Political Punch

Sen Clinton is known to vote the way the pols go, so by her having this angst only shows that the American People want victory in Iraq, otherwise she would of voted against funding. Publicized POLS mean little, as the past has proven.

If only Bill would of let Hussein fall in 94 we would not be having this issue.

Any politician running for President that votes no on Funding our troops well should pull out of the race.

First reason if God forbid, a libs wins President, our military will be distroyed, because how will they be able to ask for any money. But then agian Bill cut our military by then half.

No to Lib for President, bad for the Country and definitely bad for us.

Very insightful analysis, Jake! This is truly a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation for Sen. Clinton. If she votes her conscience, she opens herself to Repub attacks; if she votes for funding, she opens herself to left-wing Dem attacks. I suppose she could abstain, or just vote "present," but that would open her to still more attacks from every part of the political spectrum. To my way of thinking, the left-wing Dem attacks would be less harmful to Sen. Clinton's candidacy than the Repub attacks of "soft on defense." But thedevilyoudont's argument also has a lot of merit: she should vote as a representative of those who elected her, and they probably want the US out of Iraq as soon as possible. No matter what, this can't be an easy vote for her.

There is no question in my and most American minds that the war in Iraq will only get worse and not better. I think a 'No' vote would be a great thing for Hillary Clinton, regardless of what Republican pollsters think.

A 'No' vote by Hillary framed under the auspices of changing the direction of Iraq is perfectly justified. No matter how hard the GOP candidate tries to characterize her as soft on security, by the time November 2008 rolls around, support for this war will be approaching zero and any candidate, Republican or Democrat, that votes to allow the senseless endangerment of US troops in a civil war is taking an enormous risk.

As a representative from the staunchly Democratic state of New York, she must vote with her constituents and I firmly believe that if polled, a startling amount of people from New York State would oppose continuing to fund what, at this point, has become the President's War.

If she votes yes, I would venture to say that she will sacrifice any hopes she has of becoming president and at the same time alienate the huge majority that re-elected her in New York.