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Old 11-28-2012, 08:23 AM   #97
spence
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim in CT View Post
When the public supported Bush, I didn't hear those senators speaking out against the war. When public opinion turned against the war - BINGO - all of a sudden, those folks never really supoprted the war, rather they were duped by Bush's lies. What a coincidence!
Or you could say they were giving the President the benefit of doubt in a time of national crisis.

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Maybe those folks didn't like the near-unilateral approach. Neither did Bush. That's why Bush sent Colin Powell to the UN.
I don't believe many in Bush's inner circle wanted to involve the UN as it would have been an impediment to removing Saddam. They had to know the case against him wasn't as good as they were making it out to be...even President Bush was reported as remarking (in Woodward's book) "that's all we've got?".

Powell was sent to the UN to get support for the Congressional authorization.

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Bush admits he was wrong. Most of the Democrats who voted for the war will never admit that...rather, they were misled by Bush's lies.
From what I've read many have said given what they know now they wouldn't have voted for the authorization. This is a pretty rational position.

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Again, I feel you're being 100% fair to Bush. I just think you're bending over backwards to paint the Democrats who supported the war, in a favorable light.
I think many have deep regret that they didn't push harder. Hindsight is a bitch...

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I can't say it any simpler than this...those Democrats I mentioned supported the war when it was popular. When public opinion turned against the war, all of a sudden those Senators changed their tune. Either the timing is a coincidence, or they are being less than honest about not originally supporting the war.
Then you could say the same thing about the entire country. America was overwhelmingly behind the war when we believed the Administration's case and support eroded when it became clear that we were pushed into it.

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Spence, you keep harping on the fact that they didn't like the near-unilateral way we did it. Maybe they didn't like it, but they voted for it. And two of them (Biden and Hilary) got significant promotions after that, while Bush is demonized. Seems a wee bit inconsistent. Bush was president, and the responsibility lies with him, so he deserves much criticism. But if the war was fundamentally immoral (as many liberals claim), I don't see why the senators who authorized it, get a pass.
If anything was immoral it was the hawks in the Administration vigorously trying to find a way to justify war rather than vigorously trying to work to avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

There's a big difference between Moveon.org and Senators Clinton and Kerry. You can't lump them all together.

-spence
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