Reply #48: Dean did not have to vote

[karynnj]

In fall 2002, his statements were not all that anti-war. He did say he was for the Biden/Lugar alternative - but so were Kerry, Dodd, and many other Democrats including obviously ..Biden. But, once Gephardt and Leiberman met with Bush in the Rose Garden and publicly stated they were for the IWR - the only bill that was going to pass was the IWR. Had Biden Lugar passed, Bush likely would have written the same signing statement he did write - essentially say he gave up none of his rights as President to order the military to attack.

At that point, many Senators negotiated and got changes in the IWR itself - restricting it to Iraq and taking out many reasons explicitly listed. They also tried to get many amendments - all the important ones failed. Then all the Senators had to vote on the bill in front of them. During that time frame, to my knowledge there was NO public comment from Dean. Many of the people who prefered Biden/Lugar voted for it. (Gore spoke against the IWR - and they made some - but not all the changes he said needed to be made.)

Dean and Gore were among the few people who made a very strong effort to dissuade Bush from invading. Kerry also spoke out and spoke of speaking to people in the UN and hearing that they were told by Bush that there was no more time for negotiations. Hillary and Bill did not speak out publicly - though they were the 2 strongest Democratic voices. Edwards was FOR the invasion and sad so. After the invasion when the war had lifted Bush's approval ratings - Kerry said they should have done more diplomacy and called for regime change.

In addition to the personalities and resumes of the 2004 candidates, there are 3 big differences this time:
1) The war is less popular
2) In 2004, though Kerry voted for the IWR, he was very much on record against the war and had a unigue history that made it very hard for Dean to paint him as a hawk - because he wasn't.
3) There have been additional votes

There are very likely more differences that others would had. What is not clear is how they will come together. Will a vote 5 1/2 years earlier matter less than what they have done since? Will most real world people percieve differences in the current positions? There are many reasons to use, but using the fact that Kerry voted for it and won means nothing - neither Edwards or Hillary had the exact position of Kerry. Nor were any of the 2004 candidates in exactly Obama's place.