As hard as you might try, you’ll probably never forget the words “I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it.” That awkward phrase was supposed to explain why he’d voted against funding the Iraq war (Kerry wanted to pay for the effort by raising taxes on the wealthy–but Republicans didn’t want to pay for it at all). But instead it haunted Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for months until the day he lost the 2004 election.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=131000