I wonder how many Obama supporters voted for Kerry in '04? The same Kerry who voted YES on the IWR?

[BigBearJohn]

Barack Obama was not a member of the U.S. Senate when he opposed the war in Iraq. Both John Edwards and Hillary Clinton were in the Senate, and if there's one thing we all should understand, it's that it's a whole lot easier to say "No" when you are not directly responsible as an elected representative for the security of hundreds of thousands of constituents and when you're a representative from a state with key military bases.

If we value inexperience over our leaders actually having been there/done that, then I suppose Jonathan Alter is 100% correct that Democratic primary voters will find Obama to be "perfectly positioned" for 2008. However, that's not at all what I witnessed in 2004 when Democratic primary voters flocked to John Kerry, who had voted for the Iraq War resolution. To the primary voters, Kerry had had a decided air of gravitas that comes only from life (and war) experience. The voters didn't use Senator Kerry's vote for the IWR against him then. Armed with plenty of real knowledge and 20/20 hindsight about the Bush administration's failures, misleadings and outright untruths, I cannot believe that Democratic voters will punish those who voted Yes to the IWR in 2008 because they will understand that it was not the Democrats who commanded this disastrous war. Many of the same Democrats who gave good faith and trust to the POTUS in 2002 are now being labeled as cowards and traitors in stump speeches by the President.

The truth is that it wasn't at all easy to vote "yes" OR "No" in October, 2002 to give the POTUS the authority to press the UN on Resolution 1551. A year had barely passed since the worst attack on American civilians in U.S. history. The cherry-picked intelligence being shouted from the Bush bully pulpit proved out to be a horrifically negligent, if not intentional misleading, but no one knew it or could prove it then. With weakness and inefficiency from CIA head George Tenet and the false stories from journalists like Judith Miller along with the rest of the pliant Oval-office stenopad-MSM, our leaders were put between a rock and a terrible place.

Collectively, we all learn from mistakes of our past. The question should be: What has Senator Edwards learned? What has Senator Clinton learned?

We'll never know what Barack Obama would have done had he been called on the floor of the Senate to look every American in the eye on the CSPAN camera and risk American lives (and his own reputation) just because he had a hunch that Bush was a dishonest broker. He never had to be there. I imagine he's glad of it because he won't have to answer for it one way or the other.

(emphasis added)

Source:
http://iddybudjournal.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-obamas-attack-on-hillary-hurts-him.html

[Clintonista2]

1. They voted for Bush most likely

Many, if not most of them, are Ann Coulter republicans.

[EmilyAnne]

12. Ann Coulter is supporting Hillary Clinton, don't you remember?

[Political Heretic]

2. Which thread should I post in? Ack! Decisions! Pressure!!

:)

[lander]

3. I did. Was my heart filled with pride? No. But I did.

Y'know why?

1. He was the Democratic nominee
2. The alternative

[Seeker30]

4. I seriously doubt many of them were old enough to vote

[EmilyAnne]

14. Bullshit.

[Raine]

5. Yeah I did cause the idea of voting for chimp

didn't work for me. :puke:

[VotesForWomen]

6. O-ists believe what they want to believe. nt

[Forkboy]

7. In the primary it may not have been that many.

In the GE I bet most of them sucked up and bit the bullet as I did, and if Obama does lose most of them will do so again, as the choice between Hillary and McCain will be clear come November.

I hope Hillary fans and Obama fans both will try to mature a little by then and do what they need to do if they live in a state where the race is close.

[democrattotheend]

8. We held it against Kerry in the primary

If he had voted against it Dean's candidacy probably never would have gotten off the ground. Sure, we voted for him in the general, but that doesn't mean we didn't hold his vote against him. Most of us will vote for Clinton in the general if she is the nominee, but it's perfectly fair to hold her vote against her in the primary.

[Hepburn]

9. The real question is why are all the 2004 Bush supporters now posting...

...on the DU in support of Queen Hillary?

