Morris: Edwards won't "get traction" for "running on poverty against a black and a woman"
On the January 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News political analyst Dick Morris predicted that 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards (D-NC) is not "going to get traction" in his 2008 presidential campaign because "he's running on poverty against a black and a woman. What's wrong with this picture?"
Morris also predicted that "[t]he ticket in '08 is [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] and [Sen. Barack] Obama [D-IL]." As Media Matters for America noted, Morris said on the December 18 edition of Hannity & Colmes that he was "leaving the country" if Clinton and Obama were the 2008 Democratic nominees. The weblog News Hounds posted Morris' comments about "leaving the country" on December 19, and they were later also picked up by NewsMax.com, Salon.com, and other media outlets.
From the January 2 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
ALAN COLMES (co-host): Let's talk about the ticket in '08. Never too early to talk about that.
MORRIS: The ticket in '08 is Hillary and Obama.
COLMES: That's it?
MORRIS: It's Hillary, because she's definitely going to run. She's probably going to win. She brings out single women who otherwise would not vote.
The idea of the first woman will capture the ether, and the reason she is going to put Obama on the ticket is, after she beats him, she can't then turn around and ask the African-Americans to support the ticket unless she gives them something.
COLMES: You're convinced he will be the second-most-voted-for in the primaries candidate beyond anybody else?
MORRIS: Yes. I think that -- I think Edwards, you know, he announced over Christmas, he's running on poverty against a black and a woman. What's wrong with this picture? I don't think that he is going to get traction.
What is the big deal?
you and Morris think that only Black people and women care about poverty? I know you don't care about because you don't care about anybody but yourself and of course those people you consider your equals.
I just did not see it like that.
Do not make me out to be un-compassionate . I give plenty to the poor and needy, and school kids looking for help. I hustle the junkyards for parts to sell to pay for extra things around the house. Do not make me out to be some money grubbing neocon lady. :0)
I remember some of the statements you've made in the past. Now sometimes I must admit I get confused because you post under multiple names correct? I remember a not so long ago thread where you or at least I thought it was you denigrated people who made minimum wage and dismissed them as losers, you also dismissed people who commit suicide as losers. Now maybe you were joking and I must admit although I think I have a pretty good sense of humor, right wing humor is often too cruel to be funny to me.
Show me where I said anything like that. I was one of those "minimum wage losers" for a long time.
Now why would I make fun of my past? <<< JOKING
Now suicide, yes. I had a very close and SELFISH friend take his life, leaving his wonderful mother crying in my arms for weeks. He commited a "Loser" act. Yes, I said it, and stick by it. Suicide is for losers , period.
apologize if I attributed the minimum wage statement to you, but your suicide statement shows a compassion deficit and I'll say again that the vast majority of people who commit suicide are suffering from clinical depression, they are ill.
Evil is not the sweetest guy on the block, but I would agree with him (maybe in less harsh terms).
My best friend's mother offed herself. Yes, she was mentally ill and had a debilitating injury that caused her great pain. That is deserving of compassion. Her suicide was not. It was a selfish act that wounded - and continues to wound - everyone she loved in life.
"Loser" is harsh. It is not off the mark, however.
Do you get mad at someone because they died of cancer or had a heart attack? Suicide is a manifestation of an illness that can be treated but there is still such stigma assigned to mental illness that many mentally ill people often go untreated. It is tremendously sad and it leaves so many broken hearts behind. It's a horrible disease. I had a brother who was a kidney-pancreas transplant recipient and was dangerously non-compliant with a medication regime necessary to keep him healthy. I learned much too late that one of the side effects one of the anti-rejection drugs he took was depression. I saw my brother withdraw and change from this jolly guy before my eyes. Now he did not take a gun to his head he just did not comply with the medical regime necessary to keep him healthy. He was finally 2.5 years post transplant started on anti-depressants at my frustrated insistence for psychological intervention on his behalf. His mood elevated only a few weeks after starting anti-depressants. Nevertheless, he was in such a weakened condition by that time that his body could not fight off the last acute condition he suffered. He did not realize that the drugs he took to thwart rejection of his new organs could cause a physiological change in his brain that lead to behavior that could be called a chronic suicide. I'm not angry with him now; I realized he was not trying to hurt his family or himself. I just wished we had known more about this phenomenon sooner.
to the memory of your brother. My friend's mother was contemplating suicide for a great many years. She had a lot of resources and everyone was supportive of her.
In the end, it wasn't worth it for her to go on. She made her choice and others had to deal with the consequences.
As I've said, I have every sympathy for her suffering while she was living. I do think mental illness is stigmatized in this culture, which is regrettable. Many people make an impulsive decision at a moment of extreme anxiety - my friend's mom was not one of these.
I wish you strength and serenity in coping with your loss, and I'm sorry if my words were perceived as unkind. They were not intended to be.
Its heartless and cruel, My wife was far from a loser. A beautiful woman, a brilliant woman who was a member of Mensa who struggled with her recurring mental disease for decades. Anyone who would make such a blanket statement is without any understanding of the issue. I dont know your example or the person involved and I wouldnt presume to judge. apparantly you WOULD. Let me assure you that you are absolutly WRONG, not to mention cruel
Schitzophrenia commit suicide and I think your pious moralizing is disgusting. The fact you are an obvious moron and loser doesnt mean you have the wherewithall to judge others. Hey I once saw a moron talking to himself about how much he lover Raygun. I guess from that ONE example I have every right to dismiss every conservative as a drooling moronic loser. Nah just because YOU are doesnt mean it translates to everyone else.
