Kerry was on Letterman last night and once again he explained his vote concerning this Iraq war. As he has done so in the past, Kerry stated he voted to give Bush the authority to got to war, but he did not directly vote for invading Iraq. There is a legitimate difference.

An analogy would involve a teenage daughter and her parents. The parents agree to allow her to go out for the evening with friends. Hours later, they receive a phone call from the police. Apparently, their teenager went a bit too far with the partying and experienced a run-in with the law.

The parents granted permission to their daughter but once having left the house, they had no control over what she would eventually do. Obviously, they expected her to behave and use good judgment, but again it was ultimately out of their hands.

It's perhaps too much to ask that the GOP crowd understand this somewhat nuanced position given they prefer everything in black & white terms. Nonetheless, Kerry, the parent, should have known better than to grant authority to an irresponsible, mischievous, and dishonest teenager in GW.