John Edwards’ Response to Bush Speech
Last night’s speech by President Bush revealed that he plans to continue a military presence in Iraq indefinitely. And he continued to beat the drums against Iran. But John Edwards bought time on MSNBC and told the truth boldly. His challenge was not only to Bush, but also the Democratic leadership in Congress–and I hope Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Majority Leader Reid were paying attention. The challenge is also to ordinary U.S. citizens. Our elected officials work for us and we need to make them hear our voices and end this occupation–or else.
Edwards has set a new standard for the top-tier candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, too. Only longshots like Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson have been this bold–and never with such a national audience. Will Senator Clinton or Senator Obama step up to this challenge? Will we?
2 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
About
Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. I live in Louisville, KY USA with my wife, Kate, and our two wonderful daughters. My wife, Kate, is a Baptist minister who works at a Catholic charity (the Society of St. Vincent de Paul) to provide assisted housing to homeless people. Our daughters are Molly (’95) and Miriam (’99). I am a former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence and a once (and future?) academic theologian turned peace activist, author, and peace educator. Contact me at mlw-w@insightbb.com
The Levellers were a 17th C. movement during the English Civil War. They were a religiously-inspired political movement for democracy, human rights, justice for the poor, and peace. Their strongest leader was Richard Overton, a pacifist General Baptist influenced by Dutch Mennonites. Although I write on a wide range of topics, most often this blog deals with the intersection of faith, especially Christian faith, and work for social justice and peace. So, I have named the blog and dedicated it to the spirit of Richard Overton and the 17th C. Levellers.
Rules for commenting on this blog: 1) Respect everyone, even when you disagree strongly. 2) Keep comments relatively short. If you need a long post on your own blog, I’ll follow you there to see what more you have to say. 3) Stay on topic, please. 4) Don’t hog the conversation; let others have a turn. 5) This is a family-friendly blog. No profanity or language that my children and your children cannot read, please. Failure to follow these simple rules could lead me to removing your comment(s).
![[PDA - Heathcare NOT Warfare - Sign the Petition.]](https://i0.wp.com/pdamerica.org/images/ads/HealthNotWar_final.jpg)
Where Are My Readers?
Recent Comments
Levellers 
Michael,
Thanks for the video. It is a strong call to end the war. Obama has as well–in his plan for Iraq.
But it is a good statement!
Unfortunately until there’s 60 votes in the Senate nothing is going to get done. It will take 9, actually 10 Republicans (Joe Lieberman is a big war supporter) to move this discussion forward. The end result is this — unless the GOP turns on the President the next President will have to deal with this mess.
No, Bob, this is Edwards’ challenge. Congress has the power without the 60 votes in the senate. They can simply refuse to raise any more funds for the war. That doesn’t take a veto-proof majority and that is what Edwards is challenging them to do: use the power of the purse to force the president to cooperate.