The Democratic Party as a whole did NOT support the Invasion of Iraq.

[bvar22]

The MEDIA and the Republican Party would like you to believe that the Invasion & Occupation of Iraq was "bi-partisan", and the "Democratic Party" supported it.
This is NOT TRUE.
Only the conservative wing of the Democratic Party supported the Invasion & Occupation of Iraq.

Here is a list of DEMOCRATS who STOOD UP and OPPOSED the Invasion:


The Democratic Party Honor Roll
These Democrats should be remembered for their principled stand against the WAR Machine.

IWR

United States Senate

In the Senate, the 21 Democrats, one Republican and one Independent courageously voted their consciences in 2002 against the War in Iraq :

Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Barbara Boxer (D-California)
Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia)
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)
Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)
Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois)
Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin)
Bob Graham (D-Florida)
Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)
Patty Murray (D-Washington)
Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan)
The late Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota)
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

Lincoln Chaffee (R-Rhode Island)


United States House of Representatives

Six House Republicans and one independent joined 126 Democratic members of the House of Represenatives:

Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
Tom Allen (D-Maine)
Joe Baca (D-California)
Brian Baird (D-Washington DC)
John Baldacci (D-Maine, now governor of Maine)
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin)
Xavier Becerra (D-California)
Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)
David Bonior (D-Michigan, retired from office)
Robert Brady (D-Pennsylvania)
Corinne Brown (D-Florida)
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Lois Capps (D-California)
Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland)
Julia Carson (D-Indiana)
William Clay, Jr. (D-Missouri)
Eva Clayton (D-North Carolina, retired from office)
James Clyburn (D-South Carolina)
Gary Condit (D-California, retired from office)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-Michigan)
Jerry Costello (D-Illinois)
William Coyne (D-Pennsylvania, retired from office)
Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland)
Susan Davis (D-California)
Danny Davis (D-Illinois)
Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon)
Diana DeGette (D-Colorado)
Bill Delahunt (D-Massachusetts)
Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut)
John Dingell (D-Michigan)
Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas)
Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania)
Anna Eshoo (D-California)
Lane Evans (D-Illinois)
Sam Farr (D-California)
Chaka Fattah (D-Pennsylvania)
Bob Filner (D-California)
Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts)
Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas)
Luis Gutierrez (D-Illinois)
Alice Hastings (D-Florida)
Earl Hilliard (D-Alabama, retired from office)
Maurice Hinchey (D-New York)
Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas)
Rush Holt (D-New Jersey)
Mike Honda (D-California)
Darlene Hooley (D-Oregon)
Inslee
Jackson (Il.)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E.B.
Jones (OH)
Kaptur
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Lofgren
Maloney (CT)
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller
Mollohan
Moran (Va)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Scott
Serrano
Slaughter
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Strickland
Stupak
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (NM)
Udall (CO)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watson
Watt
Woolsey
Wu


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[hobbit709]

1. True, but too big a chunk of them did vote FOR.

[MadHound]

2. Looks like a majority of Dems did,

Or at the least, a large, significant minority. I know my Dem Senator voted for it, which is why I didn't vote for her reelection.

[bvar22]

4. IIRC, it was close.

A narrow majority of "Democratic" Senators voted FOR the IWR,
but I believe a majority (126) in the House OPPOSED it.

[hfojvt]

30. no, a majority in the Senate did, but a majority in the House didn't

Should we pretend that a minority of 39.4% is the same as a Republican majority of 97.3%? Yep, there's hardly any difference between the parties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_Resolution

[Recursion]

3. 126 out of 210 in the House

So it's more of a "almost half" of the party than a "wing" of the party.

[depakid]

8. The timid plus the fail wing of the party

and as history (and events that were known at the time) -they got it disastrously wrong.

[Recursion]

12. Revelation 3:16

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.'

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

27. Interesting use of Scripture

And yeah, that IS pretty much the way Dad & I feel about it. :(

[RockaFowler]

5. I thought Wexler voted against the war, too

Robert Wexler from Florida was my rep at the time and I could have sworn he didn't vote for the war. I was so proud of Bob Graham when he voted No. That man was a real statesman who was replaced by the smarmy Martinez. Boy do we need to return that Senate seat to a real Democrat - go Kendrick Meek (oh yeah voted against the war, too).

[RandiFan1290]

9. Sadly, Wexler did vote for the war

I didn't let him forget about it either.

[Scuba]

6. Thank you for this post.

[xchrom]

7. i've always found that split so interesting. nt

[zbdent]

10. Just remember ... 1 Democrat and EVERY republican makes it "bipartisan" ...

1 Republican and EVERY Democrat makes it "mostly along party lines" or "Dems voting in lockstep" ...

[Recursion]

13. But this was 84 house Democrats

Not 1

[zbdent]

33. generally speaking ...

if only 1 Democrat and every Republican commits unethical practices, it's "bipartisan".

If all Democrats vote for something, and one Republican joins them, it's reported as "voting in lockstep".

[bluestateguy]

11. This is the problem we run into so often

Unified GOP + a minority of Democrats from the DLC faction = a majority

And then people blame the Democrats as a whole, rather than individual members.

[IndianaJoe]

14. The trouble was that all the Dems with Presidential ambitions

were maneuvered into voting for it. Bush, you'll recall, unveiled his war ambitions right before the November mid-terms -- something that was planned. There was the full-court press of "weapons of mass destruction"; "yellowcake from Niger"; "nuclear weapons"; etc. etc.
They made it look as though one was irresponsible by not giving Bush his blank check.

