Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, both of whom have endorsed John Edwards for President, were on the campaign trail in Iowa this week with John Edwards. At stops in numerous Iowa towns, Browne and Raitt told voters that Edwards is the most progressive candidate who will bring about real change while Edwards thundered, he will "shake up D.C.!"
Watch a newsclip of the event here:
Opening up the first event with "A Thing Called Love," Raitt told the crowd:
Edwards is telling Americans what they want to hear about change. "What we're going to have with John Edwards, I believe on so many levels, from health care to education to civil rights to poverty to getting out of Iraq, not going to Iran, on every level the man is speaking what I think America wants to hear," she said. "And I'm ready for that thing called Edwards love. That's what I'm ready for."
Grammy Award winning Browne and Raitt performed a number of classics: "World in Motion," "Angel from Montgomery," "I Am a Patriot," and "Thing Called Love."
After the musical performance, Edwards spoke on ending the war in Iraq, Iran, and ending the corrupt game in Washington:
EDWARDS EMPHASIZES IRAQ--AND ROCKS OUT
Ater Browne and Raitt performe a few songs, Edwards got straight to the point. "I wanna start with the war in Iraq," he told a large crowd at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. "We must bring this war to a close."
He mentioned a new Congressional report estimating that Iraq will cost taxpayers $2.8 trillion if the US keeps troops there for 10 years with a "Korea-like" presence. The audience erupted in boos. "Correct response," Edwards replied. "All the Democratic candidates talk about ending the war. That's great. Do they have a specific way to do it?"
He posed a few questions that were clearly directed at Hillary Clinton. "I have heard Senator Clinton say she would keep combat troops in Iraq and continue combat missions." Edwards, by contrast, would withdraw 40-50,000 troops immediately and get all combat troops out within a year.
He then assailed Hillary's vote for the Kyl-Lieberman resolution on Iran. If Bush invades the country, Edwards asked, would politicians like Senator Clinton say "if only I knew then what I know now?"
After that, Edwards broadened the discussion to domestic concerns, arguing that Democrats needed to take on corporate America and give 'em hell. "Does anyone really believe that if we trade a crowd of corporate Republicans for a crowd of corporate Democrats there's gonna be any change in Washington?" he asked rhetorically. "No!" the audience replied. "We need to shake Washington up!" he responded to loud applause.
Edwards is already shaking things up! He is refusing donations from corporate lobbyists and has asked all candidates to join him in this. Edwards is the only candidate confronting the corrupt, rigged system in Washington and willing to fight for working people, to restore their power. He's also stated that, Politicians Should Not Have Health Care When The American People Do Not promising to revoke Congressional members healthcare if they are not willing to provide healthcare for regular Americans.
What's absurd, actually, is for a Democratic candidate for president to make the case for why politicians in Washington deserve health care at taxpayers' expense when 47 million regular Americans have no health care coverage at all.
"This dispute goes to the core of the real differences between us. Contrary to what Senator Clinton may believe, the Constitution does not place the power in the hands of the health industry, the insurance industry or any industry or lobbyist – no matter how much campaign money they pour into the campaign coffers of presidential and Congressional campaigns.
"The Constitution places the ultimate power in the hands of the people. And it is the American people whom I will fight for every single day as president."
Browne told reporters that "working people need a champion...that person is John Edwards":
"It's a challenge to hook yourself up to what a politician says he's going to do, and see if he's going to do it," the singer-songwriter said in a telephone interview. "I think it's a really critical time in our country and our world, and I think that working people need a champion, and I think that John Edwards is that person."
As Deeth of the Independent Iowa wrote, "Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt are no strangers to working for progressive causes." Both have been activists since the seventies on a number of issues and founded NukeFree.org
Browne and Raitt teamed up with Graham Nash to protest more nuclear plants and produced a video to build support against a bailout to the Nuclear Industry.
Check it out here:
John Edwards who is opposed to building more nuclear plants due to unsafe storage methods, has proposed an Energy Plan that has been lauded by the League of Conservation Voters and Friends of the Earth, who recently endorsed Edwards for President.
The Edwards Energy Plan offers a bold approach to the growing environmental crisis and will break the United States’ dependence on foreign oil.
A New Energy Economy
The Edwards Plan halts global warming, achieves energy independence and jumpstarts a new energy economy by:
·Capping greenhouse gas pollution starting in 2010 with a cap-and-trade system, and reducing it by 15 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050, as the latest science says is needed to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
·Leading the world to a new climate treaty that commits other countries—including developing nations—to reduce their pollution. Edwards will insist that developing countries join us in this effort, offering to share new clean energy technology and, if necessary, using trade agreements to require binding greenhouse reductions.
·Creating a New Energy Economy Fund by auctioning off $10 billion in greenhouse pollution permits and repealing subsidies for big oil companies. The fund will support U.S. research and development in energy technology, help entrepreneurs start new businesses, invest in new carbon-capture and efficient automobile technology and help Americans conserve energy.
·Meeting the demand for more electricity through efficiency for the next decade, instead of producing more electricity.
Jackson Browne is supporting John Edwards for President not only because he is the most electable, progressive candidate on nuclear energy but also because Edwards has the best solutions for Iraq and healthcare and trusts Edwards to represent all Americans, not just the top income earners.
He [Jackson Browne] said Edwards is "certainly the most progressive of the candidates that have a chance" at winning the presidency. He said that Edwards had the best solutions for the war Iraq, health care and nuclear power, and that he would faithfully represent working Americans.
Tuesday, the trio, Browne, Raitt and Edwards, stopped in where Edwards unveiled his Five-Point Plan To Reform System For Treating American Veterans Suffering From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
The tour wrapped up with Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt rock-n-rollin’ for Edwards in Grinell and Des Moines, Iowa.
I will shake up D.C., Edwards thunders
Presidential candidate John Edwards declared Tuesday night that he would not back down in his quest to defeat the powers that he says have corrupted Washington, D.C."If you're considering caucusing for John Edwards, you know what you're gonna get — because I'm gonna shake that place up," he told hundreds of Iowans packed into the auditorium at Des Moines' Roosevelt High School.
The former North Carolina senator gave one of his most emphatic speeches of the year before a crowd that had gathered partly to hear musicians Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne sing on his behalf. The musicians weren't the only ones drawing standing ovations. The audience cheered and whistled when Edwards called for their help in fighting to get the country back on track.
A voter asked him whether he had the management experience to lead the country, given that his professional background mainly consisted of confronting rivals as a trial lawyer. Edwards retorted: "Hell, yeah, I'm confrontational."
[UPDATE 1: EDWARDS will not cross the WGA picket line, even if that means not attending the Dec 10th Debate---he stands strong with Unions]
Just in:
EDWARDS TO HONOR WRITERS GUILD PICKET LINES
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards released the following statement:
"Elizabeth and I will honor the members of the Writers Guild of America who are on strike at ‘The View’ by canceling our appearance on the show next week. I call on all of my fellow candidates and their campaigns to do the same.
"In addition, we will also honor any picket lines at CBS News, up to and including the CBS presidential debate on December 10th. As I said when I walked the WGA picket line in California last Friday, these workers are making a simple request for their fair share of the huge profits being made by multinational media corporations.
"I am a strong believer in collective bargaining, and I hope that in each of these disputes, management and the union are able to agree on a just settlement. But until those settlements are reached, I will stand firmly with these workers in their fight for a better life."