The Cooper Union, first Lincoln, now Edwards

The Cooper Union Speech then...

On May 18, 1860, [Lincoln] was chosen as the Republican Party's candidate for the Presidency. In a few short months he had been propelled from a relative unknown to winning the Republican Nomination.
The Cooper Union Address delivered in New York City on February 27, 1860, propelled Abraham Lincoln to the 1860 Republican Nomination.

The Cooper Union Speech now...

Cuomo, who has been saying very nice things about Edwards lately, said the former North Carolina senator agreed during the meeting at the Regency Hotel to participate in an event at Cooper Union...

Cuomo said he asked all the top candidates - Democrats and Republicans - to participate in debates because he feels there is a distinct lack of details being offered on the campaign trail at the moment. Only Edwards was willing to debate "anyone, any time, anywhere," Cuomo said.

Let the fun begin. A little bit about the similarities between Edwards and Lincoln after the jump.

Lincoln on Conservatives and Partisanship

I would say to them: - You consider yourselves a reasonable and a just people; and I consider that in the general qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of us [Liberals], you do so only to denounce us a reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to "Black [Liberals]."{those who opposed slavery} In all your contentions with one another, each of you deems an unconditional condemnation of "Black [Liberals]" as the first thing to be attended to. Indeed, such condemnation of us seems to be an indispensable prerequisite - license, so to speak - among you to be admitted or permitted to speak at all.

In other words, you think you are moral, but your party requires complete condemnation of liberal ideals from any who would lead your party.
See: Mitt Romney suddenly against everything liberal.
See: Rudy Giuliani suddenly against gay marriage, and CHOICE.

More from Lincoln on partisanship

You say we are [partisan]. We deny it...You produce your proof; and what is it? Why, that our party has no existence in your [part of the country] - gets no votes in your [Red States]...The fact that we get no votes in your [states], is a fact of your making, and not of ours...If we do repel you by any wrong principle or practice, the fault is ours; but this brings you to where you ought to have started - to a discussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, put in practice, would wrong your [Party] for the benefit of ours, or for any other object, then our principle, and we with it, are [partisan], and are justly opposed and denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of whether our principles, put in practice, would wrong your [Party]; and so meet it as if it were possible that something may be said on our side. Do you accept the challenge? No! Then you really believe that the principle which "our fathers who framed the Government under which we live" thought so clearly right as to adopt it, and indorse it again and again, upon their official oaths, is in fact so clearly wrong as to demand your condemnation without a moment's consideration.

In other words: You say we're partisan, but it's you fools that won't debate us, and in that case I want NOTHING to do with you!!!
Which lead to this declaration:

Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored - contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man

No middle ground, no triangulation, no coming to the center like some Democrats would urge.

Now, what can we expect from John Edwards on Bipartisanship and coming to the middle?

Exactly, no middle ground, no giving up, stand up for what we believe in.

What about our other issues, what about labor?

If a person can sign a card to become a Republican, they should be able to sign a card to join a union.

What about poverty?

End Poverty by 2036: Edwards believes that ending poverty should be a goal our nation actively pursues. A national goal will rally support for the cause and help us measure our progress. In 1999, Tony Blair announced a 20-year goal to end child poverty in Great Britain and he has already reduced child poverty by 17 percent [Washington Post, 4/3/2006]. Edwards calls for a national effort to:
* Cut poverty by one third within a decade, lifting 12 million Americans out of poverty by 2016.
* End poverty within 30 years, lifting 37 million Americans out of poverty by 2036.

John Edwards stands up for what is right, none of this mealy-mouthed, middle-of-the-road B.S. You may not like what he has to say, but at least you know EXACTLY WHAT HIS POSITIONS ARE - just like Lincoln. The same Lincoln, by the way, that once said this...

"[President Polk is] a bewildered, confounded and miserably perplexed man."

Even after the victory of the U.S. over Mexico, Lincoln would not bow to "bipartisan" political pressure, instead calling Polk a liar on the floor of the House of Representatives, and that the war "was from beginning to end, the sheerest deception."

I look forward to John Edwards taking on "anyone, any time, anywhere," especially at the Cooper Union, because I believe that every American Democrat will realize that he is the natural descendant of the Lincoln mantle, and the best chance for our country's future.