"John Edwards Attacks Big Oil With Laser-Like Focus" --LINK

[Blackhatjack]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raymond-j-learsy/john-edwards-attacks-big-_b_50256.html


John Edwards Attacks Big Oil With Laser-Like Focus
by Raymond J. Learsy
12 Comments | Posted June 1, 2007 | 08:11 AM (EST)

Big Oil is everyone's first, second or third favorite target. Yet it seems every time a candidate castigates the oil industry the hymn is always out of the same song book. Therefore it is especially refreshing to hear a candidate come at the topic with a focused grasp of the issues at hand.

Campaigning in Menlo Park California Edwards called for a number of steps to be taken to rein in the oil industry's excesses including a federal investigation into possible anti-trust violations. Nothing particularly new here except in one essential respect. Edwards called on Congress to overhaul the Clayton Anti-Trust Act in order to make it more responsive to a global economy wherein restraint of supply, whether open or covert has an impact on the American marketplace.

Tellingly, he alone among the candidates identified one of the major distortions of the oil landscape. He pointed out that oil companies by and large "own every step of the production process, extraction, refining, sales at the pump" an anomaly that inherently can lead to anti competitive distortions and generally much higher prices.

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Edwards stood up to corporations before, and he would be an advocate for the people rather than corporations if he were elected President. That is why so many Edwards detractors try to paint him as being in bed with corporations, like other candidates --they know the truth, and if the public learns the truth there will be a swing to him as the preferred candidate.

[JANdad]

1. Go Johnny Go!

:woohoo: :patriot:

[Blackhatjack]

2. This was a 'warning shot across the bow' of every Major Oil Company...

They understand exactly what Edwards is proposing and they will definitely pull out their checkbooks and do everything possible to derail his bid for the WHite House.

[Blackhatjack]

3. This is a significant story about Edwards taking on Big Oil and there are no K & R?

I wonder sometimes how Democrats can ignore significant issues that are underreported by the MSM and yet the news is out there.

Where are the other Democratic candidates on this issue?

[Terri S]

4. Here's a K&R ... anyone else? You GO John!! nt

[dogday]

5. K&R

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. This is why I like Edwards. He can be really, really tough

when he wants to be. And not back down an inch.

But, unlike Bush, its not just stubbornness. Edwards actually has really goood reasons for the stands that he takes.

Good for him. This rape of the country by big oil is one of the most important issues of our time.

[JNelson6563]

7. K&R

We need as much of this as we can get. :toast:

[Gatchaman]

8. Sory, it's not a "warning shot"

but a "Hey, it's time to discredit me through a scandal!" invitation, because that's exactly what's going to happen to him, thanks to some as-yet-unknown "citizen's" group with plenty of help from the corporate media.

I don't like it, but that's how I see it. Look for some irrelevant extramartital affair, a minor but overblown ethics violation from his days as a lawyer, or some stock "discrepency" regarding his portfolio and a campaign contributor that will raise "troubling" questions.

Oh, and enjoy your $4 per gallon gas. Just remember that those smelly socialists in Europe are paying $7, and here's a chart that shows it's cheaper now than it was in 1907. And get ready for an all new season of American Idol.

[loudsue]

9. This is wonderful, and I hope people overlook the corporate media whores' tune

and rise up in arms about the oil companies. They, along with the military contractors, have stolen TRILLIONS from Americans under the bush cartel, and it's something that is extremely dangerous for this country in many ways.

:kick::kick::kick: & R

[Triana]

10. THIS is why I like Edwards...(well ONE reason...)

Edwards stood up to corporations before, and he would be an advocate for the people rather than corporations if he were elected President. That is why so many Edwards detractors try to paint him as being in bed with corporations, like other candidates --they know the truth, and if the public learns the truth there will be a swing to him as the preferred candidate.

I've known the truth about him for quite some time. He made his fortune as a lawyer STANDING UP TO CORPORATIONS and representing patients, consumers, employees harmed by them and mistreated by them...that's why the detractors (the predatory power mongers profiting from the status quo ie: corporations and those who support them and the GOP) HATE him.

YES. He's a lawyer. But he's been a lawyer for THE PEOPLE, not the POWERFUL corporations and gov'ts who prey upon them. And that's the difference.

[emmadoggy]

11. K/R. nt

[vssmith]

12. I would feel better about big oil profits if

they would have paid off the fines they owed for Exxon-Valdez
they would quit financing anti-global warming efforts
they would seriously finance alternative energy projects--it could be their future revenue stream

I am sure I have overlooked some things
Please add to the list