For Democracy Lover - Feingold On Edwards

In comments here, Democracy Lover insists that all progressives should support former Sen. John Edwards for President. In a spirit of keeping the record straight, I would offer up this somewhat edited interview with Wisconsin Sen. Russell Fiengold, linked via Talking Points Memo, in which Feingold, currently the most progressive member of the United States Senate says the following on Edwards' record versus his current rhetoric:

On the Democratic presidential candidates

I did notice that as the primaries heated up, all of a sudden, all the presidential candidates — none of whom voted with me on the timeframe to withdraw from Iraq — all voted with me and when we did the Patriot Act stuff.

The one that is the most problematic is (John) Edwards, who voted for the Patriot Act, campaigns against it. Voted for No Child Left Behind, campaigns against it. Voted for the China trade deal, campaigns against it. Voted for the Iraq war … He uses my voting record exactly as his platform, even though he had the opposite voting record.

When you had the opportunity to vote a certain way in the Senate and you didn't, and obviously there are times when you make a mistake, the notion that you sort of vote one way when you're playing the game in Washington and another way when you're running for president, there's some of that going on.