Why did Axelrod claim on "This Week" that Jay Rockefeller opposed the war in Iraq?

[ruggerson]

when the fact is that Rockefeller voted the same way Clinton did on the IWR?

Axelrod used Rockefeller's endorsement of Obama to try to point out the distinction between Clinton and Obama's Iraq war judgements.

But the reality is Rockefeller and Clinton held the same views on Iraq and voted the exact same way.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Rockefellers_vote.html

"I noted when Jay Rockefeller endorsed Obama last week that he -- one of 29 Democratic Senators -- can't really serve as an Obama surrogate on the Iraq war, because he voted the same way as Hillary in 2002, to authorize the invasion.

David Axelrod, though, cast Rockefeller as a war opponent when he mentioned the West Virginia Senator's endorsement on This Week, referring to:

"Senator Jay Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who opposed the war in Iraq, who read the intelligence before the war, which Senator Clinton concedes she did not, and who said that Barack Obama has the judgment and the maturity and the vision to lead," he said.

Actually, I think the only way to say he opposed the war is to grant Clinton's claim that the vote for "a joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq" was not to vote for war."

[babylonsister]

1. FWIW, CNN just had a story about Rockefeller's endorsement and

said the same thing. I didn't think to look it up.

[ruggerson]

3. I think Axelrod got it wrong

not a big deal, but he shouldn't tout this endorsement as any kind of Iraq war judgement bona fides.

[babylonsister]

9. He was touting Rockefeller's endorsement as chairman of the

Select Committee on Intelligence, too, which is a big deal, depending on who you ask.

[indimuse]

2. thx..

k&R...for the record.

[DJ13]

4. Did Rockefeller vote yeah on the Levin amendment?

That might be where this comes from.

:shrug:

[Tropics_Dude83]

5. Axelrod was on "This week" on ABC-Not MTP on NBC

If you can't even get which show he was on correct, why should I take anything that you have to say seriously?

[DJ13]

8. "If you can't even get which show he was on correct......."

No hard feelings.

:hi:

[ruggerson]

10. thnx edited it

you're right, mixing up MTP and This Week invalidates the point.

:crazy:

[ruggerson]

6. they can't have it both ways

they can't accuse Clinton of being for the war and use her IWR vote as proof and then turn around and tout Rockefeller as being "against the war in Iraq" when he voted the same way she did.

Especially if Barack is the nominee, this is the type of double standard Republicans will use to hammer us relentlessly.

[Adelante]

7. I didn't see it and don't know why Axelrod would have said that

Rockefeller said in his endorsement:

“The indisputable fact is Barack Obama was right about Iraq when many of us were wrong. It was a tough call and the single greatest national security question, and mistake, of our time.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/02/rockefeller_for.html

[TwilightGardener]

11. I think Axelrod screwed up. Oops.

[AX10]

12. Either Axelrod is Rovian in that he will lie to your face...

with a straight face, or he f***ED this one up quite badly.

[ruggerson]

14. I will give him the benefit of the doubt

and assume he made a mistake.

IT's not the kind of mistake he can afford to make this fall, however, if Obama is our standard bearer.

[jlake]

13. Because he is a dishonest dirtbag perhaps?

Make Penn & Wolfson look like fuzzy bunnies delivering food for meals on wheels.

[johnnydrama]

16. Rockefeller

Rockefeller has the honesty to say he was wrong about Iraq, and Obama was right.

Hillary, not so much.

[jlake]

17. How does that relate to Axle's statement that Rocky was against it from the beginning?

[Mass]

15. Because he made an error.

I was surprised to see that Steph. or Wolfson did not catch it.