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She didn't read the classified 90 page NIE as she was supposed to read. Sen. Bob Graham begged the senators to read it before voting on the IWR. More about the NIE here. She voted for the IWR/AUMF which was a blank check authorization for war and it's title reads: "A joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq." Floor speech (video) She voted against the Levin amendment (which was a multilateral approach). See: The Senate’s Forgotten Iraq Choice She voted against the Durbin amendment whose purpose was: "To amend the authorization for the use of the Armed Forces to cover an imminent threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction rather than the continuing threat posed by Iraq." Saddam was not imminent threat, and hence that amendment would have prevented a war. On March 6, 2003, as UN inspectors were already reporting by then (news reports were coming by late Feb, 2003) that no WMD or nuclear weapons/programs could be found, she was asking Saddam to "disarm", instead of demanding Bush not to invade until the inspections were completed 100% on which Blix was only asking for a couple of months to wrap up the inspections effort. On March 17, 2003, two days before the invasion, despite the UN inspector reports, she demanded Saddam to accept Bush's "ultimatum" instead of telling Bush NOT to go in.
However hard she tries, she has no surviving excuse for her vote, in light of these facts. She voted for a war and it's inescapable that she wanted the war to take place.
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Furthermore, Hillary has a losing argument vs McCain (or for that matter Romney) on Iraq. He has already started making his argument.
McCain to HRC argument could sound like this: "Senator Clinton voted for the war when that was popular and started "opposing" it when the war became unpopular and she started running for the Democratic nomination. I risked everything and supported/promoted the "surge" when it and the war were highly unpopular, and we're prevailing as the surge has improved security in Iraq and put Al-Queda in Iraq on the run."
Obama has a winning argument on Iraq:
Obama to McCain argument could be like this: "We should never have gone in as I argued in Oct'02, and then we'd have 4000 troops alive today as well as we would have saved $1 trillion for the tax payers, would not have created a haven for Al-Queda in Iraq, and would not have lost some standing as a leader of the world."
Just say NO to BAYH (for VP)! Here's why!
by NeuvoLiberal on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 12:53:19 AM PDT
HRC - but McCain can at least claim that he's not being totally hypocritical about it. I totally disagree with McCain on the war but I can still respect him, with Hill I totally disagree on the war and find her contemptible.
We're shocked by a naked nipple, but not by naked aggression.
by Lepanto on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 01:27:52 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
well, I find her deeply selfish, but contempt is too strong a feeling to hold, in my view. McCain is a very dangerous and kooky on war matters too (he wants "more wars" etc). Neither should be the next US President, in the interests of world peace and progress.
by NeuvoLiberal on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 01:34:27 AM PDT
And since Hillary refuses to say she made any mistakes in her vote for the war, one has to assume she'd do it all over again; a scary thought indeed. We all know she voted as she did with her future presidential ambitions in mind; she didn't want the Repugs to be able to paint her as "soft on terror" and thus unfit for the White House. It was a self-serving political calculation that may, in the end, help get her in the White House, but it was a self-serving political calculation nonetheless. End of story. Attempts by Hillary and her supporters to sidestep the facts or change the topic are futile. They need to just give up on this one.
by davidkc on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 03:37:23 AM PDT
here for more information and videos.
by NeuvoLiberal on Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:06:03 AM PDT
Very informative.
by lrhoke on Sat Feb 02, 2008 at 02:06:37 PM PDT
wide narrow
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