Which (D) candidates represent the Demcoratic Wing of the Democratic Party? Who are the anti-war candidates? Who are the pro-War Democrats?
This article poses the fact that they are all dancing around it now, but are they delivering?
"What goes 'round comes 'round.
Howard Dean is not one of the candidates doing aerobic positioning around the war so he can become the Democrats' presidential nominee. Yet he is the guy who created the space that everyone wants to fill: the anti-war candidate.
Dean staked out that role four years ago. And while the bulk of the electorate was not ready for his anti-war message then, it was even less ready for the way he delivered it.
Who could have predicted then that Dean was at the forefront of a movement that would become the litmus test for those who would seek to be the Democrats' nominee four years later?"
Is having a spine and speaking the truth a litmus test?
"Four years ago, Howard Dean created the anti-war space everyone is now trying to occupy. Had he gone back to Vermont after the 2004 presidential election and done a few serious policy speeches, he would have re-emerged as the guy who was against the war at the beginning."
I know I would have liked to see that, but we have learned that instant gratification isn't the answer for the long haul. Thankfully Governor Dean is one of those few selfish people that doesn't put himself before the many. If he was not there to rebuild and reclaim the party, he was correct; there wouldn't be much to be running for this time around. He has made this presidential campaign possible.
But who are the anti war candidates? Is it enough to say you are? Can you be considered anti war, if you are not for ending this war?
Barack Obama may have said he was opposed to THIS war when he couldn’t vote for it back in the Illinois State Senate, but he didn't support ending it in June 06 with the Kerry/Feingold Bill and he surely didn't come up with his own Bill in his 2 years since he became a US Senator.
Hillary Clinton of course didn't support ending the war either, voting with the other pro war Democrats and Republicans to only bring some troops home. She didn’t’ even say the war was wrong until pressure mounted from John Edwards’s admission.
John Edwards is now in a position to say it was a wrong vote because he is no longer in the Senate, but still his Presidential Candidate Resolution, as the others, calls for a much more relaxed exit.
Senators Dodd and Biden both voted for that war, too. The only candidates calling for a quick end to this war are Congressman Dennis Kucinich (who was consistently against it and voted that way), Governor Tom Vilsack, Governor Richardson and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. Is that all that is required to be anti War?
Or is this the argument for being anti War-right now? Are they anti war if they are for war, but just not this one, right now? If they are quickly leaning toward war, like Iran for example, are they still anti War? Senator Clinton has already stated her strong position with Iran in a sort of anything possible for Israel stand. And now Senator Obama has been getting even stronger on his war like talk with his "any means" for Israel with this latest.
"WASHINGTON - United States Senator Barack Obama, a Democrat from Illinois who is competing for his party's presidential nomination, told Haaretz on Thursday that the United States should help protect Israel from its "dangerous" enemies.
"My view is that the United States' special relationship with Israel obligates us to be helpful to them in the search for credible partners with whom they can make peace, while also supporting Israel in defending itself against enemies sworn to its destruction," he said." OBLIGATES the US? Why does this sound eerily familiar?
What does this mean to be anti war? Now, is just being against this Iraq War representing the Democratic Wing?
If most of these candidates are members of the DLC or hooked up with Lobbyists and the Corporate money and beltway shakers, being quick to support their Corporate donors in their compromise against the interest of the people, are they representing Democratic party?
So out of this huge list of Democratic candidates, who among them is the anti war candidate who represents the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party?
Senator Joe Biden
Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Chris Dodd
Former Senator John Edwards
Former Senator Mike Gravel
Senator Barack Obama
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Governor Tom Vilsack
Governor Bill Richardson
Thank goodness we have their record to show how they may act in the
future, not just the words they are offering now. And it doesn’t look like I have to worry about starting to work on anyone’s campaign too early.
ref;
http://www.haaretz.com/...
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/...