Letters to the Editor
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An equivocation?
Sounds pretty straight forward to me; and honest.
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Admit it! Admit it!
Feingold and Kennedy might have been on the "right" side of the vote about Iraq, but they have and will make other mistakes.
It's ridiculous to imagine that an elected official won't make a mistake. It's chilling when elected officials claim they don't make mistakes, can't name their mistakes, or can't acknowledge their mistakes.
Far better to practice saying, "Yeah, that was a mistake, and I regret that, and here's how I learned from that." For one thing, it's an opportunity to learn why a candidate thinks the original decision was a mistake. Was it a mistake because the war in Iraq has gone badly or because the war was wrong and stupid to begin with? We know where some candidates stand. Why not the others?
Owning mistakes: It's part of a group of skills that make up what's known as "adult behavior." How is this so hard for everyone except Edwards?
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As opposed to who?
Anyone who's remotely electable voted for war. If you're looking for someone so 'progressive' and so pure who didn't who you think is actually electable then you need to stop smoking your Birkenstocks. That's the real inconvenient truth.
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equivocation?
Biden's response: "I, I don’t think so. I think misunderstanding this administration is the worst miscalculation I’ve ever made in my career."
It was a Kerry-like equivocation...
Tim -
Kerry-like equivocation? I can't help but be mystified. He comes right out and said he made a very bad mistake when he voted for the resolution. How much more straightforward can he be? If he had said something like "even knowing what I know now, I'd still have voted for the resolution", now that would be Kerry-like.
Sure, it would be better if he hadn't voted for it, and no, I'm no particular fan of Biden. But what's past is past - he has to say something to explain his vote, and of all the possible things he could say, this is probably the best... at least has has the advantage of being honest. Given all the misinformation coming out of the White House during the time of the vote, it's at least understandable.
The bottom line for me is that voting incorrectly on the Iraq resolution is not a deal-breaker for me (and I doubt I'm alone). As long as the candidate in question has come to his/her senses since then, then I'm good to go with him/her on that issue.
Sean
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Biden is correct. The problem the Senate made when they voted to
allow the use of force was they believed Bush when he said that he would use force only as a last resort.
Bush lied. At the time we, with 9/11 still so fresh in our minds, the Senate as well as the public were seriously disinclined to believe the Administration would so grossly misrepresent itself in order to further is agenda.
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Sadly wrong about Kerry - He said again and again that his vote was a mistake
I dont know what it will take for the liberal blogosphere to look at what he actually said and stop repeating talking points. (Sorry, you're a big boy, so I assume you can do your research yourself. I hope I do not presume too much).
BTW, are you aware that he has a proposal to withdraw the troops before the end of the year (supported among others by Feingold).
Tiring to see that Salon is not better than the NYTimes and other media when it comes to say the truth.
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Biden has other votes he should worry about...
Remember, Biden voted for the harsh bankruptcy legislation. That vote alone should be used to kill his run.
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Bravo to Ted and Russ
Boos to the Dems who bought into George's bullshit.
It seems awfully convenient at this point for them to say they were "fooled" by Dubbya's representations about WMD. There was ample evidence existing to dispute BushCo's claims: Scott Ritter, Blix, etc.
The more troubling aspect for all those who now claim bamboozlement is: after the outcome of the 2000 election, the installation of Geroge Bush at the hands of his henchmen in SCOTUS, who in their right mind would believe anything that came out of Bush's mouth? The answer: no one!
In reality, then, it was a gut-check vote, and the Bidens and the Hillarys and the Kerrys were afraid to stand up to the drumbeat for war and do the right thing. So now they're faced with either admitting that they voted to authorize war for craven political gain OR that they were functional imbeciles and were dazzled by Bush's dexterity, a claim that is not only equally humiliating, but more hypocritical.
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Please stop amplifying the press's "gotcha" attacks
The media is trying to force Democrats into a fight over the votes that lead up to the war. Many senators voted in good conscience for the resolution to authorize the user of force -- they believed the administration's claims that the US needed to be able to threaten Saddam Hussein in order to force him to comply with UN resolutions. Remember that this resolution was not a declaration of war.
We need to hear from the major Democratic candidates what they plan to do about Iraq in the future. Whether they were manipulated by the administration in 2002 is irrelevant. If any one of them becomes president in 2008, we won't need to worry about a Republican administration trying to manipulate them. Instead, we need to be assured that the candidate will take reasonable, multi-lateral actions to resolve the political problems in the Middle East, to pull out our troops in a timely and responsible manner, and to repair the diplomatic mistakes of the current administration.
This fixation on the vote of 2002 is just helping the media to tear apart the chances of the Democratic party in 2008.
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electable??
These comments bring cheer to my republican heart because we need to have democrats in charge of the house or senate and hopefully both - but no more than that.
Two years of democrat control will take the steam out of the executive. Maybe even impeach him. Then it's time for complete republican control to return.
I was ready to vote democrat in 2004 until you put Kerry on the ticket. You didn't put him there because he was any good. You put him there because he's "a serious candidate" and because he's "electable". He also voted for the patriot act and the iraqi adventure. He betrayed us all on some very important issues, but you put him on the ticket.
Now, I hear democrats repeating the same talking points. You'll lose again. I worried/hoped that a democrat with passion and core values might make it to the big show. Nope, not this time.
I'll vote for Cheney over another apparatchik democrat.
Just remember - If you put Kerry on the ticket, you share the blame.