There's a front page diaryfrom kos up right now attacking one of our Democratic candidates.
With indignation Kos claims that:
Let me repeat that -- Obama just surrendered to Bush.
I call bullshit. I call bullshit because Barack Obama was one of those "dirty fucking hippies" - as Markos likes to call us- who actually went to anti-war protests in 2002 with groups like ANSWER - because they were the only ones out there organizing against the war.
But more importantly, I call bullshit because I read the rest of the article Kos cited and I think we may have been duped.
Analysis below the fold.
Why did Kos claim that Obama surrendered? Because the first paragraph of the AP story
If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.
Seems pretty damning doesn't it? But, wait, there's no quote from Obama that Congress will take out the withdrawal timeline. Maybe later in the article?
"My expectation is that we will continue to try to ratchet up the pressure on the president to change course," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think that we will see a majority of the Senate vote to cut off funding at this stage."
Hmm. That sounds kind of like the OPPOSITE. Obama says they're going to RATCHET UP the pressure but not go so far as to cut off funding. Isn't that what most of the folks here want. Increased pressure in the form of 3 month spending bills, or the same bill sent to the President in the face of a veto, or an even more concrete bill?
This isn't Joe Lieberman we're talking about. It's not even someone who co-sponsored the resolution to go to war and voted for the war in the first place.
Look at Barack Obama's video on his stance about the war. He was one of those "dirty fucking hippies" as Markos likes to call us who actually went to anti-war protests in 2002 with groups like ANSWER because they were the only ones out there organizing against the war.
Look. Here's all that I ask. Watch Senator Obama's video about his stance on Iraq and the consistent opposition to the war from back in October 2002. Then read the whole AP article Kos talks about and look particularly for quotes form the Senator and any context that he provides.
And then, see if maybe he deserves the benefit of the doubt in this case.