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Wednesday, March 19, 2008 12:00 AM

Hillary Clinton's long strange journey on Iraq

On this sad fifth anniversary, I can't help wishing she'd been bolder in admitting her mistake in voting to authorize Bush's war.

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  • Thursday, March 20, 2008 12:27 PM

    Ah, if only it were ONLY her Iraq vote...

    You give Hillary too much credit by listing her Iraq authorization vote as the reason that some Obama supporters won't vote for her.

    She has an established pattern of votes where she has sided with the Republicans, with George W. Bush, against her own party...and against the obvious interests of the working/middle class that she now claims to be ready to "fight" for.

    (Parenthetically, I think she means she'll "fight" for the middle/working class the way that one dog will fight another one for a nice juicy steak. It's better not to think about what happens to the steak in the ensuing battle.)

    The PATRIOT Act. Anyone with half a brain could see that it was a criminal infringement on the basic civil liberties of Americans, a violation of our Constitutional rights.

    Hillary voted for it.

    The bankruptcy bill. Written by the credit industry, it essentially eliminated the right of bankruptcy for the poor and middle-class (but not the rich, never the rich). Most bankruptcies happen because a family provider suffers an unexpected medical crisis; now, such families will never be able to get back on their feet. They'll be paying their creditors forever. How much did the credit industry donate to Hillary's campaigns?

    Needless to say, Hillary voted for it.

    The Iran "terrorist" bill. There was little argument at the time that if Bush and Cheney decided to attack Iran, this bill would be the lion's share of their claimed justification. It was the Iran authorization bill all over again, embodying the same deadly mistake.

    And Hillary voted for it.

    Here's the thing. Hillary wants us to believe that she was tricked about Iraq by George W. Bush. She fell for his lies, and those of Joe Lieberman, Colin Powell, and all the other talking heads.

    I don't believe her. She's NOT a stupid woman, although admitting that she didn't read the NIE on Iraq before voting to authorize attack does seem incomprehensible. No, I think she made that vote for one reason only: for the same reason she sponsored that idiotic flag-burning bill, because she believed that it would enhance her chance to take the Presidency in 2008. She didn't read the NIE because it didn't have anything to do with winning the Presidency...or so she thought.

    John Edwards voted for the Iraq authorization bill. Was it stupidity? Probably not. I believe he made that vote for the same reason Hillary did. But at least HE had the integrity to admit his mistake.

    She won't. And she's made it clear, over and over, that she'd vote that way again - AND HAS!

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