Is Eleanor Clift a pragmatist or an apologist?

[Writer]

Here's her latest Newsweek column, per msnbc.com:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10204239/site/newsweek/

I think we all can agree with her comments on the disgusting political maneuvers of the Bush administration regarding the Iraq War: go in when it's politically convenient; leave when it's politically convenient. Has anyone experienced a more criminal enterprise than this? Who will hold these assholes to account?

Anyway, here are the remarks I'm asking about... is Clift being pragmatic or being apologistic in her column. To whit:

"Our political culture does not reward politicians who oppose war even when they’re right. If the October 2002 vote had been a secret ballot, the resolution giving Bush the authority to invade Iraq would almost certainly have failed."

There's a bit more there, but I suggest everyone read it.

Writer.

[victim]

1. I hate to say this but...

...shrew

[Writer]

4. Why do you call her that?

[prescole]

2. Telling it like it is, IMHO. Good columnist, too. nt

[CBHagman]

3. I'm not sure I agree with her conclusions, but...

...Clift is generally someone who sees the big picture and is willing to look at the more unpleasant aspects of any political situation. What she generally does not do is spout pre-digested, boilerplate responses.

This bit is a little ambiguous to me:

"Hillary has developed a unique response where she says if she knew then what she knows now, there never would have been a vote. The administration wouldn’t have come before the Congress asking for a war resolution knowing there were no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to Al Qaeda."

Does Clift mean Hillary believed the administration believed there were no Iraqi regime ties to al Qaeda and also no WMD, or does Clift believe the administration believed that? Recent revelations suggest that the administration knew quite well there weren't al Qaeda ties, or that they were tenuous at best.

[pretzel4gore]

5. a little item eleanor quietly ignores

bush never won the 2k election, the numbers prove it....
i know that's being preemptive, but if one considers all of the bush gangster's actions since nov7 dec12/00 have been based upon that one set of circumstances, and putting it aside, or burying it, is what the pigmedia act like everybody's already done...that makes NOT doing it more fun then kicking a mediawhore's hairy ass!
they will go daft if every line of bs they try evokes a 'but bush wasn't even elected in the 2k poll; numbers prove it' ...it forces them back onto the quicksand, where their honour has already drowned :)

[marbuc]

6. She is saying that if Congress knew there was no WMDs

there would never have been a vote. Regime change and Democracy spreadin' would not have been sufficient reasons to invade Iraq.

[Kahuna]

7. She's a very smart lady who has been consistently correct in

her observations, perceptions and conclusions over the years. Call that whatever you want to call it.

She is right on this point too. The Democrats have long been painted as soft when it comes to National security based upon our association with the anti Viet Nam activists in the 60s. It doesn't matter that the activists were 100% right or that the Dems who supported them were 100% right. The "peacenik" label was hung on the Dems and has stuck to us throughout the years. The majority of voters want to know that their leaders have the stones to defend America, right or wrong. That's just the way it is.

Notice it was mostly red state Democrats and Democrats with presidential aspirations that voted for the IWR.

[0007]

8. Good article. I haven't clue what Clift is, is in this case other

taking up space with an opinion that is obvious to most folks. It all depends on what your definition of 'is' is, LOL!!

""There is talk among Republican strategists that Bush could build his State of the Union address next year around the promise of bringing the troops home from Iraq. The difference between withdrawing and re-deploying is in the eyes of the beholder, but we’re seeing the beginnings of a stampede among politicians to re-position themselves. Former President Bill Clinton broke his silence on the war to announce to a group of students overseas that he thought going into Iraq was “a big mistake.” In typical Clinton fashion, it wasn’t clear whether he meant the whole venture, or the way the administration went in without adequate preparation. Either way, his comment played as a departure from the solidarity he has shown Bush until now on the war."

[AndreaCG]

9. I usually like Eleanor but

Condi Rice the one shining light in the Bush administration? Sheesh.

[0007]

10. Do you think perhaps she was being facetious?

[thebigidea]

11. part of the Howard Fineman Conventional Wisdom Brigade

finger-in-the-wind chapter.

[NYCGirl]

12. Clift has not changed her views on Iraq since the beginning. NT