If a huge state votes for Clinton it doesn't count, but if a tiny little state where Democrats are solidly in the minority votes for Obama it's a huge victory for Obama. Fairness 2008.

Yes, Go Petey! That man seemed to be everywhere on the Internets these last few months. He never even waivered once, even when this was pretty obvious. That kind of loyalty and commitment is a rare thing and he should be proud of himself.

> but king of the hill was,
> without doubt, Petey, who
> probably wrote more on this
> blog than I did, and likely
> converted more undecided
> voters than anyone who didn't
> share the candidate's surname.

Converted to which candidate is the unanswered question though.

Cranky

"I find it freakishly easy to line out the politics" - Petey

Kelly

Which part of "not allowed to campaign in" don't you understand.

Her name recognition alone would have won her the primary in Florida.

Oh, your just buttering us up because you want our endorsement too.

"Fairness 2008"

Doesn't the usual conception of "fairness" include abiding by the rules upon which everybody initially agreed?

Brautigan, Kelly, altus:

wrong thread.

I don't question Petey's loyalty and commitment, but I'm not sure how his over-the-top deification of Edwards was supposed to convince anyone who wasn't already devoted to the guy.

The favorable feelings I have toward Edwards are in spite of, not because of, his fanatical followers among blog commenters (yes, there are plenty of similarly obnoxious Clinton and Obama supporters).

Forget Edwards' endorsement! Who will Petey endorse???

Yeah, I would question the number of undecided voters Petey converted towards Edwards (as opposed to away from him).

Well...whatever.

That WAS a nice thing to say.
[And his candidate did a lot to frame the debate...
direct the discourse..
in our general direction.
A good one.

So Good on Both Youse, Mates.

kth,

If the Patriots equals team Clinton, they did not benched all their starters, they left the QB in (Clinton name on the ballot in MI) and prior to the second game they started telling Dolphin fans that their games should be counted.

That was easy.

I started looking at the blogs post-Iowa precisely to shore up my leanings towards Edwards and ended up split right down the middle between him and Obama.

I read their supporters' arguments and did what they told me to do. I researched the candidates' voting records, and adviser teams, while looking at the campaigns' success among various camps, I realized that while BHO and JRE have different strengths and weaknesses none of it added up to a clear reason why Edwards would be a better choice than Obama in "real world" (i.e., not rhetoric-based) terms of what either one of them could accomplish while in office given a deadlocked congress and a non-engaged electorate.

But I'm angry at Edwards because he ultimately broke his promise to stay on till Feb. 5. At the very least I could have made a final gut-check decision. Many of us essentially got to weasel out of a real choice between theories of change.

Personally, I found the Edwards commenters annoying, but then that's probably because I found the arguments for Edwards' candidacy (that a conservative Southern Senator would be the great political hope; that American voters are so racist and sexist that only Southern white males can win an election; and that there's no way Edwards' Rube Goldberg health plan could possibly be weakened by Republican and insurance company opposition) annoying.

Dilan spits hot fire!!

The five best commentators are Dilan, Dilan, Dilan, Dilan, and Dilan!

Who is Dilan against now that the annoying straw men have been bested?

I found you to be an douche baggy drama queen so I guess were are even.

Eh, I just find Edwards supporters to be far to close to the Purity Candidate line of Nader/Kucinich/Paul (can't spell it, not my Congresscritter, not sorry) for my taste.

But aside from being annoying they were tireless advocates for their man and on the whole pretty respectful.

BTW, I clicked the mini-pundit link, he seems to be a mini-prick as well.

Thanks for the shout-out on a sad day, Ezra.

Uniting the left, as always, is like herding cats.

Edwards did not withdraw he suspended his campaign. He will still be on the ballots and many many of his supporters still intend to vote for him. I am one of them. I will vote for who I believe is best and am sick of the MSM telling me what my choice is. My vote, My choice. I won't compromise my beliefs so I am staying with Edwards. If for no other reason, than to send a message. Thank you!

I am still going to vote for JRE and evryone else who wants to can do that also. I see no choice between Clinton or Obama.

Edwards supporters believe in his message and his message is like no other. No other candidate committed him or herself to the American people by refusing money from special interests groups. Thus his message was pure, honest, and and never changed. His ethics, are of the highest caliber...for that we remain committed to him. There is no alternative candidate!

I made my decision on who to vote for based on the issues, and ONLY the issues. Race and gender have become irrelevant to me. You look around the world and you see corrupt politicians of all races and genders. The US is at a crisis point, and the issues of our economy, jobs, the war in Iraq, the debt, health care crisis are paramount to me. I looked at all the candidates, their sites first, Edwards was the only candidate who had a detailed platform. I called the Clinton HQ and tried to get some questions answered. The response I was given was "we were told not to answer questions, perhaps after the primary.", no amount of insisting changed that. I called Obama's HQ, I had been inspired by his speech at the Convention in 2004, and all I'd read about him since, but all you got was a person who worked at a 3rd party call center who took your name, address and tried to solicit a donation. They promised a call back, it never came. I got through to the Iowa HQ, and a staffer, they wouldn't answer my questions.

I was familiar with Edwards platform from his site, but called anyway to ask a few more questions. I was put directly through to a policy staffer. She answered my questions in detail.

I was impressed by the commitment by Edwards to take on the complex and tough issues common sense told you needed to be addressed, and was equally impressed with everything else I learned about John Edwards. As time went on, I had less respect for both Clinton and Obama because of their respective histories. Connections to corporate interests, influence peddlers, their willingness to take money from those who demand our rights and protections be diminished. Outsourcers, and con men. I can't see myself voting for either of them.

I will be voting for John Edwards on 2/5, I am committed to him, as he is committed to us. I want my vote to provide Edwards with delegates, I trust him to do what is best with those delegates. He hasn't quit the campaign, merely suspended it. I know he'll use those delegates to force another candidate to commit to components of his platform dealing with bad trade laws, regulating corporate interests and incentivizing the creation of manufacturing jobs for American citizens, here in the US. Deincentivizing outsourcing and regulating visas.

One thing I know is, if a democratic candidate isn't going to commit to those issues, especially knowing about the pain the citizenry is struggling through, then they aren't truly democrats. If one is going to vote for a republican, perhaps it's better to vote for one who is at least honest about it?? I don't know what I would do, but I do not see any redeeming value in voting for either of them the way things stand, without a firm commitment they can not back out from.

Of course, the two-faced lying dickhead Petey continues his ways over at Yglesias, just a few hours after thanking Ezra for the shout out.

And, of course, the lowest circle of hell is reserved for Ezra Klein, a "progressive healthcare blogger" who made his name by arguing for the Edwards/Clinton universal healthcare plan, only to endorse the candidate bashing the Edwards/Clinton plan back when the outcome of the race was still very much in doubt.