Keywords

Edwards

Politics

In my post on Kerry, I mentioned that I felt Edwards had the kind of leadership qualities I thought Kerry was lacking. Here is what William Saletan has to say about the most audacious speech of the 2004 presidential season” (the most audacious speech of the 2003 season was delivered by Howard Dean):

In a nutshell, Edwards is trying to turn the traditional politics of left and right upside down. It may be too crazy to pull off, but it’s easily the most interesting thing anybody in this race has said so far.

That’s exactly what the Democrats need to be doing!

But I don’t like his stance on the death penalty (he’s for it), and I don’t like the fact that (like Kerry) he voted to give Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq. He is certainly more charismatic than Kerry, but if Bush’s crew can make a dumb rich frat boy seem likable to a large portion of the voting population, I imagine that Kerry’s crew can somehow do the same. (See this Saletan article on how Kerry’s stump speeches are being delivered by Ted Kennedy.)

Edward’s links:

The Chicago Tribune and the Center for Public Integrity both have nice concise bios. This Christian Science Monitor article focuses more on his 2004 campaign.

And this Doug Ireland piece in the LA Weekly casts serious doubt on just how much of a populist Edwards really is. I haven’t seen any response to this article, but it is certainly troubling for any left-leaning Edwards supporters.

The Washington Monthly examines whether it matters that he is a trial lawyer.

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