Oregonians at the End of Their Rope with Smith's Misleading Ads

Smith Distorting His Record on the Iraq War

Though he likes to pretend otherwise, Gordon Smith has been a rubber stamp for George Bush on the Iraq war and our veterans have paid the price. Republican Senator Gordon Smith released another misleading ad this week distorting his record supporting the Iraq war and George Bush 90 percent of the time.

"Oregonians are at the end of their rope with Gordon Smith's misleading ads," said House Speaker Jeff Merkley. "Smith failed in his responsibility to investigate the Iraq threat and then criticized people like me who opposed the war from the beginning. Not until six of his Republican colleagues lost reelection in 2006 did Smith decide to speak out and even then refused to take a tough stance to bring our sons and daughters home. America needs leaders who believe in what they fight for and will fight for what they believe in. Some times that is politically inconvenient, but that is what real leadership is all about."

Smith loves to highlight one speech, but here are the facts:

• Smith has supported the agenda of George Bush 90% of the time

• Prior to his "end of the rope" speech, Smith voted at least 17 times to support Bush's war in Iraq, supporting the Bush Administration's War in Iraq for more than five years. [Vote #232, 10/10/02; Vote #235, 10/10/02; Vote #236, 10/10/02; Vote # 237, 10/11/02; Vote #371, 10/1/03; Vote #379, 10/14/03; Vote #380, 10/14/03; Vote #389, 10/16/03; Vote #391, 10/17/03; Vote #392, 10/17/03; Vote #394, 10/17/03; Vote #399, 10/17/03; Vote #130, 6/17/04; Vote #322, 11/15/05; Vote #181, 6/22/06; Vote #182, 6/22/06; Vote #233, 9/6/06; Vote #243, 9/13/06]

• One month after six of his fellow Republicans lost reelection in the fall of 2006, Smith made his big speech.But following his big speech, Smith voted in favor of continuing the war 6 times. [Senate vote #44, 02/05/07; The Oregonian, 2/6/07; Senate vote #167, 5/16/07; Senate vote #181, 5/24/07; Senate vote #345, 09/20/07; Senate vote #362, 10/03/07; Senate vote #437, 12/18/07]

In the days leading up to the "transformative" moment in Gordon Smith's position on the Iraq war, Smith remained a stalwart backer of the president's failed Iraq policy. He chastised opponents of the war, calling their heated rhetoric and calls for withdrawal "a tactical mistake of monumental proportions." [Smith floor speech, Congressional Record, p. S6218, 6/21/06]

In July 2006, Smith boarded a red-eye flight from Portland to Washington, D.C. Rather than sleep, Smith purportedly read Thomas Ricks' book, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Smith said reading the story of the American invasion made him sick to his stomach, and by the time he landed, he knew the mission was pure folly. [George Will, Washington Post, 6/17/07]

Smith allegedly challenged then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on the Iraq war policy and asked Rumsfeld if he'd read Fiasco. But his nascent "opposition" to the war went no further - no legislation, no speeches, nothing for months. [George Will, Washington Post, 6/17/07]

It's likely that the real disaster Smith "woke up" to the fact that in November 2006, six Republican Senators lost their jobs. There was an unpopular war, and an unpopular president.

Between the time when Smith said he read Fiasco and when he made his speech in December 2006, Smith voted as though he still supported the war.

• Smith voted to kill an amendment that would have required the Defense Department and the State Department to report to Congress on whether they thought a civil war had broken out in Iraq, as part of their quarterly reports to Congress. [Senate vote #233, 9/6/06]

• Smith voted against a New Direction in Iraq. Even though he was given an opportunity to express his newly found opposition to the war, Smith opposed an amendment that called for a new direction in Iraq policy. The amendment expressed the sense of the Senate that the Iraqi government should take more responsibility and the president should begin to transition American troops out of Iraq. [Senate vote #243, 9/13/06]

Even conservative Republicans noted the timing of Smith's conversion as being tied to his re-election campaign in 2008. Even in Mississippi, where Bush's approval rating has just inched above 50 percent, Republicans see no public support for more troops.

What is happening inside the president's party is reflected by defection from support for his war policy after November's election by two Republican senators who face an uphill race for re-election in 2008: Gordon Smith of Oregon and Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Coleman announced his opposition to more troops after returning from a trip to Iraq before McCain's.
[Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times, 1/1/07]

Even the editorial board of The Oregonian noted that Smith's conversion placed him more in line with voters heading into his 2008 bid to keep his Senate seat.

His comments strengthen his hand in advance of his 2008 re-election campaign. They would seem to place him closer to the position of voters who kicked his party out of power last month and certainly closer to the sentiments of most of blue-state Oregon.

[Editorial, The Oregonian, 12/9/08]

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Posted August 26, 2008
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