On Wolf Blitzer's show yesterday, John Edwards came out in favor of Russ Feingold's resolution to censure Bush for authorizing illegal wiretapping:
BLITZER: Is it justified to think about articles of impeachment, as some Democrats have floated?
EDWARDS: Well, what I believe is, this president has engaged in behavior that certainly justifies censure.
BLITZER: You support Russ Feingold's motion for censure?
EDWARDS: But -- I want to add to that, because it's important. I believe that the most important thing is to hold the president accountable. Because what matters is not some censure motion in the United States Senate. What matters is what's going to happen going forward. Which means Congress needs to take its responsibility both for the oversight of the war in Iraq, for the oversight of what's happening here domestically. We have huge issues here in this country and most of America are interested in the things that affect their day to day lives, including the war in Iraq.
This seems more or less the right position to me. Censure is politically a good idea -- let's see how many Republicans are willing to support a president with approval ratings below 40%! But we don't have the votes right now, and even if it passed, Bush would just shrug and keep pretending he had the power to ignore laws.
The way to punish Bush is to win a chamber of Congress and issue subpoenas on every scandal of the last six years. We wouldn't just destroy the Bush Administration -- we could get enough material to destroy the Republican Party's reputation on all sorts of issues for a generation. Let's have a Congress that investigates every scandal related to the Iraq War -- from the lies that got us in there, to the obscene giveaways to Halliburton, to the horrific abuse of prisoners. When the majority of voters see the Republican party as incompetent, corrupt, and evil, we'll be able to set up universal healthcare, institute a smart and humane foreign policy, appoint judges that respect people's rights, and do everything else that America needs. I like censure because it helps us with the first step of doing this -- winning back a chamber of Congress.
Back to the interview. Benny at the One America Blog posted the Edwards segments of the transcript. Here's the part about the Iraq War:
BLITZER: The secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, wrote an article in "The Washington Post" on March 19th in which he said, "Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis."
EDWARDS: Well, Don Rumsfeld is the architect, along with George Bush and Dick Cheney, of this incredible mess that we are faced with right now. And the last thing I or anybody in America is interesting in hearing what Don Rumsfeld thinks about this. The truth of the matter is they credited this mess, they made the situation much worse than it had to be, and at least so far, I have not heard a single one of them take any responsibility for that.
Edwards' big project for this year is to support state ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage. Wolf asked him some questions about that:
BLITZER: Your big issue is poverty right now. We all remember the campaign, the two Americas. Minimum wage is an issue you've come to Washington to deal with. Right now minimum wage is what, $5.15 an hour? But it's been at that level now for nine years. The reason you want to increase it is obviously trying to help poorer people. The argument against it is that people say, you know what, you are going to hurt poor people because you are going to get those inner city jobs, for example, at McDonalds, fast food chains, harder for them to employ young people, young black males, for example, teenagers, if the minimum wage goes up.
EDWARDS: But the facts don't bear it out. It's just rhetoric that's not supported by what's happened. In places, for example, Wolf, where the minimum wage has been raised above the federal minimum wage, in municipalities and in states. In fact, their economies have done better, not worse. They have not lost jobs. You have got people, you help lift people out of poverty. Number one. Number two, these folks are able to support themselves. So they are less dependent on the government for their support. And number three, because they are making more money, they can put more money back in the economy.
The minimum wage is a winner. And I'll just add, the country's for this. You know, I hear it everywhere I go. Every poll I've ever seen says the vast majority of Americans are for raising the minimum wage. But it's being stopped by politicians in Washington.