The Argus Leader editorial board met Wednesday with Stephanie Herseth and Larry Diedrich. The article on that meeting leads me to conclude I can no longer support Stephanie.
The “jump” headline from the article reads, “Candidates: Agree on War, PATRIOT Act.” The article itself says
• Knowing what we know now, would you support the Iraq war?
Herseth: “Yes, I still would have supported taking this action. … This was a regime that was in repeated violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.” ***
• Do you support renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act?
Herseth and Diedrich: Yes.
Combined with her previously saying she agrees with Bush and supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, it is clear Stephanie has no qualms adopting GOP/conservative positions if that’s what it takes to get elected. This may seem inconsistent with my prior posts that Stephanie’s position on gay marriage shouldn’t be a litmus test. I still believe it is incorrect to be a “one issue” voter. We are beyond that. To support the invasion of Iraq “[k]nowing what we know now” based on some of the bogus rationale used by the Bush crew, is simply wrong. Even more offensive is that a lawyer running for national office on the Democratic slate can have the audacity to support renewal of the Patriot Act. One issue alone doesn’t lose my support. But we’re at three strikes and growing.
This does not mean I will vote or campaign against Stephanie. Yet today’s article even undercuts a “lesser of two evils” choice here. I will abstain from casting a ballot in the Herseth-Deidrich race since Stephanie has made it clear there is reallly little difference in the end result.
