every business in America is regulated by one of the two.
Regardless of whether Kerry is in the pocket of big business, big business has every reason to buy favors with him, and they do.
Whether Edwards's vote on a bill that DIDN"T BECOME LAW BECAUSE OF WHAT'S IN IT is evidence of the fact that a guy who went into politics in order to bring a stop the racist, big-business friendly Helms machine, and who doesn't take any DC lobbyist or PAC money at all, and doesn't even return the calls of the NC bank lobbyists is in the pockets of big business is your call.
But I think it's a very uninformed call to make.
And if you think Bush is going to want to be contrasting himself to Kerry's business love-fest rather than Edwards's entire persona...well, that's pretty funny.
And if you want to discuss this bill, consider this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic... mbali's post 17:
mbali (598 posts)
Sun Jan-11-04 10:32 AM
Response to Reply #8
17. This was far more complicated - and less damning - than made to appear ...
Edited on Sun Jan-11-04 10:41 AM by mbali
Edwards voted for the Senate version of the bill, but there's more to the story.
Edwards joined most Democrats, including Kerry, Schumer, Wellstone, etc. in attaching an amendment, authored by Wellstone himself, that made the Senate version much harsher on the banking industry and easier on individual debtors. At that point, it became a judgment call whether to vote for the bill or against it since voting for it, with the amendment, would force the bill to conference and increase the likelihood that it would die in conference or that conference would produce a version more favorable to individuals than it otherwise would have been. The odds of this were excellent since Leahy, Kennedy, Feingold, Schumer, Durbin were among the Democratic conferees. The banking industry and corporate interests hated this version, by the way.
And, yes, Kerry, Wellstone and 14 other Democrats voted against final passage. But all of the other Democrats, including Clinton, Cleland and Edwards, voted for final passage, largely because they knew that the version the Dems had forced would probably eventually scuttle the bill. And it has. The bill died at the end of the 107th Congress.
It's important to know all of the facts before condemning anyone for one particular vote. Senate procedure and strategy is extremely complicated and just looking at a yea or nay does not always tell the story. That's why it is sometimes misleading to try to characterize anyone's motives or views just by looking at one vote.