A Byrd in Hand is Not Worth Two in the Bush

"Let us stop, look and listen. Let us not give this president or any president unchecked power. Remember the Constitution"

-Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) on voting against authorizing the use of military force against Iraq in 2002

For every Democrat that voted against allowing Bush to invade Iraq, there were two that voted in favor of it. This was amazingly stupid. Bush would have gone to war regardless of how the Democrats voted, even if they stopped the resolution from passing. A vote in Congress was just another form of casualty insurance for Bush. Perhaps down the road, if things didn't go well in Iraq, he could always say to his critics: "But you voted for it". And sure enough, Bush filed such an insurance claim in a 2004 debate with John Kerry, as millions of Americans watched:

"What my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force"

Somehow the Democrats, especially Kerry, blew a historic chance to cash in on the Right's greatest failure: Iraq. Obviously, Democratic hawks like Zell Miller or Joseph Lieberman would have sided with Bush no matter what. But the rest of bunch, not just a few patriots such as Robert Byrd or Barbara Boxer, should have bought the Party some excellent "We told you so" coverage. But, alas, the Dems failed. Just like they believed the hype about WMDs being manipulated by the White House and its associates, the Democrats thought they would be punished by the public if they didn't vote in favor of war. That's like buying insurance for the event that something bad doesn't happen. Moronic logic. The Dems should have voted as a party to "stop, look and listen". All it would have taken was more votes like Robert Byrd's, and less like Kerry's or Tom Daschle's. Unfortunately the vote of a Byrd in hand wasn't worth two in a Bush's pocket.