Clinton plays defense on Iran [Ben Smith]
Hillary Clinton has mailed an unusual, direct defense of her stance toward Iran to Iowa voters, suggesting that she thinks her tough talk toward the country threatens to alienate some Democrats, and that her rivals' suggestions that she is too hawkish on Iran may be having an effect.
The letter is included in a mailing that advertises an "important letter from Hillary inside."
"Let me be clear on Iran -- I am opposed to letting President Bush take any military action against that country without full Congressional approval," the letter's second paragraph begins, after a more general paragraph describing Iran as one of America's "adversaries."
Clinton is on the defensive because she was alone among the Democratic candidates in voting for a resolution September 27 that pressed the Bush administration to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group. Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd voted against the bill, and former Senator John Edwards opposed it.
Clinton's rivals suggested that she was repeating her error of authorizing the Iraq war in 2002, and offering President Bush an excuse for another Middle East conflict.
Clinton's defense of her vote is specific and backed by a separate page of quotes from a supporter, retired General Wesley Clark, defending her stance; and from an ally of Senator Barack Obama, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, explaining his own vote for the resolution.
Clinton writes:
Several weeks ago, I voted with 75 other Senators for a sense of the Senate resolution to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Let me tell you why.
I was in the Senate that day, and was about to vote "no" on this legislation because it had language that President Bush could have used to justify military action against Iran. Working together, Senate Democrats reached across party lines to remove those sections. Only then did I and a lot of other Democrats vote for the resolution in order to pressure Iran by clearing the way for sanctions and pushing the President to get them to the negotiating table.
After the problematic language was removed, it was clearly a vote for stepped-up diplomacy, not military action.
Obama missed the vote, and explained his position -- that he favors declaring the Revolutionary Guard terrorists, but opposes other portions of the bill -- later that night, a fact Clinton appears to highlight in her letter.
"I was there, I exercised leadership, and I explained my vote at the time," she writes.
The mailing was provided to Politico by a rival campaign. You can read it here:
<http://images.politico.com/global/hrciran.jpg>.
