Reply #57: You're talking about the past and you're confused

[Radical Activist]

Yes Dean was right to oppose the war earlier than most. Yes it was wrong of some Congressional Democrats to cave in and vote for the war.
Does the fact that Dean opposed the war over a year ago get us out of Iraq today? No.
Does it make any US troops more likely to come home sooner because Dean did the right thing over a year ago? No.

Today, in the here and now, and in the future, what was said in the primary no longer effects the lives of the soldiers who are fighting and dying because we can't go back in time and stop the invasion from happening. What matters is where we go from here. You can condemn Democrats who voted for the war and you can praise those who opposed it all day long, but the question now is, what do we do now? That is what matters, not crowing about who was right and who was wrong.

On that crucial question Howard Dean gave the same answer as Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and Gephardt. After the invasion happened they ALL said we should bring in other nations. They ALL said we should include the UN. And they all said we had to stay in Iraq for a prolonged time to finish the mess we began. Even Howard Dean said that during the primary. When Russert asked Dean TODAY about Iraq Dean expressed support for the President's goal of having elections in January and using that as a way to get us out. He didn't call for an immediate withdrawal or for turning it over to the UN. He said he supported what the President is currently doing with the elections.

I think you're a little confused about where Dean stood on the issue of occupation. After the :wtf: in your post you stopped talking about Dean and you started talking about Dennis Kucinich.

Dennis Kucinich opposed the war well before Dean spoke out against it, he did not plagiarize.

During the primary Kucinich said we should get the UN in and the US out in 90 days. Dean said we would be in Iraq for several *years* and criticized the quick withdrawal that Kucinich called for. Dean did most certainly NOT call for a quick withdrawal from Iraq like your post claims.

Kucinich was the first to talk about kicking out Halliburton and giving control of the contracts to the UN. Edwards, Dean and others picked up on that issue later, but only Kucinich was willing to totally give up control to the UN.

I think you're projecting your own views about Iraq onto Howard Dean. Dean didn't hold the positions you just named, but Kucinich did. If you don't believe, go back and reread the transcripts to the debates because you have definitely confused who said what.