2008 presidential candidate John Edwards offers a YouTube preview of his address to members of the Riverside Church in Harlem in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today.
The Speech [excerpts]
Transcript here
From the One America Committee blog:
Nearly 40 years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced his opposition to the war in Vietnam from the same pulpit. King urged Americans to speak out against the war, declaring that "Silence is betrayal."From the Riverside Church blog:
Watch the video to hear Senator Edwards discuss his address, in which he will call on members of the House and Senate to take a stand and block funding of Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq.
You can speak up with Senator Edwards and honor the memory of Martin Luther King by signing the petition to block funding for escalation and by calling your Senators directly. Click here to find your Senators' phone number.
As we enter 2007, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday is a chance to once again reflect on what has and has not been achieved. What would Dr. King say if he knew that the number of Americans living in poverty equals the population of twenty-five states? What would he say if he knew that it is now easier for a poor child in Britain or France to advance socially than a poor child in America? What would he say to rising education and healthcare costs, while the real wages of many working Americans stagnate or decline?
EXCERPTS OF REMARKS AS PREPARED
"Realizing the Dream"
Senator John Edwards
Riverside Church, Harlem, January 14, 2007
Forty years ago, almost to the month, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at this pulpit, in this house of God, and with the full force of his conscience, his principles and his love of peace, denounced the war in Vietnam, calling it a tragedy that threatened to drag our nation down to dust.
As he put it then, there comes a time when silence is a betrayal -- not only of one’s personal convictions, or even of one’s country alone, but also of our deeper obligations to one another and to the brotherhood of man.
That’s the thing I find the most important about the sermon Dr. King delivered here that day. He did not direct his demands to the government of the United States, which was escalating the war. He issued a direct appeal to the people of the United States, calling on us to break our own silence, and to take responsibility for bringing about what he called a revolution of values.
A revolution whose starting point is personal responsibility, of course, but whose animating force is the belief that we cannot stand idly by and wait for others to right the wrongs of the world.
And this, in my view, is at the heart of what we should remember and celebrate on this day. This is the dream we must commit ourselves to realizing.
* * *
Escalation is not the answer, and our generals will be the first to tell you so. The answer is for the Iraqi people and others in the region to take responsibility for rebuilding their own country. If we want them to take responsibility, we need to show them that we are serious about leaving – and the best way to do that is actually to start leaving and immediately withdraw 40-50,000 troops.
That is why I have spoken out against the McCain Doctrine of escalation. That's why Congress must step up and stop the president from putting more troops in harm's way.
If you’re in Congress and you know this war is going in the wrong direction, it is no longer enough to study your options and keep your own counsel.
Silence is betrayal. Speak out, and stop this escalation now. You have the power to prohibit the president from spending any money to escalate the war – use it.
And to all of you here today – and the millions like us around the country who know this escalation is wrong – your job is to reject the easy way of apathy and choose instead the hard course of action.
Silence is betrayal. Speak out. Tell your elected leaders to block this misguided plan that is destined to cost more lives and further damage America’s ability to lead. And tell them also, that the reward of courage...is trust.
The late Senator Paul Wellstone's 1999 tribute to Rev. Dr. King can be read here.
21.jpg)
.JPG)
20 comments:
Edwards is a wolf in sheep's clothing, plain and simple.
Stop for a minute, and consider what he's actually done, and not his talk.
While many members in congress wisely voted against the Iraq war, Edwards not only voted for it, he co-sponsored the disastrous resolution with neocon Joe Lieberman, that made it possible.
Edwards also co-sponsored and voted for the massive increase in H-1b visas, that dumped 195,000 foreign workers on the job market, destroying perhaps hundreds of thousands of American tech careers.
Edwards voted for normal trade relations with China, making American workers have to compete with Chinese labor standards, which of course they can't.
Edwards voted for the DREAM act, forcing states to give in-state tuition (a subsidy) to illegal aliens, when there are poor Americans in these states who can’t afford to send their kids to college, partially because illegal immigration drove down their wages. This act, of course only encourages more illegal immigration because it extends even further the taxpayers obligations to those who break our laws to come here.
But what about civil liberties? Here again, Edwards voted to the Patriot act, perhaps the greatest risk to civil liberties, ever.
Edwards supporters don’t want Edwards to be held accountable for these facts. Yet, Edwards made himself extremely wealthy holding others (such as doctors) accountable - while doctors malpractice premiums rose so much as to make many obstetricians leave their specialty. More illegal alien taxpayer payed births, and fewer obstetricians - could that be why health care costs are skyrocketing?
