Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Bernie has praised Trump and criticized Biden [View all]BlueWI
(1,736 posts)23 Senators
133 House members
Patty Murray.
Tamny Baldwin.
Barbara Boxer.
Ted Kennedy.
Russ Feingold.
Paul Wellstone.
Elijah Cummings.
James Clyburn.
Betty McCollum.
Ron Wyden.
Sherrod Brown.
Bernie Sanders.
Jim Leach of Iowa (the only Republican I have ever voted for).
They deserve our appreciation for their vote to forestall the rush to war.
Was it 2020 hindsight that also led to their opposition?
No, it was political courage under high pressure and sound strategic thinking.
Was it 20/20 hindsight that led 15 million of us to demonstrate against the war before it began?
No, it was our recognition that peace is fragile, the rationale for war was unsound, and US inspectors were already on the ground in Iraq investigating the administration's WMD claims.
And I am not claiming to be extraordinarily insightful. It was obvious that the Bush administration was signaling its determination to invade Iraq, that as soon as the authorization was in hand, they were off to war.
Even FOX news was still fairly new at their purely propagandist approach to issues like this. But when the Times with Judith Miller amplified the false claims, another factor contributed to the rush for war. Our voices of opposition were ignored, to the detriment of all. Hundreds of thousands of people perished in a war of choice.
All that being said, Biden has my vote if he wins the nomination. But it would be foolish to ignore lessons from that time as we go forward because a similar situation may come up. And we should be open to discussing this topic as we consider which of our excellent field we will support in the primaries.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided