Kucinich Finally Realizes Edwards Cannot Be Trusted

The fifteen percent threshold rule in the Iowa caucus makes being the second choice of the supporters of other candidates an important factor in determining the ultimate winner. In 2004 Kucinich threw his support to John Edwards helping him come in second place, but it now looks like he won’t make that mistake again. I always found that decision strange considering that both Dean and Kerry were far closer to Kucinich’s position on the war and civil liberties issues than Edwards was. It took an article in The New York Times which did make some errors to finally convince Kucinich he was wrong.

The article alleges that ““Mr. Kerry had increasing doubts about the war. But Mr. Edwards argued that they should not renounce their votes — they had to show conviction and consistency.” This is not entirely correct as Kerry had made it clear at the time of his vote for the IWR that he would only support going to war if we were proven to be threatened by WMD. When Bush failed to prove this, Kerry opposed going to war before the war started, even calling for regime change in Washington in protest. Kerry often repeated the slogan “wrong war, wrong place, wrong time” during the campaign.

Despite the inaccuracies of the article, the Times is correct that Edwards was a supporter of both the war and the Patriot Act. While Kerry had opposed the war, some felt that he did tone down his opposition to the war during the campaign due to Edwards’ influence. Regardless, Kerry is not a candidate this year but Edwards is and Kucinich is right in questioning Edwards. Kucinich released a statement which concludes:

“John Kerry was hammered by the Republicans and by many in the media for changing his positions on the war and other issues in the 2004 campaign,” Kucinich noted. “The fact of the matter is that he wanted to come out against the war in 2004, and John Edwards argued against it.”

“Now,” Kucinich continued, “we have a candidate who voted for the war and voted to fund the war, but says he against it. He voted for the Patriot Act, and now he complains about its abuses. He voted for China Trade in 2000 knowing that Americans would be hurt, and now he’s decrying the unsafe products pouring into this nation from China. He supported nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, now he’s against it.”“Will the real John Edwards please stand up?” Kucinich said.

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