In his own words…
RACISM AND SEXISM
“Anybody who's considering not voting for Senator Obama because he's black or for Senator Clinton because she's a woman, I don't want their vote. I don't want them voting for me.”
PRIORITIES FOR CHANGING AMERICA
In his message to supporters, Edwards listed his priorities to change America. Among them:
"Guaranteeing health care for every single American."
"Strengthening our middle class and ending the shame of poverty"
"Leading the fight against global warming"
"Getting America and the world to break our addiction to oil."
December, 2006
“I don't believe you can change this country without taking on entrenched interests in Washington, including lobbyists, that stand between us & the change America needs.
And I don't believe you can do it by sitting at a table, negotiating with them & trying to bring them together. These people will never give away their power voluntarily. We have to take their power away from them. This is what I've been doing my whole life, and that is why I believe I am the candidate who can bring change to this country.”
WAR IN IRAQ
in November, 2005 John Edwards wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post stating he regretted his vote that enabled the War in Iraq.
"I was wrong. Almost three years ago we went into Iraq to remove what we were told -- and what many of us believed and argued -- was a threat to America," Edward related. "But in fact we now know that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction when our forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The intelligence was deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda.
"It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a dear price.
"The world desperately needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth... "
PATRIOT ACT
“I support dramatic revision of the PATRIOT Act. The last thing we should be doing is turning over our privacy, our liberties, our freedom, our constitutional rights to John Ashcroft.
First, the very notion that this administration can arrest American citizens on American soil, label them an enemy combatant, put them in prison, keep them there indefinitely-this runs contrary to everything we believe in this country.
The notion that they are going to libraries to find out what books people are checking out, going to book stores to find out what books are being purchased. What we have to remember-and I will when I am president-is what it is we are supposed to be fighting for, what it is we are supposed to be protecting.
These very liberties, this privacy, these constitutional rights-that's what's at stake in this fight. And we cannot let people like John Ashcroft take them away in an effort to protect ourselves.”
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND--IT'S FULL OF FAILURES
“Unfortunately, Washington is letting down our children. George Bush's No Child Left Behind law is not working for schools, teachers and – most importantly – our children, and it needs to be radically overhauled. And Washington is simply not doing its part to invest in early childhood education, teachers, or helping struggling schools.
Our students are falling behind in key subjects like math and science, good teachers are leaving the profession, and our graduates aren't as prepared for the global economy as their peers in other countries. Students in poor rural areas and major cities often don't have the same chances as other students, and an achievement gap that falls along economic and racial or ethnic lines undermines the promise of equality.”
REDUCE CLASS SIZES
“Smaller classes help students learn more by allowing them to get more individualized attention from teachers. According to a Tennessee study, young students in small classes are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to graduate on time, complete more advanced math and English courses, and receive honors.
Poor and African-American students gain the most from smaller classes. Edwards will dedicate federal resources to reduce class sizes, particularly for young children who are learning below grade levels.”
COLLEGE FOR EVERYONE
"College has never been more important. College graduates can expect to earn $1 million more over their lifetimes than high school graduates, and their children are almost twice as likely to attend college themselves.
However, an estimated 200,000 college-qualified graduates fail to attend college each year. Students from high-income families are five times more likely to enroll in college than their low-income peers. College-age black and Hispanic Americans are only about half as likely to be enrolled. Students who do go to college now leave with more than $19,000 in debt, twice as much as a decade ago."
In North Carolina, John Edwards proposed a series of initiatives to help all qualified students pay for college. His College Opportunity Agenda includes: A national initiative -- based on the Greene County program -- to pay public-college tuition, fees, and books for more than 2 million students. In return, students will be required to work part-time in college, take a college-prep curriculum in high school, and stay out of trouble.
“The right wing uses scare tactics to divide the American people. And the truth is, both in a presidential campaign and in governing, it is so important that we reject this hate-mongering. I have seen hate-mongering with language used when I was growing up in the segregated South. And if you stand quietly by and let it happen, it takes hold, and then people begin to believe it's okay to use that kind of language, and it's okay to use hate-mongering to separate us. We have to stand up for what's right and fair and just, and we have do it with passion and strength. It is bad for America for us to let anybody speaking to the American people use these issues to divide us.”
INEQUALITY AMONG AMERICANS
"Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one:
One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward.
One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks.
One America that will do anything to leave its children a better life, another America that never has to do a thing because its children are already set for life.
One America -- middle-class America - whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command.
One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants, even a Congress and a President.”
HEALTH CARE
"Edwards said on the first day of his administration he would [ask congress to
create] legislation that ends health care coverage for the president, all members of Congress, and all senior political appointees in both branches of government on July 20th, 2009 - unless universal health care legislation that meets four specific, non-negotiable principles has been passed by that date."
WAR PROFITEERING
“I will end war profiteering in Iraq. The Bush administration has signed no-bid contracts with Halliburton and Bechtel, and complete billions of dollars of work in Iraq. Not only does war profiteering waste taxpayer dollars, it undermines the credibility of America's reconstruction efforts.
We need to do everything in our power to get rid of fraud and abuse in Iraq.
We need to hold powerful corporations like Halliburton accountable for no-bid contracts they've secured through cronyism. I believe in using the US Judicial system to hold powerful corporations like Halliburton responsible for their wrong-doing.
For all new Iraq contracts, we should impose a cap on profits from Iraqi reconstruction. Contracts should be permitted only for a reasonable profit on their Iraq contracts, based on the average profits on comparable competitively bid government contracts, [as was done] during the first and second world wars.”
PRO-CHOICE, FOR FAMILY PLANNING
“I support a woman's right to choose and believe this that right is constitutionally protected. I also support funding for family planning.”
GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN PEOPLE’S BEDROOMS
“I believe there is a fundamental right to privacy. I do not believe the government belongs in people's bedrooms. I think that applies to both gay and lesbian couples and heterosexual couples.”
BUSH FOREIGN POLICY
"The Bush administration asserted a new doctrine that suggests a uniquely American right to use force wherever and whenever we decide it's appropriate. America must have a foreign policy that leads in a way that brings others to us, not that drives them away.
And I say to every American family: your family is safer in a world where America is looked up to and respected, not in a world where America is hated.”
No comments:
Post a Comment