“Facts are important. I’m a facts person. If your whole candidacy is based on words, it should be your own words.”–Clinton Steps Up Attacks on Obama
Delivered on Wednesday, October 2, 2002 by Barack Obama, Illinois State Senator, at the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq war rally (organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq) at noon in Federal Plaza in Chicago, Illinois; at the same day and hour that President Bush and Congress announced their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War.–Wiki
Who knows if Obama had been in the U.S. Senate along the side of Hillary Clinton if he would have voted “Yes” or “No.” An anti-war rally platform is far different than the pro-war rally of the U.S. Senate platform. Senator Dick Durbin voted “No.” I would say that based upon that fact, Mr. Obama would have followed suit.
New York City at least told Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton “No” War. Did they listen to us? Did they even read the original NIE as Bob Graham and others who voted “No” did? See “Did Senators read pre-war Iraq Intel Report?“
“Perhaps my decision is influenced by my eight years of experience on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, in the White House, watching my husband deal with serious challenges to our nation.” It was not a coincidence that Clinton invoked her time in the White House, or her husband’s record. Bill Clinton served as her main counsel on the Iraq war vote.”– [words she shouldn't have used]–Hillary’s War
“Only four senators — Feinstein, Rockefeller, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin — voted yes on Levin’s resolution and then voted yes on Bush’s war authorization. If Clinton had done that, she subsequently could have far more persuasively argued, perhaps, that she had supported a multilateral diplomatic approach.”–Hillary’s War
In the US Senate, the 21 Democrats, one Republican and one Independent who courageously voted their consciences against the war in Iraq:
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California |
Barbara Boxer (D) |
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Florida |
Bob Graham (D) |
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Hawaii |
Daniel Akaka (D) |
Daniel Inouye (D); |
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Illinois |
Dick Durbin (D) |
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Maryland |
Barbara Mikulski (D) |
Paul Sarbanes (D) |
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Massachusetts |
Ted Kennedy (D) |
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Michigan |
Carl Levin (D) |
Debbie Stabenow (D) |
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Minnesota |
Mark Dayton (D) |
The late Paul Wellstone (D) |
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North Dakota |
Kent Conrad (D) |
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New Jersey |
Jon Corzine (D) |
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New Mexico |
Jeff Bingaman (D) |
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Oregon |
Ron Wyden (D) |
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Rhode Island |
Lincoln Chafee (R) |
Jack Reed (D) |
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Vermont |
Jim Jeffords (I) |
Patrick Lehy (D) |
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Washington |
Patty Murray (D) |
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West Virginia |
Robert Byrd (D) |
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Wisconsin |
Russ Feingold (D) |
