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Edwards looking forward to debate GOP rivals, maybe

Jun 8, 2007 7:00 AM

Philip Elliott
Associated Press
Jun 8, 2007

DERRY, N.H. --Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Friday he looked forward to the retirement of the Pentagon's top general, but warned against hoping for a change in the president's conduct of the war. "I think that Peter Pace going out is a good thing," Edwards told reporters traveling with him on a two-day trip to the early voting state. "I don't know enough about the new guy. ... I think change, generally, is a good thing."

On Friday, the Bush administration changed course and replaced Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The administration had planned to nominate Pace for a second two-year term as chairman, but instead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended Adm. Mike Mullen, currently chief of naval operations, to take over when Pace's term expires Sept. 30.

Edwards cautioned against hoping for an overhaul of the president's approach to the war.

"He will not change unless he is forced to change. It is the job of the Congress, under these circumstances, to force him to end this war," Edwards said in Nashua.

The former U.S. senator said the president uses rhetoric to demonize his enemies and intimidate nay-sayers.

"George Bush's terminology is intended for political purposes. He uses it to justify everything," Edwards said. "And if you speak out about it, it's unpatriotic. ... He doesn't want to debate. He doesn't want dissent. But I've got bad news for him. This is America."

Edwards, on a two-day trip through New Hampshire, told voters he was looking forward to debating the eventual Republican nominee -- if he won his party's nomination.

"The first thing I would say would be ... If you like what's happened in Iraq, you should vote for this guy. They'll give you four more years of it," Edwards said in Rochester. "If you don't like what's happened in Iraq, if you want to see a change, then you should vote for me."

He said Republicans have lost the monopoly on national security.

"Do you think George Bush made you safer? All this chest thumping?" Edwards said. "These guys are going to continue this. We need to be aggressive, but we also need to be smart. We need to not just thump our chest."

He said even if he isn't the nominee, he maintains Bush's approach is wrong.

"Terrorism and the threat of terrorists is a very serious issue and the primary responsibility of the next president of the United States, but chest thumping is not going to deal with this," Edwards told reporters after an event in Derry. "It also means a clear plan to undermine the forces of terrorism instead of just talking about them."

 

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John Edwards answers a question about educational disparity at Hanover Middle School in Hanover, N.H. on September 27, 2007

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