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They adore her in Manhattan, worship her in Hollywood, and
idolize her in the liberal media. But those of us in what
Senator Hillary Clinton described as a “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy” have
been keeping a file on her. If you’re one of us, this book
will give you all the ammunition to help end Hillary’s
White...
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Peggy Noonan offers an
eye-opening assessment of the scandals and failures of
the Clinton years, from Whitewater and health care to
the Filegate and Travelgate affairs, casting a
revealing light on the first lady’s motives and
behavior.
Today Only $14.95
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WASHINGTON May 4 2007:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has proposed that Congress repeal the
authority it gave President George W. Bush in 2002 to invade Iraq,
injecting presidential politics into the congressional debate over
war funding.
Clinton's proposal on Thursday in effect brings her full circle on
Iraq and sharpens her own political positioning at a time when the
Democratic Party is increasingly willing to confront the White House
on the war.
"It is time to reverse the failed policies of President Bush and to
end this war as soon as possible," Clinton said as she joined
another Democratic senator, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, in calling
for a vote on a plan to terminate the authority as of Oct. 11, the
fifth anniversary of the original vote.
Her proposal emerged just as congressional leaders and the White
House opened delicate negotiations over the just-vetoed war
resolution and illustrated the varied views among Democrats on how
to proceed in the aftermath of Bush's veto.
Much of the focus Thursday in forging a new war spending measure was
on the idea of imposing requirements - or so-called benchmarks - on
the Iraqi government to show progress in securing political and
military security. Leading Republicans said they were open to that
approach.
The move by Clinton appeared to be an effort to claim a new
leadership position among the Democratic presidential candidates
against the war in Iraq.
It came just a few hours after Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic
leader in the Senate, praised the senators running for president for
not using the Senate as a platform for airing their differences on
the war. It also shows that Democrats, with their core supporters
strongly opposing the war, are leery of being seen as giving too
much ground to Bush in the legislative fight.
Clinton, who is the junior senator from New York, was an
enthusiastic supporter of the war early on, but has turned into a
staunch critic of the Bush administration's performance on Iraq. Her
vote for the original authorization has been a persistent problem in
her presidential bid when contrasted with the positions of other
Democratic contenders.
John Edwards, a former senator, has repudiated his vote for the war.
After Byrd and Clinton announced their plan, Edwards quickly put out
a statement urging Congress to focus on withdrawing troops and not
revoking the 2002 authorization. "Congress should stand its ground
and not back down to him," Edwards said. "They should send him the
same bill he just vetoed, one that supports our troops, ends the war
and brings them home."
Clinton pointedly noted Thursday that she had voted in 2002 to put a
one-year limit on Bush's war authority, an effort led by Byrd that
failed. Edwards opposed that limit.
Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, who was not in Congress
at the time of the 2002 authorization vote, cites his consistent
opposition to the war. Obama issued a statement on Thursday evening
indicating that he would support the effort by Clinton and Byrd to
rescind authorization for the war.
Another candidate, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, beat
Clinton to the punch, calling on Congress on Tuesday to revoke the
war authorization and develop a time frame for the rapid withdrawal
of troops. In February, Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware,
another presidential primary contender, raised the prospect of
rewriting the authorization to give U.S. forces a much more limited
role in Iraq, but that approach ran into resistance from Democrats
who said it could be perceived as granting new authority for the
war.
Clinton said her push for a new vote on the war authority did not
mean she would oppose whatever new war spending measure might emerge
from negotiations. But she said she was joining Byrd in trying to
force a new examination of the war in its entirety, rather than
simply joust over the spending measure with its elements of
"funding, not funding, benchmarks, no benchmarks."
The idea of revoking the initial authority for the war has
circulated on Capitol Hill for weeks without gaining much traction.
Senator John Warner, Republican of Virginia, had raised the idea of
taking a second look at the original resolution because it did not
envision the prospect of troops being caught in an Iraqi civil war.
Congress and the White House took their first steps Thursday toward
trying to reach agreement on a revised spending measure as Joshua
Bolten, the White House chief of staff, came to the Capitol to meet
with Senate leaders of both parties and the leaders of the House
Appropriations Committee. Participants would reveal few details,
though Reid said the talks had been constructive.
At the same time, congressional Republicans expressed willingness to
consider some form of benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet to
demonstrate it is bringing the situation there under control.
Democratic aides said the idea of short-term funding of the military
was also gaining momentum among their leadership. |
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