AP: Kerry calls out Edwards on his trade positions and humble roots

[flpoljunkie]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51785-2004Feb18.html

By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 18, 2004; 2:50 PM


DAYTON, Ohio - Democratic front-runner John Kerry had kind words Wednesday for longtime nemesis Howard Dean as he exited the race for the nomination but signaled a new phase of engagement with John Edwards.

While speaking with reporters Wednesday, Kerry dismissed key points of Edwards' campaign and questioned whether a candidate's background should be an issue. Edwards often tells voters that he understands the pain of job loss because of his working-class Southern background, which contrasts with Kerry's upbringing in boarding school and Boston society. But Kerry said a person's roots should not be part of the debate. "If where you come from was a qualification for being president, we'd have never had Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy," he said.

Edwards criticized Kerry for supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement while campaigning in Wisconsin, a state that has lost thousands of manufacturing jobs and where resentment of free trade runs high.

But Kerry said he and Edwards have exactly the same policy on trade. He said they both voted for normalized trade relations with China and both want to see labor and environmental standards addressed in trade pacts.

Although Edwards said he would have voted against NAFTA, Kerry said: "He wasn't in the Senate back then. I don't know where he registered his vote, but it wasn't in the Senate."

[blm]

1. That's Nedra, always an exaggerator.

I would hardly call this, a "calls out" on those issues.

Sounds more like an addressing of those issues without vitriol, the way it should be done.

[Citizen Kang]

6. Definately an exaggeration

The media wants a viscious fight for the finish now that its a two-man race. I doubt they'll get it. Should be interesting though.

[bushisanidiot]

2. "Calls Out"? I don't think so.. I Think the WP Is Trying To Spin A Story

where there isn't one.

i don't see kerry attacking edwards here at all. it's natural to point out their difference as they are each campaigning, but kerry's comments here are quite far from "calling out" Senator Edwards.

[Voltaire99]

3. News flash for Kerry: class does matter

It will come as a surprise to 99% of the Democratic Party that class isn't important. Tell it the unions. Tell it to the minimum wagers. Tell it to the poor in our prisons. Tell it to the poor in uniform in Iraq.

Now, Kerry's vast wealth and privilege might be of less consequence were he and his wife not also beneficiaries of the very interests that threaten his ability to make good policy. Wal-Mart stock and huge holdings in the telecommunications industry hardly position one to make needed regulatory reforms. Nor is it helpful being up to one's eyeballs in lobbyist and corporate campaign contributions.

These, alas, are the measures of a fatcat. Let no one who has complained about the Bush family's wealth - and you are legion - now make excuses for the Kerry-Heinz pile. If wealth makes Bush insensitive to the problems of average Americans, then the same is true for Kerry. His merciless support for the ruinous NAFTA, a boon for corporations at the expense of everyone else, is the proof.

It's no wonder Kerry wants to shift the terms of the debate or that he evokes FDR, to whom he bears no resemblance. Can anyone imagine Kerry having the nerve to confront runaway capitalism in the manner of FDR?

I'm stunned by the Democratic Party. Here you have Bush, the worst president in history, sinking in popularity by the day. The door is open for change, for new life. Desperately needed reforms await. The nation is in peril. And instead, you prepare to run a near-billionaire who has supported all of Bush's worst policies? What am I missing, pray tell? What are you missing?

[blm]

4. You're missing Kerry's highest environmental ratings and his

high labor ratings. all over an entire career. Why pretend anything different?

Of course, you completely ignored Dean's career procorporate/anti-environmental record while pretending he was the answer.

[sybylla]

5. yeah, right

How hypocritical to claim someone has no right to paint a picture of themselves based upon their life experiences when Kerry uses every opportunity to show how his experiences in Vietnam have made him the person he is today.

Give me a break. Sounds a bit desperate if you ask me. If Kerry is going to attack Edwards, he's going to have to come up with something better than "so what if he was born poor."