Thank you Elizabeth,
You are direct and to the point. In this piece, you have said what I have been feeling and thinking since 2004.
You only needed one sentence to describe "Rush Limbaugh-Phony Troops." You will make a terrific First Lady.

Kerry made the right choice to concede. Gore actually did win a popular majority, even though he lost the electoral vote in Florida. What will be interesting in this election, if it's close, is that now the Democrats control the House of Representatives. If Hillary appears to have lost the electoral vote, she can try to force a decision in the House. Do you think that someone as ambitious as she is would gracefully concede for the interests of the whole country like Gore and Kerry? Not a chance. But unless something really dramatic starts to happen on the Republican side, she'll win outright and won't need to go that route.

I'm so sick of the Democrats and Elizabeth Edwards especially with their one-sided stupid remarks and attacks. They are really going to see a backlash for these stupid childish attacks.
People in America love Rush Limbaugh and there will be a big awakening that the Democrats hadn't counted on if they continue to pursue all these childish implications!

Many, many, many people in the U.S. believe that Rush Dimbulb has proven that he is a drug-addled, racist, draft-dodging hypocrite. His chest-thumping phony bravado is hollow theatricality. That is why he is a radio "personality" and not a serious political commentator.

That's a Democrat for you. Always pursuing those implications. But you have to admit Ol' Lardass, Rush Limbaugh, who got out of going to Vietnam because of ingrown hairs on his ass looks stupid arguing against someone who actually was in combat in Iraq.

Karen,

Since you're one of the 25%'ers sick of Democrats, imagine how the remaining 75% of us feel about Republicans and the destruction they have wrought on America's image abroad, treasury, military, credibility and honor, and core values and ideals.

As for Kerry, he wasn't a great candidate. But our country would be 100% better off if he were president now, which is substantiated in that most of his dire predictions about continued Republican policies and rule have come to pass.

May God please, Pretty Please, bless America. We need it.

I voted in Ohio in 2004 and was horrified at the treatment Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (who was also the co-chair of the Bush reelection campaign) gave select voters.

At that time you had to be registered to vote one month in advance yet he came up short with staff and voting machines in precincts that were largely democratic. In many many areas you had to wait as much as 5 hours to vote. It was a cold rainy day and many many people had to leave the lines.

The Republicans also had these "election challengers" stationed at each polling place. They stood with a clipboard right at the entryway and grilled people on their personal information. This grilling intimidated voters who who were unaware the foundation of these vote challenges.

My husband is an attorney and said point blank that we did not even have to talk to those people, so we didn't. We went on to vote but let me tell you, the way everything was organized, two highly educated people that my husband and I are, had to have a voting staff walk us over to one of the machines to enter our ballot.

These are only a few of the things we experienced in Ohio. Fortunately, the Ohio voters did not go along with Blackwell's subsequent bid to be governor. They threw him out along with a number of other Republicans. The new Secretary of State is a Democrat and immediately moved to clean up the election process.

I was horrifed that John Kerry did not fight for us. His excuse had some justification because this was such an unbelievable and unheard of scandal. Yes there were 110,000 votes difference but with all the maneuvering, 110,000 was not unrealistic.

Remember, the exit polls which are used to verify clean elections by outsiders who watch elections in developing countries, were clearly showing Kerry a winner. If that had happened in those countries the elections would have been declared invalid.

Don't dis Elizabeth Edwards when you didn't have your voting rights taken away like so many Democrats in Ohio in 2004. I felt like I lost my country when I watched that happen. I am thrilled with John Edwards stance and support him thoroughly in fighting for voter rights any way he can.

Karen Anderson loves Rush Limbaugh. She must work for Rush. No one but you loves Rush Limbaugh now.

"People in America love Rush Limbaugh and there will be a big awakening that the Democrats hadn't counted on if they continue to pursue all these childish implications!"

Oh, my gawd! Have you listened to the tapes? Not the ones that Rush's backer have aired, but the real ones that MediaMatters and others have archived. Rush's implications are crystal clear, and if you can't see that, you are letting them tell you how to think.

I think it's funny that Rush can't get his head above water on this, but keeps going down again.

