Hillary Caves to Giuliani Pressure, Condemns MoveOn
When the MoveOn controversy first broke and the Republicans were wallowing in mock outrage, Hillary Clinton was the only one of the top-tier 08 Presidentials who didn't fall for the patented flim-flam, didn't walk into their trap and play along with plans to distract from the subject of Iraq and at the same time fragment the Democratic party and dis-empower the base.
While Edwards and Obama could not hit their knees fast enough and genuflect before all that Republican bluster, I assumed it was because Hillary had been down that road before, and knew from experience that there was no way to appease the wingnut in high dudgeon. You can grovel and beg and all it will earn you is the opportunity to do more groveling and begging, and it doesn't make you look either strong or qualified for leadership.
Quite predictably, once the Republicans had bullied the Democrats into denouncing their own (and yes, ladies and gentlemen, with over 3 million members MoveOn is your own, like it or not) they began the process of trying to make the "Democrat" party the party of MoveOn. George Bush did it himself, laying a trail of bread crumbs even the Snickers obsessed and the fashion challenged could follow.
Then Rudy began his jihad, saying that Clinton was "attacking" Petraeus by not denouncing MoveOn. Thanks to the sheer naitive of all the Democrats who have not yet internalized the notion that you just don't repeat Republican talking points and reinforce a larger narrative that will only be used against you and your party at large, no matter what, Clinton became low hanging fruit.
And yesterday, in a really disappointing moment, she caved:
"I think it's important that we end these kinds of attacks on the patriotism of those who serve our country," Clinton said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program. "This is not a debate about an ad. This is a debate about the direction we should pursue in Iraq."
The McCarthy-esque language of Barbara Boxer's amendment seems to have calcified into conventional wisdom within the party. Just tell everybody to shut up and you can appear "above" partisanship.
The Senators who condemned MoveOn do not seem to realize that it's their job to protect free speech, not tell people how and when to exercise it.
The only one who got it right was Russ Feingold, who voted "no" on both the Boxer and Cornyn amendments. Everyone else? "F's" all around.
They need to stay after class and read the constitution.
Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com.
Follow Jane Hamsher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/janehamsher
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what were you expecting from a closet republican
Welcome to Karl Rove's "Twilight Zone" reality. For over six years he's been building an alternate universe where up is down, black is white and evil is good.
The American society is now adjusted to this reality and swallows the Koolaide willingly as their eyes glaze over and they march in lock step to the Emperor's orders.
It's time to WAKE UP AMERICA!. The clock is about to strike midnight. Your free land has been taken over by thugs who have created this unreal world. Do something about it now or tell your grandchildren how their country USED to be.
it's not all about the Iraq War. There is a whole country here too.
the Clintons are bad for America
http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/clinton/clinton.html
I don't agree that Hillary caved. But she did miss an opportunity to be bold and go on the offensive.
What she was doing was in fact the old Republican tactic of evading the issues by expanding the argument.
Remember when Bush was asked to condemn the lies about John Kerry and avoided the question by expanding the argument to all independent ads even those that were truthful.
That is in Bush's case he needed to be vague because while the independent attacks on Kerry were lies the independent attacks on Bush were truthful.
Hillary was attempting to expand the argument about attacks against war heroes such as the lies about Max Cleland and Kerry. But she lacked the courage to specifically name those ads and their attackers.
That Saxby Chambliss who with the support of Bush was responsible for the lies against Cleland was not specifically named by Hillary in her response made that response weak and wimpy.
The lesson is if you want to use Republican tactics you must have Republican boldness especially when unlike when Republicans use those tactics, truth is on your side.
I am very disappointed that nobody seems to point out that the MoveOn ad is factually correct. General Petraeus was in constant communication with the WH and, while he wrote his report, he was part of the coordinated effort to sell the surge. Nobody has called him a traitor or questioned his patriotism. If a soldier acts like a politician then he needs to be held to account. Won't somebody please stand up for us who believe that the illegal Iraq conflict was and continues to be a tragic error and we need to have someone else take over the security mission even if we lose the oil source.
This infantile notion that a uniform shields you from all criticism will be the death of us yet. Look at Chile - at Pinochet. He was a general; but that didn't prevent his becoming a monster who ordered countless numbers of his countrymen tortured and killed, did it? Whomever we set on a pedestal above all the rest of us - becomes in time our greatest nemesis. How dare any thinking human being tell us we have no right to dishonor a soldier; or tell us we must bow down before his super-patriotism! Petraeus: Betray Us. It says exactly what needed to be said. Soldiers are not gods - they're humans. Oh, and by the way (BTW in blogenese): putting soldiers on pedestals is a convenient way for us to forget that they're flesh and blood and can suffer and die because we haven't quite made up our minds if their lives and worth a damn. Duty-honor-country: time to set that in the same museum as God is my co-pilot as I bomb the hell out of my enemies. And move on to the 21st century.
The MoveOn ad was dumb. It provided the reactionaries with a distraction. Hillary was right and smart. Among other things, decent people don't like to see a person's name mocked. A smart ad could have pointed out how Bush-Cheney hide behin the general's skirt. It could have brought up another general, Shinsecki - how somehow, this general's wisdom was disregarded. People like Frank Rich and Mark Shields thought the ad was counterproductive. I'm delighted that Hillary and Babs (Boxer) displayed pragmatic intelligence.
