John Edwards: "Compromise Is Concession"

Technorati Tags: John Edwards, Congress, 2008 election

This is why I am so impressed with John Edwards [emphasis mine]:

Democratic presidential contender John Edwards chided his party's congressional leadership Wednesday for entertaining compromise with the White House on a new military funding measure, saying they should stand firm in tying dollars to a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The former North Carolina senator said the Bush administration's previous veto of an Iraq war funding measure and the threatened veto of the new proposal for short-term war funding shows the White House is not interested in negotiating an end to the war.

"It is important for the Congress to stand firm because the Congress is doing the will of the American people," Edwards told the Women Employed annual "power luncheon," a fundraiser on behalf of the women's jobs and benefits advocacy group, at a downtown Chicago hotel.

"They are doing exactly what America wants them to do," Edwards said. "Unfortunately, the president is trying to thwart the will of the American people."

Edwards said the president's previous veto of the military funding measure and the White House's threatened rejection Wednesday of similar legislation shows that Congress cannot negotiate with President Bush "on an issue of this magnitude and importance."

"How can it be any clearer that you cannot negotiate with the president?" Edwards asked. "You certainly can't negotiate with him on an issue of this magnitude and this importance."

I love the echo in Edwards' choice of words of the Bush administration's refusal to use diplomacy in the so-called "war on terror." How can we negotiate with terrorists who are willing to kill innocent people to achieve their ends? the president has asked time and time again. Well, how can Congress negotiate with a president who is willing to break the law and flout the will of the American people in order to achieve his ends?

Cross-posted at Shakesville.