Chafee bashes GOP and Dems who voted for Iraq war.
Chafee bashes GOP and Dems who voted for Iraq war.
In his upcoming memoir, titled Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President, former Rhode Island senator Lincoln Chafee (R) “excoriates [President] Bush and his GOP allies” for exploiting “wedge issues,” but also “saves some of his harshest words for Democrats who paved the way for Mr. Bush to use the U.S. military to invade Iraq”:
Chafee was the only Republican senator to vote against prosecuting the war. “The top Democrats were at their weakest when trying to show how tough they were,” writes Chafee. “They were afraid that Republicans would label them soft in the post-September 11 world, and when they acted in political self-interest, they helped the president send thousands of Americans and uncounted innocent Iraqis to their doom.
“Instead of talking tough or meekly raising one’s hand to support the tough talk, it is far more muscular, I think, to find out what is really happening in the world and have a debate about what we really need to accomplish,” writes Chafee. “That is the hard work of governing, but it was swept aside once the fear, the war rhetoric and the political conniving took over.”
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Amen.
Mr. Purple
January 31st, 2008 at 1:13 pmWhy did Hillary Clinton say in May, 2005 before the annual meeting of AIPAC “we will stay in Iraq as long as it takes”? And why did she suddenly flip-flop when she decided to run for office?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:13 pmIt’s a pity that Chafee was a 2006 victim of the groundswell that wanted so desperately to create a Dem majority in the Senate. I would so much rather have Chafee in there than Lieberman.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:16 pmObama voted against the war. Hillary voted for it. Remember that when you vote in your primary.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:17 pmAnd why did she suddenly flip-flop when she decided to run for office?
Comment by Starve-A-Bush_Feed-A-Beaver — January 31, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
To quote Jim Morrison, I think it’s called, “What way de wind blow…”
January 31st, 2008 at 1:20 pmAnd this guy’s a republican? Obviously not the bootlicking type.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:21 pmVerbalKint – I am a huge Obama fan, but he never voted against the use of military force in Iraq.
He clearly stated his opposition at the time, but he never voted. He wasn’t a US Senator then.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:22 pmChafee should have switched parties when he had the opportunity. It’s a shame that he felt like he couldn’t do so without disrespecting his father.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:24 pmChafee was considered a “liberal” by Delay and other Neo-morons.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pmHe is actually very moderate and was about the only Senate Republican who had any sense. He got ousted by the anti-republican mood in 2006.
Yep and they still are. Democrats suck. Suck sucky dumb sucky democrats.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:26 pmHey, there’s pap smeared all over my screen! How’d that get there?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:27 pmThis seems to be the perpetual problem of the Democrats. I do not know what it takes to wake them up so that they will be a political change agent instead of a bunch of sissies.
1. I can understand why a party would attempt to stay above the fray, excessive partisanship and dirty, bare knuckled tactics of the Republicans. I can see getting suckered a time or two in attempting to change the poliltical climate. However, what does it take for these people to say “Enough.”
2. The president of this country has acted in a craven and cowardly manner as have many of the leading Republican members of the Senate and House. Their constant cries for more power to protect the the public from this terrorist threat. Indeed, the constant refrain was literally: “Rights do not matter when you are dead.” An excellent opportunity to show the world that Americans are made of sterner stuff. An opportunity to call the Republicans girlee men since they were unable or unwilling to protect those very freedoms for which so many others died.
3. Where is the coordinated media message that should have gone out in the run up to the war – “Mr. President, why are you ready to invade while the UN inspector’s are making progress?’
4. Why do we see the continued willingness to compromise in front of this seriously damaged and lame duck president on almost any issue?
I wish there were another party. I have just become fed up with this country and its politics. I now understand why so many believe that violent revolution is the only way to achieve real change. The Democrats certainly seem intent on proving themsleves to be complacent fools.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:30 pmWe should also honor the 21 Democratic Senators who voted against the war and the fact that the majority of Democrats in the House voted against the IWR.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:30 pmAin’t it the truth. When will US citizens wake up?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pmHERE’S THE REALITY INSTEAD OF THE BULLSHIT ABOUT REPUBLICANS BEING FOR A STRONG MILITARY!!!!!!!
