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John Edwards gave the best speech at the Harkin Steak Fry yesterday in front of 12,000 Democratic Activists in Iowa. Edwards was the 5th speaker of the day and one Edwards supporter told me that she thought there was no way Edwards would come out with a great speech because the previous 4 candidates basically said what he would say. Boy was she wrong.
Edwards had a large group of supporters staked out right in front of the stage and when Sen. Harkin was set to introduce him and said his name, they all went wild. Harkin had to wait a minute or two to continue.
Edwards began by talking about when Democrats don't work for working people, education, and people living in poverty, they lose their soul. He then added
Tom Harkin has never lost his soul.Edwards spent most of his speech on healthcare probably because Hillary Clinton is set to give a major policy speech in Iowa today and the SEIU will be considering who to endorse this week. All of his best lines and stories came out in the speech, including saying we can't sit at a table and negotiate with drug and insurance companies because they will eat all the food. He told the story of 51 year old James Lowe, who was born with a clef pallet and had to wait 50 years to get it fixed because he didn't have health insurance.
The two lines that probably got the biggest applause was when talking about energy independence, Edwards said...
It is time for the President to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war.Edwards also got cheers when he said...
We can't replace corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats.Edwards touched on the message from the response he made after Bush's address last week, saying...
Every single funding bill that goes to Bush should have a timetable for withdrawal. and if Bush vetoes it then send it back and if Bush vetoes it then send it back and if Bush vetoes it then send it back.At this time the entire crowd (not just the ones holding Edwards signs) were cheering loudly. Edwards added...
No timetable, no funding. It is time to bring this war to an end.Edwards ended by saying you can't just name yourself the change candidate by putting it up on a placard. The race is about bold vision and who Americans trust.
Earlier in the day there was a plane flying around with a banner that said IOWA IS EDWARDS COUNTRY. After this speech, Edwards surely gained support from some of the most active Democrats in Iowa.
**Update**
Iowa for Edwards and video of John Edwards' speech.
3 comments:
One of the people I drove down with said that this couple in Hillary t-shirts came up to an Edwards staffer standing next to him after John's talk and said "We want to sign supporter cards." So obviously he had an impact on some!
John Edwards is our best candidate!
And Democrats need to ignore the corporate media's shiny new objects - or else be duped like Repubs are by Fox News.
Excellent post, P. I wish I could have posted this on my blog last night, but alas I was in route back to Iowa City.
It was nice to see you again.
I will link your post on BW and other places and add by what I observed.
Glad you liked JRE's speech. It resonated with the crowd the most.
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