A quick look at the Democratic “Yea”s
Bush defended the War on Iraq by pointing to Democrat culpability. It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began. More than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate who had access to the same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power.
Bush at the time said that this wasn’t necessarily a vote for war, and was a vote to “disarm Saddam”. Kerry chimed in saying that it was a vote for the process to “disarm Saddam”.
Kerry then famously went on to say “You bet I might have voted yes” when pressed on whether he would have voted for the War Resolution “if he knew now what he knows now”, trying to fall back on the nuances of “vote not for war, but for a process” without realizing the implications of “Knowing then what I know Now.” And thus the sucktitude of Kerry’s Primary Campaign reared its ugly head in the Skull and Bones contest for President.
More recently, we had Charles Schumer appearing on Meet the Press with this sorry exchange:
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Schumer, there’s been a widespread discussion that this is bigger than just Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame and White House aides; that it really goes to the core of the Iraq War, what cases were made to the American people about weapons of mass destruction and other systems and other analyses and other intelligence data. Based on what you now know today, do you regret having voted for the war?
SEN. SCHUMER: Well, no, Tim, because my vote was seen and I still see it as a need to say we must fight a strong and active war on terror. But I would say this, Tim, and I would take your point in a slightly different direction. I think what we’ve seen in the last several months is a White House in some real degree of disarray: [and we move on to a litany against Bush]
It’s difficult to guage the House of Representatives, because there’s too damned many members. The Senate is easier to track, and I could go into a deeper analysis than I’m willing to do right now if pressed. Looking over the list of “yes” votes amongst the Democrats, and adding to them the handful of new members to the Senate… here’s a simple gut feeling looking at each “yes” vote.
The Actual “Yea” Votes:
Baucus (D-MT): he sucks.
Bayh (D-IN): he sucks.
Biden (D-DE): he sucks.
Breaux (D-LA): he sucked.
Cantwell (D-WA): Dunno
Carnahan (D-MO): Political calculation to get through 2002 (unsuccessful). Dunno.
Carper (D-DE): Dunno.
Cleland (D-GA): Oh boy. The most celebrated over-rated Democrat. My guess is his conscience, particularly today, would bring him to a “no” vote today, but the political calcualtion in 2002 was heavy. (But he was probably able to rationalize it away.)
Clinton (D-NY): Harde Har Har.
Dodd (D-CT): The Connecticut Axis is probably as toxic in many ways as the New York Axis is.
Daschle (D-SD): For what it’s worth, there was this weird blog ad with his face and an urge for you to sign a petition to get us a Time table. But welcome to Hell…
Dorgan (D-ND): This is a disappointment to see that he voted “yes”. I’m surprised. He’d come around today.
Edwards (D-NC): He answered the question. He said it was a mistake. But this was after the 2004 run for vice-president.
Feinstein (D-CA): Hrm. Get back to me on that one.
Harkin (D-IA): As disappointing as seeing that Dorgan voted for it. I suppose it was a game of political chicken — even though he won the 2002 race by a huge margin, make sure there are no issues that could trip you up.
Hollings (D-SC): I liked his spunk, but it’s one of those Southern Conservative seats and bah on him.
Johnson (D-SD): Hee hee hee. As goes Daschle, so goes Johnson. His was the marquee fight in 2002 (and he did win), and you shrug and move on.
Kerry (D-MA): NEXT!
Kohl (D-WI): I hear he’s remarkably undistinguished.
Landrieu (D-LA): She was up for re-election in 2002, and her political instincts will hew her to that Iraq War every time.
Lieberman (D-CT): NEXT!
Lincoln (D-AR): With a name like Lincoln, how can we lose?
Miller (D-GA): The latest issue of the New Republic has a feature on a prominent Mega-Church preacher, and in it we have Zell Miller preaching to this god-awful Mega-Church.
Nelson (D-FL):
Nelson (D-NE): Merge the Nelsons and roll on.
Reid (D-NV): I’d like to think so. BUT…
Schumer (D-NY): I already did the Schumer quote. He sucks.
Torricelli (D-NJ): Corruption cubed, and nothing else matters.
The Class of 2002 and 2004, our newly elected Democrats and how they would have voted:
Pryor (D – Ark): He’d vote “yes” then. Now? He’d probably like to vote “yes”.
Lautenberg: Difficult, but gut says “no.”
Obama (D – Illinois): I’d hope he’d be on the side of good.
Salazar (D – Colorado): He voted for “yes” for Torture. He sucks.