Democrats Should Attack Bush, Not MoveOn
Before a single Democrat condemns MoveOn's ad, they should insist that George W. Bush and the Republican Party repudiate the anti-military smears on war heroes that have been the hallmark of Mr. Bush's political career.
Too many Democrats still think Mr. Bush's presidency is on the level. Let's be clear. Mr. Bush is not leading a serious, sober discussion about public discourse during a war. He wants to divide progressives and score political points. We should not let him. Throughout his career he's been willing to tolerate and benefit from vicious lies about military men. We should not concede that he is legitimately angry now.
Mr. Bush is, as he likes to say, a loving guy. But by golly the MoveOn.org ad criticizing Gen. David Petraeus has him madder than Larry Craig in a pay toilet.
When a "reporter" asked him a loaded question about the MoveOn ad (not mentioning, for example, that Petraeus wrote an op-ed in support of the Bush Iraq policy a few weeks before the 2004 election), Bush swung for the fences. But then again, he's always been pretty good at T-Ball - and this was definitely teed up for him.
He slammed MoveOn, repeating language he used Wednesday in a meeting with right-wing columnists, saying that criticizing Petraeus is tantamount to attacking the entire US military, and expressing astonishment that leading Democrats have not attacked MoveOn as courageously as Bush has.
Before Democrats fall all over themselves to agree with a president whose trust and honesty rating from the American people is even lower than his IQ, let's look at the real record of Bush's cowardice when it comes to speaking out against attacks on military heroes:
- In the 2000 South Carolina primary, George W. Bush stood next to a man described as a "fringe" figure - a man who had attacked Bush's own father - at a Bush rally. With Bush applauding him, the man said John McCain "abandoned" veterans. McCain, who was tortured in a North Vietnamese POW camp, was incensed. Five U.S. Senators who fought in Vietnam, including Democrats John Kerry, Max Cleland and Bob Kerrey, condemned the attack and called on Bush to repudiate it. When pressed on it at a debate hosted by CNN's Larry King, Bush meekly muttered that he shouldn't be held responsible for what others say. Even when he's standing next to them at a Bush rally.
- In the 2002 campaign, draft dodger Saxby Chambliss ran an ad with pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, then said Sen. Max Cleland lacked courage. Max Cleland left three limbs in Vietnam as an Army captain. Mr. Bush's political aide, Karl Rove, later refused to disavow the ad, saying, "President Bush and the White House don't write the ads for Senate candidates."
- Also in the 2002 campaign, the PAC for the Family Research Council, a close Bush ally, ran an ad in South Dakota that pictured Sen. Tom Daschle and Saddam Hussein. "What do Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have in common?" the ad asked. Apparently, they both opposed drilling in the Arctic wilderness. First, I had no idea that supporting drilling in the wilderness is a family values issue. Second, I have seen no reporting on the late Iraqi dictator's position on Alaska drilling. But I do know Tom Daschle is an Air Force veteran. Mr. Bush never disavowed the smear.
- But perhaps the worst was what was done to John Kerry. Kerry earned five major medals in combat: the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. And yet supporters of Bush and Cheney decided to smear his war record. The despicable, dishonest Swift Boat attacks alleged that Kerry fabricated reports that earned him the Bronze Star. The Swifties also suggested that Kerry's wounds were insignificant - and that one was even self-inflicted. Kerry's wounds were certainly more serious than Mr. Bush's, who suffered a cut on his finger from popping a beer can while avoiding his duty in the Alabama National Guard. At the 2000 GOP convention, rich, white Republicans were photographed gleefully putting Band-Aids with purple hearts on their chubby cheeks. Mr. Bush refused to condemn the attack - blandly noting he didn't like 527 groups generally - and later nominated one of the men who financed the smear to be Ambassador to Belgium.
Mr. Bush is a coward and a bully. He knows he'll never be the kind of hero his father was. He knows he lacks the heroism of John Kerry or Max Cleland, so he overcompensates with bluster and bravado. In fact, he told bloggers recently that he wishes he were fighting in Iraq. The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin reported that Bush told a blogger in Iraq that he'd like to be carrying a 50-pound pack and an M-16, but, "One, I'm too old to be out there. And, two, they'd notice me."
So Mr. Bush is too old to fight in Iraq, and he was too rich and well-connected to fight in Vietnam. But he's itchin' for a fight with a progressive interest group. Does anyone believe he'd have the same outrage if a right-wing group were attacking war heroes? Of course not.
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Democrats should be doing a lot of things.
This idiot bush, who has the subtlety of a hurricane, moves from day to day openly LYING, THIEVING AND MURDERING for the monetary gain of himself and his GREED FUELED CRONIES.
Now why can't a party that opposes him get the vast majority of America on their side, even when they know they have been duped?
Why indeed?
n.
I too wish George W. Bush could fight in Iraq, or at least Barbara and Jenna Bush. If that were the case, the damn war would have never been started!!!!
The general's reply to SenatorWarner's question: "Do you think the Iraq War has made us safer at home?" said it all.
"I can't say."
So after five years of blood pouring down the streets of Iraq, the general reserves comment about Bush's goal to stop terrorism in that country.
The politicians with wind up their skirts over the Move-On ad' forgot this administration's vicious attacks on John Kerry and Max Cleland, and, John Murtha.
All of those mealy mouthed polticians - Republicans and Democrats alike - never spoke out when Kerry was attacked.
The brazen attack on Jack Murtha went unchallenged by both parties.
