Biden: It's time Democrats tell the truth about Iraq war

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0622/p25s04-usmb.html

Biden: It's time Democrats tell the truth about Iraq war

The 'surge' is a loser, says the Senate foreign relations chairman and '08 Democratic hopeful. A loosely federated Iraq is only US hope.
By David Cook

It was supposed to be an hour-long chat with Sen. Joseph Biden, Democratic candidate for president and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But there were last minute changes in the Senate's voting schedule. So Senator Biden came striding up 15th Street, several aides in tow, 10 minutes late for a Monitor-sponsored lunch with newspaper and magazine reporters.

Biden, who in the past has been brevity impaired, on Thursday delivered rapid-fire, detailed, and impassioned responses.

The questions centered on foreign policy rather than his lagging presidential candidacy. A new Cook Political Report/RT Strategies Poll (no relation to the author) may help explain why. Those who vote in Democratic primaries were asked for their first choice among current Democratic presidential contenders. Hillary Clinton was first with 30 percent of the respondents, Barack Obama was second with 20 percent, with John Edwards and Al Gore being the other front runners. In this poll Senator Biden earned an asterisk.

Perhaps because of his standing in the polls, Biden apparently feels free to speak with some degree of candor. "He is in his comfort zone," one journalistic colleague said. For example, Biden ducked out of the lunch after half an hour to make another Senate vote. Earlier, he told reporters that his presence would not make a difference in the outcome. He was going to vote "because of the importance of it ... to labor."

Biden also was blunt speaking about his own party's message on the war in Iraq. "I think it is time the Democrats start to level with the American people about the situation in Iraq and that nothing is going to change until we get 67 votes or the president has an epiphany," he said. "And I think it more likely get 67 votes than him having an epiphany."

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