Reply #6: I thought Kerry's answer was strange at first when he spoke of the funding not having a plan

[karynnj]

then I realized it was because I accepted the Republican view of when he flip/flopped on the $89 billion. The issue then was over how it was to be paid for. My first - presumptuous thought - was what is Kerry speaking of about "not having a plan".

Then it hit me that Kerry responded relative to the point where he really did flip - and that was in 2006. Prior to then, he voted for funding - except with the protest vote because of fiscal responsibility. In 2006, he switched to believing that Congress should constrain Bush by demanding a plan and refusing funding otherwise - and that became his consistent position. Oddly, when Bush eventually did JUST what Kerry had been speaking for for years - the media missed that Bush negotiating a time line with the Iraqis was exactly what Kerry meant with set a deadline - and it is that Bush agreement ending at the end of this year that is leading to the end of the Iraq War.