:shrug:

[shayes51]

10. You said it!

"We'll never know what Barack Obama would have done had he been called on the floor of the Senate to look every American in the eye on the CSPAN camera and risk American lives (and his own reputation) just because he had a hunch that Bush was a dishonest broker. He never had to be there. I imagine he's glad of it because he won't have to answer for it one way or the other."
Amen, and thank you.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. I will vote for IWR supporter Clinton if she is the nominee as well

I am sure you have a point there someplace. Perhaps it is in this paragraph:


The truth is that it wasn't at all easy to vote "yes" OR "No" in October, 2002 to give the POTUS the authority to press the UN on Resolution 1551. A year had barely passed since the worst attack on American civilians in U.S. history. The cherry-picked intelligence being shouted from the Bush bully pulpit proved out to be a horrifically negligent, if not intentional misleading, but no one knew it or could prove it then. With weakness and inefficiency from CIA head George Tenet and the false stories from journalists like Judith Miller along with the rest of the pliant Oval-office stenopad-MSM, our leaders were put between a rock and a terrible place.


No - you are wrong. It was very easy to vote yes. Voting no was the difficult choice. On the other hand, there was no problem at all figuring out if the adminstration was full of shit or telling the truth: they were full of shit and anyone with half a brain knew that they were full of shit. The easy vote, the yes vote, was made by intelligent people who knew that the administration was lying. They made their choice based on a calculus of political risk. Kerry was wrong, Edwards was wrong, Clinton was wrong.

[EmilyAnne]

13. His position on the Iraq War may have lost him the GE.

[my3boyz]

15. I voted for Kerry

during the primary because I thought he might have the best shot (as a veteran) to beat Bush who is a war-time president. I had no idea about the simmering Swiftboat story. If I had known that people were questioning his account then I think I might have gone a different way. I DID NOT like that Kerry voted for the war. The other candidate I liked (EDWARDS) also voted for the war. I was willing to vote for ANYONE that could get Bush out of office. This time around it is different. I have a candidate that knew what I knew from the beginning (that we should have never invaded Iraq). Even though Kerry and Edwards voted for the war they are NOT vile human beings. They are wonderful men that simply made a mistake. Hillary is a vile,conniving and heartless human being. I would never vote for her in a million years. Hillary supporters say she is a fighter. You don't have to be nasty to be a fighter. Edwards fought a hard fight every single day of the campaign but he never came off as being nasty. He was fighting for what he believed in. He was fighting for the people. Hillary is fighting for herself and her own political ambitions. It has nothing to do with the people.

[merh]

16. Kerry was our only choice in 2004 - nice try but you fail to properly

make the comparison.

In addition:

Kerry didn't endorse Bush over any of his candidates in the primary.

Kerry did not lie about taking sniper fire in Bosnia.

Kerry actually did serve and has known battle, he didn't go around making up scarey tales or tales of how he tried to join up.

Rove and Sciafe never endorsed Kerry.

Kerry was the one that Bush accused of being an elitist or a liberal. I don't recall any of his opponents in the primaries calling him that.

Kerry's wife didn't take money from the same folks promoting a trade deal that Hillary allegedly opposes.

Would you like for me to go on?

[Mass]

17. Where were you in 03/04? I am a strong Kerry supporter but the reason i do not

support Clinton is not her IWR vote. I would have supported Biden or Dodd if they had a chance.

However, I am for open government and I want a change in the way foreign policy is held. I also want to see somebody working for a better XXI century, not the restoration of the Reagan or Clinton years. We are not in 1980 or 1990 any more. We are nearly in 2010 with its specific challenges. We need somebody who is ready to look ahead, not backwards.

The IWR in isolation has very little to do with my support for Obama. The rest has a lot more to do.

[lojasmo]

18. In the primary? Hell no.

I held my nose and voted for him in the generals, though. I'll probably do the same if Clinton somehow steals the nomination.