Kucinich Blasts Edwards On China

This makes sense, as Edwards has been very vocal lately about trade agreements; trying to fashion himself the labor candidate. Kucinich, however, has been most consistent leader on fair trade that protects U.S. jobs, human rights, worker's rights, and environmental principles.

The Kucinich campaig released a press release, "Made in China hazards began with Made in Washington, D.C.", regarding the safety hazards and recall of millions of Chinese toys:

“real warning label should say ‘Made in Washington, D.C. by corporate lobbyists’ because the life-threatening hazards of these products were either ignored or brushed off by members of the Congress seven yeas ago,” Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said today.

And, at least one then-member of the Senate, John Edwards, who has been railing lately in favor of higher safety standards for Chinese-made products, defended his 2000 vote supporting expanded China trade with the famously reported comment, “it does us no good to pretend that these remedies are perfect and that people will not be hurt.”

“Senator Edwards knew seven years ago that people would be hurt, so why did he vote for China trade?”Kucinich asked. “How credible is his newfound consumer protectionism and his campaign advocacy for trade reform to save American jobs?”

Pointing to Edwards' expertise in product liability matters as a Trial lawyer, Kucinich questioned how Edwards could have voted in good conscience for the 2000 China trade agreement, which has

resulted in the loss of more than 973,00 manufacturing jobs and more than 1.2 million jobs total, according to studies released by the AFL-CIO.

“If he knew then that this trade agreement would hurt people and put Americans out of work, he had a moral responsibility to vote against it,” said Kucinich, who has a perfect record in his votes against unfair trade agreements. “Like his now-regretted vote in favor of the resolution that led to the Iraq war, his votes on trade issues raise questions of judgment.”

Kucinich also cited an analysis conducted by Public Citizen in August which rated the actual votes on trade agreements for each Presidential candidate. Kucinich received the highest rating at 93% (which would have been 100%, except he missed one vote) and Edwards only scored 63%. In fact, two Republican candidates, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul, scored higher than Edwards!

"When candidates stand in front of a union audience or in front of the cameras, they bemoan the three millions jobs that have been lost because of ‘free trade’ agreements,” Kucinich noted. “When they had a chance to vote as a member of Congress, they strongly supported those agreements. That means they voted against American workers, and, as recent events have shown, against American consumers.”