What was Amy Klobuchar's position on the Iraq War?

[crazytown]

Minnesota senators’ ‘No’ votes on Iraq War — and other 10th anniversary thoughts

(snip) Several months before the bombing began, President Bush asked for and received congressional authorization to take military action against Iraq, unilaterally if necessary, whenever he considered it necessary, and without requiring U.N. authorization.

It tends to be remembered as a more overwhelming and bipartisan vote than it was. Although almost every congressional Republican voted aye, the majority of House Democrats (126-81) vote against it and a substantial minority of Senate Dems (22 out of 51) also voted no. Minnesota was one of just six states that contributed two “no” votes and, given subsequent events, it might be worth mentioning who cast them.

Paul Wellstone was the only senator who was up for re-election who voted no on the resolution. The vote was on Oct. 11, 2002, less than a month before Election Day and Wellstone was locked in a tight race with Republican Norm Coleman, who strongly supported Bush and the war. It was Wellstone’s last gutty liberal vote. The plane crash was precisely two weeks later.

The other Minnesota senator who voted no was Mark Dayton who, as you may have noticed, is now our governor. When I had occasion to ask Dayton about his single generally undistingushed Senate term during which he was famously miserable, he immediately brought up that vote, which I take to be the proudest one he cast.

(snip)Amy Klobuchar in 2003 was Hennepin County attorney and not required by that job to take a position on issues of war, peace or foreign policy, even as she contemplated making a run for statewide office. (A lot of earlier speculation had her running for attorney general.) I am unaware of anything she may have said on the public record about the Iraq war before she emerged as a Senate candidate in 2005. Like Coleman, her opponent U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy had supported the war in advance (in fact, he had voted to authorize it) and was unflinching about his continuing support for the mission. Klobuchar asserted that she had been against the war from the beginning. As a candidate, although she moved around a bit on how quick a schedule or how firm a deadline, she favored a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops and has been supportive of those poilicies as a senator.

https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2013/03/minnesota-senators-no-votes-iraq-war-and-other-10th-anniversary-thoughts/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's Klobuchar.

She wasn’t a senator in 2003.

[crazytown]

4. Typo fixed.

[rpannier]

6. Thank you

[crazytown]

7. F'ing embarrassing

A MacOS autocorrect :burning red face:

[George II]

12. Nah, we all do it.

[hlthe2b]

2. Amy BLOUCHAR?

[elleng]

3. amy klobuchar

'In 2003 was Hennepin County attorney and not required by that job to take a position on issues of war, peace or foreign policy.'

Trying to set out facts, or ?

[rpannier]

5. Klobuchar

Please fix it

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. She was a county prosecutor. Why should she have expressed an opinion about it at all?

[crazytown]

9. Ah yeah

"Amy Klobuchar in 2003 was Hennepin County attorney and not required by that job to take a position on issues of war, peace or foreign policy"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. So what's the point of this post?

[crazytown]

13. "Klobuchar asserted that she had been against the war from the beginning"

You know, like Joe (recently). Klobuchar ran heavily against the AMUF in 2006. She will reference that at the next debate.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. How do you know she wasn't?

I was, too, but my job didn’t require me to go on TV and say so. But if I ever ran for office I could truthfully say that I was against the war from the beginning.

[crazytown]

15. I believe she was. It will be 1-4 in against the AMUF at the debate. Biden will be isolated.

No doubt Klobuchar will pay tribute to Senator Wellstone.

[Tom Rinaldo]

19. And Obama was a State Senator at the time. And he expressed an opinion and that mattered later

Obama's early views on the Iraq war was a major factor in the 2008 primary contest.

I'm not saying that she should have publicly opposed the war in 2004. But if Amy said publicly in 2005 that she was opposed to it in 2003/4, I have no reason not to believe her on that. And where one stood on the Iraq war in 2003/4 still matters to a lot of voters, myself included.

[judeling]

10. I don't recall that she said anything

About it, and as the article states she was unlikely to be asked.
All I can say is she was working hard for Wellstone at the time.

[question everything]

16. Would not have made a differnce since she was not in the senate then

[judeling]

17. She Said last night that it was an issue

in her first Senate run. Makes sense as Mark Kennedy was a big supporter so the" issue" of her opposition was vetted in a campaign setting.

[Nanjeanne]

18. She was one of the handful of Dems who voted for Pompeo. That's a more recent vote

that puts her on my no list for primary amongst many other reasons.

[Tom Rinaldo]

20. At the very least she needs to be asked if, with hindsight, she would still vote that way now n/t

[redqueen]

22. +1

[Demsrule86]

21. I know you think...there will be this big moment at the debate when America says 'what Biden voted

for the war' and it will be the end...but this has brought up so many times that my guess is it won't work...and of course Sanders doesn't have clean hands on this either...as I have noted before...you know when you attack Joe...you decline because he is a good guy and doesn't deserve this...great VP, Senator etc...Warren can't afford to decline much more...she is already below the important 15% mark. The attack attack mode simply isn't going to work.