The John Edwards Interview

After all the hoopla on the stage at Springfield's Labor Day picnic, we got to interview John Edwards, as he stood beside Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill to meet the press.

The following is the exchange I had with him . . . and her:

Catanese - Just two years ago when you ran here, you lost Greene County by 25 points. What's changed?
Edwards - I ran here as a vice presidential candidate, not as a presidential candidate, let me say that first. Second, I think what's changed is that the war in Iraq has become an incredible mess. The healthcare situation in America has gotten worse. There are millions more people in poverty than there were 2 years ago. Gasoline prices have gone through the roof. That's what's changed. And the world's view of America has gotten steadily worse over these 2 years. I think the mood in mid-America is we are better than this and people want to see it.

Catanese - Republicans recently put forward a proposal to repeal part of the estate tax and raise the minimum wage. Would you have supported that?
Edwards- No. I think we desperately need to raise the minimum wage but it shouldn't be tied to getting rid of taxes on billionaires. People like me, and Claire can speak for herself, are totally for exempting family farmers and small businessmen and women, so their families never pay the estate tax. But I'm not for having Bill Gates not pay the estate tax. Bill Gates, by the way, is not for having Bill Gates not pay the estate tax. What I think we ought to do is raise the minimum wage on its own, on the merits up or down, without being tied to something else. That was just a trick.

Catanese - You called your vote for the war a mistake. Would you urge other Democratic candidates running to run against the war in Iraq, and to say explicitly that it was a mistake to go?
Edwards - I would urge other Democrats to tell the truth about what they believe. My statement was simply a statement about me personally and what I believe. And other Democrats may have different views than that. As long as they are saying the truth about what they believe and what they stand for, they are doing what they should be doing. That's the kind of leadership we need in the Democratic party.

Catanese to McCaskill - Would you vote to cut funding off for the war? There is some talk about Democrats producing a bill that would cut off funding for the war sometime after the election.
McCaskill - What we need to start with is asking this administration. The legislative branch has been taking a nap when it comes to accountability. The legislative branch, the Senate, needs to ask for a plan. They need to demand accountability for the money that's being spent. As an auditor, I am so offended at cost plus contracts. Cost plus contracts mean that these war profiteers are making a fortune at our children's and grandchildren's expense - and they are not helping the people of Iraq, right now in terms of really making things safer.

Catanese to McCaskill - So you wouldn't vote to cut off funding?
McCaskill - I would not vote to cut off funding. I would vote to say we need a plan, we need to know what your strategy is. We need to start withdrawing our troops. We need to redeploy in the area because exactly what's happened is what I predicted would happen in May.

Catanese to Edwards - Mr. Edwards, would you vote to cut off funding?
Edwards - I'm not running for the Senate.
Catanese to Edwards - But if you are running for President, isn't that a relevant question?
Edwards - What's a relevant question is what we ought be doing in Iraq. If I were running for President, I could tell you what we should be doing in Iraq. We should be withdrawing 40 to 50-thousand troops. We should make it clear we're going to be leaving Iraq. There are 4 provinces that are already secure, there are another 9 on the precipice of being secure. We need to make it clear we're not going to stay in Iraq and we're not there for the oil. And the President of the United States needs to say, in my judgment - I'm speaking for myself, not for her - needs to say to his military leadership - We want a plan to have our combat troops out of Iraq in roughly 12 to 18 months. I wouldn't set a hard deadline. I'd listen to what they had to say, but we want to show we want to leave Iraq. We need to actually start leaving.

Catanese - Isn't there a danger that the Democratic party doesn't have a clear position on the war? There are many divisions within the people running for President, the leadership of the party and candidates?
Edwards - The danger is that we have an administration that's incompetent. They have no idea how to conduct the war in Iraq. It's the reason we're in the mess we're in today. They had no ida how to respond to the hurricane. It's the reason people in New Orleans are in such desperate straights today. They have no idea how to put a Medicare prescription drug benefit in place, which is why our seniors are struggling so much. We need people who actually know how to run the country wand will create the kind of image that America deserves in the world. We don't have that now, which is why Americans are going for change.