Bill Clinton: Depiction of Hillary's Iraq war vote "just not fair"

[DeepModem Mom]

The Hill: Clinton: ‘It’s just not fair’
By Sam Youngman
March 23, 2007

Former President Bill Clinton yesterday complained that “it’s just not fair” the way his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is being depicted for her controversial Iraq war vote.

Speaking to hundreds of supporters on conference call, the former president said, “I don’t have a problem with anything Barack Obama (has) said on this,” but “to characterize Hillary and Obama’s positions on the war as polar opposites is ludicrous.

“This dichotomy that’s been set up to allow him to become the raging hero of the anti-war crowd on the Internet is just factually inaccurate.”

The ex-president’s aggressive defense of his wife’s position revealed frustration in the Clinton camp over how the issue is playing into the already-overheated presidential campaign.

On a conference call with Hillraisers, Sen. Clinton’s biggest donors, which The Hill listened to after being provided the call-in information, the former president said there was a stark difference between those who voted for the Iraq resolution and those who wanted to go to war....

He said he had re-read the Iraq resolution last week, and that his wife had voted only for “coercive inspections.” Clinton justified his wife’s refusal to apologize for her vote by explaining that she was acting out of concern that future presidents might need similar language authorizing “coercive inspections to avoid conflict.”

“It’s just not fair to say that people who voted for the resolution wanted war,” Clinton said....

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clinton-its-just-not-fair-2007-03-22.html

[graywarrior]

1. Well. . .bottom line for me, I just like Obama more.

[Tellurian]

7. Well...bottom line for me, IS the STRONGEST candidate to fight the GOP

and there is no contest there. Obama would just be another disappointed Dem candidate as were Kerry and Gore.
And as disappointed as we all were after working so hard for our Democratic hopefuls. Obama has never faced the ferocity of the monolithic neocons. He doesn't have my confidence, due to his lack of experience.

[graywarrior]

15. Well, bottom bottom line for me is I haven't decided who, what, when where or why.

[Colobo]

Bottom line is that I'll support Obama

[Colobo]

18. Dupe, sorry!

[Ethelk2044]

21. Hillary can not Fight her Own Battles

Hillary can not fight her own battles. Her husband has to try to fight them like today with his comments about Netroots. How in the Hell can she and the Job of the President of United States. We need someone stronger than that. If I would have voted for her, I will much reconsider. She should have came out to fight not him. She has proven she can not hold her own.

[AndyA]

2. I'm not a huge fan of Hillary's, but in her defense I agree with this.

We need to remember that at the time of the vote, 9/11 was very fresh in everyone's mind. And the information being given to Congress by the Bush Administration was at the very least compromised and inaccurate, and at the very worst an out and out lie.

Congress should be able to depend on what the administration tells them to be truthful and accurate, to the best of their ability. This was not the case.

The decisions made by Congress can only be as good as the information they are given, and the information leading up to the vote regarding Iraq was seriously compromised.

I have great admiration for those who voted against the war, as they saw through the smoke and bullshit, and saw Bush and his cronies for what they truly are: opportunistic parasites bent on destroying democracy and setting up their rich cronies to make a killing of the American taxpayers.

If I were in Congress, as much as I've distrusted Bush from the moment I first saw his face and found out who he was, given the circumstances at the time, I'm not sure I would have voted against it, either.

Hindsight changes lots of things, but no one in Congress had a crystal ball to tell them the truth.

[latebloomer]

5. Oh please!

A smart woman like Hillary is not allowed to plead ignorance and claim that she thought the administration had good intentions. And that she could only go with the information they were giving her-- why?? Wasn't there any other information out there?

Most of DU understood what the vote meant, and how bogus all the rationalizations were. Hillary had people camping out at her offices, begging her not to vote for this crap. She went along anyway, because that is what Hillary does-- she goes along to get along, and she is terrified of being accused of being soft on terrorism.

Have you heard her trumpeting the need for a war on Iran, with a pro-Israel audience recently? Yes, she is.

