Edwards Stresses Plan to Slow Job Losses
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By TIM WHITMIRE, Associated Press Writer
McADENVILLE, N.C. - Aaron Devinney hasn't worked since February,
when the waste recycling company that employed him for a year and a
half laid him off. Oscar Willard's been unemployed for more than three
years. Both told Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards
on Sunday they just want jobs.
"I don't know what you all can do in that
direction," Devinney said.
Willard, who was let go from a job at a
dyeing company, said he enjoyed working.
"When you ain't, it drives you nuts," he said.
Edwards told Devinney, Willard and other
jobless textile workers that he and
presidential hopeful John Kerry have a plan to reverse job losses and
slow the rise in health care costs. But he
cautioned that things won't change
overnight.
"I think it's very important not to
overpromise," Edwards told the group that
was assembled in front of Devinney's home
to hear his campaign sales pitch. "That
doesn't mean this situation is going to turn
around in a day."
Edwards said he and Kerry would work to
close tax loopholes that benefit companies
that send jobs to lower-cost labor markets
overseas and would seek provisions to help
companies that create jobs at home. He
also said the Bush administration has failed
to enforce provisions aimed at ensuring fair
trade with other countries.
On health care, Edwards promised that a
Kerry administration would move to
aggressively address rising costs, including
involving the government in pool coverage for
people who suffer from catastrophic
illnesses, lowering costs for others.
Edwards, making his third campaign appearance in his home state since
joining the Democratic ticket, also criticized President Bush (news - web
sites) for refusing to condemn an independent group's campaign ad that
criticizes Kerry's military record.
Edwards said media reports have shown the accusations to be false,
and noted the resignation of a Bush campaign volunteer who appeared in
the ad sponsored by the group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
"This is the moment of truth for President Bush," Edwards said. "The
American people have to hear directly that these ads need to come off
the air."
Reed Dickens, a Bush campaign spokesman, said $62 million of
anti-Bush ads by similar groups aired before Kerry and Edwards began
calling for Bush to disavow the ad about Kerry.
"The president has always called Senator Kerry's service honorable and
the president has always called for an end to these" advertisements,
Dickens said.
Democrats are campaigning hard in North Carolina, and Edwards' visit
followed an appearance Friday by Kerry.
Bush won the state in 2000 by a margin of 56 percent to 43 percent, but
recent polls show a closer contest this year between the Republican
incumbent and Kerry.
Edwards started Sunday at University Park Baptist Church, the most
prominent black congregation in Charlotte. He planned to close the day
at a block party in Milwaukee. |