One of the biggest lies that uninformed and naively gullible Bush/Republican supporters have swallowed hook, line and sinker is that Bush/Cheney are providing our country a strong national defense, when in fact, what they’ve done is stripped our military’s ability to defend our country against REAL enemies in order to pretend to defend it from IMAGINARY ones. Our nation’s military has been exploited and depleted by the lies and incompetencies of the Bush admininistration with the total support and assistance of the Republican congress and the shameless political pandering of too many Democrats. Too many Americans who believe in a strong national defense, for some ridiculously stupid reason, have bought into the lie that George W. Bush is a worthy commander-in-chief when nothing could be further from the truth as exemplified by our miltary’s current dangerously inadequate state of readiness. It amazes me that there are still people out there supporting John McCain in the deluional false belief that he’s “pro-military” when he’s been complicit as a memeber of the Republican establisment in the overburdening, underequipping and failing to support and grow our military forces to the point that the only way we can defend ourselves is with nuclear weapons. And the result is, we don’t currently have the military might to defend our own soil with boots on the ground. This is a recipe for total disaster. This is why Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice all need to be IMPEACHED!! Americans need to actually KNOW what the Bush administration has really done to put our country in harms way!!! Republicans and Democrats alike need to know just how much lying bullshit they’ve swallowed whole!!!!!
January 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pmActually Chaffee was a bit of a boot licker. He voted against the resolution to use force, but did you hear him speak out at all? He also wrote in “George HW Bush” in 2004, but did he tell anyone before he wanted to run for reelection in 2006? NO! And by the way, a vote for him was a vote against congressional oversight.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:32 pmA repuke with ethics and morals? Do tell…that is a first.
If “I” being Mr. Normal American could figure out that it was all BS when this all started, then the Politicians who have access to information that I don’t have, they should have figured it out, but I think most of them did not even try to investigate Bush/Cheney’s claims about the need to invade Iraq.
Yet the War Criminals are still in office, so it is not just Iraq that they are supporting, but this administrations crimes against us and the world.
Buck Fush
January 31st, 2008 at 1:32 pmSo you agress wutg Chafee that the Dems are just as guilty for this war as their Repug counterparts.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:33 pmRoger_Roger,
January 31st, 2008 at 1:36 pmSo you agress wutg Democrats today that this war is wrong.
So you agress wutg Chafee that the Dems are just as guilty for this war as their Repug counterparts.
Comment by Roger_Roger — January 31, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
Since they voted for it, keep funding it and refuse to impeach the B@stard-in-Chimp, yeah, I consider them just as guilty.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:37 pmAbsolutely, this is exactly how the country (and especially the DC establishment) completely jumped the tracks in its response to 9/11, instead of looking the problem square in the face:
http://www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
January 31st, 2008 at 1:39 pmRoger, I do not agree that the Democrats are as guilty. The president was guilty of using 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq (we now know this was his intent prior to the trade towers), cherry picked intelligence and out right lied to the public about the likelihood of WMD. I may not like how the Democrats acted, but it is the difference of an act of commission versus ommission. It was also the act of those who are naive when dealing with those who are evil.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:39 pmSorry RR, saying they’re complicit is not the same as saying they’re “just as guilty”. There are those that are agents in this deal, and those that are sheeple. Bushbots place the blame everywhere but where it goes.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:40 pmI wonder Roger, if you buy Rove’s bullshit that this administration did NOT want to rush the vote before the 2002 elections, and that it is the Democrats’ fault for falling for their lies…
January 31st, 2008 at 1:41 pmIt’s a pity that Chafee was a 2006 victim of the groundswell that wanted so desperately to create a Dem majority in the Senate. I would so much rather have Chafee in there than Lieberman.
Comment by missmolly — January 31, 2008 @ 1:16 pm
Unfortunately, missmolly, it wasn’t an “either/or” situation with Lieberman. Sheldon Whitehouse (Chafee’s replacement) has proven to be a good addition to the Senate, I think.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:43 pmI wish there were another party. I have just become fed up with this country and its politics. I now understand why so many believe that violent revolution is the only way to achieve real change. The Democrats certainly seem intent on proving themsleves to be complacent fools.
