Transcript: John Edwards on 'FOX News Sunday'
Sunday, December 28, 2003
The following is an excerpt from FOX News Sunday, Dec. 28, 2003.
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, FOX NEWS SUNDAY: North Carolina Senator John Edwards joins us now from his campaign headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina.
Senator, welcome. Good to have you with us.
SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC): Glad to be with you, Chris.
WALLACE: I want to start with a speech that you made a couple of weeks ago that was highly critical of the Bush foreign policy. And here's what you had to say.
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EDWARDS: This administration's approach to protecting America from weapons of mass destruction can be summed up simply: Wait until our enemies gather strength, and then use force to stop it.
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WALLACE: Senator, since then, through diplomacy, Libya has agreed to give up all its weapons of mass destruction; Iran has agreed to surprise inspections.
In fact, hasn't the Bush policy of getting tough with other nations, hasn't that proven to be effective?
EDWARDS: No, it hasn't, Chris. Because what's happening is, we have, for example, a nuclear nonproliferation treaty that's full of holes, very difficult to enforce.
And because America is not showing leadership in bringing other countries from around the world together -- and what I talked about in addition in that speech that you didn't show was forming a nuclear global compact, where America leads and brings other leading nations from around the world to set real standards to stop nuclear proliferation and have real enforcement mechanisms.
But we need to work -- you hear a lot of talk among Democratic presidential candidates about working with our allies. What I talked about specifically in that speech is what we need to do to work with our allies, how we need to have not just preemption but prevention.
And the way to do that is for America to show some leadership and recognize what the problems are in existing treaties and set real standards and have a way to enforce those standards.
WALLACE: Senator, let's talk about another foreign-policy issue. This week, Howard Dean accused some of his presidential opponents in the Democratic race, presumably including you, of flip-flopping on Iraq, and here's what he had to say: "All these guys, they all voted for the war. Then all summer long, when all those people were being killed, oh, they were backing and filling."
Senator, didn't you vote to go to war when it was popular, and then when things started going badly didn't you choose to vote against the $87 billion to support the troops?
EDWARDS: Absolutely not. What I said from the very beginning is that I thought Saddam Hussein was a serious threat, one that needed to be dealt with. I voted for the resolution. I stand by that decision. I did what I believed was right at the time.
Now, I also said at the same time that in order for us to be successful in Iraq, that it would be critical when we reached this stage for there to be a clear plan for what we would do and, second, for this to be an international operation, not just an American occupation.
And when the vote on the $87 billion came before the Congress, this was my chance, and other members of Congress' chance, to say the policy, the Bush policy in Iraq right now -- not working with others, doing this alone, an American occupation -- was not working. And we needed to change course.
I said very clearly that I supported our troops, I would vote for money for the troops, that I would vote for money for reconstruction. I thought America had a responsibility there.
But the policy this administration was pursuing was wrong and needed to be changed.
WALLACE: But, Senator, if you had been the swing vote, up or down, would you still have voted against the $87 billion to support the troops and for reconstruction?
EDWARDS: Yes, sir, I would have. Because what would have happened is, had that occurred, the administration would have immediately been back to the Congress with a more detailed proposal about what they intended to do in Iraq, and we would have forced their hand in working with other countries so that we internationalized this effort.
WALLACE: But, Senator...
EDWARDS: This was not a show vote. I did what I believed needed to be done to change this administration's policy in Iraq. And it did then, and still does now, need to be changed.
WALLACE: But, Senator, I mean, let's examine this. You would have been willing to give the president what, in effect, amounted to a vote of no confidence, sent that message around the world, right in the middle of the U.S. effort in Iraq?
EDWARDS: Yes, sir, because what he was doing in Iraq was a failed policy. We needed to change that policy.
And I want to say this, Chris. This is not just for Democrats. This is for our men and women whose lives were at risk on the ground there.
The policy this administration was pursuing in Iraq was not working. It needed to be changed. And I wanted to say absolutely clearly it needed to be changed.
EDWARDS: And you hear all these people talking and criticizing what the administration was doing. This was our chance to step up and say with this vote what our position was. And I thought all of that criticism was just words, if I weren't willing to vote to support it, which is what I did.
WALLACE: All right. Let's switch, if we can, to domestic issues. You have said that the Democrats must not concede the debate over values, the debate over values, to the Republicans.
For several months, Howard Dean has been going around the country saying that this campaign should not be about guns, God and gays. But this week, he seemed to have a change of heart when he said that he's a committed believer in Jesus Christ and that he's going to start talking more openly about religion when the campaign turns to the South.
What did you make of that, Senator?
EDWARDS: I have no idea. You know, I'll let Governor Dean speak for himself.
What I know is, I grew up in the South, I grew up in a small community in the South, I was born here in South Carolina. I know inside what matters to people who vote not just in the South but in the Midwest, in the Northeast and other areas of this country.
