Mrs. Edwards breast cancer is no joke, and is a very sad matter. But, yesterday John Edwards basically used it as an excuse for changing his opinion on the Iraq War.
Yesterday on Meet The Press, Tim Russert played a video clp of John Edwards saying the following:
(Videotape, October 10, 2004)
MR. RUSSERT: If you knew today, and you do know, there is—there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, would you still vote to go to war with Iraq?
SEN. EDWARDS: I would have voted for the resolution, knowing what I know today, because it was the right thing to do to give the president the authority to confront Saddam Hussein.
I think Saddam Hussein was a very serious threat. I stand by that, and that’s why we stand behind our vote on the resolution.
(End of videotape)
Then Russert asks Edwards to defend his new 2007 anti-war, anti-war vote, anti-everything attitude
MR. RUSSERT: That’s a year and a half into the war.
SEN. EDWARDS: Mm-hmm. Perfect—that’s a very fair question. I can tell you what happened with me, personally. We got through—I was—at that point, I was in the middle of a very intense campaign, one that I thought was very important for America. When the campaign was over and the election was over, we had a lot going on in my own family. Elizabeth had been diagnosed with breast cancer, we were taking care of her. And for the first time I had time to really think about, number one, what I was going to spend my time doing, and, number two, my vote for this war. And over time, when I reflected on what I thought was going to be necessary going forward, to have some moral foundation to work on issues like poverty and genocide, things that I care deeply about, I could no longer defend this vote. It was pretty simple. And I got to the place I felt like I had to say it and had to say it publicly. And so—what?--a year—a year or so ago I did that.
Suddenly Barack and Hillary don't look so bad. For all of her shrill speeches Hill never blames a failing on Bill's heart condition!
Again, our thoughts are with Mrs. Edwards and all women with breast cancer, however, John Edwards is coming across as somewhat of a schmuck here.