Edwards, never a voice of moderation
A number of articles, see
his local paper or
U.S. News
have talked about Presidential hopeful John Edwards' evolution from a "centrist" in 2004 to a "liberal populist" in 2007. However, in fairness to Edwards his beliefs have not really changed. He was the same liberal opportunist than that he is now with the exception of his vote on the war in Iraq, he has not really changed a single position.
While he did not call for universal healthcare in 2004, it was clear that he was in favor of it and the Kerry campaign was in fair of civil unions (and some say once elected would have advocated for gay marriage). He was never a centrist but the mainstream media seems to characterize every Democrat with a southern accent is a centrist.
Edwards has and always will be an opportunist. The reason he most likely voted for the war in 2002 was it quite popular and conventional wisdom held you could not be elected President if you voted against the war resolution, even Kerry voted for it before he voted against:-) The reason at least in part that Edwards is so adamantly against the war, is the conventional wisdom is now that you cannot be supportive of the war and win the Democratic nomination in 2008. The only time he appeared to be more moderate was in his 1998 Senatorial run and he had to in order to get elected in North Carolina.
However, I would like to take the opportunity to chastise the mainstream media for continuing to characterize Edwards' "two America" class warfare rhetoric as moderate in 2004. Neither his rhetoric nor his voting record (which was shown to be similar to Kerry's) ever reflected moderation.
Unfortunately, the media which is overwhelmingly Democratic, skews the public perception of candidates and does a disservice to voters time and again. A good example today is the characterization of Obama as a "moderate" or Hillary as a "hawk" when neither their voting record or rhetoric is consistent with this. Obama was considered the liberal anti-war candidate in the Illinois Democratic primary in 2004 and his voting record in the Illinois state Senate was consistent with this characterization and Hillary has never been a vocal supporter of the Iraq War and her public pronouncements on the war from the time of the vote to now have always sounded Kerry-esque.
his local paper or
U.S. News
have talked about Presidential hopeful John Edwards' evolution from a "centrist" in 2004 to a "liberal populist" in 2007. However, in fairness to Edwards his beliefs have not really changed. He was the same liberal opportunist than that he is now with the exception of his vote on the war in Iraq, he has not really changed a single position.
While he did not call for universal healthcare in 2004, it was clear that he was in favor of it and the Kerry campaign was in fair of civil unions (and some say once elected would have advocated for gay marriage). He was never a centrist but the mainstream media seems to characterize every Democrat with a southern accent is a centrist.
Edwards has and always will be an opportunist. The reason he most likely voted for the war in 2002 was it quite popular and conventional wisdom held you could not be elected President if you voted against the war resolution, even Kerry voted for it before he voted against:-) The reason at least in part that Edwards is so adamantly against the war, is the conventional wisdom is now that you cannot be supportive of the war and win the Democratic nomination in 2008. The only time he appeared to be more moderate was in his 1998 Senatorial run and he had to in order to get elected in North Carolina.
However, I would like to take the opportunity to chastise the mainstream media for continuing to characterize Edwards' "two America" class warfare rhetoric as moderate in 2004. Neither his rhetoric nor his voting record (which was shown to be similar to Kerry's) ever reflected moderation.
Unfortunately, the media which is overwhelmingly Democratic, skews the public perception of candidates and does a disservice to voters time and again. A good example today is the characterization of Obama as a "moderate" or Hillary as a "hawk" when neither their voting record or rhetoric is consistent with this. Obama was considered the liberal anti-war candidate in the Illinois Democratic primary in 2004 and his voting record in the Illinois state Senate was consistent with this characterization and Hillary has never been a vocal supporter of the Iraq War and her public pronouncements on the war from the time of the vote to now have always sounded Kerry-esque.
posted by The partisan moderate at 6:49 PM
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