58% of all Democrats voted against Iraq Invasion in 2002
Yet people still say things like “Oh everybody thought there were WMD and that we had to invade. We were all duped.” That is flat out not true. Here is my research into how many and who voted against the war at the time.
“Although given little public credit at the time, or since, many of the 126 House Democrats who spoke out and voted against the October 2002 resolution that gave President Bush authority to wage war against Iraq have turned out to be correct in their warnings about the
problems a war would create.”
source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR
2006120301108_pf.html
“In the early morning hours of Oct. 11, 2002, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 77-23 giving President Bush the authority to use military force in Iraq. Forty-eight of the Senate’s 49 Republicans voted yes; only Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee dissented. Of the 51 Democrats including the independent from Vermont), 29 voted yes and 22 voted no.”
source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7275360
So in total, 148 out of a possible 257 Democrat congress members voted against the war. That comes out to 58% of all Democrats voted against it!
Actual Senate and House Iraq Vote Breakdowns:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/
roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=2&vote=00237
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll455.xml
Barbara Lee story that is sometimes confused with the Iraq War vote:
“On September 15 (2001), the US Congress approved a resolution authorizing President Bush to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11. The measure passed 98-0 in the Senate and 420-1 in the House. The lone dissenting vote was a colonel’s daughter and longtime maverick from California — Democrat Barbara Lee.
“I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States,” Lee said on the House floor on Sept. 15. “There must be some of us who say, ‘Let’s step back for a moment and think through the implications of our actions today — let us more fully understand the consequences.'” ”
Source: http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2001/09/lee.html