Anderson,
you remind me of those sniviling kids every school had when we were growing up. If you didn't get your way, you ran to the teacher and tried to ruin things for everyone. No wonder you were never picked to be on a team in any pickup game. You're still trying to ruin it for everyone. Go sit in the corner and beg God to forgive you for your mean hurtful thoughts and maybe, just maybe we'll let you play.
Yes the backlash is coming, the Dems will run congress again for 40 years. Hope your kids have health insurance.

response to Karen A.

How in the world can you defend Rush the blowhard. He has no right to talk ill of patriotic troops regardless of their opinion. Why are you even on this liberal blog.

Good for you, Elizabeth, that's what I always thought. It should have been fought as should 2000 have been fought. Gore and Kerry didn't fight; they had to be gentlemen. buit it let us down.

well you husband is no better because he as well as senator kerry were likely aware of this
event in florida plus I CALLED & FAXED BOTH OF YOUR CAMPAIGNS to use this information as ammo against bush when the miami debate came up OR LOSE THE ELECTION...

OBVIOUSLY YOU DID NOT & YOU LOST THE ELECTIONS.

plus at the time your husband was a member of THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE...

BAD KARMA WILL CONTINUE TO RAIN DOWN ON YOUR PARADE BECAUSE -- "HE KNOWS THE TRUTH & IS NOT TELLING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AS HE SHOULD...

THIS GOES TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT THAT WERE SERVING IN CONGRESS AT THE TIME OF THIS EVENT...

PUT THE SHOE ON THE OTHER FOOT = WHAT IF CHELSEA OR ANY OTHER MEMBER CHILD OR YOUR CHILD DID WHAT I DID OR ONE OF BUSHS' DAUGHTERS
WOULD IT HAVE BEEN COVERED-UP...I DOUBT IT...

SO WHY AM I ANY DIFFERENT...

Well Karen , America is NOW in a big awakening...you should join it.........waving the flag while spouting hate is not working for the Bush republicans any longer...... Backlash is what you are now seeing with Rush / Billo and the like : people are slowly getting smarter and it leaves you and the American Taliban with some real problems . Your day is passing and you get more shrill and more hateful as you realize your hate buttons don't work any more .

Eliz Edwards is not whining--the old mudball to toss from ignorant and smug indifference. The election in 2004 should have been contested in every possible forum--we were stampeded by a careful media assalt to regard any question of fraud as something outrageous and petty.

REP KENNEDY and numerous experts in Conyers commission have established he widespread fraud in Ohio--the tactics of diebold & co.--and the most tell-tale clue of all: exit polls.
Other countries regard exit-poll discrepancy as a sure sign of tampering--we are told to ignore it here by an owned media.

Karen, please listen to a copy of the original version of the Rush Limbaugh tape. He did call soldiers who opposed the war phony. I think most Americans find Limbaugh mean and divisive. I certainly do. Elizabeth is far more truthful then Rush.

People in America don't love Rush. If they do, it is a sad statement for them to be in love with a rude, course, belligerent, pompous liar like him.

Apparently Ms. Anderson hasn't read the writing on the wall - Rove and Gonzalez have both stepped down, two major mouth pieces for the right. I think it is amazing that Rush has managed to keep his drug-addicted, slanderous "act" on the air as long as he has. If anyone is about to see some backlash, it is people who would put our troops in harm's way, and then criticize them for speaking their minds. (read: Bushies)

I am actually very tired of Elizabeth Edwdards and her big mouth. She seems to spend all her time bashing other Democrats and it is obvious she is desperately trying to save her husband's dying candidacy. Unfortunately for John Edwards, she is not helping!

"People in America love Rush Limbaugh and there will be a big awakening that the Democrats hadn't counted on if they continue to pursue all these childish implications!"
Posted by karen anderson |

Karen, loving a bigot whose only strength is demagoguery (look it up in the dictionary) and mean-spiritedness is hardly a claim to make for the best of America. RL's comments about phony soliders were mind-bogglingly unpatriotic in a country that seems incapable of parsing national political commentary without reference to pastriotism (insane, but there it is). It is you who should be ashamed, of tolerating such narrow-minded, hate-filled nonsense.

