Why I Love Elizabeth -- Mrs. Vice President (As of next Jan) On Countdown

[JLucas4092]

From Keith Olberman's Blog:

They told me that the wife of Democratic Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards had seen a story we’d done about her.

Since she was a Countdown viewer, I was further told, she wanted to let me know that my information was outdated. She wasn’t upset -- just a fan who’d spotted something wrong on the show, something that happened to be about her. Otherwise she thought everything had been pretty good that night.

Even with my comparatively limited exposure to the means of politics, I could smell this from a million miles away. Oh, Elizabeth Edwards is a viewer? Who are we kidding here? I’ve been wined-and-dined before, symbolically and literally. If it hadn’t happened since I switched to news, it had already happened while I was in sports.

Big fan, Keith. Love the show. Big favor if you covered this story. Hugely appreciated if you covered it from this viewpoint.

Oops.

Elizabeth Edwards spent twenty minutes with me this afternoon by satellite— there was no chaff, only wheat, we’ll be bringing you half the interview tonight, half tomorrow. She not only gave me more “un-politician” answers in one sitting than I’ve gotten in all my other interviews with political figures combined, but she actually unintentionally forecast tonight’s Number Five story, and also made my eyes well over with tears at the end.

She admitted August wasn’t a very good month for her husband and Senator Kerry, apologized for periodically sounding too much like a sound-bite, and said something that seemed extraordinarily like the stuff actual non-sound-bite-sounding people say, that the President has “painted a very compelling picture of himself as the sole place Americans can go if they want to be safe from terrorism. I don’t think it’s an accurate picture, but they’ve painted a compelling picture.”

That’s when she prophesied the show opening. “I don’t think there’s a single American, regardless of our party, who wouldn’t give everything possible to keep us safe,” Mrs. Edwards told me. “It ought not be a part of the dialogue. Someone is going to be president next January. And I don’t want any American, Democrat or Republican, feeling that person doesn’t have every bit of the will to protect us that they need.”

At almost the same moment Mrs. Edwards told me that from Kerry campaign headquarters, Vice President Dick Cheney was sitting before a ‘town hall meeting’ in Des Moines, erasing whatever remained from the convention of the line between honest politicking, and terrorizing voters.

“It’s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we’ll be hit again and we’ll be hit in a way that will be devastating.”

That’s quite an answer to Mrs. Edwards’ politics of inclusiveness on the subject of Homeland Security, especially given that some international analysts conclude that Osama Bin Laden attacked this country largely in the hope that we would respond by doing something militaristic in the Middle East that would make every Muslim in the world perceive us as a slow-moving bully, and thus provide a focus and an inspiration for fanaticism that would overthrow all of the region’s secular governments.

Elizabeth Edwards won’t question Republicans’ intentions on counter-terrorism.

Dick Cheney not only questions Democrats’, but as he does he sounds like he’s nearing Megalomania Freeway.

*****
But I promised a note about Mrs. Edwards and why she’s on the show.

The tape of this will be in the second half, which we’ll run tomorrow night.

You probably know that the Edwards lost their first-born son, Wade, in a freakish automobile accident in 1996, when he was 16.

You probably didn’t know they watched SportsCenter together.

I sure didn’t.

“I have to just say that on a completely personal note, and not kissing up to you in any way, I said before this interview started what a great treat my son would have thought this was for me to be spending any time talking to you after he was a devoted watcher of you while you were on ESPN with Dan Patrick and Chris Berman.”

Hadn’t felt too good lately about having being on that program.

Mrs. Edwards kind of changed that.

Right now I’m very proud to be part of one of her warm memories about her son.

[Shopaholic]

1. I love Keith, I love Elizabeth!

What a great blog by Keith! And I can't wait to see the second part of this interview tomorrow night. She did just fantastic tonight!

[JLucas4092]

4. I missed it!

I'm gonna hope that it's re-shown sometime tonight. I usually don't watch MSNBC at night.

[Shopaholic]

5. Countdown is re-aired every night at Midnight (eastern)

Set your VCR/TIVO/whatever you've got! Part 2 airs tomorrow night.

[JLucas4092]

8. In Colorado (see avatar)

So I'll be awake (I'm a college student.....I'll be up for a long time).

To see Elizabeth, I'll skip my nightly "Simpsons" viewing.

I love the women of the Kerry - Edwards administration.

[DemDogs]

10. It's on again at midnight eastern

Countdown at 8, replayed at 12

[sangh0]

2. Damn, she's good!!

Glad she's on our side

[canuckybee]

3. WOW !!!!!!

[michigandem2]

6. I loved her...

she seems so down to earth...I can't wait to have her in the new and improved government...I love her...and Keith did great tonight...especially with the Drier ass from CAL!

[kentuck]

7. Elizabeth is great !

The brains of the lot ! Down to earth and honest.

[blue neen]

9. I really respect her. She seem like the type of person you just

want to sit and have a long conversation with.