[PoBoy321]

Yes, where by saying "The polls told him to do so," I'm sure you mean "The climate after 9/11 was such that any Senator who voted against the war had no chance of reelection, and, let's be honest, anyone's first priority in a job is to keep it." It wasn't a matter like tax reform or transporation where he had some room to wiggle, he had to choose between voting for the war which was going to be approved anyway and losing his job. Also, isn't a politicians job to represent the interests of his constituents, so would it really be the worst thing in the world if he DID make decisions based on polls? Granted, I think it's great that Bush is a man of principle, but he would do well to reevaluate those principles when it has lead to nothing but failure after failure.

As for your second assertion that I claim Kerry didn't read the reports, I was simply responding to another poster in this thread (I thought it was you, I guess I was wrong) who claimed that Kerry hadn't read the reports. Of course I think he read the reports, my point was that it certainly seems as though those reports were fabricated/exaggerated either by or at the behest of members of the Bush administration, which were passed onto Congress, and used to mislead both legislators and the American people. Evidence has since come to light that corroborates that and Democratic politicians are trying to take the administration to task for what they see as a concentrated effort to mislead both them and the American people.

Also, fabrication of intelligence reports would certainly not take such a large conspiracy. One order from a high ranking administration official would have been more than sufficient to fabricate reports.