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UPDATE: Here’s a report on Edwards’ appearance.
The WGA just announced that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will join striking writers on the picket line Friday. ”Following his public statement of solidarity with the Writers Guild of America last week, former U.S. Senator John Edwards will … support the WGA in its ongoing fight to secure a fair and reasonable deal.” He will walk the line at 2 PM at NBC Entertainment, 3000 W. Alameda Avenue in Burbank at the NBC sign on the corner. This absolutely one-ups all previous political activity on the line where Barack Obama’s LA staff and volunteers joined the strikers. All three Democratic frontrunners have expressed support for the striking writers, but Edwards has had the least amount of Hollywood support financially or celebrity/mogul-wise. Obama was first to make a pro-WGA declaration. I’ve already reported that the Hollywood/Big Media moguls were pissed as hell that Obama got out in front of the other Democratic presidential candidates and issued what they considered “a totally knee-jerk response” taking the writers’ side. And they let him know it, too. (Clearly the CEOs were naive enough to think that just because they’ve been hosting political fundraisers and giving donations to him that gives them any clout.)
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Who cares?! He’s only doing it to get on camera doing it. What possible benefit will this have for the writers? Is Edwards working on a script? Otherwise, this should not be a priority for him. If I were out there and heard John Edwards was coming in to hog all the attention for something that doesn’t affect him in any significant way, I would picket John Edwards until he left.
Let’s be happy that Edwards is keeping us in the public eye.
I called Feinstein’s and Boxer’s office today to get their position on the strike. Not surprisingly, neither has issued so much as a statement or picking sides. Do they have any idea the economic impact this strike will continue to have on the L.A. and eventually the California economy? My guess is they know this, but since so much Hollywood money goes into their re-election coffers, they know they can’t bite the hand that feeds them. It’s pathetic. After two weeks, our senators haven’t so much as farted in our direction. Someone needs to jumpstart negotiations. What good are these politicians if its all just photo ops and press releases. We need action and we need it now. Call them today and maybe we can get them moving… Feinstein: (310) 914-7300 … Boxer: (213) 894-5000. Call today. These people only understand annoying phone calls. Annoy them now.
Here’s some photos I took of Edwards at the NBC picket line today:
http://blogging.la/archives/2007/11/john_edwards_at_the_wga_picket.phtml
As a union member, and a strong supporter of both the WGA strike and Edwards, I’m glad to see him out there on the line. What the writers are striking for matters; fair wages and respect for workers matters, and somewhere America at large forgot that. Perhaps the studios would have seen things differently if faced with a federal negotiator who worked for a pro-labor president.
As a non guild member who has been walking the line in solidarity, it’s disheartening to see people attacking Edwards for doing so. Everyone willing to picket and lend their presence should be welcomed. Thanks John.
Here’s a link to the video of Edwards speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyXLdWJewQI
I think Edwards did a really good job of stating what is really at the heart of this strike.
“for something that doesn’t affect him in any significant way”
Um…he’s running for President. What would you propose as a good candidate slogan, “screw off citizens, if it doesn’t personally affect me I can’t be bothered”? “Elect me, my hobbies are golf and bird watching, if anything else comes up don’t bother to wake me”?
Hmmmm….. Edwards to picket for the writers…Who’s using WHOM here?
GO WRITERS!!!!! Hang in there. By the way, I suggest you picket WALMART. They control the DVD pricing in the US. If Walmart would budge a bit on their margin requirements, you’d have enough cash to solve all the problems.
Does it make sense that Walmart makes 10 bucks on a DVD just to put it on a shelf while the writer gets a nickel to create it in the first place? Sorry, I don’t think so.
Oh, go after Apple too. They won’t budge either. They want to control pricing no matter what the true market value is of a property. THEY want to establish “Apple’s” pricing strategy. But, what’s good for Apple isn’t necessarily good for everyone else. So, embarrass them too. They are the internet entertainment version of Walmart in my opinion — the 800 pound gorilla of music and internet video.
So, go after the RETAILERS. Make them embarrased that they make so much and you make so little. Trust me, when the retailers start to get this bad PR, they will force and end to this and you will WIN!
To all the naysayers, if indeed you were there to hear Sen. Edwards’ inspirational words and if you were to know that he has walked in picket lines for years in support of workers, you might want to notice that after only a few short hours of his rally with over 30 camera crews the studios decided to go back to the table. Vote for who you want but don’t challenge a man’s motives until you have met him, spoken to him and looked him in the eye. I have and what he did today he meant.
Man was I bummed when I showed up and found out it wasn’t John Edward the soothsayer.
Bitter writer party of one.