Unfair attacks on Senator Clinton

No matter how early it may seem, it's Presidential campaign season, and that means Bob Somerby's Daily Howler has once again returned to the top of my must-read list. No one else is as determined to cut through the media misinformation.

His latest efforts have been centered on attacks—primarily by other Democrats—on Senator and candidate for President Hillary Clinton. The attacks, including the latest by the usually excellent New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, suggest that Senator Clinton has not admitted to making a mistake by voting in late 2002 to authorize George W. Bush to use force in Iraq.

Somerby wrote yesterday (emphasis his):

According to Krugman, Clinton has refused to “own up” to her “mistake” in casting that 10/02 vote. His argument will surely affect many readers. But here’s the problem: Krugman never lets readers decide for themselves whether Clinton has really owned up to her error. He never quotes a single thing Clinton has actually said on this subject. Krugman keeps readers barefoot and clueless. They hear his account of what Clinton has said. They don’t hear her actual statements.

Has Clinton “owned up” to her “mistake?” Has she “admit[ted] past error?” For ourselves, we think it’s odd that Clinton won’t use the specific word “mistake” in describing her 10/02 vote. But in our judgment, she has owned up to her mistake—in fact, she did so long ago. Other readers might agree with that assessment—if Krugman would have the decency to tell them what Clinton has actually said.

The history: Clinton cast that awful vote in October 2002. (So did Kerry. So did Edwards.) But omigod! As early as August 2004, she had clearly rethought the vote. On August 29, she appeared on Meet the Press (where she staunchly defended Kerry and Edwards). Here’s part of what she said—well over two years ago:

RUSSERT (8/29/04): Jay Rockefeller, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was on this program a few weeks ago and this is what he said: "...We in Congress would not have authorized that war—we would not have authorized that war—with 75 votes if we knew what we know now." Do you agree with him?

CLINTON: There would not have been a vote, Tim. There would never have been a vote to the Congress presented by the administration. There would have been no basis for it.

All the way back in 8/04, Clinton said there would have been “no basis” for that vote if we’d known there were no WMD. There wouldn’t even have been a vote, she told Russert (also Wolf Blitzer). Since then, she’s continued making that statement, even spelling things out for the very slow by adding the obvious corollary—she herself would have voted “no” if she’d known there were no WMD. Do you mind if we make a simple statement? In our view, Clinton did “say that she was wrong to vote for the Iraq war resolution” when she made that statement to Russert. (When she said she’d have voted the other way if she knew about the WMD.)

This whole pseudo-controversy is ludicrous—perhaps even more so as it is being ginned up by Democrats rather than the typical Republican noise machine. Clinton has admitted error on her 2002 vote and has promised to end the war if she is elected. What more needs to be said?

Yet we have Krugman insinuating that she may possibly as pig-headedly stubborn as Bush, and we have Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos seconding that and proclaiming that she has already lost any hope of his support because she won't say the precise phrase "I made a mistake."  Plenty of other bloggers inherently suspicious of Senator Clinton are joining in.  They appear unaware that Clinton has been admitting to being incorrect on the Iraq war vote for a year-and-a-half—far longer than John Edwards, who escapes their wrath, has been doing so.

This is insane. If we're going to attack each other, let it at least be over something accurate.

Comments

[Timl]

I agree completly. Bob is vital and the smartest guy I know. I googled who has mentioned his work and up you came. Cool. Im in DC now but I used to live and work in San Antonio (politics long ago) Loved Buerne TX (though it seems I cant remember how to spell it!

[Peter]

Thanks for the comment, Timl. You probably would not recognize Boerne if you've been gone more than 5 or so years -- it is growing like crazy.