PDA is at it again...misrepresenting Kerry's positions

He has stated flatly, several times, that he absolutely would NOT vote for the IWR knowing what he knows now. He said it on Imus and he said it on Face the Nation, and he's said it previously, too--Georgetown comes to mind. Argh--these guys are as political as everyone else, trying to promote their own agenda at the expense of others. And every time they do this, they lose credibility with people like me! argh.

Obviously, they should date the news, because it is irrelevant.

but saying that the information was outdated.

Unfortunately, David Swanson is an idiot, who thinks that he can use the anti-DLC feeling to build a progressive movement and do not realize that the huge majority of anti-DLC people are no more and sometimes even less progressive than they are.

Kerry didn't say he would have voted to declare war, or however they put it along these lines.

He said he would have voted to give Bush the authority to use force, but would have used that authority differently. In other statements around that time he said in more detail how Bush should have used the authority to seek a diplomatic settlement rather than going to war.

I have more quotes on Kerry's position in a recent post at The Democratic Daily:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1156

It was regarding Kos misquoting Kerry at the Grand Canyon recently, but the same information applies to the posts mentioned here.

See original post for links:

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=1401

AfterDowningStreet.org has a misleading post today on Democrats and oppositon to the war, falsely portraying Democrats as supporting the war. This is based largely on a misquotation of John Kerry’s statement during that campaign regarding his IWR vote. The link an article at Progressive Democrats of America which incorrectly claims, “Senator John Kerry publicly stated that he would have voted to authorize the president to declare war against Iraq even if he had known that Saddam had harbored no weapons of mass destruction!”

As I recently discussed in response to another misquotation of this statement, Kerry did not say that he would have gone to war. He said that he would have voted for the authority but “would have used that authority effectively.” Kerry had frequently discussed how he would have used the authority differently to seek a diplomatic settlement rather than going to war.

More recently Kerry has stated he would not have voted for the IWR knowing what he now knows in light of the manner in which Bush was misleading Congress and the country. AfterDowningStreet.org should especially give Kerry credit for his actions to expose the manner in which Bush misled the country considering that John Kerry was the first member of the Senate to discuss the Downing Street Memos.