Dunno, I know health care/insurance is broken. Then again medicare/aid is pretty bad too.

Really? That’s not been my experience though I’ve never used either program.

But my Mom recently had surgery under Medicare and her supplemental insurance. Performed at probably the finest cancer facility in the word by fantastic staff.

And not out of pocket a dime despite a very reasonably priced supplemental policy.

A rich guy who calls for much higher taxes and thus a lower of the standard of living of the middle class is a rank hypocrite

sd,
Where did John Edwards promise to raise taxes for the middle class?

Edward’s proposals of free health care and free college for all are the worst kind of vote buying and he is using other people’s money to pay the bill.

Do you suggest the poor count solely on philanthropy for education and health care?

Now should education and healthcare be free or more highly subsudized? Dunno, I know health care/insurance is broken. Then again medicare/aid is pretty bad too.

Free education would let alot of people attend that otherwise would not. But would also lower thier desire to actually achieve anything. Personally, I favor the pay for it approach here. But then again, in Ohio they keep cutting funding for higher education which causes recurring rate increases that are starting to push college out of the reach of lower class incomes, so I can see his point.

Edward’s proposals of free health care and free college for all are the worst kind of vote buying and he is using other people’s money to pay the bill. If he really cared about the poor he could live in a modest house and donate his money to charities. However, Edwards decided to use a charity to support his traveling around the U.S. and even put his daughter on the board so that her lousy paying intern job in NYC (before she went to Harvard) could be paid for by others.

It is the same where he propose to bus middle class children into the ghetto for the benefit of Democratic voting blacks while his own children attended private schools when he lived in DC.

SD All of the presidential candidates are extremely rich – with the exception of Gravel, Paul and Kucinich. Does that mean that none of them have the right to try to help the poor?

Glenn Greenwald said it best:

Worse still, the claim that there is something “hypocritical” about Edwards’ wealth — now a pervasive premise of Conventional Wisdom — is premised on a complete misunderstanding of “hypocrisy.” The attribute of “hypocrisy” is one who advocates “Principle X” and then acts contrary to that principle (as in: “I believe in Traditional Marriage and I’d like you to meet my third wife,” or “I believe in Traditional Marriage and I’m in a rush to make my appointment at the escort agency/to meet my young aide and mistress/to consult with my divorce lawyer”).

John Edwards isn’t advocating for the elimination of private property or for prohibitions on personal wealth, so his personal wealth isn’t remotely “hypocritical.” He is advocating for government policies designed to address the plight of America’s poor. His own personal wealth — just as was true for Robert Kennedy or Franklin Roosevelt or even Lyndon Johnson — is irrelevant and not even remotely “hypocritical” for those who understand that term.

Of course there has been no discussion of Senator Obama’s high paying job and her continuing to work while her husband as a full time politician.

Several right wing bloggers and politico.com have pointed out that Edwards is supporting a return to forced busing. Why is that not more important that the designers that Jeri Thompson is wearing?

None of the above, though…I laugh.

Its not Jeri Thompson’s bust size that surprised people, but the way she dresses- emphasizing the age difference between her and ol’ Fred.

It seems that Democrats would rather discuss the bust size of Fred Thompson’s wife rather than the leadership or management abilities of any of their candidates.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Anyone recall the haircut megacontroversy?

Also, the attacks from the left have been very effective. It seems that the moveon.org types have adopted the Gray Davis strategy of attacking your future Republican opponents instead of concentrating on the Democratic Primary. Such thinking ensures that Senator Clinton will be the nominee since the Democratic Party does not seem to want to have a serious discussion about the differences among the candidates. It seems that Democrats would rather discuss the bust size of Fred Thompson’s wife rather than the leadership or management abilities of any of their candidates.

It is quite possible that the next president will be know before the end of the February primaries and the U.S. will have 11 months between the real deciding elections and the inaugural.