NYT Week in Review: Hillary's Clinton's Iran Vote: The Fallout

[flpoljunkie]

October 14, 2007
The Nation
Clinton’s Iran Vote: The Fallout

By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON

SENATORS Joe Biden and Chris Dodd voted against it. Senator Barack Obama said he would have voted against it if he had voted. Former Senator John Edwards implied he would have voted against it if he could vote.

And Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton? She voted in favor of the measure in question, which asked the Bush administration to declare Iran’s 125,000-member Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization. Such a move — more hawkish than even most of the Bush administration has been willing to venture so far — would intensify America’s continuing confrontation with Iran, many foreign policy experts say.

Part of the reason for Mrs. Clinton’s vote, some of her backers say privately, is that she has already shifted from primary mode, when she needs to guard against critics from the left, to general election mode, when she must guard against critics from the right. That means she is trying to shore up her national security credentials versus Republican candidates like Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney, and is trying to reassure voters that she would be a tough-minded commander in chief.

By supporting the bill — sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Jon Kyl of Arizona — Mrs. Clinton is also solidifying crucial support from the pro-Israel lobby.

<>Think of it as Iran declaring that the United States military is a terrorist organization because it carries out President Bush’s orders. Such a move, say some Iran experts — including some advisers to the Clinton campaign who declined to publicly criticize their possible boss — runs the risk of further alienating the Iranian population, because many Iranians are tied to the Revolutionary Guard or its many offshoots and enterprises in some way.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/weekinreview/14cooper.html

[Cha]

1. She wants to look

"strong" and she ends up looking like a wuss.

[jmp]

2. Way too much calculation ...

And that is if you even believe that she isn't just bloodthirsty.

[cali]

3. I don't believe she's blood thirsty

I do believe that she's way, way too calculating and willing to do things that put us in danger to advance her candidacy.

[TwilightGardener]

4. What are her core principles about any given topic? Does she ever make

a proposal or vote that ISN'T calculated mostly for its effect on her candidacy? That's what bothers me most about her.

[babylonsister]

9. Ditto that. nt

[sniffa]

5. the vote is sickening for someone running for president

pLease, can those DUers who say it, come to this thread and caLL her the, "goddess of peace"? :puke:

[left is right]

6. If you are wrong on Iraq, Iran and torture

you can't be right on anything else. That is the opinion that I will take into the voting booth, at least for the primary.

[AtomicKitten]

11. exactamundo

:thumbsup:

[goodgd_yall]

7. I've concluded she has poor judgment

And that's not a quality I want in a president. She had poor judgment in the IWR vote and, now, again she has failed to see the danger in the Lieberman/Kyl vote. HRC has a demeanor that, for many, conveys confidence and strength, but I think behind it is an inability to see future consequences.

[illinoisprogressive]

8. Cllinton votes to how her advisors tell her to. She has not had an independent

stand on any issue for decades. She is such a fake. Just a consultant and poll driven automon
she has no leadership skills or judgment. And this is why she cannot answer questions.

[SergeyDovlatov]

10. What’s the use of being elected and re-elected if you don’t stand for anything? ~ Grover Clevel

[dogindia]

12. k&r

[dogindia]

13. oh I forgot. RUN AL RUN

RUN AL RUN.

[jenmito]

14. Hillary knows Lieberman is a neocon regarding war and she signed on to HIS bill...

Shows she either has very poor judgement, is still triangulating, or wants to provoke war with Iran. None of which I want in my Dem. nominee.

[many a good man]

15. I wish she would stop making it so hard to like her

I can only try so hard....

[Froward69]

16. I brought this up to a Hillarydrone the other day...

and she said "everyone makes a mistake or two now and then." Mistakes are fine if no ones LIFE is at stake. It is clear Hillary is for war profit. repub in a skirt she is. married to a DEM.

[Hawkowl]

17. Weak?

So if she is elected, what else will she do to look STRONG! Invade Panama? Grenada? Kill a million or two Iranians just for appearances sake? I won't vote for HRC because she is too willing to vote to kill innocents merely so she doesn't look "weak" on terror, "weak" on defense, "weak" against the progressive wing of the party.

[Jillian]

18. This vote did it for me.

I was seriously considering Hillary as my second candidate.

Her vote on this actually scared me. Calling the Iran Revolutionary Guard terrorists came right out of the Cheney playbook.
And she voted for it.

[AtomicKitten]

19. I agree.

And the fact that she has some heavy hitters out there trying to smooth it over for her leads me to believe she knows it was an epic mistake.