The question keeps coming up from the media (fairly so):

[tgnyc]

Do the Dems who voted for the war regret their decision?

This is not a hard question to answer, particularly given the heavy and increasing skepticism of the American people toward the honesty and accuracy of pre-war intelligence. Hillary, Biden, Schumer, Reid -- all they have to say is "I was misled. I reasonably assumed the White House wouldn't screw around with something so important. Knowing what I know now, I would not have voted to authorize the war. I would have said let the weapons inspectors try to finish before asking me to vote for any military action."

Period. You're in the clear. Your past vote can't be held against you.

Why is that so hard for these guys to say?

[Jacobin]

1. Hey, why don't they ask that of the republicans?

I know some regret their vote and they've been saying it

[Windy]

2. Andrea Mitchell made me mad at first, but really she's right

The dems were asleep at the switch and too worried about politics when they agreed to go to war. Yes, we all know that the congress was mislead by the whitehouse, but the dems in the minority didn't ask the tough questions that needed to be asked before authorizing war. I'm glad that they are doing it now and screw the other side for trying to same its gamesmanship. Its the investigation that has been a long time coming. I just wish it would have come sooner before we lost 2000+ men and women...

**please don't flame me****

[Windy]

4. I wish he would have said it during the campaign

That he regretted his decision to go to war. He wouldn't say that. And I've never heard Hillary or Biden say that...

If you've heard that said, please point it out

[stillcool]

3. Kerry has already said that...

and i'm not sure others haven't as well. Do you have information suggesting they have not?

[tgnyc]

5. Just this afternoon Reid was asked on CNN: he danced

Two Sunadys ago Schumer was asked on "Meet the Press." He said he didn't regret his vote, then danced onto another topic. Hillary hasn't been asked by the media in a long time -- many months, at least -- but the last time I belive was also on MTP. She danced. Nowadays, when activists bring it up she goes into 'no comment' mode.

Among the "leaders," only Kerry, last week, has even suggested that he regretted his vote.

[stillcool]

10. i have no doubt...

that these votes were all about personal gain.., and, if they didn't know the intelligence was cooked...they shouldn't be there. Bitching about it now is a tad late, and excuses are like.......,but this country is a runaway train and somebody's got to step on the breaks. At this point why bicker over individual votes from 2 yrs ago, when people are DYING every frigging day, and our future is in the toilet?

[Pathwalker]

6. So....if someone lies to you - you can't get angry???

And call them on it??? Typical bully tactic - blame the VICTIM!!!

[Terran]

7. Well, here's one who openly regrets it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5233655

Rockefeller; see the boldfaced quote near the top.

[Neil Lisst]

8. Why is it hard for politicians to do something foolish?

You have asked why Dems can't just admit they were wrong on the war. I would ask why it's so imperative that they do? Why are some Dems so fixated on the Dems that they want to make renounce their war vote?

I like skewering Republicans, and have never understood Dems who are cutters who fairly bathe in the blood they let daily over Dems who don't adhere to their beliefs 100%.

Why is it so hard to understand that unlike you, THEY have to run for office and get elected? If making the anti-war advocates happy was all they needed to do, then they would do it. What benefit do they as politicians receive by doing as you would have them do? What vote does it give them on election day that they don't already have?

Elections are about winning the votes you don't have, not losing ones you got last time. I've been against the war since day one, but rubbing the noses of Dems in it is not on my agenda. Some Dems like to fight with Pukes and some like to fight with other Dems. The first group wins elections, the second group loses them.

last two days re Libby's nonsense ...

[tgnyc]

11. Most Americans feel the nation was misled about the intelligence

Winning the next set of elections will require acknowledging that fact and acknowledging that the misery of the war -- unsupported now by most Americans -- led directly from that fact.

[Boomer]

9. Sorry, I don't buy itt

>> Knowing what I know now, I would not have voted to authorize the war. I would have said let the weapons inspectors try to finish before asking me to vote for any military action." <<

That's just bullshit. If I, an ordinary person who gets my political information off the internet, was able to figure out that the reasons for the Iraq War were fabricated by PNAC, to fulfill an agenda developed in the 1990s, then there is no excuse for ANY politician to be "fooled" by the Bush Administration.

No excuse. None.

Anyone who voted for the Iraq War did so against the best interests of this country and to further their own political careers.

[tgnyc]

12. Actually, I don't buy it either. But in the eyes of too many Americans,

particularly the unfriendly gatekeepers in the media, that is the only way to square the original votes for the war with stances which now appear hostile (and appropriately so) to it. Otherwise, folks start looking hypocritical, which is worse to many voters than being wrong.