Reply #24: Okay [View All]

[VaLabor]

Thanks for this link.

But it doesn't change my view of Kerry on the Iraq issue. It's undeniable that he voted for the Senate resolution which gave Bush a free hand in pursuing war. Now he has to nitpick about the way the war is being prosecuted - because his initially principled support for the war makes it impossible for him to engage in a full critique of Bush's foreign policy. The reality is that no matter how that war was prosecuted, the war itself was going to make the world a less safe, not safer, place.

Kerry gets high marks on just about every other issue, and of course I'll support him if he gets the nomination. But only now when the polls are saying that it's safe to criticize the President forcefully on foreign policy, Kerry is finding fault with the war. It's this kind of behavior that loses elections.

The Republicans have taken forceful and principled stances since the 1994 Gingrich days, not nuancing things or hedging their bets one way or another in case the polls might turn favorably or unfavorably for your position. Look where it's gotten them.

We need the same thing from the Democrats - and Dean has been providing it.