JRE Buzz (29): Born Fightin' Edition

Welcome BW readers to another edition of JRE Buzz, the place where you can get updates on John Edwards and his family, which have been in the news almost as much as he has.

The photo to the left, courtesy of Raising Kaine blog, shows JRE stumping for former Secretary of the Navy and writer Jim Webb, who is running against George Allen, the sitting incumbent. Mr. Webb appears to me to be a man of many credentials, and I'm surprised he made the switch to the Democratic Party. OTH, he's not alone, as Heath Schuler of NC did also.

Lowell Feld, Webb's Netroots coordinator, had this reaction to Edwards' oratory skills:

Prior to today, I had never seen John Edwards in person. I had always heard he was a great speaker, and I had seen him on TV, but seeing someone in person is different. Now I totally get it; John Edwards is simply a great public speaker, no doubt about it. Maybe he and Barack Obama could have a Toastmasters faceoff for the world championship? Ha.

Here's a link to a video of his speech from by Brian Baer of the Free-Lance site (Fredricksburg paper), Quick Time plug-in required.

On Raising Kaine, walkabout reports that s/he was among the hundreds of people at the gig. Walkabout's comment, "I was fortunate to be in an audience of 2500 and on the front row so I got to shake hands twice with John Edwards. He is a fine speaker, but more important in this election he and Elizabeth are moral people.

The Fredericksburg paper says about 400 folks, but who's counting...:-) They had some good quotes from Mary Washington students who attended the rally.

Junior Jenny Bryant said she tends to align herself more with Republicans, but had come out to satisfy her curiosity.

"I thought [Webb] had good things to say," she said. "I'm now on the fence."

Ardent Democrats Emilie Begin, a freshman, and Anthony DiRenzo, a sophomore, were buoyant after the speeches.

Begin said she found the event uplifting and inspirational and was not concerned about Webb's support for women's rights.

"Times have definitely changed," she said, referring to his Washingtonian article of 27 years ago.

"If you are really concerned about women's rights, are you going to vote for Allen?" asked DiRenzo, noting that Allen does not support a woman's right to abortion.

JRE puts in a good plug for Elizabeth's book, Saving Graces and how she talks about the time she went to school at Mary Washington.


Speaking of..

There's a Q & A of Elizabeth about her memoir from Audible.com. USA Today 's Susan Page penned a quick review of the book. She summed it up this way, "Despite the expectations, this book is not about politics. It's about life and making sense of death."

Snarkville

Today's snark comes from the Mason Conservative blog concerning JRE's stump for Allen yesterday and got all of his information from the Richmond Times instead of looking for other accounts in the Fredericksburg news or other blogs.

"And the line of the night HAS to go to pretty boy John Edwards, who ran for president for the simple reaosn that he could not win re-election:

America can't be a leader just by being strong. You've got to be strong."

I guess you really can't be pretty and smart at the same time."

Here's what the Richmond Times' Kiran Krishnamurthy wrote (albeit still the article is slanted towards Allen), "America can't be a leader just by being strong. You've got to be strong. But you have to have the moral authority to lead," he said. "Whenever a crisis occurs, America today has to fight kicking and screaming to get anybody to join us in doing anything. People don't naturally come to us."

I always find it amazing that snarks like the one at Mason Conservative make comments on a youthful candidate's appearance and uses it against the person as though having them is a sin or a crime. What's the sin or crime here is that the snark forces his vacuous comments because he or she is berefit of any moral clarity. Moral people recognize that it's more than just looks and they seek to understand first.


Upcoming Events:

Elizabeth is on Oprah Winfrey 's show today along with John and Cate.

John is on his way to Northern Uganda at the invitation at the IRC organization.


More buzz l8tr...

Tags: John Edwards, JREBuzz, Elizabeth Edwards, Saving Graces, Benny's World, Jim Webb, Virginia Senatorial Race 2006, Raising Kaine