Biden: "...we should be drawing down our troop numbers by September."

[BurtWorm]

He says he's changed his opinions about Iraq... :shrug:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060823/D8JM46U00.html


"We've talked to every other commander and they are saying 'Look we're becoming part of the problem,'" Biden said. "They said we should be drawing down our troop numbers by September."

Biden argued that Bush's stance is so rigid it will be difficult for him to change - and that it will lock the United States into a deadly war for the foreseeable future.

"He doesn't have much of a theory but he's got a lot of opinions and he holds to them very firmly," Biden said.

Biden has made it clear he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. To boost that effort, and make up ground on other aspirants who have already laid ground work, Biden has planned to spend much of August in Iowa, where precinct caucuses are expected to launch the presidential nominating season.

Biden said he was spending much of his time campaigning for Democratic congressional candidates because it was critical Democrats took back at least one chamber of Congress.

"The message is the importance of electing a Democratic Congress, because this guy (Bush) has got two more years and can really screw things up," Biden said. "It's gigantic."

[Name removed]

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[mike_c]

2. agreed-- he should have thought of that before he authorized...

...the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

[BurtWorm]

3. If he's sincere about a change of heart (which remains to be seen)

he ought to be welcomed to reality. Maybe he's reacting to the Lamont victory and realizing he doesn't want to be the next Lieberman--least of all among the presidential candidates.

[mike_c]

5. you know, I've thought about that one a lot...

...and I only partly agree. On the one hand I think you're right-- anyone who voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq who has a change of heart SHOULD be welcomed and appreciated. But at the same time the best measure of politicians' performance is the judgement they exhibit on the public record. Biden-- and all the congress members who voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq-- displayed monumentally poor judgement, presumably in the name of political expediency. So while we should welcome his change of heart-- if it's genuine, and THAT should always be attended with a measure of suspicion-- a change of heart doesn't undo either the damage or the indication of character that followed from the IWR vote. NOTHING that Biden does now can erase the damage he helped do by voting to authorize the war against Iraq. He can try to mitigate it, and I welcome his attempts to do so, but he has already demonstrated to me that he is not presidential material.

[BurtWorm]

6. I mostly agree with what you just said.

A vote for IWR on the record, in my book--when millions of us who were on the streets yelling "NO WAR IN IRAQ" demonstrated the accessibility of good judgment over the war--is a sign of fundamental untrustworthiness, of a fundamental lack of courage and a willingness to go along to get along.

I'm not sure, though, if that black spot forever rules out a candidate for the presidency, or if a subsequent growth of spine and a burst of energy toward finding a solution to the Iraq problem would mitigate it. I tend to think the latter, because I won't rule myself out of participating in a presidential election based on a rigid adherence to the principle behind the former. The electorate may decide to throw up nothing but IWR-voters to choose from. I would then have to base my choice on what they've done and said *since* IWR.

One principle I won't yield on, however: I won't vote for a candidate of either party who thinks the war was a good idea.

[aquart]

4. Then why did we call up the marines?