And what my point was, we cannot concede values to this president, because I think we win a values debate with this president. I don't think his values are the values that I grew up with in that small town in North Carolina. And they show in everything this administration does.
And so my point was, we should battle this president on every single ground. Should we battle him on his education policy, on his failure to have a health-care policy, on the fact that he's shifting the tax burden in this country from the wealthy to the middle class? Absolutely.
But we should challenge him across the waterfront, because you can't tell voters what to consider. They're going to consider everything. They're going to consider all those domestic issues, but they're also going to consider values issues.
We can win this values debate with this president, and we need to take him on in the toughest possible way. His values are not the values of the American people.
WALLACE: But I just want to press this very briefly, if I can, with you about Governor Dean. You were very critical of him when he made his comments about reaching out to white voters with Confederate flags on their pickups. You called it condescending.
Is the governor, again, stereotyping Southern white voters when he says, "Well, I'm not going to talk about religion in the North, but when I go South I will"?
EDWARDS: I have no idea. What I know is, you have to talk about every single issue in order to get elected in the South and in other parts of the country. We shouldn't concede any of those issues.
My campaign is not about Howard Dean. My campaign is about what I want to do for this country and how I want to move the country forward and the change that needs to take place in America so that people get a chance to do what they're capable of doing.
WALLACE: Well, let's talk about the contest, the race. You have been campaigning around the country for months. You've spent millions of dollars on TV commercials. But the numbers indicate that you haven't caught on. Let's look at the latest polls.
In the latest Iowa poll, you're running fourth, with 5 percent support. And in the latest New Hampshire poll, you're running fourth, with 6 percent support.
Senator, what's the problem?
EDWARDS: Oh, there's no problem. If you're me and you're here on the ground and you see what's happening, I have a lead here in South Carolina which will be the third key primary state. In Iowa and New Hampshire, I've been moving up. There are other polls that show me doing much better than those numbers you just showed.
But the critical thing is, when I am on the ground campaigning in these places, you can feel the response, you can feel the momentum. You can see people -- last week in Iowa, we had hundreds of people sign up to volunteer in my campaign.
This thing is moving. There is momentum. You can see it happening. I see it happening everywhere I go, including here in South Carolina, but also Iowa and New Hampshire.
We're going to continue to move up. The same thing is going to happen here, Chris, that has happened in virtually every Democratic primary with multiple candidates over the last 25 years, which is there will be substantial movement in the month of January when most voters begin to focus.
WALLACE: Senator, just as a point -- and I want to move on, but just as a point of information, we have two polls from South Carolina which also show you running fourth, one with 11 percent support, one with 7 percent support.
A lot of Democrats say that the knock against you is simple. Elaine Kamarck (ph), who is a Harvard lecturer and a Democratic activist, had this to say about you recently in a column in Newsday:
"Edwards is simply too green to run for president. He has spent only four years in elected office. He has never balanced a government budget, cajoled a government bureaucracy into doing things his way, or passed a significant piece of legislation."
Senator, question: Does Elaine (ph) have a point?
EDWARDS: Oh, no, she's dead wrong.
First of all, I helped write and pass the patients' bill of rights, which is one of the most important pieces of legislation to ever go through the Senate over the last 10 to 15 years.
Second, in fact, most people in this country believe in order to change what's happening in Washington, we need somebody who hasn't spent their life there, somebody who actually has been out in the real world fighting these battles and understands what needs to be done in Washington. That's what I am.
I don't claim to be a life-long politician. If we're going to change what's going on in Washington now, if we want to move this country forward in the way it needs to be moved, we need somebody who understands what's wrong with Washington and who has a long lifetime of experience in fighting these battles. That's what I am.
WALLACE: Senator, you have made a point in this campaign of not criticizing your opponents. In fact, you resisted a couple of my efforts today. Some people say that that's a pretty good way to run for vice president.
Do you have any interest in being the vice presidental nominee? And specifically, would you accept it if offered?
EDWARDS: I'm absolutely not interested in being vice president. No, the answer to that question is no.
EDWARDS: The reason that I, unlike some of my opponents who are spending every day attacking what one of the said the day before or the day before that -- the reason I am not doing that, Chris, is my campaign is about changing America. My campaign is not about the day- to-day fights and sniping that are going on among Democratic presidential candidates. This election is about something much bigger than that. It's about where we're going to take the country.
And as the focus in January shifts to this nomination process, the American people are going to choose a president. The Democratic primary voters are going to choose their candidate for president. And they're looking for somebody who inspires them, who makes them feel good about being Americans again, who has a clear vision for where the country needs to go and how to get there. That's what I am going to offer in January.
WALLACE: Senator, thank you. Thanks very much for joining us. Safe travels on the campaign trail, and have a happy New Year, sir.
EDWARDS: Thank you, Chris. Glad to be with you. |
