NBC News confirms that Kerry chooses Edwards as running mate

Post by **The Wookiee** » 2004-07-06 07:35am

Breaking news...

EDIT: Story

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2004-07-06 07:45am

Sounds good to me. Edwards is a really charismatic guy, and maybe will help pull in some of the "Southern swing vote."

theski · Post by **theski** » 2004-07-06 09:39am

Marksist wrote

Edwards is a really charismatic guy, and maybe will help pull in some of the "Southern swing vote."

He won't even deliver his own state.. He is on the ticket for His energy and Charm.. IMHO

Augustus · Post by **Augustus** » 2004-07-06 11:26am

John Kerry wrote:In the Senate four years, and that is the full extent of public life - no international experience, no military experience - you can imagine what the advertising is going to be next year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/02/polit ... gewanted=2

Augustus · Post by **Augustus** » 2004-07-06 11:51am

Classic

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2004-07-06 12:00pm

I wonder how much Edwards is hoping the Kerry pulls a Mckinley if they win....

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2004-07-06 12:05pm

BlkbrryTheGreat wrote:I wonder how much Edwards is hoping the Kerry pulls a Mckinley if they win....

According to the NY Post, Kerry picked Gephardt. Brought to you by the same people who brought you Fox News. Don't you just love Rupert Murdoch? *

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-07-06 12:29pm

Well Shit. What a fucking dick. He chose a man who made his fortune by fucking over doctors who were just doing their jobs. Now I know who my parents are gonna vote for, and it ain't Kerry.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-06 12:44pm

Well, expect Kerry to gain a few points over Bush in the polls now, that's what tends to happen when challengers announce their VPs.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-07-06 12:59pm

Joe wrote:Well, expect Kerry to gain a few points over Bush in the polls now, that's what tends to happen when challengers announce their VPs.

He's also gonna lose quite a few votes in the parts of Florida that are rich, and Democratic. Mostly because people like Edwards have fucked them over quite well (Points to the cost of malpractice insurance in the state)...

theski · Post by **theski** » 2004-07-06 12:59pm

Yep .. The Vp Bounce..

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2004-07-06 01:30pm

Yeah, I thought that was hilarious that the douches at NewsCorp (Rupert Murdoch & co.) printed that Kerry chose Gephardt on their front page to be read by millions, and being horribly wrong.

Jack McCafferty was making fun of it this morning on CNN.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-07-06 01:47pm

Great. Two douches for the vote of one.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-07-06 02:21pm

Yeah, Edwards was a scumbag lawyer, but Kerry will probably have success pimping Edwards "Self Made Man" status. Besides, it's not like Bush can go after Edwards for being a scumbag lawyer... that's like half of his best buddies.

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2004-07-06 02:35pm

Linky McLinkington

Until he moved to the Senate, Edwards was a personal injury lawyer---the kind people most love to hate---and a very talented one. More than half his cases were medical malpractice suits. Many involved infants born with brain damage or other serious conditions that entail a lifetime of expensive medical care. Edwards also won cases against hospitals, cities, and corporations. "As a lawyer, he was the whole package," says Mike Dayton, editor of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly. "He's prepared, he's smart, and he's very personable." And he continued winning massive verdicts. In 1990, he was the youngest member inducted into The Inner Circle of Advocates, an invitation-only group of the nation's top 100 trial lawyers. By the mid-1990s, Edwards had become legendary. "After trials," recalls Howard Twiggs, a Raleigh lawyer and former president of ATLA, "jurors would approach Johnny and ask him for his card." It is said that insurance companies would suddenly become interested in settling when Edwards' name was added to a plaintiff's team. Edwards won a $7 million verdict for the parents of a 16-year-old who'd killed himself the day after being dismissed from a psychiatric hospital, an incredibly difficult case to win, Dayton says, because in North Carolina the plaintiff must prove that the entire burden of negligence lies with the defendant. In 1997, Edwards successfully sued a doctor for $23 million on behalf of the parents of a baby severely brain damaged by oxygen deprivation during labor.

The defining case in Edwards' legal career wrapped up that same year. In 1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines. She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys' behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to $1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5 million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to hear Edwards' closing argument, "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen," recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-06 03:07pm

Yeah, that case was pretty important, because of it all new pools have to have an anti-vortex cover over their drains. There are still a hell of a lot of pools out there with the unsafe drains, though.

