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John
Edwards campaigns in Greenwood
Democrat
putting emphasis on future
January
8, 2004
By WALLACE
McBRIDE
Index-Journal
senior staff writer
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| Democratic presidential
candidate John Edwards speaks to local democrats Tuesday
at Workman’s Restaurant in Greenwood.
| Midway through a passionate
speech about cultural division in American, Sen. John Edwards
was distracted by a fish.
Not just any fish — a fried
fish, part of a dinner platter that passed under his nose
during a meeting with Greenwood voters at Workman’s Restaurant
Wednesday night.
The Democratic presidential candidate
admitted to being hungry, and again found his footing,
speaking about divisive tax, school and healthcare systems
that exist in America.
These systems, he said, exist to
serve the wealthy, and to take advantage of those less
fortunate.
“We ought to be talking about our moral
responsibility to the millions that live in poverty,” Edwards
said. “We ought to raise the minimum wage to something people
can actually live off of — for people who live paycheck to
paycheck, people who are one financial problem away from going
off the cliff.”
Edwards declined to comment directly on the
strategies — and vocal criticisms — being bandied
about by other Democratic hopefuls.
“Who cares? This is
about the future, not about the past,” Edwards said. “Those
people looking for the democratic presidential candidate
that’s best at sniping at the other democratic presidential
candidates — that’s not me.”
“I am so ready for this
fight,” he told the gathering. “You have to give me a shot at
George W. Bush. There is so much at stake in this election. We
can change this country. It is time for us to lead again. We
can build one America, and not two Americas.”
The son of a
North Carolina textile worker, Edwards said textile jobs in
the Carolinas are not a thing of the past.
“Not if we take
the steps we need to take,” he said. “If you put some teeth in
trade agreements so we don’t continue to see the flow of jobs
overseas — if we close loopholes in the tax codes that are
giving tax breaks to American companies that are leaving and
taking jobs overseas, and start giving tax breaks to companies
that are keeping jobs here in America.”
To create new jobs,
Edwards said he would set up venture capital fund to generate
seed money for companies willing to locate in areas hit hard
by mill closings.
“There have to be certain standards
— pay standards and benefits standards — before we
will provide this seed money,” he said.
It was an active
politcal day in South Carolina. Earlier that day, Edwards
participated in public forum on upstate jobs at Spartanburg
Technical College.
Democrat presidential candidate Dick
Gephardt also visited the state Wednesday, telling a rally
near a shuttered Georgetown steel mill that his campaign for
president is about jobs and fair trade policies for all
American workers.
“We’ve had millions of Americans who have
lost their jobs,” Edwards said. “Do you think George Bush is
going to do anything about it? That crowd in Washington is
saying the economy is getting better. Bush ought to be doing
what I’m doing. He needs to be out there in the real world,
listening to what people have to say, hearing what their
problems are.”
Wallace McBride covers Greenwood and
general assignments in the Lakelands. He can be reached at
223-1812, or: wmcbride@indexjournal.com
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