Edwards calls talks of reinstating draft 'an enormous mistake'

John Edwards calls talks of reinstating draft 'an enormous mistake'

==By Rod Boshart
The Gazette
rod.boshart@gazettecommunications.com

DES MOINES - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards kicked off a week-long, statewide campaign bus tour today by deriding Bush administration talk of reinstating a military draft as an idea that would be "an enormous mistake."

"The last thing we need is a draft. What we need is to start bringing home our men and women from Iraq," Edwards told about 100 loyal supporters at the start of his seven-day, 31-event bus tour.==

==Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who finished second in the 2004 Iowa caucuses and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate, told the crowd he believes the Bush administration is talking of reinstating a military draft because America's fighting force and equipment have been "worn out" fighting in Iraq.

"It's true that he's worn our military down," Edwards said. "He's worn out the men and women in the military with the tempo of redeployments; he's worn out our equipment, our equipment needs to be reset."==

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070813/IOWACAUCUS/70813032/1011/IOWACAUCUS

Can't believe how many people would further enable this corrupt administration with a draft ~ you sure as hell can't count on this Congress to see the threat of a draft, or anything else, as actionable.

Edwards's hawkishness in 2004 -- it's one reason I found it difficult to support him. It also made his doveishness this campaign seem like opportunism (and I think in part it is). But maybe it also gives him more credibility when he takes a position like this.

I expect talking about a draft will spell the end of the Republick Party PROVIDED that the Democrats position themselves as the anti-draft party.

With the overwhelming support for Bush's Dirty Little War in Congress, however, I ain't holding my breath. More realistically, the Dem candidates are nodding their heads and saying, "Perhaps we should...." At that point, most Americans shut out both parties for good.