Wednesday, January 30, 2008

John Edwards Drops Out

Dammit! But at least I've found something that Eric Alterman and I agree on.
He was both the most progressive candidate on issues and the most electable on paper, and yet he did not get the support of most progressives or most professionals. This despite the fact that he actually ran a terrific campaign and, more than Obama and Hillary, defined it in a positive direction. That he forced the other candidates to respond did not end up mattering as much as the media's fascination with all things Clintonian, Obamian, and the egregiously awful coverage of Edwards. The Washington Post deserves special mention for its idiotic 1,300-word piece on his haircut and an even longer one on his house. Richard Cohen and Michael Dobbs both called him a liar and presented no evidence. The editorial board attacked him constantly. The New York Times also went in for the "How can you care about poor people when you're so rich?" line of questioning, which implies that poor people are unentitled to representation in the American political system, since it allows for only wealthy people to run. And Maureen Dowd was her usual awful, substanceless self, helping to set the tone for the rest, to the shame of all of us.

3 comments:

Kate said...

Now what do we do?

Unknown said...

Well, you can explore the third-party candidate suite, you can decide that party loyalty is more important than ideological loyalty and vote for whomever captures the nomination, or you can decide that one of the other candidates is close enough to your position that they get your support and vote.

The longer this goes on, the more the outcome of the general election seems to be shaped before it even arrives.

red rabbit said...

Well, Super Tuesday is 4 days away and I just may vote for Edwards, anyway.

I'm determined to support the Democratic nominee no matter who it is, assuming I can still stomach that person by November.

Alex, it does seem at odds with the idea of a "democratically elected government" that the nominees have been all but anointed by less than 3% of voters. Somebody really oughtta do something about that.