John Edwards was fairly warned that campaigns can be absolutely brutal.

[Lex]

So, is Edwards scared? Read this snip:

"When former senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska recruited Edwards to run for the Senate in 1998, Kerrey warned him that campaigns can be brutal. ''John looked at me and said, 'If you've ever had to get up on a medical examiner's table and hug your son goodbye, you know that there's nothing worse that can happen to you,'" Kerrey told the Globe's Patrick Healy last year."


http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/08/03/hard_learned_lessons_drive_rival_campaigns?pg=full

[TomClash]

1. He's absolutely right.

[DaveinMD]

2. I so admire

John and Elizabeth Edwards. Their courage is amazing. My wife and I had three miscarriages. I still can only imagine their grief.

[Fleshdancer]

3. Goddamn it. That one quote has me in tears

I think my heart literally skipped a beat when I read this. I didn't even click on the link. No need to. I think it's safe to say that Edwards has see hell and there's nothing that Bush or Cheney can do to shake him.

[JI7]

7. yes, that's why he is so positive

he knows what real hurt and pain is. he isn't going to waste time feeling sorry for himself over any negative thing against him. he is going to go out there and help others.

[tanyev]

4. Well that made me cry.

I started out a Clarkie, but I have come to like and respect Kerry and Edwards and their families so much. This is such a strong ticket.

[Tom_Foolery]

22. I'm with you 100%. n/t

[Peanut Gallery]

5. I'm sorry for their loss.

Every parent's worst fear. I can imagine that their tragic experience put a lot of other things into perspective.

[Lex]

6. Here's a good article about their perspective being changed by

Wade's death.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40174-2001Aug6_3.html

"In March 1996, < John Edwards > got an invitation to the White House, his first -- thanks to Wade. The Edwardses came to Washington to meet first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as part of a ceremony honoring Wade for his writing. He made the finals in a contest whose theme was "What It Means to Be an American." < Link for Wade's essay entitled FANCY CLOTHES AND OVERALLS: http://www.wade.org/fancy.htm >

In it, he described accompanying his father on Election Day as a small boy. They went into the firehouse and into a curtained booth. "There is no place in America where equality means as much as in the voting booth," Wade wrote.

His father held him up. Then he cast his father's vote, pulling down the lever with both hands.

Three weeks after bringing his family to the White House, Wade died on Interstate 40.

[AnIndependentTexan]

8. I think this is even more reason why I respect both of them

[Doosh]

9. damn, that's sad

god bless you john edwards, keep fighting for us.

[Shopaholic]

10. Chills rain down my spine when I read that quote

and tears came to my eyes.

And what do we have in the WH now? Someone who didn't even go to his daughters' college graduations and who didn't even go to the hospital when one of them had to have her appendix taken out. Yeah--that's family values there for you.

[Hamlette]

11. Read his book, Four Trials, its excellent

and he talks about his son some, breaks your heart, but he tells how he came back after his son died, after taking 6 months off, to try the case of the little girl and the swimming pool drain. He talks about how he needed her as much as she needed him...awww....I'm gonna cry again.

Kerry and Edwards are decent people. Bush and Cheney are not. Why is this even a race?

[tjdee]

15. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Bush and Cheney can get up there and "faith base" their way through things, but their actions and their lives show just what they are about.

Same for John Edwards and John Kerry (who I've grown to respect a great deal in the past months). They are good people.

[luaneryder]

12. I've done exactly that

When you stand over your dead child, stroking his cold face, whispering in his ear, kissing his brow and begging him to just sit up, take a breath and tell you it's all a joke; yet he still lies there. This is a radical life changing moment; nothing will ever be the same. John Edwards and I have walked in the same shoes; he knows my pain and I know his. John Edwards will always have my support.

[PopSixSquish]

13. My Friend, I am Sorry You Ever Had to Go Through That

Words cannot express my sorrow for you. When I read the Washington Post article referenced in the thread above about John Edwards and his son's death, I sat in my office and cried. At that moment, Senator Edwards had my heart and my support as do you.

Peace.

[luaneryder]

14. I thank you

Both our sons died in auto accidents in NC. No day goes by without grief. John Edwards is much better at public face than I, but he and Elizabeth live with sorrow daily.

[Longhorn]

17. I'm so very sorry.

I'm sure your son is very much loved and missed.

[luaneryder]

18. Thank you, friend. n/t

[napi21]

16. I respect Sen. Edwards very much, but he must realize that

Cheney is worse than the medical examiner. I think he does realize this, and will do very well against him.

This debate on Tues. isn't anything like John's very sad experience with his son's death. It's about dealing with a very evil, coniving, and smoothe talking executive. I know John knows that, and he will do great!

[MirrorAshes]

21. Seems to me you missed the point completely.

Sigh.

[Road Scholar]

19. Kick

:kick:
Lex (the author of this thread) is my daughter.
A proud NC democrat dad

[tomfodw]

20. Cheney's a bully, a phony, and a worthless blowhard

His body may have left that "undisclosed location" but his heart and soul will be stuck there forever.

Like Kerry, John Edwards has real guts. Cheney's a pussy-boy, he'll fold the instant Edwards refuses to back down.