John Edwards - I'm getting curious to see how people feel about him along the spectrum here at SI.
I've started looking at him by default. Dean too far left, without much substance, Lieberman very honorable and honest but not electable, Gephart tax and spend, Kerry little substance, other than money, behind the war "hero," Wes Clark, great candidate before he began and now bitter disappointment and opportunist from the date of his announcement.
johnedwards2004.com
I realize that often these position papers are usually BS that nobody ever reads and are quickly forgotten after an election. Yet it does have much that many of us "moderates" can go for, e.g., strong defense, encourage small business, eliminate corruption, corporate welfare, fraud in the welfare programs, lower taxes on middle (including most of us in the upper middle) class, eliminate perks for those who are now scamming the system - management of public corporations, welfare cheats, insurance companies, etc. I'd like to see some more emphasis on efficiencies, such as computers in government and restrictions on class action lawyers who don't provide real value (could be a problem here with JE's background though), as well as incentives for reporting government fraud and waste, togehter with harsher punishments for those who commit fraud and waste.
Iraq is not the only issue but he supported the war, wants to get more international involvement, advocates strong stance against terrorists, but adds the dimension of at least claiming moral leadership in the world, help for poor nations to build democracy from poverty.
The devil is in the details and those are always lacking in 60 or so pages, but I thought this paper was pretty moderate and worth consideration, and as close to substance as I've seen in this campaign, not merely anti-Bush, anti-Dean, anti- anti-anti, etc. |
