John Edwards: Flavor of the Week

By Kale Bongers | Friday, January 23, 2004

On January 22, John Edwards flounced into the Top of the Hop, delighting cheering campaigners and his buxom coed supporters. The North Carolina boy-toy was surrounded by waving placards displaying daring slogans like "Democrats kick @$$" and "Regime Change 2004."

Edwards, a "uniter," talked about "two Americas" of health care, public education, and taxes. He spoke out for the "35 million Americans living in poverty" and groused about the "war profiteering that's going on in Iraq every day," specifically mentioning Halliburton. He really went out on a limb there.

The senator vaulted a few more typical Democratic pommel-horses—tax cuts, judicial restraint, America's "unilateral" action in Iraq, et cetera. According to Edwards, President Bush put the tax burden "straight onto" the middle class. He attacked the administration for "taking...civil rights away every day" and called for the appointment of "judges who we know will enforce our civil rights laws."

Edwards talked-up his budget plan, touting his fiscal responsibility. He claimed he enjoyed budgets that were balanced. While he professed his inability "to eliminate the deficit," he said he could reduce it by making cuts in some areas. Too bad a recent National Taxpayers Union (NTU) report showed that Edwards' budget plan would result in an additional annual budget deficit of $200 billion—even with his proposed repeal of the Bush tax cuts. The NTU report also showed that Edwards had not made even a single plan to reduce spending.

The senator also stumped a bit about "political cynicism," and how his message was "a message of hope." He claimed this positive message, however, a day after a booklet, ostensibly put out by his campaign and bearing his facsimile signature, was uncovered by CNN. This book included almost sixty pages on how to discredit and attack the records of the other presidential candidates.

After a bout of rigorous Bush-bashing, Edwards made his most ironic remark of the afternoon: "We [Democrats] don't believe in tearing people down."

Finally, Senator Edwards concluded with an impassioned plea: "Give me a shot at George Bush, and I'll give you the White House."

John Edwards: Flavor of the Week

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