A simple question re: Kerry and the "war vote"

[DancingBear]

Many here are agonizing over how Kerry should explain this vote, and how he can counter when Bush says "well, you voted for it."

Excuse my simplicity, but couldn't Kerry counter with something along these lines:

"Mr. Bush - when I cast that yes vote, I made the biggest mistake of my political life - I believed you. It turns out I was mistaken - you are not a man who can be believed. This saddens me."

etc, etc. (flushing out with specifics)

Doesn't this put Bush IMMEDIATELY on the defensive?

I am missing something here???

[IndianaGreen]

1. Except that Kerry said he would still have voted for IWR again

knowing what he knows today about Bush's lies and the failure to find WMDs.

Kerry pulled the rug from under his own feet and essentially neutralized Iraq as an issue for him.

[DancingBear]

4. Let me clarify

I'm speaking here not of Kerry's insistence that the President HAVE these powers (which I think is an argument he can successfully make i.e. a President must have "authority"), but rather to counter Bush's SPECIFIC insistence on going into Iraq, and the fact that he MISUSED his authority, and did not treat it with the reverence that Kerry assumed he (or any other President) would.

[IndianaGreen]

6. No President should be given a blank check for war

Only Congress has such power. The Framers of the Constitution put the war making power on Congress for a reason. They didn't want Presidents to act like Kings waging war whenever they fancied.

[DancingBear]

9. We are in agreement here

but the issue is greater (at least in the short term) than either you or I. The question, of course, is "How can Kerry get off this issue and put Bush on the hot seat?"

Would the course of action I outlined work? I tend to think yes, because what we are looking to do here is to convince the middle that Bush has committed an almost unpardonable lie, and paint him as untrustworthy.

I am afraid that the "blank check" argument is only valid, for now at least, to those of us who care with the passion that you, I and others here do. The rest of "Fear Factor" America is looking at style over substance. I'm looking for a way to make them think Bush is not the style they want to wear.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Remember when Ike said: "I will go to Korea!"

Eisenhower gave a speech in 1952 which he said that if he was elected President, he would go to Korea to check the situation first hand.

Kerry should say: "I will go to Iraq!"

[DancingBear]

11. I'll buy that !

Put the fiasco right on Georgies doorstep- - although I can see DimSon saying "Go ahead, see first hand what a liberated country looks like, etc.)

JK would have to be very careful - not leave even the smallest crack for Rove to wiggle through.



(gotta be off-line for a while - thanks for the discussion) :)

[IndianaGreen]

12. Take care!

I have to go off-line too. I have to run to the store and get stuff for dinner tonight.

I plan to watch TV tonight and hope that our friends in Florida make it through alright.

[stray cat]

2. He could have said it before but now it looks like a "flipflop"

nt

[MGKrebs]

3. He might still be able to do it.

It might go like this: I believe the President should have the authority that was granted. The President is trusted to use that authority wisely. This President abused that trust. We must not punish all future President's for the shortcomings of this one.


edited for a %#@$&*@$ typo.

[IndianaGreen]

5. No, I don't think we can trust any President with war powers

which is why the Framers of the Constitution explicitly gave that power to Congress. It was a mistake to give Bush that power. It was another mistake to say that even with the benefit of hindsight, one would give Bush that power again.

The only thing that Kerry can still do about Iraq is to announce that upon being elected President he will go to Iraq to see the situation for himself. This will open the door for Kerry to pull all US troops out of Iraq after he "sees for himself" what a quagmire that place is.

[MGKrebs]

8. I tend to agree with you.

But hey, that don't mean Kerry couldn't say it!

[oasis]

7. It's worth a try. Kerry has to criticize Bush's reckless rush into war.