Posted on 01/05/2003 1:46:38 AM PST by kattracks
Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina announced on Thursday that he has established a committee to explore a run for the presidency. My guess is this committee will decide that what this country needs is John Edwards in the White House.This may seem counterintuitive, since Edwards lacks even the most elementary qualifications. A trial lawyer who first ran for office in 1998, he has no political chops to speak of, no executive record beyond the law-firm level and no important legislative accomplishments. In short, he is pretty close to a cipher.
This impression is confirmed by Edwards' Web site. There you will find the senator's achievements, none of which could be described as presidential. He sits on a few Senate committees. He's for better schools and modernization of the banking system. He co-sponsored a Patient Protection Act that passed the Senate. The site advertises oddly lukewarm newspaper reviews. The Raleigh News and Observer calls the senator "smart, disciplined and hardworking." The Wall Street Journal says he "impresses colleagues in behind-doors deliberations." The Washington Post observes that he has "the ability to think on his feet ... master complex issues and ... communicate in plain language to ordinary people." These are qualities you would look for in the manager of a Ford dealership.
One of the longest paragraphs on the Web site is devoted to the apparently noteworthy fact that Edwards has visited every one of North Carolina's 100 counties, "from Murphy (where he went to a college) to Manteo (where he honored Andy Griffith)."
Edwards calls himself "The People's Senator," but this is a stretch. As a personal-injury lawyer, he has taken from the rich and given to the poor. But unlike Robin Hood, Edwards kept a good share of the loot, making him a multimillionaire. He also doesn't look like a folk hero. In fact, he bears a more than passing resemblance to Troy Donahue's Merle, the smarmy gigolo in "The Godfather, Part II."
The senator's title to a log cabin is, in any case, derivative - he had a mill-hand father and post office mom. Unfortunately, proletarian parents have lately been devalued by former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's invocation of his shipyard-workin' daddy.
Still, Edwards has pluses. First, it appears that he'll be up against a field of dull, if more conventionally qualified, competitors. Secondly, he is the favorite son of his fellow trial lawyers, a major source of Democratic funding. And, he is a faux-populist wild-card candidate in the style of Bill Clinton.
This worries President Bush. His inner circle has been keeping an eye on Edwards for months. They fear he could mount a Tribune-of-the-People Southern strategy in a bad economic climate. This concern has given rise to a not-so-subtle preemptive strike. One of Bush's stock lines is that Osama Bin Laden must have thought America was so weak that it would retaliate with a lawsuit or two.
On the other hand, Clinton, it is rumored, favors Edwards' candidacy. Romantics attribute this to a natural fondness on the part of the Man from Hope for the young Senator from Mayberry. Cynics discern a somewhat less sentimental motive.
Bush may fear Edwards as a wild card, but Clinton knows it's unlikely that he, or any Democrat, can beat an incumbent wartime President. But a candidate who does well in 2004 would become a strong contender for the nomination in 2008.
Hillary Clinton's year is 2008. From the point of view of the Clinton Restoration, it is preferable for the Democrats to lose big in 2004 and clear the boards. A wartime candidate like Edwards, whose defense expertise consists of owning a home security system and whose foreign policy experience was a trip to Manteo County, would fit that bill nicely.
There you are completely and totally incorrect. Trial lawyers are not good for the consumer.
Trial lawyers drive up the cost of goods and services. That is anti-consumer. They say that what they do is for the good of the consumer, that their actions protect the consumer. And you may even believe this - although I will tell you I have not run into anyone this gullible in a very, very long time.
To state the quite obvious, trial lawyers are pro trial lawyers.
Actually, "consumer attorney" is a pretty good name for what Edwards and others like him are.
(Sure wish I knew how to insert that great BS METER graphic here. Man the lifeboats!) Consumer attorney. That's using the rhetorical putty knife when applying makeup on this pig.
Dubya is one of the worst presidents we have ever had in terms of working for the people.
Ahh… the partisan glory days, when the most significant mark a disgraceful ex-President left on America was his DNA evidence upon a White House intern's dress; the result of his inappropriate supervisor/employee relationship.
Cyrofan3, perhaps were you frozen in suspended animation during the gay 90’s. :)
Did the "Clinton death tax" drive the American family farmer out of business, favoring the corporate farmer? The corporation never dies, but people do.
Did NAFTA happens? Good thing some draft dodging, womanizing, perjurer did his best to protect the Nation's quilted moving pad industry from relocating to Mexico. That vital moving pad industry sure protects plenty of high paying American jobs.
Who could forget as a dogpatch lawyer laughingly bragged to a tax accountants trade group, whom he addressed for a fee, (and equally respectable as trial lawyer ilk) that as the President, he actually raised taxes too much! And the same convicted felon still claims that the most ethical administration in American history only raised taxes on the rich? Working four jobs to afford private grade school and high school tuition for my kids, that makes me rich. Shazzam! Thanks for making me rich slick willie! (Can I get a book deal advance too?)
I will vote for anyone (even Sharpton) before I will vote for Bush.
Outcome based education works! That’s good, announced support for a race baiting poverty pimp as a choice for US President demonstrates both a lack of critical thinking skills and moral courage.
I hereby declare the beginning of the ABB (Anybody But Bush) campaign....
While I actively campaigned on behalf of a Bush presidential campaign opponent, “W” earned my respect, the first President since Ronald Reagan to do so. IMHO cyro, the ABB train left the station. The ABB jihad was declared November 2000.
My fear is that Edwards, or any Democrat, will beat GWB if the economy is still in the tank come Q2 2004. Wartime or not, integrity, service, whatever, the election of '92 showed that the sheeple are willing to kick anyone out if they think their material wealth is poorer because the President (whoever it is) "doesn't care" about them.
It should be obvious to everyone on FR that this is exactly what Edwards and the Rats will attempt to do. They learned from '92 that pocketbook issues always carry the day. Any grousing about trial-lawyer ambulance-chaser Edwards will be drowned out by the Rats and media's drumbeat about a detached, uncaring President Bush (so they will say) "letting" the economy stay in the dumper will he pursues foreign adventures. Its crap, I know, but nobody ever went broke betting against the stupidity of the average voter nowadays.
George W. Bush had a great deal of management experience before he was governor. Note also that Bush had been re-elected once in Texas. Edwards has never had to stand for re-election and one could easily argue that he is running for president for the express purpose of avoiding doing so.
I'd like to see that list, please.
Where could we get that LIST of Edwards' visits to all 100 NC counties? I'd really like to nail this very possible LIE.
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