If you were one of the people thinking there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans, then you didn’t watch the ABC/Facebook Debate in New Hampshire on Saturday night. The differences are clear. If you want a candidate that wants to tax success, raise taxes, court our enemies and deteriorate our military, then elect a Democrat, any Democrat. If you want a candidate that wants a free market, a strong defense and lower taxes, then most of the Republicans will do.
But this analysis isn’t of any Democrat or most Republicans; it’s about former Senator John Edwards. This is a guy who didn’t carry his home state for the Democrats in 2004 and probably wouldn’t have been reelected by his own constituents if he hadn’t been running for president and vice-president for the last 6 years.
In 1985, John Edwards was a wildly successful trial lawyer. He was trying a case where he “channeled the words of an unborn baby girl.” He shared those words with a North Carolina jury and was hoping to blame the obstetrician for the brain damages suffered by the fetal heart monitor’s distress signals. With all his concern over the voices of the unborn, Edwards has never heard the voices of the unborn as he has opposed any restriction on abortion, including the barbaric procedure of partial birth abortion. Over his litigation career he won about $60 million dollars in judgments on malpractice cases like this—with his take roughly one-third. Over his career, according to FindLaw.com, he has won over $100 million dollars in judgments. He is still one of the most successful malpractice attorneys in the country.
He spent much of Thursday night’s Iowa Caucus speech to supporters sounding like Former Speaker of the House Dick Gephardt. Edwards told one story after another about someone a sad medical condition and the problems that person had because they lacked health insurance or because health insurance companies were supposedly obstacles to proper care. Edwards tells these stories with a lilting southern accent, the sincerity we heard in Bill Clinton’s voice and appropriate punctuation with smile and frown. But what he fails to tell you is that lawyers such as he cause insurance companies to constrain risky procedures and health care providers to over-test and over-prescribe to avoid lawsuits.
As far as healthcare reform goes, John Edwards wants “truly universal health care.” Radical dude - where’s the party? What he means is that the government gets involved in every aspect of healthcare and controls the prices. When you control prices you begin to ration services and John Edwards doesn’t talk about that. Just look at the VA health system, Medicare and Medicaid and you’ll see what “truly universal health care” will get you: long waits, rationed services and lesser-quality care.
On the biggest issue of our time, terrorism, the Edwards policy reads like the minutes of a Blame America First Party convention. It is, in his view, all the things that we did wrong that led us to this place in time. That is one thing I might agree with him on but not for the same reasons. We didn’t act appropriately after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, or after the African Embassy bombings or after the bombing of the USS Cole. We didn’t act decisively at the beginning of this and we are paying for it now. Things are better in Iraq and Afghanistan but there still are nations that sponsor terrorism. Unless and until, our leaders of either party will worry more about the safety of the American people instead of the feelings of the terrorists and their sympathizers, we will not win against this threat.
In addition, Edwards and most of his colleagues in the loony left do not recognize the threat to our security that open borders and illegal immigration cause. It is because we don’t recognize this that the average guy that is just looking for a better life for his family will have to go to enormous trouble to immigrate here legally. John Edwards - by not facing this problem - is supporting a permanent underclass that he claims to champion.
So what would you get with an Edwards presidency. The world would see a weak America and a government would encroach upon your life in every way you can think of…and then some. Is this any way to run a country?
