The YDD Annex

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The MoveOn Ad

According to TPM Election Central, the MoveOn ad (note: .pdf) that refers to Gen. Petraeus as "General Betray-us" has upset GOPers so much that they are attempting a House resolution condemning it. As one who has himself used the "Betray-us" pun... condemning Bush, not Petraeus... I feel a need to respond.

Is Gen. Petraeus a traitor? Of course not. His judgment in this matter is execrable, but I have no sense whatsoever that his is a willful act against the interest of the U.S., or any sort of aid and comfort to our enemies. That's simple BS. If you want arguably traitorous actions, look to the good General's boss, the one occupying the Oval Office.

Is Petraeus lying? I don't think so. He is probably seriously misguided himself, and he is being the "good soldier" in following what I am certain are Bush's orders to say what he said.

Is the ad tasteless? IMHO, yes, it is.

Does anyone saying anything critical of any public figure deserve a congressional resolution of condemnation? HELL, NO! Have the bastards never heard of free speech? Oh, right... many of them view the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as "quaint."

Count me as a constitutional fundamentalist if you will, but I don't think the GOP believes in fundamental American values anymore... you know, the ones embedded in that "scrap of paper," as Bush is reported to have called it.

2 Comments:

  • At 9/11/2007 9:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Steve, if Petraeus isn't lying, he's too incompetent to zip his fly.

    He's a general officer. Military officers don't spin, they lie. That's the black and white way things are in the military.

    Shading things for the civilian leadership has no part in "Duty, Honor, Country." If you can't speak truthfully, you don't speak.

    Most of the "fruit salad" on the man's jacket are "I was there" medals. He has one combat tour leading a division. His second trip was a staff job training the Iraq military and police, and we know how well that went.

    He's an intelligent man, but that doesn't make him a leader. He has done too many political things to be trusted.

     
  • At 9/11/2007 10:03 AM, Blogger Steve Bates said…

    Bryan, I'll take your word for Petraeus's status and behavior. I'm not happy with him myself. I'm not so much defending him on the merits as addressing the MoveOn ad against him.

    I don't like the ad because it distracts from larger issues at a time at which we don't need the distraction. As demonstrated, the distraction has worked in the GOP's favor. I was actually a supporter of MoveOn for a while back in the days of the Clinton impeachment, but dropped my support because of stuff like this.

    That said... MoveOn has every right, one might argue even a duty, to call it the way they see it. And they have the right to have their say, unmolested by Congress. Of course the GOPers in Congress have their right, too, but face it, a political condemnation by congressional resolution is on a whole different level from an attack ad.

    There's also the (expletive deleted) asymmetry: you just know the GOPers would be running ads far worse than this one if the situation were reversed.

     

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