Bob Kerrey is an independent voice and, in many ways, a constructive force within the Democratic Party. But he was also one of the principal Democratic enablers of the war in Iraq and his opposition to Dean --and his claim in today's New York Times that candidate (as opposed to Governor) Dean is too liberal "to keep people like me" in the Party-- is almost certainly based on Dean's strident opposition to a war that Kerrey strongly supported.

In Sept. 2002, Bob Kerrey wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the choice in Iraq "is between sustaining a military effort designed to contain Saddam Hussein and a military effort designed to replace him. In my mind the case for the second choice is overwhelming."

In this opinion piece, Kerrey expresses particular concern for the loss of 19 servicemen (in the Khober Towers bombing) and "more than $1 billion a year" spent "on a very real and very risky" military deployments to enforce no-fly zones and contain Iraq. How about a very real and more risky war, Mr. Kerrey, which in 18 months has cost us more than 100 years of containment?

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002252

Despite the absence of WMD in Iraq, Kerrey continued his strong support for the war. In October 2003, Bob Kerrey stated: "Even if you can prove to me the president lied, you'll see; in 20 or 17 years, it'll be good. The bottom line is, I still support what the president did, which is authorize the United States to go in and remove Saddam Hussein from power." http://www.thevillager.com/villager_24/newschools.html

Kerrey, a former Democratic Senator from Nebraska, apparently joined the "faith based" contingent as he continued to insist at the end of 2003 (unlike Nebraska Republican Congressman Doug Bereuter or Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel) that Iraq is "going well. Twenty years from now, we'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who says it wasn't worth the effort." New York Sun, 12/29/03.

In today's New York Times article on the Dean speech, Kerrey, who Adam Nagourney quotes almost as much as the guy who gave the speech, says:

"If [Dean's] firing people up and he's saying we've got to swing to the left - it's harder to swing along with him. And hell, I live in New York City. I don't live in Nebraska anymore."

Maybe, judging by Nebraska Republicans like Bereuter and Hagel, Kerry would have a different view if he still lived in Nebraska.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/09/politics/09dean.html

Kerrey, by the way, is supporting cable television magnate, Leo J. Hindery Jr., as DNC Chairman. Hindery, you may recall, was a principal funder of anti-Dean Osama Bin Laden ads that were run in Iowa last year.