The other day, former liberal hawk Kevin Drum asked, perhaps as a gesture of atonement for his support of the invasion, whether his readers thought that it should be a litmus test for the VP slot that a candidate opposed the war before opposing it was cool.
I was not alone in commenting, HELL YES it ought to be a litmus test. It was the most important political decision of a generation, and it got no serious discussion, no introspection, and no real, open public debate on the merits.
And a lot of politicians, my own odious Senator Dianne Feinstein included, thought it would be a smashing idea to surrender the Article I power of Congress alone to declare war to a former drunk, incompetent and corrupt moron, by voting for the Authorization to Use Military Force as a CYA for their dereliction of the constitutional duty.
They claimed they were misled by a liar whose lies were exposed here daily, but the truth is that they sold their souls for what looked like a shot at the presidency.
I could not support Hillary because she voted for the AUMF, and could never take that vote back. The most important vote of her life, and she blew it forever.
Omar Khayam said,
The moving Finger writes,
And having writ, moves on.
Nor all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line
Nor all your tears
Wash out a word of it.
Damn right opposition to the war ought to be a litmus test for the highest office, but it is such a low damn threshold that millions of ordinary Americans can meet it.