and my thoughts at the time were identical to yours. The hypocrisy of it all is astounding...but it's nothing less than what I have come to expect from the lizards we put in power, election after election.

I hope Edwards makes this a huge, ongoing campaign issue...were it up to me, I'd vote for him on this alone. And if he does continue to hammer on this I think it will resonate with the electorate with far more impact than virtually anything else.

I wish him luck.

I have to laugh at the phrase "horrible demagoguery." It's something on the level of Stephen Colbert's sin of "liberal" reality, "horrible reality" or "horrible truth." Never allow the reality of the situation to actually filter through to the common folk. I think what bothers the politicians about the metaphor is that it's very much old style populist or dare I say Socialist. The elites have their own system of values and morality and economics, while the serfs, proletariat, commoners have the state's or the church's, or God's (interpreted by the elites). At its core it's revolutionary, but not metaphoric revolutionary. French Revolutionary. Russian Revolutionary. Chop off their heads or hang them by their feet in the streets revolutionary. It points out the utter sham that is American democracy and equality today.

I forget which Republican probable pedophile it was but I remember that he was allowed to delay his exit from congress until after his term reached the point where he would get a pension. All those horrible "Socialist!" measures that are so damning to America and its economy, are so special and critical to politicians. They're (their) well deserved perks, not socialist welfare state measures. It's the "House of Lords" that the U.S. Senate was a copy of and all congress people so cherish.

And even at its fundamental levels, the socialist perks that congress people get are in no way comparable to those average people that might have health care insurance or pensions. Do you think there's a chance in hell that some senator will be told that he or she isn't covered for some procedure? Do you think there's a chance in hell or Congress that some politician will be told that the coverage for his or her child has reached its limit and that child and family will have to fend for itself? Do you think there's a chance in Congress that the existing pension plans and health coverages will be dropped due to the budget deficit?

Edwards' words are considered "demagoguery" but the President of the United States of America can go to the warehouse where Social Security bonds are stored, open a file cabinet and pull some out and while waving some of those bonds in the air say, "See, they're only paper." That's acceptable rhetoric? Not demagoguery. A promise from the nation state to its people that their life savings for old age might not be worth more than the paper it's written on.

Never in my lifetime has a "let them eat cake" society been so apparent in America. It's the metaphor of "The Village" but without the least sense of parental concern of that flick and with the cold blunt lordly disregard and massive exploitation. Czar Nicholas cared more about the plight of the Russian people than America's politicians do the people they are supposed to represent.

I must tell you that the liberty and freedom [of the people] consists in having of Government, those laws by which their life and their goods may be most their own. It is not for having share in Government, Sir, that is nothing pertaining to them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things.
-- Charles I, 1649

Our elites have clearly gobbled up the message that a subject and a sovereign are clean different things. They and we ought perhaps to notice the context in which it was said -- Charles was on the scaffold. We can learn from history that a certain amount of populism is necessary health insurance for the elites.

Of course, at that point, congress will just vote itself another COLA to compensate for the loss of health care coverage...

Honestly, it's pandering, in the sense that anyone in the Senate can easily afford health care, so it's really only symbolic pressure.

If you don't really have a shot at the top, just say what needs to be said.

I'm starting to like Edwards even more as he does this. I think it is why people like Ron Paul too.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

Charles Darwin

doing taxes, so i know precisely what healthcare cost for my husband and i last year: $17,800.

i don't make $200,000 a year. $17,800 is a pretty decent chunk of my money, but it's not enough that much of it is deductible off my taxes.

although i'm increasingly disenchanted with edwards, and i doubt he would actually follow through with this if elected, i like the idea and appreciate him at least bringing it up.

Saying that Congress' healthcare should be withheld until Americans have healthcare is the kind of meaningless dialogue I dislike in politicians. Tell me what you are going to do, not some drivel.

It compares with the 'issues' of prayer in the public schools, hanging ten commandments on the wall, not burning a flag. So lets add Congress people get no healthcare until ALL Americans do. (Play appropriate sound bite music here). A distraction and not policy.

I did find it curious that Kerry and Edwards had NO healthcare policy in 2004. Is that true??

Hi
I think John has a wonderful idea, I'm home recovering from surgry and even with great health care, my part of the bill will be 1000.00 plus some lost wages for 6 weeks. This isn't bad at all, because if I was still self employeed this would be $35,000 and then some. I could never afford it then. Congress should have the same health care as the 40 million people that don't have any. 0
jo6pac

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much...it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

but i will anyway, despite no link. someone had a poll up recently that noted that a majority of americans don't want "socialized medicine." iirc the number was around 65%. my only point is that decrying this "outrage" by edwards is the first step in a carefully calculated, and highly effective, discoursive campaign to walk americans away from what they really want, to something they don't. it begins by convincing them that the only solutions to their problems are worse than the problems themselves.

hence, terms like "horrible demagoguery." oh, the horror! never mind kids dying from completely preventable/curable infected teeth and old people being put down like animals to save the family money. bad, naughty words lead to incivility which leads to crying rich people which leads to COMMUNISM!!!1! for some reason, (i think lack of decent public education, mostly) this works with enough people that the corporate mouthpiece/village press can go into pearl-clutching mode and rest safe in knowing it's enough to kill this one as an electoral plus for edwards.

question the (publically funded) comforts of the rich, and their courtiers? that's just not allowed, in 90% of public discourse. and it's mocked in the other ten percent.

I think something happened between 2004 and his kick off in NOLA. Who runs to help the poor. No benefit in that whatsoever. He disappointed me on Iraq a few weeks ago but corrected his statement.

But this is the break out moment. This has been said before but it has to be hammered again and again. We need national health insurance. We also need a candidate that truly turns on the plutocrats. Will Edwards embrace populism once and for all?

Since I'll probably never trust him, I'm not likely have a strong reaction to his efforts but I like this move. Hammer it again and again, read The Money Party ;) and kick some serious ass.

I spent 10 days in North Georgia in August, Zel Miller country. If Zel had popped in at the homes and gatherings I attended, he'd have been greeted by angry small business folks. Their critiques of Bush-Cheney were well thought out and devastating. They are Republicans no more. And that's just Zel country. The rest of the country is ready also. It's time to kick it in.

If Edwards can't be consistent, look for some predictible indiscretion of you know who to surface effectively ending HRC's campaign ... then a Gore announcement.