Kerry defending his vote on Iraq..... CNN

[Cheswick2.0]

Gag me. He keeps saying it was the right thing to do, that the threat of force got inspectors into Iraq. He is very defensive.

Draft Byrd

[quinnox]

1. I liked it

And he got in a few jabs at Dean, heh.

[Cheswick2.0]

4. I am not a fan of Dean

I am not a fan of Dean, but I think they should all stop bashing each other. But I think Kerry is full of shit on that vote and he needs to stop defending it as if he was voting for some other legislation. He knew what he was voting for was wrong. If he didn't he should have, the rest of us did.

[quinnox]

8. Kerry will never apologize for that vote

It would be a bad move, he will never apologize and will defend it every time he is asked, like it or not.

[calimary]

18. It's a shame, because it would be one more thing in his favor.

To continue defending it is stupid. I wish he'd stop wasting his and everybody else's time being such an apologist! Especially since it's increasingly clear to MANY people (beyond just those of us here who knew the war was wrong from the start) that this whole Iraq business was just a complete and unmitigated botch-job.

He should be the first one out of the gate to be man enough to admit he was wrong, and that he was lied to, and that he regrets he voted for it. At least it'd be a signal that he's an adult who takes responsibility for his actions, rather than being a shirker and excuse-giver. Heck, we already have that in office now!

[CatWoman]

7. I liked it too

but I'm a Dean supporter.

I liked it because he shut Judy the fuck up.

[quinnox]

13. Yea he did

I was glad to see him put Woodruff down.

[UTUSN]

14. He SMACKED Judy Right Down

Here's the rub, Dems have sat for her snarky behavior out of President GORE *politeness* and that story about how drunken Shrub called Al HUNT an asshole in public and in front of her and their children. I still remember how President GORE would have the breath knocked out of him by her rudeness. She's been trading on being a "nice" little woman being a "tough reporter".

KERRY didn't take it. At different points he said, "Judy, you know better than that," and "You know how it works, you're a PROFESSIONAL" and more like that.

As Al FRANKEN told O'Whorely, "We ain't TAKING it anymore."

[GainesT1958]

2. He'd better get in some goood practice on that one...

Me thinks he'll be repeating it a lot in the coming months...:eyes:

B-)

[Walt Starr]

3. I hope they replay it tonight

I could be back in the "No vote for this guy noway nohow" column if he is playing it the way I think he's playing it.

[Cheswick2.0]

5. He will get my support if he is the nominee

but not in the primaries.

[OrdinaryTa]

6. Forget About It!

It's too late for Kerry. He weighed the pros and cons and figured the Democrats would be more forgiving than the Republicans. Maybe he's right about that, but lots of Democrats are not going to overlook his betrayal.

The period of time building up to the war was awful. I remember the anguish we felt: Where are our leaders? It would have been such a relief if some alpha Democrat had stood up and opposed the war. Kerry failed to show leadership. Robert Byrd opposed the war but he's in his 80's. Al Gore made a heartening speech at NYU but he's just a private citizen.

Who let us down? Kerry did.

[demnan]

11. I have to agree

I admire and esteem Kerry but I feel that he, like the other Democratics who voted for that bill, betrayed us, the Iraqis and those poor souls over there fighting.

[Q]

9. There IS no moral or ethical defense of this so-called war.

- And I don't care which politician is spouting the nonsense...it's wrong now and it will be wrong tomorrow.

- This is the Vietnam syndrome all over again: deflect, deny, distract. A lie is a lie...even when told by someone you respect.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. It was wrong yesterday, too.

It will forever be wrong.

[library_max]

10. "My Candidate Sucks So Bad That I Have To Attack Yours"

All hail CoffeePlease1947! He has come up with the perfect formula for dispelling all these negative campaign threads! All you Dean-bashers, Kerry-bashers, any-Democrat-bashers, please repeat after me: “MY CANDIDATE SUCKS SO BAD THAT I HAVE TO ATTACK YOURS.”

If I were a Bush supporter, I would be ROFLMAO to see all these Democrats ripping each other to pieces. My candidate in the general election is Anybody But Bush. As for the primaries, I haven’t decided yet. Amazing, ain’t it? Considering that the primaries are only six months away.

Come on, ladies and gentlemen! Unity, please! Eyes on the prize! BUCK FUSH!

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hedda_foil]

15. What struck me was his tone ...

His defense came across to me as high-handed, preachy, and lecturing ... sort of looking down his nose at those of us who do not accept his excuse for the Iraq mess. It really offended me, particularly when he repeated the nonsense about the President not needing authorization. Excuse me? The President certainly has the ability to go defend the country from an iminent threat without preapproval from Congress, but for a pre-emptive war???

