Democratic Presidential Candidates: "We wuz duped."

[lateo]

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/thisday/nation.20051106-sbt-MICH-A10-Democrats___duped_.sto

Ok, so some of the Democratic Presidential Candidate hopefuls are saying "we were duped" into voting for the war. Naturally, there are different camps here at DU on this excuse. I fall into the camp that if you were duped by these charlatans you have no business trying to run for President. But, for argument's sake, let's give them the benefit of the doubt for a second. What they are saying is that the Bush administration deliberately misled them and misled Congress. And I don't need to tell you what that means...but I will. It means, if these Democratic Presidential Candidates are serious about getting our vote they should be pursuing the Administration for lying to Congress.

If they don't do this...the message is "Yeah, we were lied too but we aren't going to do anything about it." This doesn't instill a sense of confidence in me for these prospective candidates.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. How come so many of us "common folks" were not fooled?

[CountAllVotes]

3. it was so freakin OBVIOUS!

The whole thing is based on a pack of lies! All you had to do was watch Powell at the UN and that fake "fat" Osama tape.

Good god. The American really must be stupid or else they just don't care or bother to LEARN. They rely on TV news like FAUX, etc.

I knew it was a lie - all of it.

The biggest conspiracy ever known to this great nation was 9/11 and then it all began.

:(

:kick:

[Duer 157099]

8. Regarding the "fake fat Osama" tape

when that came up and people were talking about it, I recall doing some photoshoppoing with still images from that tape, and it was so clear to me that it was just distorted, but that when you un-distorted it, it was the same Osama as all the other tapes/photos.

Apparently many still believe it wasn't him? I dismissed the whole issue after I convinced myself, so I wasn't following that discussion any more.

[AntiCoup2K4]

14. It was definitely NOT Osama!

I don't believe the "just in time to screw the 2004 election" tape was really Bin Laden either, but at least central casting put an effort into that one. They just should have hired someone taller.

[CountAllVotes]

16. yeah taller and one that was actually like him

NONE and I repeat NONE of the gestures on that "fat Osama" tape were anything like those of Osama.

He has a very distinct way about him, and this phoney two-bit ACTOR was not even close.

:kick:

[Duer 157099]

18. Can you point me to a source?

I want to look at this again. That photo doesn't look like the one I had been using, maybe I was thinking of a different tape.

Thanks.

[NV Whino]

5. Excellent question

I don't have a civil answer.

[Kahuna]

15. What about the millions of emails and phone calls they received..

from us. What about millions marching in the streets? They ignored us; especially the ones with presidential aspirations.

[xray s]

2. They were not duped

They willingly went along for (misguided) political reasons.

Bad mistake.

[ClintonTyree]

17. Right.......

they didn't want to appear "soft" on terrorism so they went along for the ride. They were scared little rabbits, afraid of the big, bad bush administration. Cowards is a apt term.

[lateo]

27. Indeed...

I completely agree. But, if these yahoos want to maintain credibility with their voters they need to pursue the next logical step when Congress is lied to...investigation and, perhaps, impeachment.

[MindPilot]

4. Agreed on this one. Your job as a senator or representative is

at least in part to keep us from being duped. The fact that so many of them were fooled when so few of us were, makes me question their integrity and intelligence.

[goclark]

6. I wish they had come out sooner but this is WAY better than never

It is so easy for us to sit here at our computers and know what is the best plan of action.

I was SHOCKED when I heard Diane Feinstein saying something about , "if she knew then what she knows now."

They were the ones with the Ball, not us.

IMO, this may be the best way to approach it.

All the facts are coming to light.
America is waking up and the majority of the people are starting to believe the TRUTH.

Let's pray that they are using a strategy that will get DEMOCRATS elected.

I would gladly forgive Kerry if he could announce that the votes were stolen, he runs and
WINS!

I don't think we should eat our own at this point in the game.

[GreenArrow]

13. Diane Feinstein: How much money did her husband

(and she herself) make from her "not knowing"?

She knew.

[goclark]

25. I know she knew

But she didn't want us to know that she knew until ....
Cindy
Intelligence
Poll Numbers
Fund raiser funds running dry

made her see the light. :)

[MuseRider]

7. I am with you on

the fact that we knew why didn't they? There were other members who knew so why didn't they listen or look into it? For now I am happy that they are coming clean about it, duped or not, and moving our party back to a place closer to where it was intended to be, an opposition party especially in this instance.

[niallmac]

10. Yes. Move on. Just please, my Dem Reps, don't act dumb.

My response to the 'we was duped' explanation is; " Yeah sure, whatever."

[Duer 157099]

9. Totally agree on this point!

How can we trust any of them as President if this is their response to having been lied into war?

Totally agree -- now let's let them know!!

[Clark2008]

11. My personal favorite wasn't duped!!

:hi:

He may have thought Saddam MIGHT have some WMDs, but he also thought it was pointless to go to war in Iraq since A.) They had nothing to do with 9/11, B.) We hadn't done anything close to successful in regards to stopping Al-Qaeda and C.) We hadn't given the international community time to investigate the claims that Hussein had WMDs.

[sandnsea]

34. That's DUPED

He was the one giving testimony to those Senators telling them that Saddam had weapons and that the path forward was a resolution that threatened force to get the inspectors back in Iraq. Either you "knew" Saddam didn't have any weapons in Oct 2002, or you didn't. Clark didn't. Period.

