Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards on Sunday said that he would raise taxes, chiefly on the wealthy, to pay for expanded healthcare coverage under a plan costing $90 billion to $120 billion a year to be unveiled on Monday. "We'll have to raise taxes. The only way you can pay for a healthcare plan that cost anywhere from $90 to $120 billion is there has to be a revenue source," Edwards said on NBC's Meet the Press news program. The 2004 vice presidential nominee and former North Carolina senator said his plan would "get rid of...

If there really are two Americas, one of the two probably lacks available space for more mansions like the one just purchased by Mr. Populism himself, John Edwards. Don Carrington of The Carolina Journal dishes on King John's new palace.If it were any other human being alive, it probably wouldn't grate much to watch this chapion of the lawsuit lists erect a pleasure dome that Kubla Kahn would get lost in without a GPS and a digital map. It grates particularly, because of his scathing denunciations of the wealth and social conscience of so many others. It galls when one...

Everyone loves a good hypocrite; they make us feel superior just for being consistent, if not competent. Accordingly the Internets are getting a good snort out of Wal-Mart basher John Edwards getting caught looking for Wal-Mart to hook him up with a Playstation 3. Edwards explains that an overzealous campaign staffer – is there ever any other kind? – took his family's longings for a Playstation 3 a little too seriously. A call was placed to Wal-Mart to see if the Edwards clan could somehow jump to the front of the line for season's hottest gotta' have gift. Aside from...

John Edwards is often compared to Bill Clinton. Supporters of both cite charisma, charm and an ability to connect with regular people. However, since losing the 2004 presidential election, Edwards has shown additional similarities and some differences with Clinton that both reflect poorly on his chances to remain in the political spotlight as a contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Over the weekend Edwards made a bid for liberal credibility and electoral viability by declaring he was wrong to support the removal of Saddam Hussein in 2002. In a Washington Post op-ed, Edwards wrote: "The intelligence was deeply flawed...

Shame on Washington Joseph Farah Yesterday was a day of shame in Washington. It was a day of shame for the U.S. Senate. The U.S. Senate, by a vote of 50-48 – with two very prominent senators sitting it out – voted not to carry forth a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. If we can't agree on something as simple as that, what do we have left in this country? What kind of meaningful consensus is possible? What are the bands that continue to hold us together as a nation? We...

When Dennis Kucinich unveiled his Grandfather Twilight Endorsement, I figured the Democrats had ridden the Ozzie Osbourne Crazy Train to the final railhead over the rainbow. Now we have John Deadwards holding courtroom seances. Sean Hackbarth, AKA The American Mind, provides us with an ample Fisking. Edwards' abortion problem comes from a winning trial 19 years ago where he stood "before a jury and channeled the words of an unborn baby girl." Two NY Times reports went on to describe Edwards' closing argument: Referring to an hour-by-hour record of a fetal heartbeat monitor, Mr. Edwards told the jury: "She said...

"We are not going to lose the race for lack of funds", said Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron, finance co-chairman of the Edwards campaign (and poster boy for legal ethics) as the Wisconsin primary approached. (Rob Christensen and John Wagner, "Edwards sees no reason to surrender", Raleigh News and Observer, Feb. 12). The challenge for Edwards's fund-raising was spelled out by the Washington Post last month (Paul Farhi and Thomas B. Edsall, "Filling War Chests Key As Campaigns Progress", Jan. 21): "The North Carolina senator has received a higher percentage of large donations than any other major candidate -- 83...

<p>EXETER, New Hampshire (AP) -- Discounting polls that suggest his support in New Hampshire remains in single digits, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards said he is buoyed by recent gains in Iowa and is trying to transfer some of that momentum here.</p>

WASHINGTON -- Toiling in Howard Dean's political shadow, Democratic presidential rival John Edwards said Friday he's offering voters a campaign of optimism, inclusion and substance -- a far cry, he suggests, from the fiery rhetoric and partisanship that have fueled the front-runner's ascent. "If all we are in 2004 is a party of anger, we can't win," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery Friday to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "If all we are is divisive and angry and if all we do is attack President Bush and each other, then we will not win the White House...