Sen. John Edwards: Intelligence Expert? Thread II on Edwards-NOT a moderate

In a time when we need to pull together as a nation, Democrats offer up one of their most divisive Senators, a man with no military background, a medical malpractice lawyer 'til his '98 Senate run, as an intelligence expert. O'Reilly and Russert both featured Sen. John Edwards yesterday and refered to him as an intelligence expert. On Sept. 11th I found a ray of hope in the thought that this ambulance chaser was now sidelined while the country dealt with reality. That his black vs. white, seniors vs. young, rich vs. poor, evil Big Business vs. workers, polluters vs. envirals, the little people vs. the Powerful, divisive, divisive, divisive repetitive MO would no longer play in an America uniting against the terrorists. There is nothing moderate about this leftist darling of the media, Trail Lawyers, Sierra Club, NEA, Planned Parenthood, socialists.

"Senator John McCain and I have worked for months on a Patient's Bill of Rights. A law that would empower children like Ethan Bederick1 and like the Bederick family, people like you, give you more control over your own health care. That's what this is, that's what it's all about. And the only people on the other side are the big HMOs and the insurance companies. And it's a war. It's a war. On one side, you've got what the American people want, what they deserve, and what they need. And on the other side, you've got the big HMOs and insurance companies.

Exactly the same thing is happening with campaign finance. Exactly the same thing. Because what we're about is trying to return power in this government, in this democracy, to you. That's where it's supposed to be. Our government is not supposed to be bought,3 our politicians are not suppose to get these huge campaign contributions. That's not the way our country works. We're in a war, because these types will fight, with every bit of their being and all of their resources, to make sure that they maintain that power that they now have. This is the battle that we have. This is the fight that we have to take on."

Those are the people we have a responsibility to, because the only hope they have, the only hope they have, is that the people they vote for - when they go in that voting booth and vote - the only hope they have, is that the people they vote for, the people who are elected, will go to Washington and ignore that stuff and fight for them. It's the only chance they've got."

John Edwards on "The Law"
"Now, we have many students here tonight who are going to be making decisions about what they do...And I would say a couple of things to you.

Number one: do everything in your power to use the law as the extraordinary, ennobling, enabling, powerful, and sometimes rectifying tool that it can be. You have the power to change people's lives, to effect their lives, in a positive way, in a positive way."

"And here we are again, here we are again. One little girl, one little family against a very
powerful company. But the most amazing thing happens when you walk into a courtroom..."

NOVAK: I was interested, Mark, that he absolutely said he is not a liberal, he's a centrist, but then he endorsed the entire Gore so- called populist program. So what -- the kind of programs that Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman referred to as liberal are now labeled as populist. Maybe there's been a change in labels and not in substance. Evans & Novak, CNN-8/26/00

And so President Bush – and all of us – must choose. Will we stand for regular people, or will we allow the special interests to stand in their way?

Will we stand for the rights of every single voter – or for those who don't mind if thousands, even millions of votes fall through the cracks?

Oh, yeah! This dimpled darlin' is a real 'security expert,' as evidenced by his firm support for Al Gore in the election fiasco, and his remarks referenced above about how 'wrong' what "happened in Florida" was.

If Al Gore had not gutted the Commission's recommendations on airline security in order to get 10's of thousands of dollars in campaign finance funds from the airlines, the twin towers might still be standing, the Pentagon not invaded, and the brave people over Pennsylvania might still be alive!

Any journalist worth his salt when interviewing this so-called "security expert" should confront him with Ms. Cummocks' lawsuit against Al Gore over Gore's dishonest mishandling of the Commission's recommendations on airlines security.

On the other hand, it wouldn't do any good, for Edwards would sweet talk himself right out of it.

If he had his way, Gore would have been able to steal the election.

Funny, isn't it, that this trial lawyer from NC, with absolutely no political experience in any office, skated into the Senate in January and, within weeks, became a "star" in the inner circle of Clinton defenders during the impeachment trial, going on to become a major media spokesman for the Gore gang in Florida. How did he out rank Senators who had been there for years? After all, he was a relative "nobody" (like Clinton) from a sleepy little mill town in upper Moore County, NC, whose only claim to fame was going to college and taking on insurance companies so he could get rich enough to run for office.

Check out thread 1, scroll down to read about his many friends in high places. The Dems. search 'em out when they're young and groom them carefully. Edward's first big mentor and employer, high powered Dem. trial lawyer of the rich and infamous- Wade Smith.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Edwards announced three key campaign aides. Juliana Smoot, a Clinton native who has worked for U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is the finance director. Rob Black, a Raleigh native who has worked with the Burton-Marsteller public relations firm in Washington, is Edwards' press secretary, and David Ginsberg has been hired as research director. He worked on the research staff of the Democratic National Committee during the 1996 campaigns. Feb.18,98-Link

Two of Gore's closest advisers - political consultant Robert Shrum and pollster Harrison Hickman - were involved in Edwards' upset win against incumbent Republican Sen. Lauch Faircloth two years ago. Also reportedly touting Edwards is Charlotte banker Erskine Bowles, who served as President Clinton's White House chief of staff.

Gore was among the people who called Edwards in 1998 on the night of his victory over Faircloth.Link, Harrison Hickman: "Most Valuable Pollster".

The Senate Democrats' top recruiter, Bob Kerrey, acting on a scouting tip, persuaded Edwards to run for the Senate.

Tad Devine, powerful Dem. adman.

Democratic U.S. Sen. John Edwards has hired Jeff Lane, an aide to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., as his new chief of staff. He replaces Karen Robb, who resigned in January to work for the White House legislative affairs office. Lane, a Duke law school graduate, is currently Daschle's administrative assistant in his Senate office. Link.

The Inner Circle of Advocates.

Harold Webb, the image expert who helped engineer the election of North Carolina's United States Senator John Edwards in 1998. Millennium Group, a statewide black voting bloc, headed by former Jim Hunt political appointee Alexander Killens

. Bankruptcy Judge Rich Leonard, Edwards and Leonard said their friendship began more than 20 years ago when they were clerks for the late District Judge Frank Dupree in Raleigh.

Tort Lawyers as Political Candidates:
Tort lawyers have been quite effective at getting themselves or their representatives elected to high office. On the national stage, trial lawyer John Edwards from North Carolina was elected United States Senator from North Carolina. It is reported that Edwards plowed some $6 million of his personal fortune earned from the practice of law into his election campaign....Democratic leaders have increasingly recruited trial lawyers as candidates for office "because their riches from the tobacco, asbestos and other mass-injury lawsuits enable them toe be largely self-funded."
2. Tort Lawyers as Political Contributors:
Trial lawyers have also become increasingly aggressive in lobbying Congress and state legislatures to oppose tort reform efforts. In 1999, trial lawyers contributed $2.7 million to the national Democratic Party254 and since January 1999 plaintiffs' attorneys have contributed more than $4 million to the Democratic Party, with millions more contributed to various candidates for federal office....Amazingly, lawyers and lobbyists have even surpassed labor unions and are now the biggest single industry supporter of Democratic Party committees, having shelled out $11.6 million for 2000, exceeding the $11.3 million donated by labor unions.255 When tort reform legislation went to the floor of the United States Senate in spring 2000, trial lawyers rallied $508,000 to contribute to Democratic Senate campaigns. Link

An Associated Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records gathered by the Campaign Study Group, a non-partisan business that collects data on political donations, found that Edwards, a former trial lawyer, received $3,450 in contributions from computer industry sources and $429,672 from trial lawyers. Helms received no contributions from the computer industry and $2,550 from trial lawyers. Link

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