Boston Globe: "John Edwards's Changing Tune on the Iraq War Vote"

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http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/17/john_edwardss_changing_tune_on_the_iraq_vote/

John Edwards's changing tune on the Iraq vote
By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist

April 17, 2007

AS HE runs for president, John Edwards has cast himself as a candidate who puts candor ahead of politics by saying he was wrong to vote for the Iraq war resolution.

But candor wasn't what he counseled as John Kerry's vice-presidential nominee, when he argued strongly against admitting error on Iraq, according to veterans of the 2004 campaign.

In waging his current crusade, Edwards has apologized repeatedly for his Iraq vote, not-so-subtly contrasting himself with Hillary Clinton, who has said she wouldn't vote the same way again, but who has also refused to express regret for supporting the resolution.

On a Feb. 4 appearance on "Meet the Press," for example, Edwards said he was very critical of himself for that vote, adding: "Anybody who wants to be president of the United States has got be honest and open, be willing to admit when they've done things wrong." Clinton's refusal to repudiate her vote is "between her and her conscience," he said at Feb. 21 forum.

That confessional stance has won Edwards considerable credit with Democrats.

Yet as John Kerry's 2004 ticketmate, the former North Carolina senator was anything but eager to acknowledge error on Iraq. Instead, according to several Kerry-Edwards campaign aides, Edwards argued repeatedly that the two should stand by their votes, even after it had become apparent that Iraq had neither weapons of mass destruction nor collaborative ties with Al Qaeda.

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