DES MOINES, Iowa - Democratic rivals assailed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday for a vote against Iran that they portrayed as
misguided and dangerous in light of a new intelligence report that says the Iranians stopped pursuing a nuclear weapon years ago.
One month before Iowa's leadoff caucuses — in a debate broadcast only on radio — the presidential candidates stood together in welcoming the
report's assessment and criticizing President Bush's assertion that "nothing's changed" because of it. They divided on the three-month-old Senate
vote to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization — a resolution that only Clinton supported among the Democratic candidates.
She said her vote was meant to encourage diplomacy, but several of her foes were having none of that and John Edwards said it sounded like war...
Edwards did confront Clinton on her characterization of her September Iran vote.
"Declaring a military group sponsored by the state of Iran a terrorist organization, that's supposed to be diplomacy?" Edwards interjected. "This has
to be considered in the context that Senator Clinton has said she agrees with George Bush terminology that we're in a global war on terror, then she
voted to declare a military group in Iran a terrorist organization. What possible conclusion can you reach other than we are at war?"
Clinton objected. "You know I understand politics and I understand making outlandish political charges, but this really goes way too far," said the
New York senator. She is locked in a tight three-way race with Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, and Obama, a senator from Illinois,
in this first-voting state.
"None of us is advocating a rush to war," Clinton said.
Joe Biden, a senator from Delaware who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, didn't let that pass, telling Clinton that "terminology matters."
"It's not about not advocating a rush to war," he said. "I'm advocating no war."
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd said he and others voted against the resolution because they felt it "specifically eliminated any option except the military
one."
"Those critical moments come periodically, but it demonstrates leadership on a critical issue such as this one," Dodd said... "Among the Democratic candidates," Edwards reminded listeners, "there's only one that voted for this resolution. And this is exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted."
<snip>
Clinton said it's clear that pressure on Iran has had an effect — a point disputed by Biden.
"With all due respect with anybody who thinks that pressure brought this about, let's get this straight. In 2003, they stopped their program," Biden said.
In the category of pandering to Iowans, Dodd took home the blue ribbon:
On China, none of the candidates was willing to raise import taxes to make higher-priced U.S. products more competitive with Chinese products. Edwards pledged that none of his children's Christmas toys would come from China, and Dodd interjected to up the ante.
"My toys are coming from Iowa," Dodd said in an appeal to the race's first voters.
Link to entire article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071205/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_debate;_ylt=Av.2sXdWS_kUnmE1xqen0QCyFz4DLink to NPR report and audio of the debate (2 hours):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16843353
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