What a farce to watch the C-In-C shake his head in disbelief over the ad - a real tame piece - when he supported the attacks on Kerry.
The media didn't show any backbone either, Fox of course whining as usual.
Too bad we didn't have an Edward R. Murrow.
Well said, Mr. Begala. That is called "telling it like it is." Thank you.
What makes the Democratic supporters of the Cornyn resolution appear so disgusting is that the resolution never debates the facts of the ad, but instead lies about it's content. I’ve asked my Sen., Feinstein to apologize for this lie in the resolution.
"Whereas a recent attack through a full-page advertisement in the New York Times by the liberal activist group, Moveon.org, impugns the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces: Now, therefore, be it...'
The ad does no such thing. So Feinstein has attacked speech and joined in a Republican lie about other Dems. You can easily project that Bush will get another blood bath from these SOB's.
Since when have the American people (MoveOn represents over 3 million of them) been silenced by their own representatives? These Democratic Party traitors who supported censoring MoveOn must be voted out of office in 2008.
The American people MUST FIND Congressional candidates who LISTEN to them and vote in support of the people who elected them to office! This is something that MoveOn does BEST: find the BEST candidates and GET OUT THE VOTE!
Shame on you, Ms. Feinstein. I haven't even been able to get through to you because your inbox is so full of complaints about your yes vote on this! You have crossed the line into the realm of this Republican Regime. When will you ever stand up to these fascists?
We should also remember to praise the 25 Senators that voted against the Move On resolution:
Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
Agreement with MoveOn.org's right to publish the ad is not the issue. The unintended consequences were that it alienated a substantial number of voters sympathetic to the Democrat cause and it gave the administration and the Republican party a unique opportunity to distract the public and focus their attention away from the real issues. It was a clumsy attempt to express outrage in a stupid way. The group should have some minders who are more experienced in the power of nuance.
Paul,
As always, you are right again! He is an idiot, coward, and an elementary school playground bully playing on the national field.
You know, the Dems don't even have to necessarily go on the attack when it comes to the Republicans. They just need to go on an all out campaign to expose their lies, incompetence, thuggery, abuse of power, war profiteering, fiscal irresponsibililty, and exploitation.
I couldn't agree more. And why do the Dems and MSM allow this administration to get away with this nonsense??? This whole MoveOn saga was the most audacious load of orchestrated political manipulation I've ever seen. It had NOTHING at all to do with defending the honor of General Patraeus, and everything to do with making political hay and distracting from the real truth. It's disgusting that the MSM allows this kind of cynical political posturing to go unchallenged. George Bush is a hypocrite and bully. How many high ranking military officers, those who either disagreed with his policies or didn't tell him what he wanted to hear, got slimed by the republican attack machine? And of course John Kerry, Max Cleland, and John McCain are the other well known war heros who were also raked over the coals by the right.
I think it was said that a Fox Noise report tee'd up that asshole question for the Prez. You are so right that it is to take the attention off the real issues. That being this war, and the GOP voting against letting the troops having equal time home as they do on the front lines fighting Bush's war. And their continued support for this lameduck Prez and his failed war and all it stands for. Bush wouldn't go to Viet Nam, but doesn't seem to have a problem sending others to Iraq to die for his failed policy.
Conservatives are weenies.
If the opposition launches an attack, they cry foul.
Petraeus is the new political face on the Iraq War. If we had any doubts, Republicans dispelled it when they complained to the Washington Post that the President shouldn't have addressed the nation and broken the Petraus "new face of Iraq" political momentum.
Give me a break. Conservatives used the General for political cover, and were pissed off when move.on called them on it.
Move.on's ad was a frontal attack on the assault on truth. That's why their head's exploded.
Weenies.
It is President Bush that "hired"Betrayus to give the American people a snow job.Anyone watching that political theatre saw a guy with a bunch of ribbons defending the Bush agenda with no regard to the hideous fact of no democracy being possible in Iraq.This man is sending our children to die so the Bush administration can leave office without a defeat on their record.The oil contracts that this administration is hell bent on getting enacted in the Iraqi legislature, wouldn't be needed if our President and our Congress had demanded a complete revamping of our automobile industry.S
The purple hearts John kerry won were legitimate. The rock he shot at could have been a mine. The rice he blew up could have been poisoned. The wood sliver could have been poison oak. The kid he chased and killed might have had a tiny gun or knife in his underwear and had to be killed. When he raced away from where he thought they were shooting at him and then raced back so he could pull a man out of the water 10 seconds before another man would have shows caution and not cowardice though his swift boat was the only one that left the scene.
Bush has done many bad things like help pull us out of the Clinton/Gore recession, fight a real war against terrorists, and send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq to liberate people that should have remained captives in their countries. If Clinton didn't think fighting a real war against terrorists was worth the effort, why did Bush think it was? Besides, Clinton discourage over a million military people enough to force them to leave the military so that we couldn't effectively fight wars. Bush should have known Clinton made it so that we had too few soldiers.
When Hillary becomes President, she should enact national health care no matter how many trillions of dollars it costs or how many thousands of people die prematurely. They should know better than to live so long. She should slap the rich with higher taxes because they should know better than to invest in the economy when they should invest in the government. The Democrats who are rich deserve to be rich even if it is because they take it from others that think they deserve to keep more of their own money. And she should dismantle anti-terrorist programs so that more people can have their civil rights. There are too many people who need to be secure from investigation like the 19 hijackers that her husband allowed to stay in the country instead of deport in 1999.
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