Give the Repubs and their shill media an inch...

Iraq vote puts Clinton, Obama on the spot

by Stephen Collinson
1 hour, 18 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a compelling sideshow to Thursday's Iraq war budget drama in the US Congress, White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) placed potentially fateful bets by voting against troop funding.

In a moment fraught with political peril, the two senators both sided with the Democratic party's fervently anti-war base, in opposing more than 100 billion dollars in emergency supplemental funding for the unpopular war.

Meanwhile, Senator Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), a foreign policy veteran running a long-shot campaign, appeared torn between his conscience and political ambitions, and admitted his "yes" vote would take some explaining.

Another aspiring Democratic candidate, Senator Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record), said the Congress made a "grave mistake" after sending President George W. Bush a budget stripped of troop withdrawal timetables also passed by the House of Representatives Thursday.

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McCain, Romney assail Democrats on Iraq

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record) assailed Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) on Friday for voting against legislation paying for the Iraq war, accusing them of embracing "the policy of surrender."

McCain, an Arizona senator who backed the measure, called their opposition to the spending bill "the equivalent of waving a white flag to al-Qaida."

"I was very disappointed to see Senator Obama and Senator Clinton embrace the policy of surrender by voting against funds to support our brave men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan," McCain said in a statement.

Another Republican hopeful, Mitt Romney, also criticized the two — and used the largely derided term of "Democrat Party" instead of Democratic Party.

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