Reply #14: the complication is that there's more than one issue [View All]

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it's not always a matter of majority/minority support on each and every issue. in fact, politicians always look for opportunities to support a targetted issue that appeals to a particular minority, especially if the rest of the population doesn't much care one way or the other. sometimes this is called 'pork' or 'pandering', but in either case, it works.

in the case of hillary supporting the iraq war, despite the fact that the majority supports an exit, she nevertheless is figuring that supporting the war might pick up more votes than it costs.

how so? because many of the anti-war people will vote for her anyway because she has built up enough left-wing cred. she's trading in some of that lefty cred to pick up a few right-wing votes.

part of the calculus may include figuring that the iraq situation may be a non-issue by 2008, or she may be planning to support a withdrawal at a later date.

i'm not saying she's necessarily correct in her calculation, but i'm just pointing out that there is often political merit to taking the occassional minority position.