Reply #12: It's one of the difficulties in viewing Congress as "President School." [View All]

[Sparkly]

A voting record in Congress is red meat any way you slice it -- and the GOP are experts with the knife. Democrats are damned if they did and damned if they didn't vote for the IWR. At the time, they clearly felt heavy political pressure to be "strong" and give the preznit some teeth with the UN. (Maybe they really believed he'd only do what he said he'd do, and not do what he said he wouldn't do.)

In any case, I think Kerry and Edwards are perfect examples of the same issue. Their vote against the $87 bil. appropriation didn't help them after voting for the IWR; conversely, their "yes" votes on the IWR didn't help them since they voted "no" for the $87 billion. ("There's nothing complicated about supporting the troops in war!")

In a Republican-controlled Congress, they're always between a rock and a hard place. That's why the GOP keeps bringing up superficial, symbolic political issues like flag-burning and Terry Schiavo: for political points against Democrats.

I contend that ALL Democrats with a Congressional voting record are handicapped in a national election, now more than ever.