"I would certainly as president not have taken us to war in Iraq"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Ohio Democratic Debate On MSNBC: Highlights, Video

Clinton Offers Regret For Iraq War: HuffPost's Sam Stein: Hillary Clinton expressed regret for her vote to authorize the Iraq war towards the end of Tuesday night's debate. The statement came after Clinton was asked what one mulligan she wished she had from her time in public office.

"Although my vote on the 2002 authorization regarding Iraq was a sincere vote, I would not have voted that way again. I would certainly as president not have taken us to war in Iraq and I regret deeply that President Bush waged a preemptive war, which I warned against and said I disagreed with."

Clinton has treaded down this path before, though never apologizing for her vote. But, as noted by several post-debate observers, Tuesday night's response came with a bit more succinctness and, it appeared, sincerity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/26/ohio-democratic-debate-on_n_88495.html

[Skittles]

1. I don't give a f*** how "sincere" they are

they have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS

[lligrd]

2. Too Little And Far Too Late

You don't abdicate your authority and authorize a buffoon to invade a sovereign nation based upon obvious flawed data and expect me to vote for you. Is that too much to ask?

[MercutioATC]

3. That's not a mea culpa, it's the same BS justification she's tried to sell for years.

I'll say it again. There are only 2 reasons ANY of them could have voted to give Bush the power to declare a war:

1) They were abysmally ignorant and/or naive. Either they believed the BS fed to them by Bush and his PNAC-authoring advisers or they believed that Bush and his PNAC-authorizing advisers wouldn't immediately use that authorization to start a war with Iraq. Keep in mind that PNAC isn't a conspiracy theory, it's a published political philosophy that ANY Washington politician is aware of.

2) They did it for political gain. In the months following 9/11, there was a political advantage in supporting ANY "protect America" legislation regardless of merit. Many politicians seized on this wave of ignorant nationalism to forward their political aspirations.

Either way, she has to apologize for either being an idiot or a political opportunist.

I don't believe she'll do either.

[lligrd]

5. Exactly And It Was The Same Reason I Couldn't Support

Edwards as much as I liked his policies (except for the mandated health exams). Admitting you were taken is not saying much for your ability to make a wise decision. And doing it for political advantage is just plain wrong. There is no good option for Hillary on this issue and she knows it. I don't believe she is stupid or ignorant. She banked on us being able to win (which makes her ignorant in my opinion) and us having no one else to vote for. Looks like she was wrong on both accounts.

[sandnsea]

4. What a bunch of nonsense

The rebuttals to this have been repeatedly posted, her meeting with Code Pink, her statemetns before the invasion, her "stay the course" remarks when she visited Iraq in Nov 2003. She didn't oppose the damn war, she played triangulating politics with people's lives.