First, Russert allowed Edwards to spell out his current position on the war. It wasn’t exactly the most compelling argument against the war, but it was passable.

Then Russert played a clip of Edwards spelling out his position on the war in October of 2002. Edwards’ adamant support for the war on the eve of the Iraq War Resolution was UNQUESTIONABLE. His rhetoric in favor of the war was about as hawkish any Republican advocating war. There was NO DOUBT in Edwards’ mind that Iraq had WMDs.

In response to the clip, Edwards seemed a bit embarrassed with having to confront his earlier rhetoric, but he took responsibility for his vote. Or at least he claimed to take responsibility. His defense was that he made his vote based upon intelligence from former Clinton officials.

Great!

So not only was Edwards DEAD WRONG with regards to WMD (along with Bush and every other Democrat and Republican who voted in favor of the war), but former President Clinton was also DEAD WRONG.

Is this supposed to instill confidence in the Democratic Party in the minds of voters?

But wait! It gets better!

Russert then brough up the National Intelligence Estimate that came out in the fall of 2002, arguing that there was NO evidence to suggest that Iraq had any nuclear weapons programs of ANY KIND. Russert got Edwards to admit that Edwards cast his vote in favor of the war, even after he had read the NIE report.

Flabbergasted, Russert asked something to the effect of “Did you simply ignore the NIE report?”

This is when Edwards started to waffled big time. He said something to the effect of “but it said nothing about biological or chemical weapons.”

Great!

Bush was making comments about “mushroom clouds” despite the fact that the NIE report had found no evidence whatsoever of nuclear weapons programs (do biological or chemical weapons cause mushroom clouds???). But apparently, this wasn’t enough of a red flag for Edwards, who still chose to vote in favor of the Iraq War.

But wait! It gets even better than that!

Russert then displayed on the screen a quote from Edwards from October of 2004. Having been asked whether he regretting voting for the war two years earlier, Edwards was quoted as saying that even known what he now knew, he would still have voted in favor of the war. And he was adamant about it.

And this was TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!!

Whatever their criticism of the prosecution of the war, both Kerry and Edwards went into the 2004 election refusing to renounce their votes in favor of the war.

And people wonder why I voted Libertarian.