One simple question - 10 years ago, if you did your job, the way Edwards performed as Senator, do you think he would he advocate that you get a big promotion?
Or do you think he would he have sued you and taken you to the cleaners?
How are things in Des Moines, Iowa, my anonymous friend? John Edwards is a favorite there, as I've seen in the polls. I found it interesting that you came to this blog specifically looking for articles about John Edwards on a search.
Almost all of my thoughts on this type of mischaracterization of Senator Edwards on the IWR have already been discussed here.
Discussion about his life and beginnings as a small town attorney can be seen here.
I have to say that you're off-base when you say: "Edwards supporters don’t want Edwards to be held accountable for these facts."
If I believe Senator Edwards is saying something with which I do not agree, I don't don rose colored glasses. Likewise, Senator Edwards admits when he's mistaken. I like that very much about him.
You seem to have placed a lot of anti-Edwards propaganda here. Who are you supporting for POTUS 2008?
You obviously don't know much about what John Edwards has been saying for the past two years, or if you have, you have chosen not to believe. Try JohnEdwards.com. Join in the conversation. Unless you don't want your mind to be changed, of course. Your option.
John Edwards is the best one running for President and in spite of his original support for the war, has proven to be the only one espousing the problems of working families.
If it helps to clarify things, "Anonymous" could have pulled this straight from the RNC's list of talking points.
The pundits of wingnuttery have mentioned each and every one of the "facts" our friend so kindly posted here. Unfortunately for him, some of us read LGF, Hewitt, and the rest of the nutjobs almost daily. And of course, some of what you see here are mischaracterizations, and some of these are outright lies.
As the RNC was apprehensive about Edwards in 2004, expect more and more of these things to surface as we head to 2008.
jollyroger,
what of what i said was a mischaracterization?
what part, was an 'outright lie'?
and iddybud, i've learned the hard way, that people's actions are far more important than what you want to hear
believe it or not, but i've never voted republican in my life, not ever
but i have voted independent, in addition to democrat, because i feel i've been sold out
what part of what i said, is a 'mischaracterization'? can you be specific? I was.
what part of what i said, isnt true?
what part of what i said, isnt relevant?
my issues were jobs, war, civil rights and health care
are they not important to you?
and one more comment,
maybe your job wasn't taken by an H-1b or an illegal alien
but suppose there were a boat called 'middle class', and someone poked 2 large holes the bottom of it
would it matter where they poked the holes?
I highly suspect that "anonymous" is a political operative. Who else would have the time to do a Google search on John Edwards just to go out and attack him? I wish I had so much spare time. If I did, it would be spent on a far more worthy pursuit. I do not encourage that kind of activity here at my blog. This anonymous person's straight out of an operative's playbook.
Larry, I am in the process of posting to YouTube excerpts from a speech I shot in Buffalo, NY of John Edwards addressing a symposium on poverty in Western New York. In that speech, he speaks specifically about how America is better than this...how, with the right kind of leadership, the will of this country can be tapped to support legislation for a new "cycle of independence" (vs. the 60's 'War on Poverty's' cycle of dependence). He wants to raise up the working poor because he understands it will make our entire nation stronger if we do it right. He says we can end opoverty in 30 years. I figure we can sit and scoff at the idea because it seems unachievable or we can work to see that the dream is put into action.
Posters like "anonymous" on this thread choose to look back and be pessimistic and to wait around for someone else to do the work for them - - instead of being the change they wish to see.
Even my 12-year old son got that message when he wrote this award winning speech four years ago.
Excerpt:
If we failed to perform our duties as citizens, our nation could fall into the hands of those who would make decisions without our knowledge or consent. That could bring our cities, states, and country into a state of crisis.
Being patriotic is important, but that doesn't mean we only wave our flag. That is important, but it is only a part of what being patriotic means. It also means being willing to serve our country and taking part in our government to help make the right choices. If we don't make a stand for what we think is right, the things we want might never happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm done listening to naysayers. I see how far it's gotten all of us.
It's time for us to move forward and accomplish great and noble tasks together, as great leaders have led Americans to do in the past.
what's interesting is, not one of you could contest either the truth or the relevance of any of the issues I mentioned
If someone like John Edwards doesn't get into office to not only straighten up the mess in the Mideast, but to also fix the economy, this country will not be able to afford any real conflicts.
