Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards talked with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf early this afternoon (Iowa time). Here’s Edwards talking about the situation. (2 min MP3)
Henderson: "In regards to the situation in Pakistan, if you were president, what would you be doing?"
Edwards: "If I were president I would do some of what I’ve already done. I spoke with the Pakistani Ambassador and then a few minutes ago I spoke with President Musharraf, urging him to continue on the path to democratization, to allow international investigators to come in to determine what happened, what the facts were so that there would be transparency and credibility about what actually occurred and also about the upcoming schedule of elections and that the important thing for America to do in this unstable environment is first of all focus on the tragedy that’s occurred. Benazir Bhutto was a strong woman, a courageous woman, someone that I actually spoke at a conference with a few years and she talked about the path to democracy in Pakistan being baptized in blood so she understood the extraordinary risk that she was taking by going back and it’s a terrible tragedy for the people of Pakistan, but it’s important for America to be a calming influence and provide strength in this environment."
Henderson: "How did you get in touch with Musharraf? What’s the relationship there?"
Edwards: "I met Musharraf years ago in Islamabad. We talked about many of the problems that his country was faced with including kids being educated in Madrasahs and some of the struggles that he was having within his own country and so when I spoke to the ambassador earlier today I said if Musharraf, if the president had time would you have him give me a call because I’d like to speak with him directly and he called."
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Talk about running a dirty negative sick campaign…. Obamas chief strategist campaign advisor, mintes after the Bhutto murder tried to link Senator Clinton!!!…talk about desperation in a camp!!!! Later, Axelrod backed away from his earlier statements. This obamacamp is sick, great example of Obamas people skills in selecting a chief strategist.
DES MOINES – Sen. Barack Obama directed fierce shots at his two chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), as he delivered his new stump speech at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. Obama’s criticisms were just another example of his reneging on his campaign promise of running a different kind of campaign. Obama campaign also spent Thursday continuing to criticize Edwards for a labor-backed 527 group that is running ads on his behalf. Obama campaign fired off emails to supporters entitled “What’s really happening in Iowa.”This guy looks pretty sad.
After The New York Times published a story Thursday reporting that Obama voted “present” — instead of yes or no — almost 130 times,
Sorry, Jody, but nice try at Clintonesque sleaze. Here’s the actual exchange:
>>>REPORTER: But looking ahead, does the assassination put on the front burner foreign policy credentials in the closing days?
AXELROD: Well, it puts on the table foreign policy judgment, and that’s a discussion we welcome. Barack Obama had the judgment to oppose the war in Iraq, and he warned at the time it would divert us from Afghanistan and al Qaeda, and now we see the effect of that. Al Qaeda’s resurgent, they’re a powerful force now in Pakistan, they may have been involved — we’ve been here, so I don’t know whether the news has been updated, but there’s a suspicion they may have been involved in this. I think his judgment was good. Senator Clinton made a different judgment, so let’s have that discussion. <<< Jody, are you suggesting that it was NOT a mistake, to divert attention from Afghanistan/Pakistan by invading Iraq? Gee, you wouldn't be trying to change the topic from the worst foreign-policy mistake the US has made, which Hillary went along with, would you? And you wouldn't be trying to mis-label a difference over foreign POLICY as "dirty negative sick [desparate] campaign," would you? Didn't think so. Hillary has lost. Accept it, and look forward to new, bright, principled, strong leadership with President Obama.
I met Musharref years ago on a Senate boondoggle, and he said then if I was consistent in voting for Pakistan arms funding he’d always be available if I needed to pull an internationalist stunt during one of my campaigns. I cashed that in today because, ya know, we all need to look presidential during times like a big assassination…
Yo, Jody. Breathe. Clinton is a big girl, if anyone can take care of his/herself, it is Hillary.
Sheese.
Edwards/Webb ’08!
Take a deep breath, Jody. 1, 2, 3…
Jody, the perfect posterchild for an increasingly desperate Clinton campaign.
you know you are in a seriously scared state when you are a Clinton supporter accusing anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle of being negative.
when you are a Clinton supporter and you have an urge to parrot silly talking points about Obama or Edwards “going negative”, refer to Shaheen, Bill and Kerrey, Bob for just the 2 most recent examples of Clinton style attacks and desperation.
Don’t hate Obama too much. Mostly he’s just green and not ready for prime time.
The leading contenders as I see it are Edwards, Dodd and Clinton. I favor Edwards.
“Talk about running a dirty negative sick campaign…. Obamas chief strategist campaign advisor, mintes after the Bhutto murder tried to link Senator Clinton!!!…talk about desperation in a camp!!!!”
Blah…
I thought Hillary had this thing tied up months ago.
Maybe that’s why she’s using the weakest line of attack i’ve ever seen: Obama’s “present” votes.
That’s politics.
they are all running for the office!-what did you expect?I then again,there were some people from a certain candidate came out and said some stupid things-like, ‘he wanted to be the president of America ever since he was 5 or 6 years old-it does not make him anything’ or ‘did he use drugs? or sell them?’. real adult stuff.
I don’t understand the comment above only as ALSO having nothing to do with the death of Bhutto and Edwards subsequent response. Please provide a link to the author and news source for the article. It seems it could either be an op-ed piece or just not very well researched for it leaves out the comments by Axlerod, the quotes are merged, and there is not direct quotes by Obama nor his campaign. It could be just the editing of the poster.
What Obama and Clinton have said or done since Bhutto murder? What Edwards did pushes me to give him my support.
The problem is that the United States does not only need a leader who will fix things at home but also heal our reputation around the world. A reputation which has been tarnished by the way we are fighting terrorism and our invasion of Irak. This will ask a strong leadership in forein policy. I respect and like Obama very much but I doubt of his forein policy leadership.I did not forget the treat he made to Pakistan a few months ago to favor his campaign. Not wise at all.
Concerning Clinton,a candidate who did not apologize for voting in favor of the Irak war,she is confusing. Edwards did recognized his mistake and that again showed his strong leadership. So, John Edwards for president.
During tonight’s debate (1/15), Edwards said he never spoke directly to Musharraf after the assassination. What’s up with that?