WP: Past Votes Dog Some Presidential Candidates

[sfecap]

Past Votes Dog Some Presidential Candidates
Democrats Defend Siding With Bush

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 12, 2003; Page A01


Presidential candidate John F. Kerry is bashing President Bush's policies on Iraq, education and civil liberties. What he rarely mentions, however, is that his Senate votes helped make all three possible.

The Massachusetts Democrat is not alone. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) -- who is calling Bush's Iraq policy a "miserable failure" -- led the House fight last year to allow the president to wage the war without the international help the lawmaker now demands. Gephardt, then the House Democratic leader, also voted for the USA Patriot Act, which expands the government's surveillance powers, and for Bush's No Child Left Behind education program. He often criticizes the policies now.

Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) is calling for Bush to enlist the help of the United Nations in Iraq, even though he, like Kerry and Gephardt, had the opportunity to vote against the war resolution and in support of one measure demanding U.N. involvement during last fall's congressional debate. Edwards is also calling for changes to the Patriot Act, for which he voted, and more funding for the education plan, which he voted to authorize. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) voted with Bush on all three, too.

That these lawmakers voted with Bush on key issues is complicating their bids to win their party's nomination, as fellow Democrats demand explanations. As the campaign progresses, it also could make it harder for them to draw sharp distinctions with Bush on what are shaping up as among the biggest issues of the 2004 campaign, according to political strategists.

(more...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62830-2003Sep11.html

Do you think this reporter has been reading DU? :-)

[virtualobserver]

1. The reporter fails to mention that HowardDean deliberately........

chose not to run for the House or Senate in a cynical attempt to avoid voting on those issues.

[LuminousX]

2. My First Laugh of the Day

Bravo!!

[DEMActivist]

3. I doubt he's reading DU

Just hearing it on the street and in public conversations.

People WILL hold these politicians responsible for their votes.

[Rose Siding]

4. I was very impressed with Graham in the debate

...for reading that portion of the Resolution, authorizing the war.

snip>
Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.), the only senator running for president who opposed the war resolution, went after his rivals by reading its specific language: "The President is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate." After reading it, Graham said, "My friends, those who voted for that gave the president a . . . blank check."
end snip>

WhatEVER else it said, it did say that and people should know it.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. I still don't understand the denial

surrounding that simple, yet all empowering, phrase. The only "good" thing to come out of the IWR was the limiting of the scope to Iraq specifically, as opposed to previous versions.