Hillary Defends Pro-War Vote

Times must be a bit stressful these days for Hillary Clinton, as she's faced with the nuisance of gaining reelection in New York next year while biding her time for a presidential run in 2008. Yesterday she defended her pro-war vote in the attempt to maximize her standing with "moderates," while at the same time doing the best she could to position herself for a retreat from her position if necessary.

"I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility for the false assurances, faulty evidence and mismanagement of the war," the New York senator said in a lengthy letter to thousands of people who have written her about the war.

At the same time, she said the United States must "finish what it started" in Iraq.

Same old tired rhetoric. How many times can we rehash the fact that Democrats made the exact same claims about Saddam while her husband was cavorting around the Oval Office? And I particularly like the part where she blames Bush for "mismanagement of the war." What mismanagement, exactly, Senator? Are mistakes not made in war? Or is it simply convenient to pretend we could fight one without making any?

This is the kind of stuff that doesn't sit well with the majority of Americans. Criticize if you will, but you'd better share some specific examples. And does Hillary - or anyone - truly believe the president actually manages this war? Any war? While he is the ultimate arbiter of significant decisions, the everyday management of any war is conducted by generals and commanding officers on the ground - who, by almost all accounts, are exhibiting unbelievable skills and making unparalleled strides under unforgiving circumstances. To take a swipe at the president about his management of the war is to directly insult those actually fighting it. I'd love to see her try to weasel her way out of that comment, but of course we all know the media would never press her on something like that.

Here's more:

The debate has also put Clinton in a tight spot: generally viewed as pro-military, the former first lady is the most-watched member of a party that is increasingly turning against the war.

In her letter to voters, the senator cited prewar assurances from the White House that the United States would use the United Nations to resolve the issue of Iraq's purported weapons of mass destruction.

"Based on the information that we have today, Congress never would have been asked to give the president authority to use force against Iraq," she said. Clinton stopped short of saying her vote was a mistake, the political path chosen by two other potential Democratic candidates former vice presidential candidate John Edwards and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

Generally viewed as pro-military? Few people are more contemptuous of the military than Bill and Hillary Clinton. It's much more accurate to say that Hillary's generally viewed as someone who will cast a vote depending on the direction the political winds are blowing.

And might we remind the good senator that mere mortals do not typically possess clairvoyance. The primary reason we finally do have the information we have today is because we invaded.

The most pathetic thing of all about the Democrats' incessant carping and undermining of the war effort is that I actually think Al Gore would have done the exact same thing Bush has done had he been elected in 2000. Such statements make me feel like I need to run for the shower, but it's worthwhile to point out that the majority of information collected on Saddam was done while a Democrat was in the White House. And as we know, there was no shortage of tough talk from leading Dems back in the late nineties. Considering that the only wars Democrats are willing to fight are those for humanitarian reasons, it's almost laughable to suggest that a Gore administration wouldn't have used 9/11 as an excuse to run to the rescue of the Iraqis.

So perhaps that's the rub. Republicans have actually acted on all the baseless threats Democrats made for years. It's probably a little humiliating when people find out you never had a big stick to go along with all that tough talk.