Patty Murray has just endorsed Hillary Clinton, as did Maria Cantwell did a while back. She has been a pretty good senator for my state. She has done a great deal for veterans, including preventing a hospital from being closed a year or so ago. However, she has chosen to ignore the chain of custody for this abominable invasion and occupation that is filling the beds at veterans hospitals nationwide. There is a disconnect between Senator Murray's vote against the AUMF and Hillary's carefully calculated but horribly wrong vote for it. Hillary Clinton said: "So it is with conviction that I support this resolution as being in the best interests of our nation. A vote for it is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him - use these powers wisely and as a last resort." Everyone in congress knew that that vote was a vote to invade. Everyone knew, regardless of the many paragraphs and layers of deniability that precede the fateful conclusion of Hillary's speech.
I can see and almost understand Senator Murray's political calculus at home, as Washington State is, as are many others, a bad speech or minor indescretion away from electing a right wing republican on the order of Slade Gorton, an enemy of the environmental movement if ever there was one. Senator Murray may have made a bad deal with her conscience, divining that Hillary will win the nomination and not look kindly upon any endorsers of her primary opponents.
Herewith my letter, which hasn't yet gotten through. Her server has crashed, no doubt due to an avalanche of emails similar to mine:
Dear Senator Murray,
Your beloved veterans will no doubt appreciate your endorsement of Hillary Clinton when they are still in Iraq or Iran in 2013, courtesy of Madeleine Albright, who said, "What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?" Thanks in part to your good efforts, they will have the best of care for their torn limbs and shattered brains. We will support them and provide the endless amounts of material needed to keep up the good fight in the Middle East. After all, we can't leave Israel all on its own over there, can we? We've got a reshaping to do.
Some women want a woman for president more than they want a good president, one who will work for peace with sincerity. A president who isn't surrounded by half-closeted neocons like Madelyn Albright and Richard Holbrooke. A president who doesn't believe that a"muscular" foreign policy is the way to a better world.
Our Washington State parents will mourn their lost and broken children for many years to come. Hillary Clinton voted to enable Bush and Cheney and their dreams of vengeance and glory without even reading the NIE. You, dear Senator Murray, have failed in your duty to endorse the one candidate still in the race who saw clearly and chose to call the Iraq invasion for what it was: a dumb war, and has set a timetable to get us out. Hillary to this day refuses to accept any responsibility for her deadly vote, and declines to say when we will leave Iraq. She even bounced up and applauded when Bush said "Al Qaeda is on the run" during the State of the Union address. Where and when does it end, Senator? The state of Massachusetts can be proud of Ted Kennedy, who made the right call when he gave his reasons for endorsing Barack Obama. We are much less fortunate in Washington.