Yesterday evening I attended a rally for John Edwards at a union hall in Columbus, Ohio — not because I’m necessarily an Edwards supporter myself, but because I wanted to see Edwards and his message for myself, unfiltered and, as Darth Vader would say, through my own eyes. While waiting for Edwards to arrive, I asked the person next to me why she supported John Edwards for President. Interestingly, what she and another person standing next to her had to say was more about their thoughts on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama than about John Edwards.
You can click here for a short podcast of the conversation, or you can read it below.
Transcript:
Ann: My name is Ann and I support John Edwards because he’s the only one I’ve heard so far who has a really definitive, different kind of plan for health care for this country. He wants to get out of the war, which is a good thing. We never should have got into it. He brings a fresh face to Washington. He’s not part of the establishment. Never has been part of the establishment up there. Hillary’s too defensive and Obama doesn’t have enough experience.
Me: OK, now…
Participant 2: Obama can’t make it. He’ll never make it.
Me: Why can’t Obama make it?
Participant 2: He’s got two strikes against him. He’s a black man, and he’s a Muslim.
Me: But… he’s not a Muslim.
Participant 2: Yes, he is.
Me: He’s a Christian.
Ann: He’s a church member.
Participant 2: Are you sure? Because I’ve read articles. Has he always been raised Christian?
Participant 3: Have you been watching Fox News?
Ann: I watch Fox!
Me: Barack Obama’s not Muslim.
Participant 2: Oh, that’s good. He still can’t get it, and neither can Hillary. She’s a woman.
Ann: Hillary will probably get it. I just don’t want her to; she’s so defensive.
Participant 2: Well, the only thing with her, is you get two for the price of one.
Ann: Well, yeah, that would be OK. But…
Me: Did you see her in the debate that night?
Ann: I did.
Me: Did you see that moment where…
Ann: Yes, I did! I thought that was so, “I’ll have to talk to him tonight!”
Me: Or, “He’s not on this stage right now.”
Participant 2: Yeah, “You’re talking to me, you’re not talking to him!”
Me: So, I hear from you why not Clinton and why not Obama. Obama is just not realistic, and…
Participant 2: No, I just don’t think the country is ready for a black man or for a woman. We’re not ready in this country yet to treat those minorities as real people.
Me: What do you think it will take?
Participant 2: More time. More time.
Ann: I think Hillary could win, but I think that she will… I think that she’s a polarizing candidate, and you either love her or you hate her. There’s no middle ground with her, and women? The women who like her are, I think, not in my age group. They’re maybe younger women. You know, I grew up during the feminist era, so it’s not like I’m some… but I’m not some rah-rah-rah down to the wire “you’ve got to treat me different because I’m a woman” woman. But I think Hillary had to fight her way through the glass ceiling, and she wears those scars, and she’s always in there: “I have scars and I can prove it and I had to pull myself up by my bootstraps, and so can you, America.” Well, I don’t want someone who’s on the defensive all the time. We’ve already got a nutcase in the White House who’s on the defensive, always wanting to pick a fight. Hillary wants to pick a fight with somebody. I don’t want somebody like that. It’s in your face.
Me: If she ended up being the nominee…
Ann: I’d vote for her in half a minute, because I wouldn’t vote for a Republican if he was the last candidate on the face of the Earth…
Participant 2: Not one more vote for a Republican.
Ann: … because they have no heart and no soul, and they don’t give a damn about this country. They care about their pocketbook and that’s all.
Oh boy, will you people be surprised at how Republican her policies would be. Kucinich sounds good to me, but he won’t get the nod. Edwards would be my choice then.
I wish somebody would tell me who runs this country the so called gov’t you know the Senate the Congress the president the Supreme Court I’d always thought so but nowadays I wonder just a thought maybe it’s the bureaucrats senators congressman president’s come and go the Federal and state bureaucrats stay and stay you never hear the Federal employee retirement fund running out of money or being raided. Of course that’s not what this comet was for so it should fit right in as the government never uses tax money for what it was for just a thought