Hillary On Iraq

Lefty blogger Roxanne Cooper asked readers why should vote for Hillary. Not a single reader could come up with a reason why they liked Hillary. The best readers could say is vote for Hillary in the general election.

I have also wondered how Hillary is going to handle the qustion of her vote on the Iraq war. The answer is badly.

A man, who identified himself as a Gulf War vet, asked the New York senator at a town meeting in a high school gym here Saturday if the surge of new troops to Iraq “was going to be enough?”

Instead of answering, Hillary (as she is officially called by her campaign) said, “Thanks so much for your service” and then talked about how she visits military hospitals and believes America needs to provide good medical care for its veterans.

In the one-hour town meeting, Hillary did not mention Iraq a single time. She mentioned ethanol twice.

The problem with Hillary is she has never been able to handle the spotlight. Her fumbling on health care reform and "vast rightwing conspiracy" gave her critics ammo. She can not position herself like John Kerry did in 2004 onm Iraq and expect to win the White House.

Side Note: the Bill Clinton impeachment was bullshit. I'm certainly not defending his behavior. The Republicans were out for blood. The point is Hillary did a poor job under the spotlight.

Update: Hillary Clinton says she regrets her vote and "I take responsibility."

"I have said clearly and consistently for quite some time that I regret the way the president misused the authority," Clinton said. "He misled Congress and the country on what he was seeking and what he intended to do."

I was was struck by how cynical it was for both parties in Congress to give Bush the power to declare war. Article I, Section 8 clearly states that only Congress is vested with the power to "declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water." Congress always knew that there was a possibility that this war would go bad. They ducked their constituional responsibilities and punted to the President.

Bush always intended the go to war. The White House told the inspectors to leave and started the invasion. Rumsfeld was constantly pushing for an immediate invasion. Rumsfeld did his best to discourage inspections. It was well known that Rumsfeld and Cheney favored military action. I find it hard to believe that Hillary thought the White House was serious about weapon inspections.