Comment by JMOHR
We may just see three different independent candidates jump into the race before it’s over. There’s been talk that Michael Bloomberg, Ron Paul, and Ralph Nader may each jump in with separate campaigns which could throw the election into complete chaos. Personally, I’d like to see an end to the electoral college and the institution of a parliamentary system in the U.S. Ross Perot may have been a bit of a nut, but he received 20 million votes nationwide in the 1992 election and NOT ONE SINGLE ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE. I think there’s something seriously flawed with that kind of system.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:45 pmNo roger_roger.
I hold all the politicans who voted for this war for political reasons accountable for the disaster our occupation of Iraq has become. The dems who voted for it are less accountable than the repubs because they cast votes that wouldn’t have changed anything. Your thugs were in power then, remember? I hold you accontable for the death and destruction your party has caused. Don’t try to spread the blame around, be a member of the party of responsiblity for a change.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:47 pmChafee should have switched parties when he had the opportunity. It’s a shame that he felt like he couldn’t do so without disrespecting his father.
Comment by ucsbclassics53 — January 31, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
Chafee is no Lieberman. He’s got honor, he’s got integrity, and he lost his seat because we here in the Ocean State were pounding the GOP, not him. That was a bittersweet November night in 2006, I promise you, soured in no small measure by the fact our dumb shit neighbors re-elected Lieberman.
Sheldon Whitehouse is doing a great job already, but Chafee was collateral damage in 2006. And he is absolutely damn right about the Democratic leadership in 2002/3. They signed off on Il Chimpe’s permission slip. They aren’t as guilty as the Neocon war machine, but they had no sack when it could have counted.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:48 pmMr. Chafee does himself and his party proud. If only there were a few Republicans like him actually in office.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:49 pmSo the differences between democrats and republicans in US foreign policy are?
…
Any?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:49 pmBravo, Chaffee, for your anti-platform philosophy! We can witness how insidious is the level of conformity expected by our respective two party system. Chafee voice in opposition was tsunami’d. This is precisely why there is a need for a third party, JMohr. Never before in the history of this country has this necessity become so apparent. There’s much chatter now about this (these) potential third party candidates. This may be the panacea to break the Hillary/McInsane madness.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:49 pmRoger2 thinks that he can point the finger at someone else and no one will remember that he has blood on his cowardly chickenhawk hands and goosestepping boots.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pmAnd, if nothing else but empty chatter, it will keep these parties more honest than they would be without it.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pmThanks for the profile in courage Billary.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:50 pmBy voting to authorize bush to use force in Iraq in 2002, Hillary did not demonstrate a “Profile in Courage”. It’s no wonder that Ted and Caroline support Obama.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:51 pmThanks for the profile in courage Billary.
Comment by john o. — January 31, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Thanks for reading my mind across the country.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:53 pmSo you agress wutg Chafee that the Dems are just as guilty for this war as their Repug counterparts.
Comment by Roger_Roger — January 31, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
Just the ones who voted to give Bush authorization to go start a war. The Dems who voted for that are just as guilty as the Repubs who did. However, remember that more Dems voted against it.
And while I blame the senators and representatives who got suckered, I blame the executive branch — who vetted, edited, and cherry-picked intelligence in order to mislead Congress — more.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:55 pmHillar is part of the current establishment. Her ideas are staid and now irrelevant. She voted for the war and can’t shed that image.
BillChicago – 911 was the pretext for the demise of this democracy.
Republicans are the liars; the democrats aid and abet their lies. One is severely evil while the other plays dead.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:56 pmI think thee are democrats who were taken and easily led to the error in judgment although Hillary can’t claim to be one of them after being so informed after spending 8 years in office. And those who were so easily duped when over 50% of americans were not duped as well as 90% of the rest of the world leaders who had faith in our inspectors, I’d have to say that these fools do not deserve to be in public office because that’s what they’re paid to do -use good judgment and not be so easily duped when the majority of average americans are not.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:59 pmI tend to agree with starve_a_bush. We do need a different political system. A parlimentary system may very well work. The two party system has bogged down the process. It worked well in the past simply because we had a more homogenous population. Perhaps, issues were not as complex and business had not yet bought out the political system. The current system makes it impossible for a third party to have a real impact on the system. We have certainly seen that a Ross P or Ralph N can merely throw the presidency to the one party that did not really reflect the ideology of the majority.
