JRE Buzz (10)

Ex-VP candidate Edwards calls for a war on poverty in Ore. speech
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore.

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who is mulling over a run for the presidency in 2008, called for withdrawal from Iraq within the next 18 months, and for the U.S. government to launch another war _ on poverty _ in a speech Friday at the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women's conference.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina who now directs a poverty research center at the University of North Carolina, couldn't resist a few partisan jabs at the current administration, calling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina "a failure of presidential leadership."

LINK

Updates, July 1:

The Oregonian piece about the speech, Speaking on Iraq and Poverty, Edwards Sounds Like a Hopeful

And my favorite line from the Statesman Journal:

Edwards was invited by Sen. Margaret Carter, D-Portland, the conference chairwoman.

She called him "a Southern JFK," evoking images of the charismatic and articulate John F. Kennedy, the Democratic president who said in his 1961 inaugural, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"I wanted someone bold enough to talk about the real issues in America," Carter said. "You cannot talk about those issues without talking about poverty."

And..

JRE Politely says "No, Thanks" to a Poverty debate with Newt..and for good reasons...

From the News & Observer in the Triangle:

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich came on John Edwards' turf this week and challenged him to a debate on poverty.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Raleigh Wednesday night, Gingrich suggested that the former North Carolina senator's approach to solving poverty is wrong.

Gingrich said that the main cause of poverty is a lack of education and that many public schools, particularly those that serve inner-city students, were failing because of incompetency.

"My challenge to your former senator who is running around the country prattling about ending poverty is simple: Take on the teacher's union," Gingrich told about 200 people at a dinner at the North Raleigh Hilton for state Sen. Fred Smith.

"I'd be delighted to come back down and have a dialogue with Senator Edwards about how to truly help the poor," he said. "We might even have a charity night, and all the money we raise that night would go to the poor. So we would actually do something to help the poor as opposed to talking about helping the poor."

On Thursday, the John Locke Foundation offered to sponsor a Gingrich-Edwards debate. But based on the initial response from the Edwards camp, such a debate seems unlikely.

"People worried about feeding their children don't need politicians shooting their mouths off at partisan political events who didn't do anything significant about poverty when they had the chance," Edwards spokeswoman Kim Rubey said in a statement.

Right on, JRE! But this will be revisited...in 2008, I'm certain.


The Hotline picks up about JRE's new SMS service. Cool. So does Personal Democracy Forum.

Frank Barnako from Dow Jones, M$M type who claims to be a blogger and attending Gnomedex, asks why JRE is a keynote at the conference.

The incredibly talented Chris Pirillo is hard at work today opening Gnomedex 6.0.

I was in Seattle for 5.0 last year, and it was an inspiring event, full of podcasters, bloggers, columnists and techies shaking hands and sharing the latest technology buzz. This year, I'm not so sure it will be. Politics has raised its ugly and, from the standpoint of campaigning, its irrelevant head

Instead of the "Podfather" Adam Curry and irascible and brilliant programmer Dave Winer doing keynote speeches, this year Chris has lined up former VP candidate John Edwards.

What?

Getting Edwards to make a stop at Gnomedex scored Pirillo some headlines. Immediately reporters requested access to cover the speech, but Gnomedex was sold out.

Pirillo says, "The senator is a long-standing supporter of technology, including podcasting and blogging," and he "will quickly turn his time over to the Gnomedex audience, fielding questions and fostering discussion over how technology could and should play a role in our world."

What is he doing in Seattle?

This month, already, Edwards was "fact finding" in Israel, spoke to the Teamsters convention in Vegas, and urged a war on poverty in a speech at the National Press Club. Friday, he'll be in Portland to address the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women.

Today, the "pioneering politician" signed on as an "early user" of Melodeo.com, a new podcast aggregator and player.

What's he doing at Gnomedex? Same thing he's doing everywhere else.

Edwards is campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gnomedex seems an odd place to encourage that.

Edward is a controversial keynote. Pirillo promises, "This will not turn Gnomedex into a political rally." He offers that the senator may not have been his first choice. "Early on, I tried to get Arianna Huffington, but her contacts never got back to me."

My favorite line by Barnako (in which a lot of content was added before I decided to post this):

"I guess Edwards could entertain the crowd by describing how he uses GMail."

Well, we'll see what the MSM disguised in blogger uniform will think after the keynote, now that OAC has text messaging going too. Update, June 30th, late at night: debunked by Shel Holtz.

Feed msg from Gnomedex. How to get live feeds.

Pirillo video of why he invited JRE to Gnomedex.

Podcasting Publishing site mentions Melodeo as OAC's mobile distribution service, and adds:

June 30, 2006

John Edwards is Podcasting
Former Senator's Podcast is Called "One America"

Melodeo sent out a press release announcing their new mobile podcatching service and touted John Edwards as one of their users:

"Embracing new technology to encourage open and free discussion is an
essential ingredient in a healthy democracy," said Edwards. "I get
excited about any new services that allow people to easily make meaningful
connections and engage in informed discussions." (press release)

I'm glad he's excited, I'm somewhat perplexed as to why they've chosen to spotlight a former politician's podcast as important enough to include in their press release, but I'm sure former Edwards supporters will be excited to see the mention.

LINK

Hotline: JRE is in their midyear spotlife as one of the most improved for 2008

Digital Micro-markets blog has this headline:

Democrats leverage the Social Web: Al Gore advises Yahoo Answers and John Edwards talks tech at Gnomedex

More buzz l8tr..


Tags: John Edwards, JRE, One America Committee, Gnomedex, poverty, NOBEL, Benny's World