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Stupid move by moveon.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296305,00.html
MoveOn.org's Attack Ad on Petraeus Strikes Republicans' Nerves
Monday, September 10, 2007
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WASHINGTON — An strongly-worded advertisement targeting Gen. David Petraeus by the liberal antiwar group MoveOn.org has touched the nerves of Bush administration officials and congressional Republicans.
The full-page ad in The New York Times was timed to appear on the day that Petraeus — the top U.S. military commander in Iraq — gives a seminal report to Congress alongside U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.
The report, mandated in a troop funding bill earlier this year, is on military and political progress in Iraq since President Bush announced the plan to boost troop levels last January. The officials are expected to argue for maintaining the increased troop levels through the spring, a recommendation hotly contested by war opponents.
"I resent the comments of those who have sat comfortably in their air-conditioned offices, thousands of miles away from the firefights and the roadside bombs, and tried their Washington best in recent days to impugn the general’s good name," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement delivered from the Senate floor on Monday.
Political Jockeying Begins on Capitol Hill Ahead of Petraeus Testimony Congressional Testimony Is Tough Road for War-Time Generals Al-Sadr Restructuring His Mahdi Army Militia Biden: Petraeus is Dead Wrong on Iraq Transcript: Sens. Feinstein, Graham on 'FOX News Sunday' Bush Officials Stand Up for Iraq War Policy Iraq Officials Warn Terror Violence Could Spread The ad features a large headline under a picture of the general that reads: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" It goes on to say, "Cooking the books for the White House: General Petraeus is a military man constantly at war with the facts."
The ad points to statements from Petraeus such as, "We have achieved progress," regarding the troop surge this year, but says the war is failing, and criticizes the Defense Department for adopting reporting rules that MoveOn says show a rosier picture of Iraqi casualties than reality.
White House spokesman Tony Snow dismissed the ad Monday morning as a an attempt to smear the general before his testimony, and called it "boorish" and "childish."
Republican lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill also decried the ad as tasteless and partisan.
Sen. John Ensign, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said a failure of Democrats to denounce the ad would mean they have decided re-election is more important than "moving our country forward" or being fair to Petraeus.
"Today, ostensibly on behalf of National Democrats, Democrat front group MoveOn.org is calling a unanimously confirmed United States General a liar and betrayer of the public trust. Apparently the prospect of campaign funds is enough of an incentive for Senate Democrats to stand idly by while a respected General is maligned before he has even presented his report to Congress,said Ensign of Nevada.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said: “It’s repugnant, but unfortunately not surprising, to see MoveOn.org launch this de able ad campaign against General Petraeus."
Kyl pointed out that Petraeus, a Vietnam veteran, was confirmed as head of Multinational Forces in Iraq unanimously in the Senate earlier this year — an 81-0 vote — and called on Democrats to either take up MoveOn's war stance or support the general they voted to confirm.
“We’re beginning to see real, measurable progress in Iraq since the increased troop levels earlier this year, and despite this fact, MoveOn.org has chosen to engage in slanderous and partisan personal attacks on the commander of our troops on the ground. Because MoveOn.org seems unable to contest the facts, it has instead chosen to attack the messenger because it doesn’t like the message," Kyl said.
Fellow Arizona Republican, Sen. John McCain, issued a statement calling the ad a "McCarthyite attack" and "de able."
"This is a man who has devoted his life in service to our nation and has defended America in many battles over many years," said McCain, also a White House contender, calling on Democrats to join him in condemning the ad.
White House hopeful Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., issued a statement calling MoveOn.org a "left wing anti-military organization," and called on Democratic leaders to rein in the group.
"General Petraeus is an American soldier. His professional life is a reflection of adherence to duty, honor and country. For the Democrat leadership to allow this slur by their ‘Move On’ allies to stand would be a slap in the face of every member of the Armed Forces. I call on the leadership of the Democrat Party to denounce this advertisement and disassociate themselves from it," said Hunter, who is the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
Asked whether there was willingness on Democrats' part to publicly condemn the group, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman sought to downplay the criticism of Petraeus — a target of attack by Reid last week — to focus more on whether the troop surge is achieving what it set out to do.
"The issue isn't General Petraeus," Reid spokesman Jim Manley told FOX News. "He is a good man and a fine soldier. The problem is that he was brought in to administer a war that had already been badly mismanaged by President Bush."
"Serious questions have been raised, and will continue to be raised, about the veracity of some of the statistics that will be cited by the White House and General Petraeus. As General Petraeus himself said during his confirmation hearing in January, the objective of the surge was to provide Iraq's national government time to reach political reconciliation, and by every independent assessment made so far, that simply hasn't happened," Manley said.
By late morning, MoveOn issued a statement defending the ad's accuracy.
"We stand by our ad — every major independent study and many major news organizations cast serious doubt on Petraeus' claims," said Eli Pariser, executive director MoveOn.org's political action committee.
Pariser's challenged lawmakers supporting the war to refute him and cited several news articles in defending the advertisement. He also noted a new Gallup poll out Monday that, he said, shows Americans expect "a biased report that reflects what the Bush administration wants the public to believe."
The poll, however, also shows that Americans trust Petraeus' recommendations more than others, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Bush and congressional Republicans and Democrats. Sixty-three percent of respondents trusted Petraeus either a great deal or a fair amount; 58 percent rated the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well; 16 percent rated the president in the same terms; and 12 percent rated congressional Democrats as trustworthy.
