I think Jonathan Stein has located a problem area for Edweards. On the one hand, we should be grateful that one of the front-runners is talking seriously about corporate power and inequality.

On the other, I've noticed sometimes that Edwards doesn't fully draw out what corporate dominance of the government means in sufficiently vivid terms: the experience of a two-tiered society where the rich and powerful receive government subsidies while in the name of "free enterprise," government aid is denied to those in need of quality public education, access to healthcare, or, to draw upon Edwards' experiences in New Orleans, to start a massive public jobs program employing local people in the cleanup and rebuilding.

The "two Americas" metaphor Edwards used in 2004 is very fitting, but must be fleshed out.

As I see it, progressives should be thankful that some presidential contender is acknowledging the 800-pound gorilla in the room (rather than waiting to feed it as Hillary Clinton is).

But as Jonathan Stein suggests, Edwards needs to draw out concretely how the gorilla affects our lives. Roger Bybee, Milwaukee.

His 29,000 square foot mega-mansion is composed of primarily CORPORATE manufactured parts, is it not -- other than the hundreds of dead trees used to line the halls to the private gym and multi-car petrol powered gay-rajah? Maybe the imported non-union shampoo got in his eyes...

Who is Jonathan Stein?

Maybe Edwards has correctly identified corporations as THE source of most of our structural/systemic problems, and is rightly focusing on their power, influence, crimes and abuses.

Other than Iraq — which, like most wars, is a huge corporate boondoggle — what else could Edwards speak about that isn't connected to corporate power: the economy? Healthcare? The environment? The widening wealth disparity?

I disagree.

Edwards is expressing an important American problem. Sure he sounds like a broken record. Why does it stand out? Because he's the only one saying anything.

Corporations run this country. Not "we the people." Corporations and politicians run this country - except the politicians are in bed with the corporations so we're back to square one again: corporations.

Healthcare? The environment? Iraq -- CORPORATIONS. You think healthcare is going to change because we elect a Democrat? Get real. You think if we elect a Democrat we'll haul our asses out of Iraq? No it ALL returns to CORPORATIONS. Blackwater. Big Oil. BC/BS. Healthnet. Mega Pharmaceutical companies. The US State Department....

Corporations elect politicians. Corporations run nations, control nations. They govern every aspect of your life, at the expense of your life. If anyone is interested in changing the pace of this country, well it will start when we dismantle Time Warner. Rupert Murdoch. Big oil. Blue Cross. Etc. And we elect some Democrats with a little backbone.

So don't give Edwards a hard time for being the only one up there with the balls to tell it like it is. Even if he's barely brushing the surface of this issue.

We are SUCH a backwards nation - right up there with China (see the latest reports from Bali for further proof on that one.)

wait, I don't disagree with Countercorp - just with Jon Stein's tone in this little piece. Countercorp is right - read your comment after I posted mine..

The frequency of Edwards' use of the word "corporation" or a derivation thereof, is merely a reflection of the single largest problem facing the world today. Think about it, corporate rule supports war (war profiteers), disease (big pharma), global warming (big oil)etc. Until we usurp power from corporations and return it to the people, we don't have a chance in hell of saving earth. Progressive? Yes he is.

Edwards is right on and trying to hammer it into our little heads just how pervasive corporate influence is in America, and in our politicians & now in our justice dept. thanks to Bush & Co. When corporations have more clout than we the people you know we don't really have a democracy any longer.

Which corporate sponsor will you vote for??? ha ha democracy, shamocracy.

No surprise that Biden didn't dare make a single mention of corporations ... corporations OWN Biden; just take a look how he voted with Republicans to screw everyone except the credit-card lobby and banks on the bankruptcy reform bill. So, just throw out the high and the low and take an average, and it looks about right overall.

I should add that MoJo seems to have the same problem that Alternet and some of the other allegedly progressive publications/websites exhibit: Their editorial staff are more centrist than their readership, which is more progressive.

I'm not sure what Jonathan Stein was doing before he started working at MoJo's new Washington, DC bureau, but his postings so far seem distinctly mainstream. We know Corn's cant, so perhaps it's not a surprise he hired Stein ...

John Edwards sucked all of his personal fortunes from "corporations", he & his trial lawyer buddies NEED corporations to make their living.
John Edwards is nothing more than a smooth story teller, much like a used car salesman, he tells people whatever they want to hear to close the "sale", he did that to juries, and now he does it in politics. Why does he use the word "corporation" so much? Only because his researchers told him that it works, its a vague word that tugs at the emotional cords of people who feel underappreciated. Of course he has no depth to his message, just that Corporations are "bad".
Been to Mexico lately? (it sucks) Why do they flock here?, for JOBS!, jobs created by CORPORATIONS! Got a new flat screen TV this Xmas for a great price? Thats made possible by Corporate efficiencies!
What separates this country from a 3rd word country? Good jobs!, mostly created by corporations!
Do corporations only care about money? OF COURSE!, thats ALL they're designed to do! Corporations are not responsible for raising our kids, doing charity work, or planting trees, but a large number of people think so....

MUSCATINE, Iowa — Ralph Nader unleashed on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Monday — criticizing her for being soft on defense spending and a chum of big business — and expressed his strong support for John Edwards.

In an eleventh hour effort to encourage liberal Iowans to "recognize" the former North Carolina senator by "giving him a victory," the activist and former presidential contender said in an interview that Clinton will "pander to corporate interest groups" if elected.

Nader specifically accused Clinton of failing to challenge military spending because "she is a woman who doesn't want to be labeled as soft on defense, and she doesn't want to be shown as taking on big business."

Former Senator Edwards can say what he will about the dastardly corporations, but we should remember that they provide more than half the jobs in this country and more than half the heath benefits. The stock of these corporations is owned by 70% of Americans via IRA's, 401k's, and pensions plans. We must ask: How many retirees are using dividends from these dastardly corporations to live and supplement social security?

Half of all jobs in this country are small businesses with less than 15 employees, so what's your point, Ken?

Corporations have all the legal power of a person, but none of the responsibility. Their only purpose is to make money -- and screw the environment and everybody else along with it.

We have a paper-pushing, plastic-buying, SERVICE econmy. Yay. Hope that job at McD's has a retirement plan for half the citizens, because that's all they're getting.