We still would not succeed until we can root out the influence of economic and business interests in the current system. We have seen the co-option of the independent press to business interests. We have seen concentration of ownership result in conservative talk radio representing 75% of the media while the actual make up of the population is now Democratic or Independent.
We will never succeed until we can take the money out of campaigning. We must first take away the right of businesses to have the same rights as individuals. We must limit the amount that can be contributed. It will be a hard balance to strike, but does anyone honestly believe that money does not buy the government?
January 31st, 2008 at 1:59 pmI noticed how the blame of the war goes to everyone but Bush/Cheney. The Law Makers were given lies about Iraq, now how many people posting have been lied to and didn’t know it. Hillary and others were given cherry picked information. Obama voted against it but remember he was a freshman Senator and most likely learning his way. Look into what other things Obama voted for that he learned later he was wrong. Chafee lost because his Party was and is corrupt. He now is looking to get back as his party falls apart. Chafee did vote against the war but he was in office long enough to support many of the criminal activity of his party. Look for Alan to come back with something to get back in office. Now Lieberman knew how to play everyone for fools. He’s been in every party except the Green Party. Nader is looking to run for President just to assure a Republican gets in to complete the mission and start more Wars. I suggest Americans pick up a book and read American History as these comments show Americans don’t even know how this country works.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:59 pmWe have allow Bush/Cheney to destroy the Justice System and every Government Department of the country. Our Supreme Court is lined with Loyal Republicans who work for the Party not the American People. The Middle East knows more about America then Americans. That’s why it’s so easy for the Law Makers to do their crimes. McCain/Lieberman want to bomb Iran for Isreal while Russia will given Iran the Nukes to protect their country. We’re in a recession and with the help of the GOP we will be in a Depression. All this will happen because Americans we’re educated enough to know the US was founded for the people by the people. Stupid is as stupid does.
instead of billalry maybe it will evolve to hitlary.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:59 pmHe clearly stated his opposition at the time, but he never voted. He wasn’t a US Senator then.
Comment by normalasf — January 31, 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Thank you for the clarification.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:04 pminstead of billalry maybe it will evolve to hitlary.
Comment by Namaste — January 31, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
Dislexia got you donw?
Uncalled for comment.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:06 pmCan we call you “Nama-nasty”?
Unfortunately, missmolly, it wasn’t an “either/or†situation with Lieberman. Sheldon Whitehouse (Chafee’s replacement) has proven to be a good addition to the Senate, I think.
Comment by ralph the wonder llama — January 31, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
Yes, I knew that Chafee and Lieberman weren’t running for the same seat, and are from different states. I guess I was just making a point that there are some Republicans I have more respect for than some Democrats (or Independents who caucus with the Dems, as Lieberman is).
Hopefully, we will increase our majority in 2008 sufficiently that we won’t have to suffer the Liebermans, or vote against the Chafees just to keep razor-thin control.
And you’re right — Sheldon Whitehouse HAS been a good addition to the Senate. I wouldn’t want to see Jack Reed leave, either.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:06 pmAh missmolly, but you confuse the blue state of Rhode Island with the purple of Connecticut. Rhode Island is the little one with the big Democrat presence. We don’t like lieberman, surely. He remains on his side of the border with good reason.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:18 pmAnd we like our Sheldon Whitehouse on Judiciary.