I remember, notably, Senator Byrd's opposition. It was among his finest moments. Kerry, Clinton, Biden and others were notable in their mealy-mouthedness.

[bvar22]

16. Also notable in his principled OPPOSITION was Sen. Paul Wellstone.

He was in a tight battle for his Senate seat that year. As usual, Paul was fighting without the help of "celebrity" Democrats coming to Minnesota for public appearances, rallies, and fund raising.
He was tied with Coleman in the polls, and ALL the pundits, talking heads, and campaign advisers stated that if he voted AGAINST the IRW, he would lose his seat.

Despite this advice from the pundits, Wellstone voted AGAINST the IWR, stating that
(paraphrase) Sometimes you just have to do the right thing without worrying about the politics.
The next day, Wellstone SURGED AHEAD and stayed ahead of Coleman in the polls proving once again that the voters will SUPPORT someone who STANDS on PRINCIPLE.

Three weeks later, Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash.


"When we all do better,
we ALL do better."
--- Paul Wellstone

[blm]

21. Kerry voted for IWR and was AGAINST the invasion siding with weapon inspectors.

There was nothing mealy-mouthed in his stance, and he was very vocal in siding with weapon inspectors.

However...the corpmedia DID get many of you to repeat the narrative that all IWR voters supported invasion, even those few standing firmly with the weapon inspectors and against invasion.

[bvar22]

23. Everybody KNEW they were giving Bush the Big OK....

...for whatever followed.
Fer chrissake, it was called the "Iraq War Resolution",
or more formally, "the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002."
What did you think it meant?

Where was Kerry and the other "Democratic" Senators gave Bush the BIG OK when Bush exceeded and abused his authority?
Did they call for hearings?
Impeachment?
Did they take their case to The Media?
.
.
.
No.
They used it as an escape clause.
A Weasel Out.

I LIKE Kerry, and campaigned for him,
but the "We trusted Bush" NEVER carried any weight with me and most others who were paying attention.

Sorry,
but no Cigar for the "we thought we were voting for inspections" dodge.
I KNEW better.
Kerry and Clinton knew better.
ALL the Democrats who voted FOR it knew better.
You did too.

[blm]

24. He didn't say he trusted Bush - he said he sided with the weapon inspectors AGAINST invasion

and he DID say it in the media at the time, and in editorials he wrote, but, the narrative adopted by the media was that IWR was a vote for ONE thing - invasion. And Rove made sure of it.

Biden, Clinton, and every wellknown Dem at the time stayed sided with Bush against Kerry - before and after he became the nominee. Amazing how some of you have allowed history to be revised. Heck...many here were so in step with the corpmedia narrative that few even knew that Dean supported the Biden-Lugar version of the IWR, and had IT come to vote, then Dean would've been grouped in with the pro-invasion Dems, too, wouldn't he?

[ProSense]

28. Handwringing.

This is what some Dems do. It leads to nothing but a Republican advantage.

Kerry and Kennedy spent the months leading up to Bush launching the invasion vocally denouncing the push for war.

[ixion]

15. True, however they Dems haven't had any issues passing funding requests

over the past few years.

[mmonk]

17. True but those in control of policy did (the DLC and the PPI).

And they are the driving force behind the lack of accountability for the Bush administration.

[bvar22]

19. Those people are still around?

The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254886&kaid=86&subid=85

Not one single Democrat who voted AGAINST the IWR was given a position in the Obama administration.
You would think that Obama would have surrounded himself with those who Got it Right,
instead of those who got it ALL WRONG.

The same could be said for the White House Economic Team.

[gratuitous]

20. It all depends on what you mean by "got it right"

If you're talking about sacrificing our national honor, plunging into war crimes, taking up torture as more than a casual hobby, and blowing thousands of people to Kingdom Come for no reason is "wrong," well, you just need a different metric. Some people got obscenely, stinking rich off of all this misery, and for those people, it was undeniably "right." As a reward, Congress Critters who aided and abetted the looting of the Treasury have been rewarded with plum appointments in the new administration. Or maybe it's just a remarkable coincidence.

[waiting for hope]

31. That pic is sooo damming ...

BTW, K&R for the OP.

[mmonk]

32. You've got it.

Being progressive is not a path to advancement in the Democratic Party. If you do get a chairmanship, you are told in no certain terms what you can or cannot do by the DLC.

[slipslidingaway]

18. thanks for the reminder knr nt

[Ignis]

22. K&R, and a salute to those brave enough to vote "no."

:patriot:

[Bryn]

25. FL- Bob Graham, my Senator at the time actually read the NIE

Hillary did not read it and voted for Iraq war.

At both debates, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the candidates whether they read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in 2003. A new book about Sen. Hillary Clinton says she did not read the NIE, a document so highly classified that even her senior staff did not have access to it at the time.

Blitzer asked Clinton on Sunday whether she regretted not having read it.

"Wolf, I was thoroughly briefed," Clinton said. "I knew all the arguments. I knew all of what the Defense Department, the CIA, the State Department were all saying. And I sought dissenting opinions, as well as talking to people in previous administrations and outside experts."

At Tuesday night's Republican debate, both John McCain and Sam Brownback said they had not read it, either.

But former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who chaired the Intelligence committee at the time, has said he read the NIE. And Graham says that not only did he read it — it is what moved him to vote against authorizing Bush to invade Iraq.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10782562

Imagine that so many of politicians don't bother to read what they vote for!

[ProSense]

26. Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey)

Yeah, I remember him. He used to be the Governor of NJ.

[amborin]

29. K&R thanks for posting this; I see my senator, Boxer, had the courage to vote NO