But then you probably still think Saddam had something to do with 9/11 ;-)

Excuse me! Please do not speak for me when you say that people in America love Limbaugh. Ha! You are so wrong. What people love is the truth and honesty that John and Elizabeth bring to politics for a much need change. I suppose this person supports the Limbaugh term "phony troops". Well that is so sad. If you are against the war you are labeled anti-patriotic by the repugs. How incrediously naive is that? The commentator above must be jealous that Elizabeth has an opinion on issues and has the constitutional right to voice them. Much better than having a no opinion first lady that only flashes her frozen smile and says nothing.

karen, do you have some sort of learning disability?

People in America love Rush Limbaugh? Only the stupid.

Good for Elizabeth Edwards. She is right that Kerry should not have conceded, and Bush did not win. Thousands and thousands of votes were not allowed to be cast in Ohio and in Florida.

As to Limbaugh, he is the same as the people in the administration who never fought for this country, starting with the president, the vice president and many others.

Elizabeth Edwards speaks the truth; if only more were like her.

Don't you all get it?

John Edwards is low on money. Elizabeth Edwards has to drum up a conflict so that her husband's poor campaign can get contributors. That is what happened with Ann Coulter.

Wake up America!

I am very sick of her and her "slick" husband. Just because she has cancer, and I am sorry for that, does not mean we want to hear her thoughts!

She is no one!

Mrs. Edwards is correct in her assessment. John Kerry should not have conceded so quickly without ensuring every vote was counted, specifically in Ohio.
As to Rush Limpballs, he is a coward who wishes other people's children to die for his personal ideology. He slanders those who have fought for this country while pushing an agenda. He is a coward who should be taken off of the air, especially Armed Forces Radio, due to it being paid for with taxpayer money, therefore it should not expouse any political viewpoint, but remain neutral.

Oh Karen, get over it. The only people that love Rush Limbaugh are right-wing fanatics and there are a lot of you (probably the same 25% of the country who still think Shrub is doing a good job). But most of America finds Rush loatheome. Rush is a deceitful and disgusting propaganda tool. The man spreads lies unchecked every single day and his minions just take it as gospel. Don't you, Karen?

I'll be easy on her because of her unfortunate situation (cancer) but she has been a sore in her husband's campaign. Her comments are arrogant and just plain dumb. Kerry has 10x the integrity that she has.

Karen Anderson: "People in America love Rush Linbaugh and there will be a big awakening that the Democrats hadn't counted on if they continue to pursue all these childish implications!"

I have just one question for you Karen: Do you really live in an alternate universe than the rest of the normal world, or do you and Rush Limbaugh share the same OxyContin dealer?

Elizabeth you unfailingly know how to call them. I look forward to you as First Lady.

karen anderson:

There are millions of Americans who are SICK of the Bush administration and Rush Limbaugh for what they have done to our country. We are SICK of all the LIES. Backlash? The Republican party has ruined itself for years to come. And Rush Limbaugh has been instrumental in its downfall.

Rush Limbaugh never served in the military. Reason? Medical problem. The problem? A large wart on his butt. This is not made up folks lol..it is the truth, look it up.

Anyway, why exactly is it "brave" to follow the mantra of the Bushies and "cowardly" to disagree with that failed line of thinking? An opinion is an opinion and I don't see Rush or any other supposedly "brave" person over in Iraq fighting. You are not brave or cowardly for giving an opinion. Sitting on your butt in front of computers ranting about Iraq being a needed war does not make one "brave".

Cheney, Limbaugh, Bush, took a pass on the last opportunity they had to fight, pretty convenient that now suddenly they are overcome with the old warrior spirit, especially since that spirit allows them the option of being "brave" wayyyyyyy out of harm's way.

I just don't see what there was to contest in 2004. Ohio wasn't all that close and even though they made it hard for minorities to vote it wasn`t going to change anything.
Also I just don't get Limbaugh, he is a big fat coward who said what he said. Why is it so hard for conservatives to apoligize.
Nothing will help the gop in 2008. I'm a lifelong republican and i'm voting democratic just to see what they can do. I'm sick of republican fear tactics and the smears.