Mitt Rommell
John McStalin
Comment by Arn Gunnutes
Mitt Romulan
January 31st, 2008 at 2:19 pmJohn McClingon
Mitt Rommell and John McStalin too.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:20 pmIt can be called the ‘name the insider contest’.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:21 pmSheldon Whitehouse has integrity and is quite impressive.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:22 pmAll the Dems that voted for the war were still branded as soft on terror. Dems like Dascle and Cleland were called terrorist lovers by the repub slime machine even though they voted yes on the authorization. Voting for Bush’s war still got them defeated. They might as well voted the right way and told Bush a resounding NO because they were going down no matter how they voted.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:28 pmWe must first take away the right of businesses to have the same rights as individuals
This is quite correct but don’t count on it ever happening.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:44 pmJMohr: campaign finance reform is the key to the level of corruption within and the fascism we now have. We need to give them enough time to do the job properly but not enough time to be influenced and blackmailed by campaign contributions and lobbyists.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:44 pmTerm limits might be it’s counterpart. Are any of the candidates including this in their platforms? If they aren’t, then they deserve to have a three party system soon.
#51 No doubt hillary is wishing that she’d voted differently right now. A relative called me to tell me that in their local paper there was something brought out about Foster’s papers being in hillary’s home or office. Any truth to that? The relative is 86 and I didn’t know if he had it right or not.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:46 pmWe must first take away the right of businesses to have the same rights as individuals
This is quite correct but don’t count on it ever happening.
Comment by Nature Rules — January 31, 2008 @ 2:44 pm
Sad, and true. IMHO, one of the most important steps we could take.
Corporations as human beings? Give*me*a*break…
Anyone know what the British call organized crime gangs?
***CORPORATIONS***
January 31st, 2008 at 2:49 pmWhy get so excited? Why get all worked up? How many years have people reported about the lies told and the laws broken? What has happen? Bush and Dick still in whitehouse. Rove still going around doing what he does best (lie). Why?
January 31st, 2008 at 2:52 pmNot quite sure what your point, bob…
And yer grammar needs some work.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:53 pmWe must first take away the right of businesses to have the same rights as individuals
This is quite correct but don’t count on it ever happening.
Comment by Nature Rules
ever is a long time and they are just laws, not ammendments to the constitution…..they can be changed.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:59 pm#57, I was typing too fast, didn’t proofread. I meant, why sit at your computer all day reading the same ole, same ole. btw: nice to know that we have Mrs. Crabtree here checking on our Grammar!
January 31st, 2008 at 3:42 pmThis is why I will not support Hillary. She is a spineless wimp who had to prove how “macho” she is by voting for and supporting Bush’s war.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:18 pmRoger2 thinks that he can point the finger at someone else and no one will remember that he has blood on his cowardly chickenhawk hands and goosestepping boots.
Comment by Bobwurst
Bingo! And that is what they are attempting to do when they pull this straw-man argument.
I feel contemptuous towards the Democrats who voted for this fiasco and especially for the Democrats who will not, to this day, admit that their vote was a mistake. BUT, they were fed a lot of misinformation and lies before they made that vote. I truly think if they had been privy to all the intel the Bush Crime Family was privy to, most of them would not have voted the way they did. They were never given the documents that showed that many in the CIA believed that the information they were getting was unreliable. They never got the documents that showed that many people in the intelligence community believed that Saddam had no WMD’s.
The blame for the fiasco that is Iraq lies squarely on the shoulders of Bush and the Republiscums who have enabled him for years.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:59 pmLincoln Chafee left the Republican Party shortly after (before?) the November, 2006 elections. He’s now an independent.
I’m looking forward to reading his upcoming book, which will come out this April. I really admire this man.
In the meantime, we Democrats, progressives and independents need to present a united front againt the GOP presidential candidate (looks like John McCain at this point).
Rest assured….the Republicans will stop at nothing in the November general election. In true style, they’ll ruthlessly (ala Swift-Boating) go after the Democratic nominee. So, it’s imperative that We the People present a united front well before the Democratic National Convention.
Though I have my preference, I’ll support whoever the Democratic Party nominates for president.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:56 pmChaffee is absolutely right. The Dems (H. Clinton, Kerry, et. al) voted for this idiotic war simply because of short term political gain, which hasn’t worked at all. It’s been a disaster from a human standpoint, a military standpoint, and a political standpoint. A disgusting chapter in our nation’s history.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:15 pmla martina
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March 2nd, 2009 at 4:46 pm