I don't necessarily think the family deserved to become multimillionaires for their daughter's plight but Sta-Rite was definitely negligent.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-07-06 03:42pm

Man! What a great pick! John edwards! I'm excited! No really! Now, if Kerry needs like, foreign policy advice, he can ask edwards to ask Reagan to give him a little advice, for Economic advice, channel FDR, for PR advice, Why, none other than John F. Kennedy! This will be an exciting time in our country if he wins!

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-07-06 03:56pm

Fuck this Shit. I refuse to vote for this scumbag piece of shit. My first fucking election and I'm being steered towards Bush. Go life. Thank you. Marksist, for that extra tidbit of story.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-06 03:58pm

Kerry and Edwards, feel the love!

Kerry on Edwards

Jan. 2004: "When I came home from Vietnam in 1969, I don't know if John Edwards was out of diapers then yet or not, I'm totally not sure. I don't know."

Feb. 22, 2004: In response to whether he and Edwards agreed on the issue of Iraq, Kerry said: “Well, I think he would like it to be that way, but I think I have 35 years of experience in international security, foreign policy and military affairs, and I think that makes an enormous difference here. I think that the world is looking for leadership that is tested and sure. And I think that George Bush has proven that this is not a time for inexperience in the White House.

Feb. 27, 2004: When asked about Edwards’ views on trade, Kerry said: "Well, I am surprised, because in his major speech on the economy in Georgetown this past June, John [Edwards] never even mentioned trade. And the fact is that … he is quoted as saying to The New York Times that he thought NAFTA was important for our prosperity. Now he's claiming that he was against it and these other agreements."

Edwards on Kerry

Jan. 2004: When asked on NBC's "Today" show whether he'd run as a vice presidential candidate, he ruled it out. "No. No. Final. I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president."

Feb. 29, 2004: In a debate, Edwards dismissed suggestions that he is quietly vying to be Kerry's running mate. "Oh, no. Oh, no, no. Far from it.”

Edwards said Kerry's policies would run the country "deeper and deeper into deficit,” and said of Kerry, “This is the same old Washington talk that people have been listening to for decades.”

The AP reported that Edwards said Kerry had not been clear on the war. "I think he's said some different things at different points in time … So I think there's been some inconsistency."

Feb. 3, 2004: “Senator Kerry and I have very different positions on the issue of trade … If we want real change in Washington, we need someone who hasn’t been there for 15-20 years.”

Hamel · Post by **Hamel** » 2004-07-06 04:12pm

Will this give Kerry a boost among some southerners who think NE liberals exist only to eat their babies?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-07-06 04:25pm

Hamel wrote:Will this give Kerry a boost among some southerners who think NE liberals exist only to eat their babies?

did for me. I think it was a great choice.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-07-06 04:32pm

Xenophobe3691 wrote:Fuck this Shit. I refuse to vote for this scumbag piece of shit. My first fucking election and I'm being steered towards Bush. Go life. Thank you. Marksist, for that extra tidbit of story.

You could always not vote...

Augustus · Post by **Augustus** » 2004-07-06 04:41pm

Chardok wrote:Man! What a great pick! John edwards! I'm excited! No really! Now, if Kerry needs like, foreign policy advice, he can ask edwards to ask Reagan to give him a little advice, for Economic advice, channel FDR, for PR advice, Why, none other than John F. Kennedy! This will be an exciting time in our country if he wins!

* The Real John Edwards

<Head Explodes!>Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh!<Head Explodes!>>

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-07-06 04:55pm

Xenophobe3691 wrote:Fuck this Shit. I refuse to vote for this scumbag piece of shit. My first fucking election and I'm being steered towards Bush. Go life. Thank you. Marksist, for that extra tidbit of story.

So you're going to vote for a bigger scum-bag duo like Bush and Cheney?

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-07-06 05:00pm

Durandal wrote: So you're going to vote for a bigger scum-bag duo like Bush and Cheney?

I don't know. Edwards and his kin would easily suck the lifeblood out of my family, since my dad's an anesthesiologist and those malpractice lawyers prey on his profession like fat kids on chocolate cake. Bush and his kin would suck the soul out of my family. I'm kinda stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea...