Edwards Calls Bush Team 'Divisive'

The following is a transcribed excerpt from "Special Report With Brit Hume," July 15, 2004:

CARL CAMERON, FOX CORRESPONDENT: Edwards’ first "Porch" appearance was in the battleground state of Louisiana, and he said the Bush-Cheney campaign is so out of touch they could use contact with the middle class.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Which I wish the president would spend more time doing, because you have to do this to hear what’s going on, what people are worried about.

CAMERON: From there Edwards held a quick campaign event in New Orleans and sat down with Fox News. While Kerry accused the president of racial division at the NAACP, Edwards downplayed race for a broader attack.

EDWARDS: Yes, I think they're divisive. I don't know that they're racially divisive, but I think they talk about a lot of issues in ways that divide us.

CAMERON: Stopping short of calling the Bush administration hostile toward minorities, Edwards instead blamed apathy.

EDWARDS: And he shows in his inaction what he doesn't care about, and the American people see that.

CAMERON: Echoing Kerry’s NAACP remarks, Edwards said the U.N. should send peacekeepers to Sudan to stop what the Democratic duo now calls genocide.

EDWARDS: We ought to make sure that working through the U.N. that we intervene, provide humanitarian intervention. And the third thing is that we ought to have a real and serious sanctions against those who are perpetrating these -- perpetrating this genocide.