WaPo Article on Biden and Iraq. Defense needed

[TayTay]

The http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082402149.html?hpid=topnews">Washington Post this morning reports that the McCain campaign intends to make the IWR vote in 2002 a central means of attacking Sen. Biden and accusing him of being out of step with Sen. Obama on the war, from the beginning.

McCain aides said Sunday they intend to use Obama's running mate against him. They want to make the presidential contest a two-against-one fight, with Obama on one side and Biden and McCain together on the other, not just on Iraq but on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Biden voted for, and the 2005 Republican energy bill, which Biden and McCain voted against.

"Ultimately, we look forward to a debate between Joe Biden and Barack Obama about whether Barack Obama has the judgment and experience to lead," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Biden campaign spokesman David Wade dismissed those tactics as "desperate efforts to muddy the rhetoric." Biden voted for the war resolution only after his efforts to work with a Republican colleague in the Senate, Richard G. Lugar (Ind.), to trim Bush's war aims were torpedoed -- by Republicans such as McCain and also by Democrats unwilling to stand up to Bush just weeks before the 2002 election. Biden used his Foreign Relations chairmanship to force Bush's intentions into the open that summer, with a series of grueling hearings on the threat Hussein posed and the costs and consequences of war.

Once the United States attacked, Biden became one of the most emphatic voices against the administration's prosecution of the war and ultimately against the war itself. And by 2005, Biden forthrightly stated that his vote was a mistake.

"The choice on Iraq in this election is clear and compelling," Wade said. "Joe Biden believes the war was a mistake. John McCain would still do it all over again. Joe Biden knows the Bush-McCain policy has weakened our hand fighting terrorism and finding Osama bin Laden. John McCain started beating the drums for war after September 11th and wants to double down on the Bush policy for four more years. If Barack Obama and Joe Biden had set Iraq policy these last six years rather than George Bush and John McCain, we wouldn't be in the hole we're in today."

Senator Biden's views on the bungling of this war and the massive ineptness of the Bush Administration in virtually everything they did prior to bringing Robert Gates on-board as Sec of Defense is well documented in Sen. Biden's Senate record.

C-Span has a video archive of Senate floor speeches that goes back to 1999. Sen. Biden spoke out against the Bush Admin's conduct of the war and the need for a change in direction that might include a responsibly withdrawal from at least 2005 on.

There may be enterprising people here who can post videos in anticipated defense of what the GOP will try and argue AGAINST Sen. Biden. (Civilians, who don't work for pay on federal campaigns, can use C-Span and make use of their videos. Campaigns and people employed by campaigns are prohibited by law from using those videos because they show federal officials on tax-payer funded locations.)

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77530&pid=34&begdate=2005-01-01&enddate=2006-01-01">Watch Sen. Biden in 2005 explain why the US needs a change of direction in Iraq

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77530&pid=34&begdate=2005-01-01&enddate=2006-01-01">Watch the 2006 speech Sen. Biden made in support of the Levin Amendment that called for the Bush Admin to make plans for a withdrawal of troops and change of direction in Iraq.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=view/new">C-Span rules on using their video:
C-SPAN Flash Video Player Allows Clipping, Posting, and Emailing

The C-SPAN Flash Video Player allows one to easily obtain the link to the speech and post the link on a web site, send via email, or post in a blog. All C-SPAN congressional floor video recordings are in the public domain and C-SPAN places no restrictions on their use.

So, anyone in the Biden group up for playing some defense and offense on that WaPo article?

[1corona4u]

1. Honestly, I don't think this needs defending.

I just don't. Let them try and go there.

[TayTay]

2. Take the weapon out of their hands

And make some videos up and have them out there based on what Sen. Biden actually said.

It's not that hard to do.

And they will go there. They will not just try to go there, they will go there. There is ample means to defend though. It would be nice to have those email defenses ready to go out on Sen. Biden. Maybe with links to video to prove what really happened.

[jillan]

3. Thanks TayTay.

Working on it!

[gateley]

4. I say we just stop "running" and trying to defend past actions, and just

get in their faces and say - This is what we plan for our future NOW.

And you're right, TayTay, Joe's opposition to this war is well documented. But I hate that we may have to scurry around PROVING that the charges are inflammatory - because no proof will change the minds of those who believe.

[TayTay]

5. No scurrying, PRIDE

We have great Democrats who stand up for what they believe in. Joe Biden has stood up for a sane path forward in Iraq and has worked hard in the US Senate to get the Bush Administration to do what is needed and necessary to bring this war to a close.

Sen. Biden knows what the stakes are in Iraq. He has a consistent record of voting for a sane policy in the Middle East and has been an honest critic of those, like Don Rumsfeld, who stood in the way of meaningful progress.

Joe Biden believes that you listen to the troops on the ground and adapt your positions based on the information supplied by the troops and their commanders in Iraq who are trying to implement that strategy. Unlike John McCain, Joe Biden believes that America can complete it's mission in Iraq and come home. He doesn't believe in 100 years of war when some time spent on diplomacy can do so much to end the conflict, help the Iraqis rebuild their nation and bring American troops home. There is a difference.

[gateley]

6. I only wish you could mail your excellent statement to every single person

in the country who is voting for McCain. It'd sure make them think!