Back in June, I wrote a summary of the many reasons that Chet Edwards would be a rotten pick for Vice President, in spite of the fact that Edwards has the support of Nancy Pelosi. At the time, I could not imagine that Barack Obama would give Chet Edwards serious consideration as a running mate. Chet Edwards is a minor member of the lower house of Congress with fringe right wing views and a lack of relevant experience to enhance the Democratic ticket. To top it off, Chet Edwards is nowhere near ready to become President if Obama should die or be forced out of office.
But, wouldn’t you know it – news has leaked out this afternoon that Barack Obama has included Chet Edwards on his short list of potential running mates, and may actually be Obama’s final pick. I’ve been slapping my head so much since I heard this news that I may soon have a concussion.
Let’s break this down to one essential point: Chet Edwards must not be allowed to join Barack Obama on the Democrats’ campaign for the White House because Congressman Edwards worked as a tool for George W. Bush in the House of Representatives, helping Bush get the power to rush into war in Iraq.
The speech Chet Edwards gave on October 9, 2002 shows all the sloppy, simple-minded deception of George W. Bush himself. In that speech, Representative Edwards declared himself a believer in Bush’s vision of the Iraq War, as if going to war should be based upon beliefs and not facts. “I rise not as a Democrat, but as an American who shares the belief with President Bush that, once and for all, the time has come to end the threat of Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction,” Edwards said.
Like Evan Bayh, Chet Edwards made ignorant proclamations about the inadequacy of diplomacy, when in fact diplomatic efforts had already rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. When Edwards declared, “The world community, acting through the United Nations, has tried to use diplomacy to convince Saddam Hussein to destroy his weapons of mass destruction. Once again, the world community and diplomacy have failed,” he was just plain wrong. The world community and diplomacy had succeeded, but Chet Edwards didn’t have the intelligence to recognize that fact.
Like George W. Bush, Chet Edwards tried to frighten the American people so that they would support a rush into a war that had not been adequately planned. Edwards said of Saddam Hussein that “with his weapons of mass destruction he is a genuine threat to his declared enemy, the United States.” The plain truth is that Saddam Hussein was not a genuine threat to any country outside of his borders. He had a devastated military, and his weapons of mass destruction were long gone. Saddam Hussein could not have even successfully invaded the little country of Armenia.
Chet Edwards admitted it himself: “I respect President Bush, as I do his father, for standing up to the menace of Saddam Hussein . I applaud the President’s recent challenge to the United Nations.” When it came to the decision to rush to invade Iraq, Chet Edwards was solidly on the side of George W. Bush. Chet Edwards was against those of us progressive Democrats who tried to stop this stupid war before it started.
Chet Edwards lied. People died. No way in hell should he be Barack Obama’s running mate.
You should know that Obama will do anything to get elected. He quotes bible verses such as Jesus saying “what you do unto the least of the brothers you do unto Me” Then we find out he has a half brother living in a hut in Africa on 1 dollar a month. This is our champoion for the poor? He lives in a mansion yet spouts off about how the rest of us should help the poor when he does not even help his own brother. Obama is a fake.
And people will vote for him just because he’s not Bush. Even though Bush is not on the ticket….or maybe they’ll vote for him just because he’s not white….(I say it that way because if I were to say they’ll vote for him only because he’s black it would be seen as racists.)