Crossposted from Left Toon Lane & My Left Wing
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For me, Edwards really stepped up and out at the debate last night and it was mostly due to the fact he took responsibility for his war vote. Obama got off one zinger but zingers only zing ONCE. Edwards has kept a steady pace of “I was wrong on the war” meme and I think that will pay off more in the long run than Obama will get for his “4 and half years is too late to show leadership” sound bite.
Here’s why. Bush never apologizes for jack shit. Even when it came to Katrina, it was never his fault directly. He always danced around the issue of personal responsibility and muddied the water of an apology better than anyone else I have ever seen. But a politician, especially a PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE that comes clean and admits he was wrong and repeats it at every appropriate opportunity, will seem more the polar opposite of Bush than the rest of the crowd.
Biden’s rant on Dafur was good and probably his best moment, but alas, it is about 4 and half years too late.
Accountability means admitting that you’ve made a mistake. I respect Edwards for that, and fear that Clinton could be almost as bad as Bush.
I also think that anyone capable of thinking should have known not to trust Bush with anything. I could almost see the froth at his mouth when he talked about Iraq.
Yeah, which is worse, saying you were wrong to vote for the war or that you believed George Bush’s assessment on Iraq?
The swing voters for 2008 will mostly be people who are sorry they supported the war, a sentiment that is only being voiced by Edwards at this time. They may see a little bit of themselves in Edwards.
is one who can learn from his (or her) mistakes, and makes adjustments when necessary.
It’s obvious that for the past 6+ years, we haven’t had a true adult in the White House.
I wasn’t impressed then, and not now, by Edwards’ apology.
The worst mistake he made, and Hillary, and Biden, and the rest of them . . . . is NOT believing the cooked up intelligence . . . .
Even is they were ignorant, or calculating, enough to accept everything that this cabal was saying about Iraq and its weapons, their most grievous sin was accepting the priciple of a peventive war of aggression.
It doesn’t matter that they were fooled into believing the bullshit, it was that they agreed to let this criminal group of neocons turn their backs on international law and longstanding American principles by endorsing the idea that we are free to invade absent prior attacks or the kind of imminent threat which even this group conceded wasn’t there.
When Edwards starts apologizing for that, I’ll give him props.
Yah, Edwards is a lawyer. Being honest about being two-faced is their stock in trade.
Let’s be real. At the time of the authorization vote anyone who voted for it had unacceptable a combination of special interest influence and abject stupidity that no apology alone could resolve. What about Edwards has changed that he wouldn’t be an easy dupe on the next serious issue?
Need I remind folks that Kucinich and Gravel are democratic candidates for President. Of all the policy and ideological points made around here, their policies match most closely. These should be the candidates discussed most seriously, yet they are not. Why? We are punishing them for having the spine we claim we want in our candidates. That’ seems a little weird to me.
Tired of Dems without spine? Our candidates only have the spine of the voters who nominated them. Here’s you chance to do the right thing. Don’t vote for the most successfully deceitful warmonger’s pet, vote your actual policy conscience this time. Please?
I think we should always remember two points;
1. This is Bush’s war, always was Bush’s war, will always be Bush’s war.
1.A. Bush is a liar and an incompetent.
2. There were many people who stated clearly that Bush was cooking intelligence, that Iraq was not a threat to us, that inspections were working, that we should not abandon the pursuit of bin Laden to take up a personal vendetta of Junior to avenge Saddam’s attempted whack of Senior. Those Democrats who voted to authorize force did so because they were afraid of the Righ Wing Noise Machine which includes the MSM. 2.A. That Bush is a liar doesn’t absolve those Democrats who voted to support the liar from their constitutional responsibility to not be duped.