Twenty percent of our party really is anti-war almost under any circumstance, just like 20 percent of the Republican Party is probably ready to go to war on any circumstance. —Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaking on NBC's "Today Show," as quoted by Klaus Marre

Nothing but political rhetoric of course. But let's see how the numbers fell out in a real-life situation.

The "Joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq" was in effect a resolution to go to war "under any circumstance."

Only one Republican Senator (Chafee) out of the 49 Republicans who voted opposed the resolution (2%), while 21 out of 49 Democratic Senators opposed it (42%). Senator Biden was not among them.

In the House 126 Democrats opposed the resolution (61%) while only 81 supported it. But on the Republican side a mere 6 out of 221 (3%) opposed.

So the figures tell us that 98% of Republican Senators and 97% of Republican Representatives authorized a war "under any circumstance." It appears that Sen. Biden has seriously understated the level of Republican bellicosity.

As for his other assertion—that 20% of the Democrats would oppose war "almost under any circumstance"—so far as I know a resolution not to go to war "almost under any circumstance" has not been debated since the signing of the Constitution. More's the pity.

It's the obscenity, stupid!

But if the reporter's characterization of the remainder of Biden's remarks is accurate, the Senator is not only obtuse but obscene—

Biden argued that Democrats should show the voters that they are ready to lead on national security issues. He compared the current situation, in which Democratic candidates are perceived to be weak on the issue, to a time when the party was viewed as soft on crime.

The senator noted that, following the passage of a massive crime bill, Democrats were able to shed the label of not being tough on crime.

The basic argument here is that the Democrats should demonstrate that they're as bellicose as the Republicans. He fails to note that the massive crime bill of which he's so proud has played a significant role in making the U.S. the world leader in imprisoning its citizens while failing to address the problem of crime. And the "success" of the Republican approach to national security is ever before our eyes.

Biden will be up for re-election in November. Biden's Wikipedia entry states that in addition to being Delaware's longest serving Senator, "he is an advocate for Amtrak, the Dover Air Force Base, and the downstate chicken processing industry." What a leader!

Memo to Delaware Democrats: Is this the best you could do?

Related posts
Why haven't the Democrats ended the wars? (5/12/08)
The gored republic (5/15/08)

Tags: news and politics antiwar Iraq war Congress