Two years to go and these people are just talking, talking, all hot air and no substance. They'll be so excited when they hit upon a "earth tones" or a "invented the Internet" to flog.
If we have to talk about elections so far in the future, would it hurt to talk about at least some issues of substance?
Also: "a black?"
Yeah, whenever someone says "a black" or "the blacks" or any variation, it's usually pretty telling. I love how he goes from saying "African-American" to saying "a black."
I don't view "black" as some sort of "telling" anything? What is your implication?
..."a black" is. Walk up to a black person and call him or her "a black." Maybe the distinction will be made clear to you then.
you are picking apart words. How sorry it is we have to be SO DAMN POLITICALY CORRECT! Friggin sissies of America.
...how sorry it is that we should have to respect our fellow man by giving people of different races and cultures the most basic courtesy of being referred to in a way that they won't find offensive. Why can't we just call a black a black and a Jew a Jew? Damn sissies.
we are talkin...
You the type of person to scream "Law Suit" when you fall at a friends house?
Lynched, Jim Crowed, racially profiled and one-in-ten behind bars... now they want to be treated - and spoken of - with respect.
You're right. Buncha sissies. Tellya what... let's drive down to Watts so you can share your opinion with "the blacks."
Granted, most of us have abandoned any expectation for Fox to put commentators on the airwaves that have a modicum of social propriety on the airwaves, but Fox does occasionally surprise even us. "A black" is dehumanizing and dismissive. If said commentator had referred to a native American as "a red," a Caucasian as "a white," or an Asian as "a yellow," it would be no different.
It is amazing that these people can pretend to be a news organization, yet have such an abysmal writing and reporting staff.
I do view the implication that only "the Blacks and the women" care about poverty issues as offensive because it's coming from Morris. You have to put his statement in the larger neocon-fox ideological perspective i.e. statements they have made in the past about the poor. The poor are characterized as lazy good for nothings looking for hand-outs and only "the Blacks" probably because we are lazy good for nothings looking for a handout care about the poor and I guess women care about good for nothings looking for a hand-out because they're overly emotional. It isn’t about political correctness and all about being familiar with the sentiments of the source of these kinds of statements.
I wasn't commenting on Morris' statement, which I actually agree with you. Morris offers nothing of substance to me on any subject, his obsessive hatred of anything Clinton somes across on everything, and it is tiring, to say the least.
I was commenting on the term "black", as he used it as opposed to African American. However, he should have said "black man", instead of just "black". I should have been more clear.
..."a black man," but it seems like you still may be missing the distinction when you say "I was commenting on the term 'black', as he used it as opposed to African American." Nobody is going to be upset if he uses either term--"African American" or "black." What raises eyebrows is when he calls someone "a black."
I do think that Edwards and Obama compete for black voters. In fact, when Edwards was on Hardball's college tour show, a black student implied that there was no need for Edwards to be running now that Barack Obama was out there with his "audacity of hope" message.
miss the point, it's no doubt that Barack competes for the Black vote but Morris' implication is that poverty concerns are solely the domain of "the Blacks" and women. I certainly hope he's wrong, in fact I know he is.
here use the term "Whites". Right?
If my ancestors were systematically deprived of their rights (often their lives) for generations, and lived in a culture where racism was not dead, just driven underground - then yeah, maybe I'd have the right to get pi$$ed off when someone called me "a white."
In the world as it is, I can shrug that off.
If I heard someone refer to me as "a white," I'd think something was severely wrong with their brain, quite frankly.
To make an ass of himself...and thanks to FOX he has a permanent forum to do so.
This is nothing but Morris meandering on about sterotypes.
...it's all horse-race, narrative, tabloid stuff. Oh well, not like there's anything important going on in the country...
These are the people we have to blame for Bush being in the White House. I hope MMFA and others can hold these clowns more accountable in the next election cycle.
I don't have much confidence, but I hope.
I would like to see some REAL people take office. Which is about,,,,,,, no one?
They are our employees. We pay them, and they should follow the will of the people. Who gives a $#!T if they're people you want to have a beer with or not? Just get some folks up there who will get the people's business done.
The reason politicans are so calculated and poll-tested is the inane nature of these talking-heads shows driving the discourse. A country that can get interested in something as arcane as the stock market can surely gin up some interest for their own welfare. But the media plays to the lowest common denominator, and calls it ratings.
Gotta love that invisible hand. What a great country <>laissez-faire economics has made us.
How can John Edwards get nothing but traction on poverty or any other issue, especially while competing for the Democratic nomination against two people who haven't said they're running yet! Hello?
I honestly believe sometimes there's no intelligent life on Earth. :S
Republicans have about Democrats.
"he's running on poverty against a black and a woman. What's wrong with this picture? I don't think that he is going to get traction." -Morris
There is a false generalization here about the attitudes of Democratic voters. Morris thinks that they are shallow and superficial. They will hear Edwards' message on poverty and won't believe him because he is a white man. Hasn't Fox News taught us already that Democrats hate white men?
helping the disadvantaged is not as sexy as, say, smearing your opponent with things they did in college... poor, silly John Edwards - running on a platform of substance!