Edwards endorses Kerry's plan

[Mass]

John Edwards has an editorial in the Washington Post where he basically endorses Kerry's views on Iraq (no panic, he does not quote him, as the good politician he is).

http://www.jregrassroots.org/forums/index.php?s=07d931557c41be0b129b370d470ba54e&showtopic=16866

[ray of light]

1. When did JRE get a forum? I never knew it existed.

[rox63]

6. JREGrassroots has been around for quite a while

I participated in their forum for a while last year, after JK chose Edwards as his running mate. I wanted to get to know Edwards better, and I wanted the Edwards supporters to get to know Kerry better.

[ray of light]

7. I still like Edwards. He and Jk would be a great Pres/and Vp

My only regret is that they didn't let Edwards get a lot tougher as clearly he could have!

[karynnj]

2. This is compatible with Kerry's plan

but has the Wa Post given Kerry the visibility they are giving to Edwards? Per the thread dealing with the near black out of Kerry, this helps Edwards only. It also puts the anti-war plan at risk. There are two main competing ideas - do we want a Kerry/McCain debate or an Edwards/McCain debate?

Is Edwards a good point person on this? For Edwards, this gives him the chance to claim a foreign policy issue. The media pushed Edwards last year, but people saw he wasn't ready. This gives him the chance to be the anti-war candidate - and lose to Hillary.

[ray of light]

3. I don't think he'll lose to Hillary.

I don't know why, but I have this sense about Hillary that more people think of her as "Repbulican lite" and also she's got the baggage from Bill Clinton and Whitewater to carry as well.

[Mass]

10. Be the anti-war candidate ?

Both Kerry and Feingold are a lot more antiwar than he is. Note that Edwards is not really proposing anything new here, more like repeating what other people have been saying again and again: this is Kerry's plan in 2004.

[karynnj]

11. You're entirely right - they always were

I was surprised to read (after the election in a book on the Democratic primary) that Edwards even spoke out in favor of the war after Bush invaded, which Kerry didn't - regime change here seemed unambiguous to me.

I hadn't thought of it but his plan really is Kerry 2004 - and Kerry has moved twice since then as the situation changes. I was not talking reality - but where the media will try to position people. I doubt the media will like Feingold any more than Kerry.

Here on DU although many think Edwards was too lightweight - none make the point that he was pro-war, he was the sponsor of IWR, and he was on the intelligence committee. (I know only the Chairman and ranking member saw some things, but didn't everyone on the comittee have more chance to ask questions than the Senate as a whole?) Yet his renouncing his vote was almost universally cheered. Kerry did the same weeks ago and offered a comprehensive plan to get out in addition to his earlier push to get the Intelligence Report 2 out and got more mixed results.

[fedupinBushcountry]

4. Is he endorsing Kerry's plan ?

sounds more like he thought all this up himself. He gets attention for it, Kerry has gotten none. Kerry's plan has been laid down on the table (Senate), why have we not heard this from the MSM ?

[frogmarch]

5. That was my take too

I didn't see Kerry being credited. Thought I'd missed something.

[Mass]

9. I agree with you.

[Mass]

8. Sorry, I forgot to add :sarcasm:

Of course, Edwards is certainly not crediting Kerry for anything here.

In addition, I just reread the editorial and it is sadly empty. He has just taken a few of the major points other have been saying all along and has added them as if it was his own reflection.

Edwards does not have the depth of somebody like Kerry or Clark when it comes to foreign affairs, or even of Feingold.

Coming at this point of time (after DiFi), this is certainly not that great.

[rox63]

12. I'm not going to fault Edwards for not crediting Kerry

As each prominent Dem who voted for the IWR comes to the realization and admission that giving * permission to wage war was a bad idea, each will come up with their own plan on how to get out of Iraq. Their plans will be fairly similar, perhaps differing a bit in the benchmarks, or the timeline, or some of the other details. If they have presidential ambitions, they will probably want to stress that this plan is theirs, and is better than the other plans.

Feingold's plan came out before Kerry's, and Kerry's came out before Edwards. Expect to hear one eventually from Biden and Clinton, since they are almost certain to run in '08. I'm not putting down any of these plans. It's great that all of these very smart people are trying to figure out a way to get us out of this mess.

I'm not going to get into it on the thread about Edwards' editorial. The original poster is a good friend and a former housemate of mine. She now lives out of state, but we are still good friends. She is a die-hard Edwards supporter. I'm a die-hard Kerry supporter. We were both very happy when our guys teamed up last year. And both of us dearly wish that team was in the White House now.

[wisteria]

13. Actually, did Feingold really have a plan or more like a statement.n/t