If John Kerry is thinking about getting into the 2008 race - or ever having a shred of credibility with the American people - he'd better move quickly to "clarify" his shockingly cynical answer to Josh Marshall's question:
Q. What's the Democrats' endgame on Iraq with this confrontation with the President over the funding bill?
A. Our purpose is obviously to change the policy, to get us to a position where we can be successful. We don't believe the current policy can be successful, in fact we think it creates more terrorists, puts our troops at greater risk, worsens our position in the Middle and we want to change that.
We'll keep the pressure on. He's the President, the Executive has enormous power be able to just to plow ahead, administer the way they want. But our job is to create accountability and that's what we're fighting to do.
Fighting? How, exactly?
Q. If he vetoes this bill, what comes next?
A. I think we'll come back and try to create a series of benchmarks and a series of measurements that are very specific about what ought to happen and put that to him and see if he'll change the policy to meet the benchmarks.
Benchmarks? You mean words on paper that Bush will happily ignore (or claim mean the exact opposite of what they say)?
Congress has exactly one form of meaningful power: spending. Senator Kerry, if you're not willing to cut the funds that keep Bush's war going, then you're not fighting - you're betraying the majority of Americans who elected a Democratic majority in 2006 to end the war, and want all of our troops home in 2007.
Q. Where do you see that standoff ending...
A. The President is going to have to decide what is really best for America.
I think we have a better plan for how you protect the troops and how you protect America's interests and it's our job to keep fighting for it. And in the end, if he has a different point of view, that's what the 2008 campaign will be about.
So that's your endgame? You'll just fold up your tent and give Bush blank checks until after the 2008 election? And what if Democrats lose in 2008? Will you then keep writing blank checks until 2012, or 2016?
Senator Kerry, your answer is completely unacceptable to the American people. If that's your endgame, then you can forget about running for President because everyone in America will call you a fraud - someone who thinks we're too stupid to see through your cynical game of kick-the-Iraq-War-can-down-the-road-so-we-have-a-good-issue-for-the-next-election.
And while you play that cynical game, the blood of every American soldier who dies or is maimed between now and the end of the Iraq War - if it ever ends - will be on your hands.
Your response, Senator Kerry? Will you, or will you not, use the power of the purse to end the Iraq War in 2007?
Update 1: A source close to Kerry says Kerry demonstrated his genuine desire to end the war by becoming the third co-sponsor of the Feingold-Reid bill. The source is also optimistic that Kerry will put his full weight behind the bill, including enlisting his 3 million strong e-mail list in a lobbying campaign to get all Senate Democrats on board.