Regarding Rush, it is very simple. The people who listen to Rush and defend him are only hearing what they also believe. He reaffirms their own ideology. They applaud his bullying, and wish they could do the same. Basically, they rejoice in his being the asshole they wish to be.

Maybe Elizabeth should be the one running for President!

Here is the scary part for me - 25% of America are Karen Andersons. No matter what false wars are started, what lies are told, what laws and constitutional principles are violated, no matter how many true patriots die in this war for oil, how many children are denied health care, the Karen Andersons will still buy the false patriotism of Bush-Cheney and their high paid shills because of blind party affilitation.

God help us all.

karen must be rush's drug dealer.

To this day I have a bad taste in my mouth about Kerry. He told us he would be ready for every smear during the campaign and then did nothing when he was swiftboated. He told us he'd fight back if they again tried to steal the election and--well, Elizabeth calls it correctly.

It was a slap in the face to need a Democratic win so badly then, in the midst of the unfolding disaster in Iraq, and the growing wire tap scandal and to work so hard to get Kerry elected, and then for him to fold.

Inexplicable. Inexcusable.

And now our candidate is being chosen for us by a mere one out of ten conservative, mostly non-diverse Iowans. The system is so broken, it's a "quagmire"!

bush lies
bush cheats
bush steals
bush kills
bush breaks u.s. and international law
bush should be impeached

Hey Karen A., go soak your head! You're no one's parent here. Mislead your own children you tiresome schoolmarm.

And you're sick...? 69 percent of the population are disgusted with your idiot candidates and party; who have ruined much and can barely spell, and we made it this far without a breakdown. Keep it together.

Your party doesn't have a prayer. And if you can't see Rush for the paid chickenhawk he is, then your sense organs don't work

of course another way of evaluating Elizabeth Edwards' remarks regarding the 2004 concession is that if the nominee had selected a running mate who could have gotten the ticket some votes that Kerry couldn't get on his own, there might not have been a need for a concession.

Elizabeth Edwards, you are my hero! The day before the election in 2004, I drove from my hometown in New York to volunteer for Election Protection in Youngstown, Ohio. I saw one of the machines that were flipping the votes from Kerry to Bush. I heard the complaints from the voters themselves, and I passed them along. There were many. I was there for nine hours that day, and I timed people's entrances and exits. My precinct was actually lucky. The average wait time there was ONLY two to three hours in the pouring rain; not like Columbus, where it was 11 hours, also in the rain. That was more than "making it hard" for minorities to vote. That's not even considering the number of people who were turned away for various reasons, after having waited all that time.

I was heading home on I-80 the next day when I heard Sen. Kerry's concession speech. I was stunned that he conceded so quickly.

John Kerry was a flawed candidate. He only received as many votes as he did not because people liked him as a candidate, but only because he was the alternative.

As far as Rush Limbaugh, I have listened to him everyday, and I heard the original comments. This is an attempt to do an "Imus" on Limbaugh, and get him off of Armed Forces Radio as well as his national program. The troops support Limbaugh and that drives those on the left nuts.

To hell with The Fairness Doctrine. It's not needed.

I think Rush is an ASS but cannot lose sight of the fact that he is just an entertainer. He's not a professional journalist, he is not a politician ....I see him more as a comic. The troops are (apparently) fighting for democracy per the GOP, and part of that democracy is our right to free speech. This right along with many others are being stripped away by the current administration. I don't at all defend what Rush says, but I do defend his right to say it.

I FORGOT TO POST THE LINK EXPLAINING WHAT I SAID & WHY I SAID IT...

http://360.yahoo.com/caspereraser1

You are all missing the big picture here. First, Al Gore did not quickly concede. He fought for months. The Supreme Court did us the favor of handing the presidency to this idiot. The bigger issue is cheating on election day. If there is one thing the Repubs. are good at it's cheating! Give em hell Elizabeth! And blah, blah, blah, to all you Kool Aid-drinking Repubs. It's been a great seven years so far, something only a total idiot would be proud of.

