Hillary advised Kerry to vote YES, from Newsweek

[question everything]

on the $87 billion to support the wars

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4570343/


Last week was one of John Kerry's roughest in his still-young presidential campaign. On a daily basis the Bush-Cheney team savaged him as a weak-on-defense flip-flopper, while GOP operatives scoured his long Senate record for ammo. One line of attack: his October 2003 vote against spending $87 billion for the occupation and rebuilding of Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, Kerry, who'd voted for the Iraq war resolution in October 2002, was trying to catch up to Howard Dean, the soaring antiwar candidate. Now the Massachusetts Democrat has played right into the hands of his critics. At a rally in West Virginia last week Kerry told supporters, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." The Bush campaign pounced. "You can't make this stuff up," says a high-ranking aide. "With that one statement he just confirmed everything we want to say about him, which is that he wants to be on every side of every issue."

(snip)

But NEWSWEEK has learned that Kerry might have avoided the political mess he's in had he listened to one of his Senate colleagues. Hillary Rodham Clinton has told friends that in the Senate cloakroom just before the final vote, she advised Kerry to vote "aye" or he'd pay a price down the road. In the end, Kerry was one of only a dozen senators to vote against the bill.

[WilliamPitt]

1. DU wanted the Senate to vote against that bill

Kerry deserves whatever he gets for following DU Conventional Wisdom.

:)

[fujiyama]

2. Hillary...

is a smart politician. I agree it would have been more consistent to vote yes for it and more politically expediant.

However, it all could have been avoided if he had simply voted No for the original war resolution as Bob Graham did. Then it really wouldn't have mattered as much how he voted on the 87 billion bill (though they still would have accused him for not funding the troops).

Bob Graham, was ultimately the best and most consistant critic on this war (atleast for those candidates from the senate). He made his opposition known, not from a leftist critique, but from a pragmatic one (that Gore, Dean, and Clark also used, though Dean was mischaracterized as "leftist").

Kerry should say, as Max Cleland and a few other dem senators have said, that they would not vote for the resolution based on what they know now. It won't look as good as being right in the first place, but it's better than the extremely nuanced (and to many somewhat confusing) rationale he's using now.

[moondust]

3. Wasn't Wes Clark against that bill, too?

IIRC he (and others) said it needed to be broken down into more than one bill: One strictly for support of the troops and another for the other stuff it included (which I can't remember offhand).

[TheFarseer]

4. Exactly what I've been saying

He voted wrong on all the Iraq votes, the one for the first gulf war, the one for the second gulf war and the vote for $87 billion. That way he is against unprovoked wars not in our vital interest and for supporting the troops.

[legin]

7. That is exactly right TheFarseer :-) nt

[JI7]

5. Hillary knew Kerry would win nomination at the time

when everyone else said his campaign was over. maybe kerry should consider making hillary vp. she is a smart and would not hold off on kicking right wing assholes.

[Career Prole]

6. Should help him

win the "Hilary-Hatin' Indy" vote. I'm seeing silver linings everywhere nowadays. :D