[AndyA]

9. Some people have such a hatred of Hillary, they close their mind.

I'm not defending her, or her vote.

I'm just saying that I can see how things happened that led up to many of them voting the way they did. I'm not saying it was right, I'm just saying they should have been able to depend on the information they were given.

A mistake, yes. But to say they all knew at the time beyond any doubt that it was all a lie is a bit of a stretch.

[latebloomer]

19. How could any intelligent person, in 2003

believe that GW Bush was telling the truth? The information was everywhere.

Millions of us went out on the streets to plead that this war not be launched.

His true nature and agenda was obscenely evident by then, and the fact that he wanted to pursue a war for oil and Mideast domination.

No, Hillary knew, but Hillary was intent on portraying herself as a terrorist fighter.

And If she didn't know, that is an equally compelling reason to question her judgment.

[Rainbowreflect]

13. I have to agree with you.

How did DU know the truth, but the politicians did not?

[Kagemusha]

6. What was fresh in her mind was the '08 election

and she picked the choice she could live with politically.

That's no crime, but the idea that Hillary thought she could trust the Bush administration offends my intelligence.

[Ethelk2044]

22. Congress was fools

Congress was fools to give him so much power. They should have question everything. That is why were are having a war today. Iraq has nothing to do with the war. They should have made Damn sure Iraq attacked us 911 before giving him the power for war. They should have gone with facts not assumptions or guesses. Like Barack stated. They did not have enough proof for a war.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I really, really like Bill Clinton and in a way, I miss him.

But IMO he has to limit his buttressing of "what Hillary said". She is the candidate. She can speak for herself and explain what she meant by herself, and she should. I admire Bill's support of his wife as a candidate, but he has to let her make her own mistakes and see what she does with the opportunities that mistakes bring with them.

[SheilaT]

4. At the time of the vote

a LOT of people were saying, Wait a minute. Scott Ritter said there probably were no WMD's. It was obvious to a lot of us that the Bush cabal was using 9/11 to railroad a war they'd been salivating for anyway. As I recall, groups of her constituents went to her office to beg her not to vote for the war. And she ignored them.

Also, a slight majority of Americans did NOT favor going to war at that time, a fact completely ignored by the mainstream media. I keep on getting into arguments with people over this, but I clearly recall that the polling showed that at best Americans were very closely divided. And this despite the fact that Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and even PBS beat the war drums loudly.

So not a single senator or representative can rightly say anything other than perhaps that they were misled.

[Rydz777]

8. The future

I will judge the candidates not by their past votes but by what they are doing to stop the war and get the troops home NOW, not 2008, but NOW.

[ToeBot]

10. You must not have gotten the memo...

It seems the Iraq invasion is to be the central issue of the '08 election, nothing will be done to end it until after that.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. So The Dems That Voted Against The War Were Just Smarter, OK?

The reality is that a lot of Dems did the right thing on that vote. Mrs. Clinton did not. Lots of Democrats want to leave Iraq. Mrs. Clinton does not. End of story.

I suppose that Bill's been spending enough time paling around with the Bush family to believe that the truth is as pliable as Silly Putty, and that all things are spinnable - but we voters need to keep reality squarely in front of us if we want better governance.

[SOS]

12. Dear Mr. Clinton:

Please cite the legal requirements in the IWR for "coercive inspections".
There are none.

And calling Obama "the raging hero of the anti-war crowd" is ridiculous.
Sounds like a line from a Will Marshall blog post.

[Forkboy]

14. It's a vast left wing conspiracy,I tells ya!

[cooolandrew]

16. His selling point is he didn't vote for it, fortunate because he wasn't in the senate.

If you have something to sell highlight it. Hillary still is the candidate that won't apologise for her vote and that opens up questions of why for me.

[cooolandrew]

17. Bill is a good guy but it's about the issues if Hillary can generate excitement for her platform ...

... then she'll earn the candidacy on merit.

[bigdarryl]

20. Which is it is he running or her, Not fair like hell it isn't she voted for war...

plain and simple and she is on record saying she would keep troops in Iraq