Beware of the Saduccese....Those who walk with puffed up attitudes of self rightousness...but are by nature cowards and hypocrites. Bush, Cheney, Rush, Coulter, O'Reilly & Co!!!

Actually Ms. Edwards blew her shot at Limbaugh big-time. She made a mess of an easy smack down...go look at it. And she did it in pundit style: She did not know what she was talking about!

Its really kind of sad how people don't even know what happened in Florida in 2000. Really. Chads? Recount? Katherine purged 54,000 African American voters from the rolls. They showed up to vote and were turned away because they had names similar to the names of convicted felons.

Wake up America. You don't live in a "one man, one vote Democracy." And all that has been done by Bush since 2000 has been the result of that Florida election result, which Bush "won" by a few hundred votes.

Are you sick to your stomachs yet?

You should be.

Don't even get me started on Ohio on 2004.

**

Karen Anderson, Ryno and Linda Lou

Your support for Rush just means one thing... you have the inability to think critically and just espouse his ridiculous and US-killing opinions. You are ditto heads. This is a distinctly right-wing American phenomenon.. this inability to think and reason clearly and to continue to support the likes of Rush and Bill O'Reilly and the myriad other MSM personalities out there. Not one of them have 1/2 the brain of John Edwards, or Kerry for that matter.

I've actually seen your dittohead position likened to blind faith, not knowledge. Goes right along with the crazier than hell fundie xtians who think creation is real..

We are doomed - Idiocracy here we come... with people like you around there is not much time left for this great country.

Right on Elizabeth...fight on...we're with you. It's incomprehensible why John Kerry didn't ask for OHIO to be counted first. Unless he knew the big fix was in once again and didn't have the balls for the fight.

We need John Edwards to fix America's soul.

I agree with her. I felt the same way. Kerry's haste to concede the election, given the irregularities in Ohio, was extremely disappointing.

The greatest service Kerry could have done for his country would have been to contest the vote. Maybe he would have won, maybe he wouldn't have. But the important thing would have been that voter fraud allegations were investigated so that (i) faith could be restored in our voting system and (ii) those who were involved in vote fraud brought to justice to discourage vote fraud in the future.

Rush Limbaugh is just a blow hard. He has very little real influence. Most of his listeners are right wingers, and generally agree with him. A lot of his listeners are amused by him. They don't respect him at all. He gets about as much credence as Jerry Springer, and/or professional wrestling. In 1988, Pat Robertson was running in the republican primaries for President. Rush campaigned hard on the air for Robertson And against Bush 41. He really laid it on thick approaching Super Tuesday. At the end of th day, Bush won all seven primaries easily, and Robertson got less than one percent of the vote.

Let me first ask, am I on the right blog, here? This is for liberals, yes? Liberals are tolerant of all viewpoints, oh wait even better, accepting of all viewpoints, correct? It makes me chuckle to read the ridiculous comments directed towards "Karen." I guess the game plan is to resort to puerile name-calling if you can't muster the intellectual capacity to actually argue a point. Oh grow up.

While it is obvious that I have more in common with "Karen" than with the rest here, I do have to say that I agree with the critics of Rush on one point. Indeed, Rush Limbaugh is a radio personality and nothing more. He is neither a politician nor a journalist. The fact that Ms. Edwards has deigned to attack Rush speaks volumes about the foundering state of her husband's presidential campaign. Ms. Edwards should voice her opinions on things that truly matter. Such behavior will elevate if not improve her husband's chances.

Talk about intolerant bigots! Hypocrites! The only place you'll find more is the Huffington Post and Daily Kos. You don't have to like Limbaugh because he's not necesarily all that likeable. But you all are not much more than any angry lynch mob -- yes, mob -- when you unload on the guy over something that did not happen. He wasn't talking about ANY real Soldiers. He was talking about ONE PHONY SOLDIER: JESSE MACBETH. Google him. What a bunch of dolts!

