Kanjorski Caught On Tape Saying Dems Oversold Ability To End Iraq War

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) was caught on a year-old video clip telling some of his constituents that Congressional Democrats oversold their ability to end the war during the 2006 campaign.

"We really in this last election - when I say we, the Democrats -- I think pushed it as far as we can, the envelope. Didn't say it, but we implied it -- that we, if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war,” Kanjorski said in the video.

“Now anybody who is a good student of government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts -- and people ate it up."

The video of his meeting with constituents, which took place in August 2007, was uploaded to YouTube yesterday.

In a statement, Kanjorski said he was simply sharing “the frustration of my constituents that the war in Iraq continued.”

“I expressed my belief that some Democrats in 2006 overestimated the ability of a single house of Congress to end the war, particularly in the face of an intransigent President and Senate Republicans who are committed to continuing the war,” Kanjorski said.

But the National Republican Congressional Committee immediately pounced on the remarks, and called on Kanjorski to apologize for the year-old remarks.  Kanjorski is facing a competitive race against Hazleton mayor Lou Barletta (R), who has highlighted the issue of illegal immigration in the campaign.
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