Edwards on Kucinich

"Edwards' advisers were telling him that he was too friendly to the Green Party candidate during debates and he should turn the beat around. "Aw, man," Edwards reportedly said, "I can't go negative on the Kooch!" "

An anecdote from a moveon event, more at http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/lisick/ but it's just a rundown of the event.

Have I missed something?

I believe, but he's said that he's not going to run as anything but a Democrat.

DK was endorsed by some local green groups but was never endorsed by national green party per se. In fact, green party disavowed the NH greens endorsement.

DK is a democratic party candidate. Its amazing that this in still an unknown to some in media.

As an aside, the Green Party will be having their national convention June 23-28 in Milwaukee. Cobb currently leading Carmejo in projected delegate count.

http://www.gp.org/convention/process.html

he was/is a democratic party candidate. but i like edwards response.

That is too funny.

He never treated Kucinich rudely in the debates and always showed deference to him.

He tried to copy him in an effort to think himself populist.
If he Turns on his supposedly populist message that he copied from DK; well, shows what pols will do for a chance at power?
Tell me it ain't so.

Who was it Kucinich backed?

That’s Rights Edwards, thing is Edwards never treated him with distain and while both agreed to disagree on many, many issues but on trade they where pretty close and thanks to that Kucinich backed Edwards in Iowa and had Edwards won the nomination I wonder if Kucinich would still be running? Come to think of it maybe as well has his big appeal amongst moderates and independents would Edwards have big appeal with the left-anti NAFTA crowd… well that said most of them will vote for Kerry anyway.

Kucinich could support Edwards, a "pro-war" candidate by the standards of some posters here.

But Kucinich supporters cannot support Kerry.

:eyes:

On Edit: I mean some Kucinich supporters.

at least on economic issues. Edwards spoke out about Nuclear non-proliferation during the campaign, which appeals to peace voters. Edwards also had a very liberal sounding economic populist and civil rights message. Edwards is good on trade. Edwards was also the first candidate after Kucinich to say he would vote against the $86 billion Iraq appropriations bill, even when Dean was still supporting it.

Edwards is more liberal than people give him credit for. He's mostly moderate on social morality issues, and its a shame that Democrats keep letting Republicans make that the focus of debate. In that sense he would be a good balance to Kerry who is very liberal on social issues but moderate on economic issues.

the period of time before he said he wasn't running for reelection. Since he said he was giving up his senate seat, his votes have turned sharply to the left. He could possibly be the most liberal member of the senat right now, and he'll probably be the next president after Kerry is done.

That might be the 16 years we need to turn back the fascists.

Some people on this board refuse to support Kerry unless he does a complete 180 on Iraq, regardless of any other positions he has. Unless Edwards has also done a complete 180, he also supports the continued occupation of Iraq. But Kucinich was fine with supporting him.

So what I don't understand is how Kucinich supporters can both:
A) Continue to respect and support Kucinich
B) Refuse to accept a candidate that is, in their thinking , "pro-war", solely based on that issue.

that while some Kucinich supporters certainly may refuse to accept a pro-war candidate, many Kucinich supporters in fact do not refuse to accept likely nominee. Rather we defer any such acceptance until our chosen candidate is no longer running.

I thought I had edited my first post, but I may not have. I'm talking about a select group of people, not Kucinich supporters at large.

On many other issues Kucinich and Edwards have a lot in common. They also have a similar working class background and similar outlook on things in general.
Also, Edwards started to subtly change his stance on the war before Kerry did. Like I pointed out before, I was very impressed when he said he would vote against the $86 billion for Iraq bill before Dean or Kerry took that stand.

His big thing is that he is focused on wich direction the flow of wealth goes in America. He said that allocation was filled with handouts to buisnesses and did almost nothing for Iraq or for soldiers.

He was never for Iraq on the grounds of imperialism being great for the American economy. He was for it because he said that you can't just refuse to believe intelligence (and he wants an investigation into why there was so much bad intelligence). He was convinced there were real threats.

The thing about Edwards is, if you read Real Solutions and listened to his stump speach on taxes and education and class in Falll of 2002, you would have been able to accurately predict every position he took after that, including the IWR and the 87 bil allocation. He was remarkably consistent.

I heard Laura Canoy (of NH Public Radio) on CSPAN say the same thing. She said every candidate experimented with their messages and you could seem the message evolve over the course of the year. But she said Edwards's message was remarkably consistent. She said, basically, he knew who he was the first time he went to NH, and everything he did fit within the framework which he established much earlier than any other candidate.

Nice to see that he remembers his manners. Too bad the same can't be said of the current resident of 1600. Though I doubt he was ever taught any.

I like Kucinich too. I hope there is a place for him in the Kerry administration.

And he has shown unity and discipline -- qualities that Democrats must keep in mind in order to win.

I don't think there is a rude bone in his body. BUT, he would be an attack dog against the bad guys.

being rude to anybody. Love this story 'cause it shows how much class Edwards has.

www.thekooch.com


http://www.cafeshops.com/thekooch/

I got one bumper sticker that says "Kooch/Che 2004" hehe

"In a green-and-beige hotel suite overlooking the Detroit River, John Edwards sits cross-legged, his back to the bleak Canadian vista, absently bouncing his stockinged foot. The day started so inspiringly, with Edwards, the North Carolina senator and presidential candidate, bounding up to the pulpits of two African-American churches and energizing crowds who'd never heard of him. ('The Lord is in this place!' he shouted, to elated calls of 'Yes, sir!') But now, a few hours later, here he is in Room 661 of the Renaissance Center Marriott, surrounded by a circle of half a dozen senior aides who are prepping him for tonight's Democratic debate. Nodding impatiently as he shifts in his chair, Edwards has the look of a man whose date has dragged him to a foreign film.
. . .
"In the five previous debates, Edwards's strategy has been to avoid the verbal darts the other candidates have been aiming at one another. Instead of garnering headlines with one-liners, Edwards has been hoping to reach the voters watching at home with talk of his "Real Solutions for America" plan, a booklet full of policy proposals. The strategy isn't working out so well. Current polls have him close to the back of the pack, jockeying for position with Al Sharpton.
. . .
{A}ides have recently begun prodding Edwards to be more aggressive, to make his presence felt, to mix it up in some of the testier exchanges . . . Dick Gephardt has been linking Dean to Newt Gingrich because Dean once spoke in favor of raising the retirement age for entitlements. Perhaps Edwards should join in. 'That's absurd,' Edwards says dismissively. 'No one believes he's like Gingrich. I think we just need to say that he wanted to limit the cost of Medicare, which is exactly what the Republicans wanted to do.'

"Then there is Wesley Clark's war position; he has been criticized for a lack of clarity. Edwards shakes his head. 'I don't think I want to be in that,' he says. 'I just don't really want to go there.'"

New York Times Magazine, November 23, 2003