John Edwards chosen by Kerry as VP

[Arabella Figg 2003]

dmadman, what do you do for a living, by the way? do your competitors know exactly what goes on in your office/business?

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by Arabella Figg 2003
Unless Wells was Edwards' partner she's not in a position to know how he chose his cases -- she can only speculate by what she saw in the courtroom.

Here's the article with all the "unfounded" statements

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/31/p...fb3eb4e4f1&ei=5070&pagewanted=print&position=

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by Arabella Figg 2003
dmadman, what do you do for a living, by the way? do your competitors know exactly what goes on in your office/business?

If I remember right, the Justice Department is making sure that dmadman's company's competitors know what goes on in his office.

 

[Arabella Figg 2003]

this is the statement we're talking about:

Over time, Mr. Edwards became quite selective about cases. Liability had to be clear, his competitors and opponents say, and the potential award had to be large.

"He took only those cases that were catastrophic, that would really capture a jury's imagination," Mr. Wells, a defense lawyer, said. "He paints himself as a person who was serving the interests of the downtrodden, the widows and the little children. Actually, he was after the cases with the highest verdict potential. John would probably admit that on cross-examination."

This is Wells' SPECULATION! Wells litigated against Edwards.

I also have a problem with this:

"It seems to me that only trial lawyers are experienced at reading fetal monitor strips and are able to tell me exactly when infants became asphyxic," or deprived of oxygen, said Dr. William J. West Jr., an obstetrician and the president of First MSA Inc., which administers health care savings accounts.

In order to prove a med mal case, you need a doctor to testify as an expert that another doctor was negligent. the trial lawyer doesn't testify, he only brings out testimony from a witness.

 

[Arabella Figg 2003]

Originally posted by Galahad
If I remember right, the Justice Department is making sure that dmadman's company's competitors know what goes on in his office.

 

[Gary M]

Is Senator Kerry really worth a billion $ or is Mrs. Heinz Kerry only worth that amount. I thought Mr. Kerry signed a prenuptial.

 

[Arabella Figg 2003]

more information on the Lakey case:


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0110.green.html

The defining case in Edwards' legal career wrapped up that same year. In
1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a
Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered
drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines.
She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to
feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys'
behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that
manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a
virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to
heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards
passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered
similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to
$1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5
million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy
limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas
break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On
January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to
hear Edwards' closing argument, "the most impressive legal performance I
have ever seen," recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found
Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state
law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company
immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state
history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.

 

[faithinkarma]

Originally posted by Eeyore1954
The Kerry-Edwards campaign starts out on a high note. From the AP, this quote from Sen. Kerry today: So, the Kerry-Edwards ticket has better vision (a slap in the face to all who wear glasses or contacts ), ideas that have yet to be articulated, plans without a sense of direction, and a sense of what's happening but they can only couch that in the most pessimistic terms by polarizing classes against one another.

But on a positive note, they do have GREAT HAIR! Elect us because between us we are worth possibly billions of $$ so we can afford the best hair care -- something the working poor, average Joe Schmoe and rural working American can only dream of. What a message!

Wow....this ticket must really have you scared......you chose to interpret "vision" as "eyesight" and you try to make a joke about hair seem like they actually meant it. I saw the speech. The crowd loved the joke. You are going to get exactly nowhere if this is the best attack you can muster.

 

[Arabella Figg 2003]

bravo, faithinkarma.

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by Gary M
Is Senator Kerry really worth a billion $ or is Mrs. Heinz Kerry only worth that amount. I thought Mr. Kerry signed a prenuptial.

 

[auntpolly]

I guess Mrs. Kerry wasn't ever allowed to be married after the tragic loss of her first husband -- or was she just supposed to find somebody as rich as she is?

I think she's so absolutely cool. They seem to have a great marriage. Why don't you try to debate the issues and get off their backs about petty, whiney things like that?

 

[faithinkarma]

Thought you might like to know how the rest of the country feels about the trial lawyer issue

"The poll showed that 67 percent of voters surveyed said his work as a trial lawyer was a strength, while only 27 percent viewed it as a weakness."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/07/poll.edwards/index.html

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by faithinkarma
Wow....this ticket must really have you scared......you chose to interpret "vision" as "eyesight" and you try to make a joke about hair seem like they actually meant it. I saw the speech. The crowd loved the joke. You are going to get exactly nowhere if this is the best attack you can muster.

Scared? Hardly. It's just fun pick on both of them, now. They've now doubled the available material. Given that it's rare for even ONE sitting Senator to be elected President, I wonder how rare it is to have two sitting Senators on a ticket get elected. I guess Kennedy and Johnson were also the last ones.

 

[faithinkarma]

Actually the "scared" comment was directed to a poster who usually has much more sensible posts.

As to how rare for two senators to be elected? I'll see your two senators and raise you the following questions. How rare is it for a sitting president to be re-elected if they even once fall below 50% approval ratings in the election year.... How rarely has an incumbent ever won if he trailed the opponent at any time during an election year?

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by faithinkarma
Thought you might like to know how the rest of the country feels about the trial lawyer issue

"The poll showed that 67 percent of voters surveyed said his work as a trial lawyer was a strength, while only 27 percent viewed it as a weakness."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/07/poll.edwards/index.html

Yea, the trial lawyer tactic didn't work in him in NC in '98 either. But, like they say, never underestimate the stupidity of the American public.

 

[dmadman43]

Originally posted by faithinkarma
Actually the "scared" comment was directed to a poster who usually has much more sensible posts.

As to how rare for two senators to be elected? I'll see your two senators and raise you the following questions. How rare is it for a sitting president to be re-elected if they even once fall below 50% approval ratings in the election year.... How rarely has an encumbent ever won if he trailed the opponent at any time during an election year?

How rarely has an incumbent won when he trailed the opponent? You're kidding, right? Well, let's see, Reagan. The only poll that matters is Nov 2

 

[faithinkarma]

The only poll that matters is one on election..the battle cry of those who are trailing. But I will give you this one...we shall indeed see on November 2.

Reagan was trailing in 1988? You sure about that one?

 

[peachgirl]

Why don't you try to debate the issues and get off their backs about petty, whiney things like that?

Because they don't have anything of any substance to complain about.

 

[peachgirl]

Over time, Mr. Edwards became quite selective about cases. Liability had to be clear, his competitors and opponents say, and the potential award had to be large.

We both know that no matter what he did, you'd have a complaint about it.

Had he taken every case that came his way, he'd be an ambulance chaser. You'd be citing every ridiculous, friviolous lawsuit he ever filed.

But, because he insisted that the cases have merit, you claim that he only took cases that made him rich.

Cases with merit are usually won which in turn makes an attorney money.

The right is getting really desperate trying to find something bad to pin on this guy. It's hilarious just thinking about how disappointed you all must be that he didn't go for Hillary....

 

[Robinrs]

The fact that this thread is 16 pages long tells me that the choice was a good one. Never underestimate the defensiveness of the DIS debaters!