It's amazing that Democrats actually want to nominate Hillary. Her platform is identical to Bush's, yet you slam Bush on a daily basis. Approximately 70% of Democrats AND Republicans agree on a few issues. We want out of Iraq, we DON'T want amnesty for illegals, and we want health care that's affordable, even if it means raising taxes. Now here's a concept. Ignore most of the media since they've already told you that Hillary was elected. Vote in the primaries against ALL congressional incumbents. That way nobody has to cross party lines, and maybe the electorate can start sending a message. WE THE PEOPLE need to take back control. The people in Washington now completely ignore us because nobody ever tells them "NO!" We need to wake up, get smart, and kick ALL these lying, snake-in-the-grass cowards out of Washington.
We must put a proper focus on this. Hillary did not cave in to Giuliani or the Republicans or Bush on the subject of the Move-On ad. She caved into the lobbyists who are supporting her campaign. Hillary knows full well who supports Move-On and what they stand for. The majority of Americans would be in complete agreement with the ad for they want the troops home. Those who provide the major financial support for her campaign want her to condemn Move-On. Those are the one's who have profited greatly from Bush's tax breaks (the top 1%) and those who profit from producing the war materiel and personnel for Iraq who have nudged her and she quickly responded. Wake up America, it is not the people who rule.
I am disappointed with Senator Clinton's response regarding the Moveon.org Petraeus - Betrayus add. Questioning the rhetoric of our governing body should never be a cause for concern from any American. The Bush administrations track record speaks for itself.
The add had exactly the effect it was intended to have. It continued and heightened the national discourse on whether the dear General's "facts" were expression of fact or just his favorite ones. Keep in mind that one of MoveOn's stated purpose is ending the unjust war in Iraq, and bringing American troops home, out of harms way.
It did permit the Republican talking heads to momentarily distract America from the real issues, by generating a little "fear factor" regarding the impugning of the General's integrity.
If you ask a barber if you need a haircut, chances are he will say yes. If you ask a used car salesman if you need to buy a used car, chances are good, he will say yes. I put the General's report in the same category.
I went to the MoveOn.org website and read the reports from the other reporting agencies, and the rationale they presented pertaining to what was going on in Iraq. Actual pdf copies of the reports are available for downloading. I also clicked through to the articles from the other news sources that were used for their rationale. There is definitely some interesting reading for inquiring minds.
I challenge anyone that has not done so to actually take the time to check out the real facts. Look at the actual reports, and do your own research. Download and read the actual NY Times add. Then make up your own mind. Decide for youself if MoveOn.org was improper in their "attack" on the integrity of General Petraeus, the man appointed by the Bush administration to carry out President Bush's "surge". Decide for yourself if "the surge" is actually achieving the previously stated objectives as outlined by the score card set down to measure it's effectiveness by Congress.
I asked my senator, James Webb of Virginia, why he condemned the MoveOn ad. I asked him if he has likewise condemned the fact that, by some estimates, 1.2 million innocent Iraq civilians have been murdered in the war. All the Senators seem to bow to a man in uniform festooned with medals. To me he too is a war criminal, having caused acts against humanity which should be tried by the International Criminal Court, if the US had the guts to ratify it. Hillary's action is another reason I cannot support her.
When will Democrats ever wake up and see that even when a pro-war organization (Roll Over dot com) says this war is wrong, and the elected Democrats denounce them, it's time for everyone who is anti-war to quit the DP immediately. You're only enabling the enablers of war.
Just what don't you people get? MoveOns ad was a complete and total disaster. They obviously need some adults over there. Hillary had no choice but to cave. But she should have never been put in that situation to begin with. MoveOns ad put here there. It was their fault, not hers. They say something stupid - true or not - and it put her tit in a wringer.
And for the people who are looking for a person with "principals" to lead the Dems, have you honestly not figured out that getting elected is 99% marketing??? Hillary would be he most liberal president we've had in 50 years. But she can't get elected if she shows that now. Let her play W's game of pretending to be a moderate. We all know that was total BS, but it got him into the oval office. Had he shown his true colors, he would have gotten crushed. It's the same with Hillary. She has done an outstanding job of winning over moderates and was absolutely correct in not letting the well meaning but totally immature bunch at MoveOn screw that up for her.
Obama and his loose cannon wife have about as much chance of winning the presidency as Santa Claus does. Hillary is our best hope. But keep giving her more crap and then wonder how Guilianni managed to get elected. Grow TF up, everyone.
hillary knows there is too much oil in iraq to leave it there.
the wealth of america in the future depends on that oil and lots of it.
blood for oil means nothing to these people it is about power and money and oil is both.
we have become an imperialist nation and most voters think changing parties will make us less of imperialists.
hillary is positioning herself for the 2008 election not the primaries.
appease the middle of the road demos and the left will have to vote for her or a neo con.
she's betting the left anti war group will vote for her.
by the way that middle of the road demos are upset because we are losing in iraq not that the war was illegal.
most americans have already decided that might makes right and every decision washington makes should be for the benefit of americans.
how many americans are that concerned about the blood and death of iraqis?
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