Edwards bashes Bush on jobs, civil liberties

Edwards bashes Bush on jobs, civil liberties
BOB LEWIS
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards criticized President Bush on the issues of civil liberties and job creation Tuesday, accusing the president of turning his back on factory workers and giving companies incentives to leave the United States.

Edwards cited thousands of job losses when Pillowtex closed factories in North Carolina and Virginia last month.

"The best way for us to make sure we have an economic recovery is to make sure George W. Bush gets another job next year," Edwards told about 100 people at a morning campaign gathering in downtown Richmond.

He planned to appear later at a Richmond health care center.

Edwards is the second Democratic presidential contender in the past four days to attack Bush in Virginia, leading to the state's February primary. Sen. John Kerry made similar attacks Saturday in Vienna, and Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, bashed Bush Monday in Norfolk and Hampton.

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http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/breaking_news/6568215.htm

you dont fool me edwards.

Remember the Patriot Act was created under Clinton. It is not new or republican, it was just passed under this administration. Let's hear something constructive for a change. Edwards is adding his voice to the cause and I believe strongly in the cause don't you?

It is utterly hypocritical of him to criticize bush after voting for the Patriot Act. I dont mean to insult his intelligence but didn't he read that legislation and its ramifications when he voted for it?

And I dont care about clinton either. When Billy urged the Democrats to move on this war issue, my disappointment on him has turned to distrust.

Be it a republican or a democrat, conservative or a progressive, leftist or a right winger, a wrong is a wrong is wrong.

And I missed your 'what does that have to do with what he said?'...are you kidding me? The biggest assault on civil liberties these days is due to what?

it makes it sound like our stupid, illegitimate "president" is being picked on.

National security has been an issue that has been manipulated by the Republicans to force the Democrats to compromise their principals to curry favor to a ill-informed and panicked constituency.

Informed Democrats, have been crying foul about this from day one, but we can't blame people for being scared after 9/11, or their politicians for reacting to it.

It's not the first time, nor will it be the last time that ill-advised legislation will be passed and signed. Placing blame on Edward's or any of the others that voted that piece of crap bill into law is a waste of time.

It's the ones that do not recognize their mistake and/or refuse to take the appropriate steps that need to be taken to task (removed from office).

Edward's isn't even my 3rd choice at this point, but I can see that he isn't the Patriot Act Nazi that some here would like people to believe that he is.

If you can't stand for the right things, then you better not judge others for doing the wrong things. Because you will be judged too. A lone Democrat in the senate, Russ Feingold had the galls to vote against the act. So did a lot of democrats including kucinich and indepedent Bernie Sanders voted against it.

So I dont for a minute buy your argument that we can't place blame on these political strumpeteers for doing the wrong thing. Unless you're one partisan hack who doesn't see any wrong with whatever democrats do(the classic line: 'I know what they did was wrong but I dont blame them'), then I dont have a point to make.

"It's not the first time, nor will it be the last time that ill-advised legislation will be passed and signed. Placing blame on Edward's or any of the others that voted that piece of crap bill into law is a waste of time."

Read that again. And tell me how is that not a contradiction in itself.

You can go ahead and place blame all you want. I can't stop you and wouldn't if I could.

I just find it really unproductive to continue flogging Democrats for screwing up (and it was one hell of a screw up, the message has gotten to MOST of them) when these are the people that we are counting on to be allies. I think we could do much better if we can goad the Edwards' and the Kennedy's, and all the others that voted for the abomination to fix it since we can't replace them all at once anyhow.

How could there not be contradiction? They were wrong. Now they say they are right to oppose it. Fixing a error is essentially contradicting oneself. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

Or are you one of those slash and burn Greens that are willing to sacrifice anything for your cause, including your cause?

Edwards also wrote part of the Patriot Act, and uncharacteristically for a politician, volunteers that information when asked to explain himself. He has repeatedly said that the enforcement of it has been against the spirit of the law and it is too extreme as it is. Whether he's flatly said he regrets his vote or not, I don't know.

He is also a repeated and early critic of Ashcroft, having been one of the harshest questioners during the confirmation process and a vocal vote against him.

So, is Barbara Boxer some kind of nazi filth in your book too?

How about the 99-0 ceremonial vote of support to keep "under god" in the pledge of allegiance? Does that bug you? (It bugs me.)

I hate the war vote. I'd like to know all that was shown to them in private before this ginned-up, deliberately-timed-to-throw-an-election piece of imperialism went down, but I won't for a while.

I'm a bit of a firebrand, too, but politics is compromise. The big question is: do you become so accustomed to accomodation (like Gephardt) that you forget you were a vertibrate? It's hard to tell.

Edwards is a truly engaged leader. He really cares about making a controlled and buffered version of capitalism work. Not only do his ideas make sense, but he's a generally decent human being and he's willing to slam Junior on the personality/ethics issue. That MUST be a component in a successful campaign against him, otherwise he's a god and everything can be dismissed as bad advice or the like.

Perfectionism has absolutely no place in politics; it reeks of extreme narcissism and simply makes one so hated that broad appeal is impossible. Lest we forget, too: it's almost by definition the handmaiden of hypocrisy.

Dean wasn't called upon to vote on any federal legislation ever. How he would or wouldn't vote is open to conjecture. Kucinich is the truly honorable one on the Patriot Act and the Iraqiattaqi, but that stripe of perfectionism manifests itself in support for the Clinton Impeachment and his long-held, recently dropped Anti-abortion stance.

Show me any other of the 9 who doesn't have questionable votes in his/her closet.

Please don't just go on some moral high-horse against Edwards; he's got much to commend him. Much of that is his inherent human decency and warmth; this is someone who could salve the wounds with the rest of the world and also heal some of the divisions in this country while moving us on an honorable course.

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