Was Sen John Edwards really a progressive or not?

[Taverner]

Before you answer, consider that his first bid at the presidency, during a time when he was a junior Senator, he was not. He was DLC all the way. He even voted for the Iraq War.

HOWEVER, the second time around, he spoke of "two Americas" and sharply criticized the war. At a time when being a Progressive was liability, he at least acted like one.

His stab-in-the-back to his wife is irrelevant to the discussion. We do know Elizabeth Edwards was a progressive. She came on DU at a time when we were just one of many boards, and she walked the walk.

I can't answer this question with the information given. I cannot help but feel betrayed, but at the same time he was a politician. Even the best of them lie, it goes with the job.

[MrScorpio]

1. It's all really complicated...

Perhaps he was priming the progressive pump and miscalculated. I really don't have all the answers.

Even though he has done some stupid and underhanded shit, I wouldn't consider him a stupid man… Selfish and duplicitous, yes, but not stupid.

Considering his faults alone, it quite evident that running for the White House was way over his head.

[Taverner]

2. True

Hard to say, really

And as far as Edwards goes, there may not be any there there...

[Ikonoklast]

3. Used political expediency to his advantage.

Don't really think he had an actual lasting political philosophy, it was always just a means toward the end with him; as his ends changed, so did the means.

[rufus dog]

10. Agree with your assessment

I never trusted him. Never!

I may be pissed at Obama, but gut feel is that this guy would have really bent liberals over.

[MichiganVote]

4. Just another in a long line of opportunists in government

[Taverner]

5. So do you think it was an act?

The cynic in me says it was

But the optimist in me (who probably should be shot) says it wasn't

[customerserviceguy]

20. If there's anything a lawyer is, it's an actor

And Johnny was damned good at it, when he was focused on the goal. I do believe that if Barack Obama had sat out 2008, he would likely have been our nominee, and by the time the truth came out, it would have been too late.

[TheWraith]

6. I think that he had populist leanings, which is not the same thing as either progressive or liberal.

Populism can mirror progressivism/liberalism, particularly in themes of economic justice. However, it can also be subject to the mood de jour, including supporting things which are popular at the time, like Iraq, even when they conflict with what's right from other points of view.

[provis99]

7. Progressive? No.

He just needed a campaign strategy to distinguish himself from the other suits in the primaries, and settled on appealing to the working class. He already had been using hokey speeches about his working class father, so he lazily decided to build on that.

[unkachuck]

8. can any millionaire or billionaire be truly progressive?....n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Yes

n/t

[phleshdef]

22. Was FDR a progressive?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

9. The Iraq War Resolution......

[tishaLA]

11. The wonderful Elizabeth Edwards was a progressive

her husband would say anything to advance his career.

[Ikonoklast]

12. But Elizabeth was also willing to remain quiet about her husband's peccadilloes

in order to get elected to the highest office in the land.

That always bothered me.

It would have been a disaster of epic proportions, and yet, she was willing to go along with the ruse.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Sadly, and as hard as that is to acknowledge, you're absolutely right.

[lame54]

14. Yes...

He changed the debate and got Obama and Hillary to start talking about things that working people really care about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZxOYF9ZAe0

[Alexander]

16. Mr. Co-sponsor of the Iraq War Resolution? Who never saw a free trade agreement he didn't like?

Not only NO, but HELL NO.

Edwards was as phony as a three-dollar bill long before he ever met Reille Hunter. His voting record never matched his lofty rhetoric.

He loved to talk the progressive talk in 2008, when he had been out of the US Senate for 3 years and didn't have to vote on anything.

That was after he apologized for practically his entire voting record in the only elected office he has ever held.

I know, I know, his die-hard fans don't want to admit they were easily duped by a guy who, from Day One, was about as trustworthy as a used car salesman.

Even in 2004, I thought Kerry could've done better than to pick such a lightweight for the VP position. Wesley Clark would have been a far superior VP choice.

Thought Experiment: If Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska started running around talking like a fire-breathing liberal, but continued to vote the way he has always voted in the Senate, how many DUers would be gullible enough to consider him a progressive?

[Rowdyboy]

17. I thought so at the time but then my opinion of him was based on lies....

Who knows? Certainly doesn't matter now. He couldn't get elected to the city council in Mount Pilot nowadays.

[Puregonzo1188]

18. I was suspicious of his born-again progressive schtick back in 2008

and openly said so.

I doubt it.

[tammywammy]

19. No he was not, is not a progressive. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

21. He may have been once upon a time, but I don't think he ever was as a politician.

[hfojvt]

23. He spoke of the Two Americas in the 2004 primary

but once he was VEEP, he had to campaign on Kerry ideas.

I think it is important to talk the talk. When Edwards was in the campaign, poverty was an issue, although it rarely got mentioned in the debates thanks to the moderators wanting to ask about Iraq, security, terrorism, Pakistan for at least the first hour of one debate I took notes on.

Once Edwards was gone, you never really heard about poverty again.

[JDPriestly]

24. He ran in 2008 on very, very progressive policy proposals including

gradual Medicare for all and big investments in alternative energy.

I carefully reviewed each candidate's platform and decided that, while Kucinich was as progressive if not more so, than Edwards, Edwards was more likely to be elected thanks to his national role in the Senate and the 2004 election.

I regret Edwards' foolish behavior. Of the candidates who ran, he had, in my opinion, the best platform especially on economic issues.

I think he was the only candidate who understood the trade issues.

[SoCalDem]

25. John Edwards was (is) a narcissist

who said what he thought people would glomb onto and support him for saying. He's an opportunist who thought he could keep his private life secret, and worm his way into the White House..

I feel very sorry for those kids, having to have this sordid stuff in their bios..

[Raine]

26. I was a supporter of his because I thought he cared about people

I would like to think that he really meant it. I'm more cynical now though and figure he was probably just an opportunist. If he had gotten into office though I think he would've been more progressive than Obama but then it wouldn't take much to beat Obama's "progressivism".

[inna]

27. of course not. he was better than either Clinton or Obama though.

[Liquorice]

28. I'm not sure Edwards has a moral center or a firm political

ideology. I have always thought he was a phony through and through, and I'm not a particularly cynical person. Maybe he does care about people, but he didn't seem to care about his wife, whom he professed to love, and he denied his own child. I think that is at least somewhat relevant to who he is in all areas of his life. But even besides his personal life, he has always struck me as a liar and a con artist.

[Taverner]

29. I always thought it was odd that he went off message right out of the gates in 2004

When he was chosen as VP, the message from the Kerry team was "Help is on the way"

When he said it, it became "Hope is on the way"

Perhaps mere semantics, but there is a diffference

Hope is unquantifiable - Help is quantifiable

[Marrah_G]

30. Honestly- I just don't know

[FreeJoe]

31. I always thought that...

...Edwards and Kerry are the worst sort of limousine liberal posers and that together they made up the worst Democratic ticket in my lifetime.