I realize that most of my readers are probably not as enthusiastic about the political process as I am during this election cycle. Under that assumption, I’ve tried to limit the amount of political content so as not to drive my readership away. Election coverage is reaching a fever pitch and I’m soaking it all in. I know it’s been said a million times, but this election feels more important and more historic than any other in my lifetime. Watching the campaign retrospectives this weekend, I’ve been teary-eyed several times revisiting some of the more inspirational moments from the campaign. When that happens, I feel compelled to share it with you. If you’re not as enthusiastic as I am about the waning days of the campaign, I apologize for the increase in political content during the next few days.
Keith Olbermann on Hillary Clinton’s RFK remarks
Here’s what Keith Olbermann had to say on Countdown last night:
Reasons Not to Vote for Hillary Clinton: Never Wrong
In the biggest vote of her political life, Hillary Clinton (and the rest of the cowardly Democrats who would not go against George W. Bush for fear of their political careers ending abruptly)Â voted “Yes” to go to war with Iraq. Even after the so-called “intelligence” that was used to justify the war was shown to be a sham, she still supported the war nearly as much as turncoat Democrat Joe Lieberman. When her run for the presidency began in 2007, many began to speculate whether she should apologize for her vote. That speculation reached a fever pitch until she finally admitted that the war had been a mistake but only went so far as to say about her own vote that she had received faulty intelligence.
Her reasoning in this matter is faulty for two reasons. First, she did not vote for the Levin Amendment which would have required that the President allow U.N. inspectors more time to complete their job. If, as she claims, she was granting the President the power of war to use in diplomatic efforts to “disarm” Saddam Hussein, then the Levin Amendment would have been an important tool in those efforts. Secondly, and more importantly, in not admitting that her vote was wrong, especially in the way that she has, she is affirming the validity of the Bush administration’s preemptive war policy. Much like the administration, she has not learned the most valuable lesson of the war: preemptive war is wrong. As we found out, even “slam dunk” intelligence can be faulty. Even in the best of circumstances, relying on such intelligence is a gamble. Let’s assume, for example, that our intelligence community was 90% certain that the intelligence was correct. That would still leave a 10% chance that we would be launching a war for no good reason.
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