So what's John Edward's stance on the issues we all care about?

I saw him on Meet the Press last week and he quoted so many Bush/GOP taking points that I was sure he was on Rove's payroll.

In a nutshell, is he a DLC style corporatist like Bush, Lieberman and Gephardt or will he really bring something new to the table?

Why should anyone vote for Edwards over say, Dean, Sharpton or Kucinich, for example?

Based on the little I know about him, he's not even Bush lite, he's almost Bush cloned. Educate me if you don't agree.

lazy posting. I think you're supposed to have a specific point in order to start a new thread. Why don't you go back and pick one, any one, tell us why you don't like Edwards' view. With links. Then add your view and the view of your candidate, with links. Otherwise you're the same kind of gossip columnist that pretends to be a political reporter which is the reason we can't get the Democratic message out in the first place.

And, for the record, I'm not a gossip columnist.

1/ He supported the war and made several statements in support of GW - Russert quoted them.

2/ He still supports the war, as far as I can tell.

3/ I'm not the reason you can't get the Democratic message out in the first place, far from it. I'm one of the reaons it's getting out.

I presume you were just miffed when you posted that, or something else. I wanted to give the Edwards supporters a chance to post some substantive points in a thread that we could discuss.

Sure, we could go to all the candidates web sites and read screeds of pap, but if the message isn't able to be posted in discussion forums, it isn't going to get out.

Exhibit A is Edwards message. I know Dean's message and I've never been to his web site. I also know Kucinich's and Liebermans. Edwards? Who knows?

Is that it? Otherwise I don't know what your point is with this post. You watched the program this morning, you could be a little more specific about the supposed 'GOP' talking points. If you really wanted to address something in particular, you could refer to specific statements or concerns. You didn't even do that in this post. It just seems like a no-point opportunity to bash Edwards to me. Disguised in a desire to learn more of course.

I'm glad you think a Democratic message is getting out, all I've seen in the papers this morning is gossip.

free trade things they liked. He chose to protect NC labor instead.

He's for progressive taxation.

He's a liberal internationalist like FDR, Truman and Clinton who believes democracies around the world with wealthy middle classes are in America's best interests.

He's for open source software, just like the socialists down in Brazil.

His education plan decreases (rather than increases, like Dean's) the amount of tuition students have to finance.

He totall gets what's wrong with America economically.

My food is burning...gotta go.

I did not know that Edwards was for progressive taxation, can you expand on that? And if he gets whats wrong with American economically, I'd like to hear what that is and how he's going to fix it.

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Create A Tax Code That Reflects Our Values

Edwards will make the tax rate for the unearned income of the wealthiest 1 percent equal to the top income tax rate on earned income for middle-class families consisting of teachers, nurses, and secretaries. Edwards will set the top rate on capital gains at 25 percent for people earning over about $350,000, less than the top 1 percent of Americans.

Edwards will also repeal the Bush tax cuts that benefit only the top 2 percent of Americans, including the new top two tax rates on income, and the new rates on income from dividends and capital gains for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Only those earning about $240,000 or more are in the top two income tax brackets. In addition, Edwards will retain the tax on very large estates.

http://www.johnedwards2004.com/economy-taxes.asp

He has said that he is all for tax incentives to business to move existing jobs around the country.

If you are for the tax incentive thing, here is a plan. Why not give the tax incentive to people so they can move to where the jobs are? It would have the same overall effect, but the tax money would not go straight to the corporations.

He also seems to think the Iraq war could have been a good thing, but it was poorly managed.

I believe the Iraq war was a stupid thing managed about as well as a truly stupid thing could be. The difference between these positions is whether you believe in the PNAC concept or not. I believe the PNAC plan is intellectually flawed right from it's most basic premise.

Support for the war is support for it's premise, regardless of how well you conclude it was implemented.

I believe he wants to use incentives to retain jobs in this country. giving people money to move to India does not have the same effect.

good point re PNAC

I was trying to think how to answer that one, you nailed it!

but then again so were the last how many democratic presidents ? oh yeah, all the ones in memory. and all but one of them had an accent like his.

now what you believe on the issues IS important, don't get me wrong but if you're not elected it doesn't matter. I don't think he's that much different than Dean (ok thats just me) and I don't think that Sharpton or Kucinich could win.

so thats the view from 15,000 feet. if you want a closer look, try www.johnedwards2004.com you'll see the complete picture if you choose to look.

Clarifies quite a lot. I wonder, although for sure Edwards would be MUCH better than Bush, if we'd be continuing with "business as usual" on most of the economic and environmental fronts if Edwards were to win.

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Edwards, in my opinion, is the one who has the ability to actually talk Americans into making real changes in America which would make it better, which would shift economic (and, therefore, political) power from corporations and wealthy individuals to a wealthier middle class. It's what he did in his own life for himself, and for his clients, and it's what he'd do for America.

I know that there are at least two other candidates who really want to do this, but I think Edwards is the one who can get elected president and who can sweet talk Americans into wanting these things without allowing Republicans to undermine him.

money.

And, consider for a second, what kind of people are giving him money. Lawyers. Does he know these lawyers personally? No. What has he promised them? Well, a justice system where two parties have equal access to justice. And what is a lawyer? A lawyer is just a regular middle class person who's willing to work hard for a living and get rewarded for that hard work. They're people right out of the middle class. Ie, they're people who understand what Edwards has gone through to get where he is.

You may as do I not like IWR but to call him a corporatist is a lie.

Didn't he vote against NAFTA?

I know many dont like Gephardt but on economic issues, hes among our best.