Puhleez, Senator. Are you really that clueless about why Dean is doing so well? Have you really not noticed that Democrats are mad as all holy hell about this... and not just DUers ... Democrats in general?

Is he trying to shoot himself in the foot or what?

[KoKo]

16. I don't know if anyone saw this weekend's Gebhardt "House Party" on C-Span

but a woman who had attended the meeting.....(it was a picnic rally for Gebhard I think, and C-Span was showing the fnformal part at the end where Gebhardt walks around and informally meets with the people,a really nicely dressed woman in her 50's asked Gebhardt about why Congress had not stood firm on the Iraq War Resolution. She said: "Everyone knew what Bush was doing by that time.....the Patriot Act and everything....why did they vote to give him the authority to go into Iraq?" (paraphrasing). . She shook her head and I could tell she was "one of us" frustrated, angry, incredulous that Congress hadn't stood up to him......and I think his answer was something like....."well we've just got to do better......"

That really bothered me....."Weve just got to do better?" And, this woman looked really with it, but you could see the disillusionment in her eyes and manner.

Our Dem candidates who supported Bush on this "Invasion" just don't answer us........I had the same experience here in NC with John Edwards and Erskine Bowles who was running against Liddy Dole. It was as if we were "fools" to question why we were going into Iraq.......and they couldn't answer why they supported Bush.

My Congressional House Rep.....thank God, did vote against the Resolution. He was my shining light here!

But, the rest who voted for........they won't really tell us why they supported Bush on this. They say they believed the intelligence, blah, blah, blah.

The anger will never go away with us......because we didn't have to support Bush.......he could have waited or never gone into Iraq. There was NOTHING immediate about Saddam.

So, what are we to think?

[quinnox]

17. I saw it

I was impressed with Gephardt, he did a good job. His campaign is really solid lately.

[calimary]

22. We are to think what you'd expect we are to thin, KoKo01.

I'm with that lady, too.

What bothers me about all these "I voted for the war but didn't like it, and I voted for the Patriot Act but didn't like it" types is:

Look, WE here at DU and elsewhere among the "Silenced Majority" knew this was a bad idea to begin with. And as far as I know, NONE OF US is in the inner circles. NONE OF US is "inside the Beltway." NONE OF US is privvy to all the talk and briefings and inside info that these folks had at their disposal. All we had was the internet and what little research we could do on our own, as non-pro's. And IF WE AMATEURS AND OUTSIDERS KNEW IT WAS BAD, and we opposed it, WHY COULDN'T HIGHLY-PLACED FOLKS LIKE KERRY KNOW IT, TOO? AND STAND UP TO BUSH ABOUT IT?!?!?!

Were they, including Kerry, just SO afraid and cowed and intimidated by the bushies and their pr machine that they were reluctant to do the right thing? Was it really that bad? Were they that terrified of not giving the boy king his way, yet again?

And if he showed that kind of judgment then, what kind of judgment will he show if elected president? Will he again allow himself to be cowed by an opponent's pr machine? Will he still go along with the lemmings, or will he even bother to investigate what the lemmings are all clucking about before he leaps?

That's why I can't respect him. I will vote for him if he becomes our nominee. But until and unless that happens, I'm ever more firmly in the Dean camp. At least Dean had the guts to take a stand that was perceived as unpopular at the time, and stuck his neck out. He's proven to be correct. But I support him NOT JUST BECAUSE he's been proven to be correct, but because he had the guts and the spine to take that stand early-on, when it WAS perceived as just a non-credible, scoff-worthy fringie view.

[KoKo]

26. I'm with you Calimary! A really good post! What kind of judgment? If we

knew......and Robert Byrd told them days and days with wonderful speeches "Sounding the Alarm Bell...." and they didn't listen and they did answer us.

Who are they......what are they......we have to vote with our hearts on this one......it's the "principle of it all....."

It's OUR VALUES.........against their ......whatever....:-(

[sangh0]

19. Kerry was right

The threat of force DID get the inspectors back into Iraq.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

24. And it got troops in there with them.

Great move.

[poskonig]

20. Inspections = good; occupation = baaaad. Kerry doesn't get it.

Threatening force to get the inspectors was a good move. Occupying the nation was stupid. It looks to me as if Kerry really believes in the entire 'conquer Iraq' thing.

I'm disappointed.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. Can I see your badge first?