Edwards is better for the average and below average wage earner than any other candidate.
larry said
'Edwards is better for the average and below average wage earner than any other candidate'
according to his record, that simply isnt true
H-1b visas DEVESTATED tech workers, and he co-sponsored the bill that added 195,000 per year
that's an almost unbelievable volume of workers dumped on the market - Americans then had to train their own replacements.
And Edwards co-sponsored the bill that did this, fall 2000. The bill is S-2045
I know that S-2045 will not change my mind about Senator Edwards being a capable and potentially great President. That's all you'll get from me on the matter. As for your other comment, I did reply to you about many of the issues you raised. I even have gone so far as to offer you relevant links chock-filled with my views on the issues. You aren't very appreciative.
By the way, anonymous, I don't want you to think I'm brushing you off on 2045. It's just that the bill was passed at a time when America had promise of being a far more prosperous country, not just for the richest, but for everyone. Sen. Edwards wants America to be competitive in every way, as strong as we can be... especially in Education, where we're woefully behind in Math, Science, and Engineering in this country. I believe the America John Edwards wished to see in 2000 was an America in which we were competitive and growing stronger in every way. In the past six years, Bush has taken meaningful federal support for Education down the tubes and he has granted access to the rich while the poor were left behind. America 2007 is surely not the America of 2000.
If you want to discuss this with a lot more people, you can go to the JohnEdwards.com link and start a conversation.
'It's just that the bill was passed at a time when America had promise of being a far more prosperous country, not just for the richest, but for everyone'
that's exactly right
problem is, that bill was part of ending that era
hundreds of thousands of h-1bs were brought in at a time when no new jobs were created in tech - hundreds of thousands of American tech workers lost their jobs, and many had to train their replacement
h-1b made tech a 'heads we win, tails you lose' proposition for Americans
in the boom, the upside is cut off by massive imigration, and then when the bottom drops out, well, tough luck - no safety net
it's actually the exact opposite of farm price support programs - the senate knew exactly what they were doing, and so did edwards
only, with h-1b, the beneficiarys are 'poor struggling guys' like Bill Gates
you may find this hard to believe, but my values probably arent much different than yours
even free market economist Milton Friedman called H-1b a subsididy to corporations from the middle class
"There is no doubt," he says, "that the [H-1B] program is a benefit to their employers, enabling them to get workers at a lower wage, and to that extent, it is a subsidy."
http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/labor/story/0,10801,72848,00.html
anonymous,
I believe that we aren't so far apart in our values, either.
I do hope you'll head over to the John Edwards site I linked and ask them about it.
Often, you'll be very surprised by getting answers from the Senator himself when he does his monthly podcast.
I understand your concerns, and I realize that issues involving fairness, globalization and American labor are extremely difficult political rivers to navigate. If there's one thing I've seen, though, it's Senator Edwards out there - very active -supporting U.S. Labor when no one else has come close to his level of support. Tech guru Steve Rubel called Senator Edwards a great ambassador for the tech industry after Edwards reached out to the industry at Gnomedex conference in Seattle this past year.
iddybud, thaks for your open minded attitude in your last comment - i'll open my mind as well, and take a look at your links
but before i go, i'll show you what turned me on edwards - i thought he was 'the guy' in the last election, until i heard this live in the debates - then i looked up his record on other things i cared about, and was floored
SEN. EDWARDS:
I want to go back for just a minute though to this whole discussion about our liberties and about what we see happening in America today, because I think it is so fundamental. First, I want to say that this idea that the FBI is increasing surveillance of `anti-war` protestors, which Reverend Sharpton just made reference to, is outrageous. What kind of McCarthyism is that?
And, on top of that -- on top of that, they have a policy that allows them to arrest an American citizen on American soil, label them an enemy combatant, put them in prison, keep them there indefinitely -- they never see a lawyer, never see a judge, never get a hearing. These violate the very heart and soul of this country. These folks will change the fabric of America if we let them, and we have got to stand up and speak out.
MR. BROKAW: But, Senator Edwards, as I remember, your colleague Russ Feingold was the only senator who said just that when this bill was before your chamber, and you voted for the Patriot Act as a lawyer. You knew what was in it.
You've been hard at work, "anonymous", with your hit and runs.
HERE
HERE
HERE
HERE
I surely don't feel special anymore. You trolled for any JRE posts you could find.
...and HERE, too
...and HERE, too
..and HERE, too
...and HERE, too
...and HERE, too
but iddybud, you are special, and you have a pretty profile pic :)
Post a Comment