Of which leading American political figure was the following written in a recent biography?

"X" argued that  "although he had challenged the instigation of the war, he had never voted against supplies for the soldier".

John Kerry?  Nope....

U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln.  According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her current bestseller Team of Rivals, he was "clarifying" his position on the Mexican-American war led by Democrat president James Polk.  Lincoln also voted for a resolution "which stated that the war had been unnecessarily and unconstitutionally initiated by the President". In a speech shortly thereafter he claimed that the "entire matter was from beginning to end, the sheerest deception" by President Polk.

The more things change.....

More on the Mexican-American War here.  Lincoln only served one term as a representative from Illinois.  Maybe Kerry still has a chance if he learns his lessons well.  As Goodwin continues, "This maiden effort (by Lincoln) was not the tone of reasoned debate that later characterized Lincoln's public statements."