something that had occurred to most of us.
We understand what NAFTA has done, and we respect the tone and political gamesmanship involved.
That said, John Edwards took the highest possible ground today. He would have been a terrific President. For any of his surrogates to speak over a warm and sincere farewell is not appropriate.
Even worse, Brian Moran is now paying Mudcat as an advisor. Brian is also paying Mame. Both have every right to support who they choose, but they also need to have the maturity to not offend Brian's base and potential supporters. Mudcat crossed the line today, shame on him for being perceived now as the "angry white rural guy."
Today, Mudcat hurt Edwards, Obama, Brian, and most of all--himself.
Certainly, I don't think the Clintons INTEND to slight or harm rural America.
First off, all of Mudcat's work is pro-bono.
Second off, you're thinking of Steve Jarding.
If Mudcat is an unpaid advisor, then my concern still applies. If not, then I stand corrected.
Thanks.
Mudcat is just being Mudcat.
You seem wound up way too tight, in my humble opinion. I never wrote that Mudcat was a part of the Obama campaign. I did infer that the viewers would perceive that Mudcat prefers Obama over Clinton. His angry tone even caused pause to Norah on MSNBC (I watched the whole thing live).
I offered my opinion earlier, based on canvassing in counties from Galax to Winchester, and worried that mis-perceptions toward many of rural VA residents ALWAYS hurt them at the ballot box--there are too many voters in NoVa who are not informed or do not understand what is going on in greater VA.
Yeah, I guess we're the suburban party base's worst nightmare. Rural, white males who have realized that our future is with the Democratic party and that our issues are 90% identical to those of urban blacks. God forbid that those 2 hordes of the great unwashed join forces, eh? Now that we're all behind one candidate, things are gonna change in this country.
Mudcat is one of the great heroes of the new Democratic Party in Virginia. Largely because he doesn't give a rat's ass what you think of him for being an angry, white, rural guy. He'll just keep on being who he is and getting Democrats elected to office no matter what you think.
I invested a huge amount of effort in opposing impeachment, but I see now that the Clintons are basically takers. They are not givers. Narcissism is really Billy's defining word. Someone who behaves as irresponsibly as he has does not deserve to be let off the hook.
Senator Clinton said this week that she is accountable for what is said by her surrogates. She has expressed no problem with the problematic behavior. She tried to pass it off by referring to the "passion of all the spouses." Well, excuse me. Race baiting has nothing to do with passion. Frank Rich said in Sunday's Times that the Clintons are not racist. But, he went on to add that their recent behavior was "sinister."
I agree with the gist of his feelings, but I wish there were a gentler way to state it.
Perhaps, the Clintons, in their zeal to win the hearts and minds of moderates, business interests, and certain entrepreneurs by supporting NAFTA and similar legislation, may have ended up hurting many people who might otherwise have been a natural constituency for a Democratic Party administration that seeks to bring resources and opportunity to all corners of America. Although not intentional, the lack of consideration given to the impact of such legislation on the rural economy has cost them dearly in terms of good people being disadvantaged by them and the associated electoral disadvantages.
It's a bit long-winded, but a little less harsh than "they are no friend of rural America". I don't believe they really feel that way, even if they did support something as inadequate and unvetted as NAFTA.
Not to mention, he is aiming to make a point about NAFTA, which Lowell put in bold face, in that the unintended consequences were merely unconsidered.
FUCK Hillary Clinton..... I won't apologize for that and neither should Mudcat. I can just say AMEN.
I love John Edwards and still think he is the best choice. The second best is Obama. So there, make what you will of that.
But if I could be a million miles away and never have to hear from him, it would suit me fine.
A minority opinion here but there it is.
p.s., I actually do know why. I am a populist too and have written about admiring those willing to get into the fray and fight. But I think his tone is too divisive. And he's too harsh. And I'm really tired of the rural/urban split that he always drags up.
Poor people in inner cities, blue collar workers in industrial rust belt areas and rural workers all have more in common than they realize. I'd like to see us unite them not keep a wedge between them.
His tone isn't as divisive as it is an angry voice for those of his kind who really don't have one. He does a lot of good for the party, and for our Commonwealth; and I would bet my small bank account he'll end up doing a lot of good for Obama before this primary is over with.
I am a class warrior at heart. I want somebody who will speak up for the poor, the disenfranchised, the blue collar worker in a deteriorating rust belt inner city, the black child whose parents were swept away by flood waters in the lower Ninth Ward, and the brand new suburbanite who just climbed into the middle class and is now losing his home because of a subprime mortage.
Poverty and injustice are not confined to either the cities or the backwoods. That is the false dichotomy that I don't like.
Why I love Mudcat and John Edwards and why I get angry when I see my hometown, like so many others across this nation, absolutely GUTTED.
Look; you suburban folk have enjoyed dominating the Democratic party nationally for a very long time now. But as a rural guy myself, I've got to tell you that we're pretty damned sick of it. Our lives really are very different from yours. We feel pretty much shit upon by rather a lot of public policy that is formulated by suburban types and imposed on us.
This is why rural voters started voting overwhelmingly for Republicans. Republicans didn't represent us any better than the Democrats did (worse, really), but at least they were kissing our asses and that felt like something.
You want us to win national elections together, you want to be a truly national party, you need rural voters to come home to the Democratic Party. And you can only do that by giving us a voice. It's a voice that is different from suburban voices, otherwise we wouldn't need it. And sometimes you won't like what it says. Like today.
Mudcat is the perfect, unadorned embodiment of that voice. He tells it like it is. If you want rural people to really move over into the Democratic party camp then you're just going to have to live with what we and Mudcat have to say.
Yup, his people.
You see its like this. Republicans are like snakes. Democrats today are like the folks who say, "Lets live and let live with the snakes". Then cry like little babies when the snake bites them in the ass. We need to stomp the snakes. And we have some snakes in my beloved Democratic party who have sucked up to the corporate teat for so long that they are addicted to it. We need to stomp the snakes. We need to beat them. Mudcat's style of no nonsense ass kicking is just what we need.
I just hope Obama takes the role of class warrior now for the rest of this primary season.