I put the Holley back onto the manifold to test fit the kickdown linkage I have and what was on the car when I bought it. It fits fine. All adjustments are fine and the angle is level on the slide bar. The source of the problem is with the edelbrock carb itself, it pushes the throttle stud over to the driver side of the car ½” more than with the Holley and creates the awkward sidewards angle of the slide bar. The height of the throttle stud when mounted on the Edelbrock is also a little lower, hence the weird downward angle on the slide bar. This makes sense since the original carb on a 71 RR was a Holley and is what the original linkage was designed for. Time to rethink the carb choice and if anyone can use an absolutely brand new Edelbrock 750 electric choke model 1411 carb, never even run, let me know. I am certain this will fit 68-70 B-body big blocks with no kickdown linkage issues as the throttle stud is in the exact factory location where it needs to be. This makes sense since the Edelbrock is an AVS design and that's the original carb on my Bee.
I wonder if anyone out there is running an Edelbrock carb on a 71-72 B-body big block with factory kickdown linkage without any issues - if so, I'd like to hear from you.
Thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply.