Reply #58: I think you are right on that

[karynnj]

You still see it here on DU, but it's very muted compared to a year ago. It also is clear that part of it is just anti-Kerry. This was clearest when Edwards was forgiven in an instant when he began a column with "I was wrong" - even though in his case the "wrong" was to have actively pushed the war, being a co-sponsor of the resolution and a supporter of the war even after the invasion and the discovery that their were no WMD.

Kerry publicly spoke his belief that his vote was wrong in front of a large audience. This had to be harder than writing it and he it very clearly meant something to him when he spoke of taking his share of the responsibility. In his case he is likely correct that he was quilty only of trusting that the President of the United States would not blatantly lie when he made promises to them on the issue of war and peace. If Bush would have kept the promises that he never meant for an instance to keep, there would have been no war. He also spoke of this in a speech where he detailed a thoughtful creative plan that probably represented our last hope to exit Iraq with any grace at all.

The issue may be what to do going forward. THe problem now is that likely all the plans are out the window. Kerry's often mentioned "window of opportunity" may have been slammed shut. The Korb plan looks worse by the day.

Consider that when McCarthy ran as the anti-war candidate, Robert Kennedy still was somewhat behind the war. He changed and within a short time people looked at where he was going and saw that McCarthy was too one issue and most of the antiwar crowd switched to Kennedy.