Two weeks ago, standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, after weeks of relentless attacks from George W. Bush, John Kerry tried once again to explain his vote to authorize the president to pursue war in Iraq. And, he said, even today, he'd vote the same way.
However, the question Kerry answered is not the question Bush asked ... but the Bush campaign has taken the answer and run, sending George W. Bush around the country yapping "See, I told you so."
The Bush campaign had been phrasing the question as a very narrow and careful hypothetical: "If you knew what you know now would still have voted in the affirmative?" But Kerry, in trying to explain that these matters are complex, missed the point of the Bush attack and gave them the opening for which they were hoping and now the right-wing is in full swing keeping us from asking the key question.
John Kerry needs to turn the question back on the one person on earth who can answer it:
"Mr. Bush, knowing as you do now that there were no weapons of mass destruction, no connections to al-Qaeda, and that Iraq was no threat what-so-ever to the United States of America, would you still have used the authority that you sought from Congress based on that false information to invade and occupy Iraq?"
And if, as we all expect, the answer is yes, the next question should be, "Why?"
Cato Institute (Washington): John Kerry's War Vote - A Profiles in Political Calculation
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