NPI (Northwest Progressive Institute) has a piece up applauding Cantwell for her newly formed position on Iraq.

Maria, like Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman have long been criticized for their support of the war and the troops.  Many northwest Liberals have been increasingly calling for hr head, politically speaking.

After seeing the treatment by Lieberman by the DNC, it seems Maria has suddenly realized that she is playing a big game of chicken with the party over her position, a stare down if you will against the rabid liberal Bush haters.

Monday, she blinked.

Oh, of course it is presented as a clarification, which is political speak for flipping, just as her statements on the minimum wage bill were not lies, they were nuanced.

Sen. Cantwell clarifies her position on Iraq

Senator Maria Cantwell yesterday clarified her position on the Iraq conflict, reaffirming her previous stance that 2006 must be a year of transition and that we need to begin the process of bringing American troops home.

Here’s what the Senator said yesterday:

If the Congress knew then, what we know today, even the Republican leadership would not have brought it to a vote.

Irellevant.  Of course no one would.

If the Bush Administration had done the hard work of building an international coalition to really contain Saddam, there would have been no vote.

If I knew then everything that I know today and the Republican leadership still brought it up for a vote, I would have voted no.

And most people would respect that, but again, that is irellevant.

While mistakes were made in the way Bush took us to war, the Republican led Congress has not done its job of providing aggressive oversight of the Iraq war. In the days ahead, the Congress must use the power of the purse to hold the Bush Administration accountable for more progress towards beginning to bring our troops home this year.

We will always make sure our troops have everything they need to do their jobs well, but we will look at other cost cutting measures.