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Afternoon Open Thread: That War Vote |
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There will no doubt be endless speculation about why Hillary Clinton lost the nomination. After all, her fall from inevitability was nothing if not unexpected. Here’s my two cents:
It is no coincidence that every high-profile Democratic candidate for President who voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq has lost their bid. Those ranks include John Kerry, John Edwards (twice), Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, and of course, Hillary Clinton.
For me, that vote sowed the first seed of doubt in my mind about Clinton’s judgement that only grew as the race progressed (and as she refused to apologize).
Once again, this is no coincidence. That’s not to say that Democrats can’t vote for war and have my support - I’m not a complete pacifist. But the Iraq invasion was so obviously wrong that any candidate voting for it was called into question. And I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks this way; America seems to agree.
Do you?
I wonder how many of the Senators and Representatives who voted for the war did so because they did not want to look bad if the war actually succeeded. I also wonder what Obama would have done had he actually been in the Senate at the time - WWOD?