I am disappointed in Mrs. Edwards (and the most of the Democrats) for focusing on the past and not on the future. It's time to look forward to 2008, not look back on 2004. We can discuss stolen elections and complain about Rush all day long but it isn't going really make any difference. That's all in the past, 2008 is the future and people better start planning on the future and stop complaining about the past or the future will bite you all right in the behind.

Is this what has become of the Democrats today? Is it all Rush and Bush, or Rove or [Insert Republican Name Here]? Is there no real direction? How long can the Democrats run on being the Anti-Republican party? Did that get them the presidency in 2000 or 2004? No. Did it get them a real majority in ether house? No. Has it really help the Democrats at all? No. Will it work in 2008? No. If they really want to win in 2008, the Democrats will have to show people that they have a clear purpose and identity, other than to demonize everyone who disagrees with them. If you want to be progressive, then stop complaining about the past and start working for the future. That is, of course, unless you really want the Democrats to be the party of Bitch, Moan, and Complain.

I love how the neocons get all upset when someone pushes back. They dish it out but just can't take it. Grow up and take it you potential guards at the death camps. Some people will push back, maybe not those gutless ones in congress, but there are a lot of us who know a nazi when they see one, and will fight back to save this country.
Long live America, land of the free!!!

When did Mrs. Edwards serve in the military? How about her jusband? They both could have gone an ddone something for their country. Easier to sit on the sidelines and criticize.

Of course millions love Rush Limbaugh. He is incredibly successful, fairly intelligent, an excellent debater and he has the ability to make his broadcasts very entertaining for his listeners. You don't achieve this type of success in any medium without an enormous audience of loyal fans.

The trouble with Rush is his lack of balance. Without balance there is no credibility. He may make some sensible points from time to time, but his bias and prejudice colors everything he says. He has a large number of assistants whose job it is to gather all the anti-left, anti-democratic material they can from around the country while they completely ignore any information that would dispute his arguments.

He is not the only one. Air America had no balance, Michael Savage the right wing Nazi has no balance, Keith Olberman has no balance, Randi Rhodes has no balance. And although few on this blog will agree with me, at least O'Reilly has a certain amount of balance because he debates those who disagree with him and usually puts both sides on his program to get their side of an issue out. He himself may be conservative, but at least he lets the other side get their licks in. You will never see this on Olberman's Countdown.

Dan Abrams has balance, Hannity & Colmes are supposed to balance each other but would do a better job of it if Colmes was a more effective debater, Chris Matthews and Tim Russert have balance, yadda, yadda, yadda.

You don't get where Limbaugh is today unless a lot of people love what you do and say and continue that love over a long period of time. And they're not all stupid, racist or thoughtless.

Christina,
Good job of bringing out the crazies! They can't seem to stay on topic just hate Bush, hate Rush. I wonder what they are for, certainly not Elizabeth Edwards?

The Democratic Party prevailed upon Kerry to forego appeal because they realized that their appeal would go, ultimately, to the Ohio State Supreme Court--a Republican dominated, mirror image of the U.S. Supreme Court. Afterwards, the appeal would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Everyone had a preview of the U.S. Supreme Court's probable management of Democrat vs. Republican disputes after witnessing the sad and altogether disgraceful debacle that the Florida challenge produced to deprive Al Gore of the presidency.
Sadly, thanks to this President and a gutless Judiciary Committee, the Court is now even more slanted and will be for the foreseeable future.

Ohio's Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced on December 17, 2007, that a $1.9 million official study shows that critical security failures are embedded throughout the voting systems in the state that decided the 2004 election. Those failures, she says, could impact the integrity of elections in the Buckeye State. They have rendered Ohio's vote counts vulnerable to manipulation and theft by fairly simple techniques. In other words, Ohio's top election official has finally confirmed that the 2004 election could have been easily stolen.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4266
CLEVELAND (AP) - Two county election workers were sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of 2004 presidential election ballots so they could avoid a longer, detailed review.

Jacqueline Maiden, 60, a Cuyahoga County election coordinator who was the board's third-highest ranking employee, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer, 40, each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan allowed the women to remain free on bail pending appeal, but indicated he thought there was a more widespread conspiracy among election officials.

"I can't help but feel there's more to this story," Judge Corrigan said.