NYT: "In Defending War Vote, Clintons Contradict Record"

[SOS]

From the New York Times, 1/14/08 (edit)

In Defending War Vote, Clintons Contradict Record

By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON — Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have repeatedly invoked the name of Senator Chuck Hagel, a longtime critic of the Iraq war, as they defend Mrs. Clinton’s 2002 vote to authorize the war.
They have said that Mr. Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, helped draft the resolution, which they said was proof that the measure was more about urging Saddam Hussein to comply with weapons inspections, instead of authorizing combat.
Mrs. Clinton repeated the claim Sunday on “Meet the Press,” saying “Chuck Hagel, who helped to draft the resolution, said it was not a vote for war.”

But the talking point appears to misconstrue the facts.

In October 2002, Mr. Hagel had in fact been working with Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, and Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, on drafting a resolution that would have authorized the war.
But while those negotiations were under way, the Bush administration circumvented their effort and reached a separate agreement with Representative Richard A. Gephardt, Democrat of Missouri.

That agreement resulted in a bill, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, which was slightly less restrictive than the proposal that Mr. Hagel had been helping to develop.
It was the White House proposal, not Mr. Hagel’s, that Mrs. Clinton supported, explaining in an Oct. 10, 2002, speech on the Senate floor that it was time to tell Saddam Hussein that “this is your last chance — disarm or be disarmed.”

Bill Clinton has raised the claim at least twice. “Chuck Hagel was one of the co-authors of that resolution, the only Republican Senator that always opposed the war, every day, from the get-go,” Mr. Clinton said on Jan. 7. “He authored the resolution to say that Bush could go to war only if they didn’t cooperate with the inspectors.”

See NYT 1/14/08 - "Politics"

“He authored the resolution to say that Bush could go to war only if they didn’t cooperate with the inspectors.”???
This is completely false.
The Bush/Lieberman/Gephardt AuMF makes no mention of "inspectors".

[GalleryGod]

1. Thanks, Chuck. Bill and I have the same draft lottery # for AUGUST 19th

Here's where I did my post-grad work...

[AzDar]

2. Not surprising. Hillary still insists that Kyl-Lieberman was ALSO not

a war vote.
When Chimpolini attacks Iran, Hillary will hopefully be finished.

[Windy]

3. What, no admission of faux paux by clinton supporters!!

Where are the sheep?

[SOS]

4. Seems the debunking of the spin

on the vote doesn't draw much interest.
At least now when they say "HRC voted for inspections, not war" there is a researched record showing that the spin is false.