Battleground
Colorado
by Lindsay Sandham
The Metropolitan
Speaking to hundreds of supporters, some undecided voters and a handful
of Bush advocates, John Edwards addressed issues such as health care and
women’s rights in a town hall-style meeting at Jefferson County
fairgrounds Thursday, Aug. 26.
Attendees traipsed uphill—past couples and families holding Bush/Cheney
signs, past the man selling John Kerry ’04 buttons, and past representatives
from the Democratic National Committee—to what generally serves
as a livestock arena to hear Edwards speak and answer questions from the
audience.
The appearance was scheduled on Women’s Equality Day, which celebrates
women gaining the right to vote.
“When it comes to women, Sen. Edwards is the real deal,”
said Ajenai “AJ” Clemmons, a DU student and black women’s
activist who introduced Edwards. “This man cares about the plight
of American women and he shows it.”
Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who addressed the audience before
Edwards, said both Edwards and John Kerry have chosen strong women for
their wives.
The Bush administration is opposed to reproductive rights and economic
rights for women, she said.
“‘W’ might stand for something but it does not stand
for women,” she said.
The event kicked off with many powerful women speakers such as DeGette,
Clemmons and former Colorado Lt. Gov. Gail Schoettler, along with two
songs performed by Boulder recording artist Nina Storey and a ballet folklorico
dance routine performed by four young girls festooned in colorful Mexican
dresses.
The North Carolina senator and vice president hopeful entered the arena
to thundering applause and a sea of optimistic faces.
Edwards said in the past year 1.4 million Americans have lost their health
insurance and 1.3 million Americans have sunk into poverty.
He then asked what their opponent, George W. Bush, said about these important
issues. Edwards and the audience were silent, which is exactly what he
said was Bush’s response.
“He said they wanted four more years to continue the good work
they’re doing for America,” Edwards said. “I just don’t
know if America can take that kind of good for four more years.”
“America deserves better and we can do better,” he said.
He said all Americans deserve the same health care coverage.
“There is no excuse for politicians in Washington getting better
health care than you’re getting,” he said. “We want
to make sure every child in America has health care coverage, period.”
He added that Bush and Cheney have no health care plan and that the plan
for most Americans under the current administration is simply not to get
sick.
Edwards proposed giving tax credits to families for health care and keeping
Bush’s tax cuts in place for 98 percent of the American population
while rolling back Bush’s tax cuts for the richest Americans.
The applause grew louder to drown out the small group of Bush supporters
who booed this comment.
“We know what needs to be done and we know how to pay for it,”
Edwards said.
He also said they would not leave billions of dollars of debt for our
children and grandchildren.
Another popular concern is social security.
“In three and a half years we’ve gone from a huge surplus
to huge deficits,” Edwards said.
When there is a deficit, there is no place for the money to come from
except social security, he said. “They treat it like it’s
monopoly money, like it’s not real.”
When fielding questions from audience members, one person asked Edwards
if they have a plan for the nursing shortage, which is almost a crisis
at this point.
“We should stop mandatory overtime for nurses,” he said.
He proposed expanding slots available in nursing schools across America
and offering additional financial aid for nursing students who commit
to completing the program.
Edwards also touched briefly on the controversial subject of stem cell
research, criticizing the Bush administration for not supporting it.
There is no excuse for having the kind of ban on stem cell research we
currently have, he said.
According to Edwards, the Bush administration’s perception is that
we won’t have a cure for the diseases that could benefit from stem
cell research anytime soon, so why start.
A gay audience member asked if Kerry and Edwards are supportive of same-sex
health care rights.
“John and I are for partnership benefits,” Edwards said.
“We will fight for that.”
The big question came late in the speech when an audience member finally
asked what are Kerry and Edwards going to do, if elected, about the mess
in Iraq.
“We actually have a plan for Iraq,” Edwards responded. “The
president and vice president had no plan and we have paid the price for
that.”
“With a new president,” he continued, “we can get NATO
and other countries involved in this effort.”
It is vital that reconstruction of Iraq is not limited to Haliburton,
he also said.
Although Edwards encouraged undecided voters to speak up and ask the
tough questions, it appeared as though all the question-askers were supporters.
Running out of time, he said he would answer only one more question,
which came from the long-awaited undecided voter.
She said Bush destroyed our national image and she wanted to know what
Kerry and Edwards could do about that.
Edwards said there are terrorist cells throughout the world and the best
way to deal with them is to build and strengthen our ties with other countries’
governments.
“For us to get at them, we have to have strong relationships with
other countries.”
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