New York Times: Sen. Clinton avoids 'flip-flopper' label despite ever-changing stance on Iraq war RAW STORY

Published: Saturday August 4, 2007





Print This Email This As the New York Times reports, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has so far succeeded in avoiding the label of "flip-flopper," despite numerous shifts in opinion and handling of the Iraq war, but has not escaped criticism entirely. Sen. Clinton originally voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq in 2002, but has since moved towards other Democratic politicians, as well as the voting base, to call for a gradual withdrawal of troops. Advisers insist that this is not a political move, but an honest change in thinking brought on by public opinion and the current course the Iraq offensive is on. # Excerpts: Thanks to her votes on defunding the war and supporting a timetable for withdrawal, she has defused the war issue as a problem for her, and her 2002 vote for the war, to quite an extent, said Medea Benjamin, a leader of the antiwar group Code Pink, whose members once regularly booed and heckled Mrs. Clinton whenever she spoke about the war. Mr. [Markos] Moulitsas, whose Web site inspired this weekends gathering of bloggers in Chicago, cited Mrs. Clintons statements that she would leave a sizable military force in Iraq even after reducing the American military role there, saying that distinction was lost in the way she had presented her antiwar credentials. I dont know if policy and rhetoric are aligned, Mr. Moulitsas said. But people dont see the policy paper on our side; they hear what she says, and she talks a great game. # The entire New York Times article can be read HERE.



