I know, I'm just as shocked as you are...WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry voted for the Iraq war resolution in 2002 after weighing the political ramifications and being told by his future campaign manager that he would never be elected president in 2004 unless he sided with President Bush on the issue, according to a forthcoming book by Kerry's former strategist.
Nice - two new books out on the HildaBeast, and now this one. Dish on!
The book by veteran Democratic Party strategist Robert Shrum, titled "No
"Can I get me a hunting license here?"
It also quotes e-mails from Kerry's former campaign manager that are highly critical of the behavior of Kerry's wife,
Shrum, who was brought into the campaign to
"I was for the war..."
He writes that Kerry telephoned him on the eve of the Oct. 11, 2002, vote. Shrum said Kerry was skeptical of Bush's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that he "didn't trust Bush to give the diplomatic route a real chance." Nonetheless, Kerry asked Shrum whether he would "be a viable general election candidate if he was in the small minority of senators who voted no."
Here's what Kerry said on October 9, 2002; "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." I smell some bullshit here.
Shrum wrote that he told Kerry it was "impossible to predict the political fallout if we went to war." But he wrote that Jim Jordan, Kerry's former Senate press secretary and future campaign manager, "was insisting that he had to vote with Bush."
Shrum wrote that Jordan had "hammered" Kerry with a warning: "Go ahead and vote against it if you want, but you'll never be president of the United States." Kerry voted for the war resolution and Jordan became Kerry's campaign manager three months later.
Kerry declined to comment on Shrum's book.
Maybe the bullshit I smell is coming from Frum, then?
His spokesman, Vincent Morris, said, "Senator Kerry voted [for the war resolution] based on the promise of effective diplomacy and because he believed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He's said previously that this was the most difficult vote he's ever cast and he's acknowledged his vote was a mistake. Since that day, he's been one of the Senate's most outspoken voices to end the war."
"...before I was against it!"
Asked about the conversation, Jordan answered, "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to recount those conversations with Senator Kerry, but it's ridiculous to contend that I had the influence to manipulate a man of his stature and substance and judgment on a vote of war and peace. Right or wrong, it was a vote based in conscience and conviction."
Which would be a first. Rest at link.