“Special Report, 7/8/04″

July 9th, 2004 by mjg

FOX NEWS’ CARL CAMERON: “As for the brand new running mate, he continues to wow the crowds and seemingly inspire Kerry. Most of his rhetoric is focused on the domestic, and, though he is criticized as inexperienced on foreign policy, he has begun to gingerly weigh in, largely with lines borrowed from Kerry that he turns into salutes to his new boss.”

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC): “He will keep our military strong, protect the American people, and create strong alliances around the world so that no young American ever goes to war needlessly because America has decided to go it alone.”

CAMERON: “That is a dramatic turn for John Edwards who was a consistent hawk in numerous interviews before and during the Iraq War. As Congress prepared to vote on a measuring authorizing the President to use force to oust Saddam, Edwards appeared unconcerned about ‘going it alone.’”

EDWARDS: “This is a very serious situation, and I think it’s incumbent on us to take the action necessary to rid the world of this threat.”

CAMERON: “In fact, he said more than a diplomatic action would be required.”

EDWARDS: “I suspect a military intervention will be required.”

CAMERON: “Democrats complain that the Administration called Saddam’s Iraq an imminent threat. The President and Vice President never actually used those words, but Edwards did.”

EDWARDS: “I think Iraq is the most serious and imminent threat to our country, and I think Iraq and Saddam Hussein present the most serious and most imminent threat.”

CAMERON: “Kerry now accuses the Administration of deceiving the nation in a rush to war. As a candidate himself, Edwards took a different view.”

EDWARDS: “Did I get misled? No, I didn’t get misled.”

CAMERON: “Kerry now says the president was wrong to act without U.N. approval. Again, Edwards took a different view.”

MSNBC’S CHRIS MATTHEWS: “Would you go it alone in a war against Iraq if the U.N. finally decides not to back us, if the French, the Russians or the Chinese, veto us, would you still go ahead and fight this war as the President seems to be heading to doing?”

EDWARDS: “I would go forward with the allies that we have with us, yes.”

MATTHEWS: “You would go without the U.N.?”

EDWARDS: “Yes.”

CAMERON: “Democrats are trying to discount questions about Edwards’ relative inexperience and shifting policy positions saying that ultimately John Kerry is the candidate and would be the president who would make the policy. Perhaps an ironic defense for a party that for the last three and a half years has largely argued that the Bush Administration is run by Vice President Dick Cheney.”