One of the low points of Democratic party history on C-SPAN now

[burythehatchet]

Dick Gephardt's floor speech supporting the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

How sad. Another Dem leader who sacrificed his morality and principles at the altar of presidential ambition.




I never fully understood how critical Gephardt was in pushing for this illegal invasion and occupation The following is an excerpt of an article By Amy Ridenour web posted November 4, 2002.
Fortunately, some other Democrats, notably House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO), put these men to shame. Though no Bush supporter, Gephardt distanced himself from the Baghdad Johnnies by supporting a genuine debate and resolution expressing the will of Congress on Iraq.

Gephardt also distinguished himself from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), who urged Bush to get congressional approval for his Iraq policy while Daschle used his control over the Senate calendar to halt consideration of the war resolution. The hypocrisy didn't stop. While complaining that Bush shouldn't erode legislative branch powers by moving on Iraq without Congressional consent, Daschle announced the Senate would only consider the matter after the U.N. had provided guidance. Does Daschle truly believe that erosion of legislative power to the executive branch is bad while its erosion to the U.N. is good? Unlikely.

Finally, when Bush delivered a well-regarded speech to the U.N. and the political tide shifted toward Bush, although the basic issues were unchanged, Daschle abruptly switched course.

Then there's Al Gore. Gore famously was accused by several Senators of offering his vote on the first Persian Gulf War to the side that would give him the most TV time. Then Gore seemingly became a committed hawk, taking tough anti-Hussein positions during the Clinton-Gore years and in the months following the September 11 attacks. Now he's staked out the far-left pacifist approach. 4

[TheDebbieDee]

1. Everybody seems to forget that prominent

Democrats and members of the media were the recipients of anthrax mail and God knows what other threats that are unknown to us.

Up to that point, the administration had stolen an election, allowed the nation to be attacked and were already listening in on American's phonecons - I'm sure these Dems were being blackmailed even then. Dems wouldn't dare put anything past the repukes.

This is not an excuse, I'm just saying that I'm sure many Dems had been menaced by this admin and everybody seems to forget that 5 years later.