By DU standards, NOT QUALIFIED.

[longship]

12. Ding!!!

It kind of begs the question doesn't it.

If you're going to issue a mea culpa for being deceived, why aren't you holding the administration accountable for that deception?

We need to ask these people that question.

If the deception wasn't a high crime, what is?

[AndyTiedye]

23. Democrats are Powerless in the House

The most we can do is hold hearings in the fucking basement.

[longship]

28. As long as they have voices, they are not powerless.

nt

[AndyTiedye]

30. If Their Voices Are Not Heard?

[kentuck]

19. Does that mean they are "dupes" ?

Does not instill a lot of confidence.

[IndianaGreen]

20. They are lying, but I'll give them a pass if they turn now and oppose war

For those of you that did not go through the DU war about the war: The DLC told the Congressional Democrats to vote for IWR. The reasoning was this: the war would be over quickly, opposition to the war would be seen as treasonous, voting for IWR would give the Dems the opportunity to shift the debate to the economy which was the issue that polls showed the Dems were strongest.

Yep, it was a cold, political calculation. Nothing to be proud of!

Some of them, like Hillary and Biden, didn't need to hear anything from the DLC for they believe in the war and its imperialist goals. They are the flip side of PNAC!

We have great Democrats that resisted the rush to war and stood on something called "principle," the very word that the DLC hates so much. Democrats like John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, and others were the ones that did the right thing. If any of them runs for President in 2008, they have earned our support.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

21. If you are acknowledging that you were lied to and misled about the war

then you must bring forth articles of impeachment.

Personally, I think the American public was lied to and misled, but as has been pointed out, how come so many of us were able to see through it from the beginning? Bush wanted war and he got war. He did it for personal bizarre Oedipal reasons and also for OIL. The Democrats were COWED, there is no other word for it, and were AFRAID to appear unpatriotic. This should be a lesson learned and I think they have learned it. I bet a whole bunch of them are kicking themselves and saying - "Damn! I knew it was horseshit! Why was I such a weenie?" Well, people do become weenies when there is this type of intense pressure to fall into line. We have just lived a repeat of the hysteria and fear of the McCarthy era. We should all learn from this horrible, horrible experience. I will respect so much the first Democratic Senator or Congressperson who says "I was lied to, but I also failed to stand up against my own better judgment. I will rue that error for the rest of my days".

America, I think we are about to get our country back. Our little brush with Fascism should make us better, wiser and stronger in the future. Now let's all get out there and vote out the M!@@#$%s!!!!

[kaygore]

22. Then why wasn't Barbara Boxer duped? They are shams!

[calimary]

24. ALL THEY HAVE TO SAY: "Because I TRUSTED my president, and

he LIED to me."

"Because I TRUSTED my president, and he LIED to me."

"Because I TRUSTED my president, and he LIED to me."

"Because I TRUSTED my president, and he LIED to me."

[sandnsea]

35. Not good enough at DU

That's what Kerry said a year ago out at the Grand Canyon. The authority in the IWR is the authority a President ought to have in dealing with a situation like Iraq.

And had also said, he trusted Bush and he shouldn't have. In December of 2003, the first time.

It's not good enough around here. Because everybody "knew".

[pop goes the weasel]

26. I have no respect for them

Kerry in particular did his best to portray even moderate questioners of Bush's War as wild-eyed radicals. I don't trust him, or Rodham Clinton, for that matter. We should try running Kucinich as the Man Who Was Never Fooled. Seriously, we will need a person committed to ethical vision if the US is ever going to dig its reputation out from under the shitpile we are under now.

[brentspeak]

29. It should have been obvious to anyone that Bush could not be trusted

To say one was "duped" by Bush is not a very good reflection on one's intelligence.

[sandnsea]

36. Trusted him on Afghanistan

How is it that it was acceptable to give Bush authority to go to war in Afghanistan, but not Iraq. ???

[lateo]

31. kick for the Monday morning crew

[win_in_06]

32. Any way you slice it it ain't good if a nominee voted for the war:

Either he or she was outfoxed by a President we regard as dumb

or

He or She misread/cherry-picked the intelligence or lied just like the Shrub did

[Skidmore]

33. Thank you.

When it comes to the national ticket this time, we need fresh blood. No member of Congress should dare come forward unless they indeed voted against the war to begin with or standing beind their "yes" vote. Those who say they were fooled are not to be believed.

[mtnsnake]

37. A couple of things. One of them is that Kerry should STFU

If what they're saying about Republicans "stalling" on the investigation for two years is true, then yes, it's been hard for them to come right out and loudly proclaim that the war was based on lies. At the same token, I think Democrats should've gone out on the limb half way and at least opened up more speculation as to them believing there was a strong possibility they were duped. If they had some balls, mentioning two years ago that they might have been duped would've at least sped up the process of the investigation. Democrats simply have made it way too easy for Bushco by not being more vocal about their speculations in the last couple years. What I can't understand is why they didn't vociferously start yelling about the investigation being stalled earlier, if it's been going on for two years. Why it took any Democrat, bless Harry Reid's heart though, so long to stand up and say SOMETHING, is nothing short of spineless and foolish.

Another thing. Kerry should simply STFU (I'm referring to his mention in the article the OP left a link for). Everytime he talks about us being misled into war, the other side catches him as being against the same exact things now that he supported well before the war resolution took place.

edited for clarity

[lateo]

38. Indeed...

Kerry just needs to sit...and shut it.