The Sept. 7-8 telephone poll of 1,028 U.S. adults showed that 53 percent of respondents believe the report will reflect what the Bush administration wants the public to believe, and 40 percent believe it will be "an independent and objective report on the current situation in Iraq." The poll had a 3 percent margin of error.
The GOP was deathly silent during the smearvets campaign..in fact fox news d that story for weeks on end..
poor little cry babies..
Now on that note I don't think Petreaus is being untruthful..
Stupid move by moveon.
Then I don't get your comparison between MoveOn.org's attack on General Petraeus and the Swiftboat Veteran's for Truth's attack on John Kerry.
Are you saying John Kerry was being truthful in the way General Petraeus is being truthful? That Kerry's bid for the presidency was as grave and weighty as the fate of 160,000 U.S. soldiers? And, if so, instead of rolling your eyes at Republican outrage (although I believe the outrage won't be confined to Republicans this time) why not attack MoveOn.org with the same ferocity with which the Swiftboat Vets were attacked?
General Petraeus was confirmed 81-0 with 19 not voting. You can't get a Democratic lawmaker to call him a liar because they handed him the keys and said he was the right man for the job a mere 8 months ago. All of the current criticism pre-dates Petraeus and by all accounts, Iraq is becoming more secure and -- due to his leadership -- quickly becoming a major military victory.
Moveon.Org has taken the rhetoric that Democrats with faces and cons uents have merely danced around (Schumer and his "in spite of the surge" nonsense -- Biden and his criticism of a report he had yet to hear) and made it explicit. In the advertisement in yesterday's New York Times, Moveon.Org brayed in its headline, “General Petraeus or General Betray us? Cooking the books for the White House.”
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Also take note of this quote from Friday’s Politico uttered by a courageously anonymous Democratic Senator: “No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV. The expectation is the outside groups will do this for us.”
I KNOW, I KNOW. The modern liberal establishment just can’t understand anything that isn’t done purely for political gain. They can’t even imagine a man in David Petraeus' position being anything other than a lackey for the Bush White House, eagerly aiding the quest to bolster Halliburton’s stock price by any means necessary. A person who cares about something other than partisan politics, anything other than partisan politics, is a creature beyond their comprehension.
This is the price of leftists' politics of winnerism. Markos Moulitsas understands the limits of publicly practicing this kind of politics, having learned a hard lesson in this regard when he made his infamous “Screw Them” comment three years ago. But his duller fellow travelers have no idea how their countrymen will perceive them. The people at Moveon.Org don’t understand how noxious the suggestion is that Petraeus would willingly and eagerly sell out the 160,000 men and women who he leads. After all, if you’re a Daily Kos diarist or a MoveOn.org director, it’s all about politics. Everything is about politics, all the time.
Practically everytime this conversation comes up, someone on the left will invariably ask how Republicans are supposed to stand by this war effort and still prevail in 2008.
Guess what: They aren’t. 2008 may be a disaster for Republicans at the ballot box. But, the rank and file of the Republican party, expect Republicans to risk their comfortable offices in order to see the war in Iraq through to a satisfactory conclusion and to continue the war against the forces of Jihad. Let the political chips fall where they may.
The Democratic Party, through its conspiracy with Moveon.Org to slander the man leading 160,000 American troops in harm’s way, has shown its true colors. Characteristically idiotic, they’ve chosen to do so at a time when the country is watching.
Birds of a feather flock together. Chump and GGA. Your
favorite Rep. from Ca. who called him a liar before he even
started his report. What a bunch of losers.
I said it was a stupid move, you dumbass. Can't you understand English?
And show me where I said who my favorite congressman is.
Your words do that. Each and everyday. We are wrong
they are right. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure
that out.
I just said they are wrong, idiot.
With words.
Damn, you are being especially stupid today.
Talking to stupid people like you, stupid......
it was a dumb move. period. but wait to see how these reports differ from other offices' reports, then ask yourself: "What happens to Generals that don't echo the positon of Pres. Bush?
I don't have a favorite ray.. isn't it time for your nap?
did you notice that i stated that i didn't think petreaus was being untruthful?
Petraeus is different. He's so popular that he takes the heat off of Bush.
That's a good point, but, it doesn't support their previous assertion that AQ will take over if we leave, just after claiming that "it's because of the locals that AQ is failing".
I guess they'll never be expected to verify the truth in their report campared to other administrative reports.
boutons should be agreeing with moveon.org right about now . . .
The AQ takeover scenario is just a bumper sticker for the administration. The actual possibilities for a post withdrawal Iraq are much more complex and daunting than that. Petraeus and Corker didn't get into those possibilities much in their opening statements, and I doubt anyone asked for specifics later.
I'm really in smeagol's head, he's even thinking like me.
For the most part no.I'm really in smeagol's head, he's even thinking like me.
Funny, I remember Bush condemning all advertisements but such groups, including the 'vets and asking Kerry to do the same. Kerry declined and demanded that Bush only condemn those groups targetting Kerry.
The GOP was deathly silent during the smearvets campaign..in fact fox news d that story for weeks on end..
poor little cry babies..
Now on that note I don't think Petreaus is being untruthful..
Both Dems and Reps are de able crybabies. Bleh.
Petraeus has a serious credibility problem and it's about time someone called him on it...
13 May 2003
U.S. Troops Find Second Biological Weapons Trailer Near Mosul
Global Security(Defense Department Report) (520) Washington -- Troops from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division - - stationed in northern Iraq and headquartered in Mosul -- have foundwhat military authorities believe may be a second mobile biological weapons laboratory, says the division commander.
"The suspected mobile biological agent production lab found on 9 May in our area was found by one of our infantry units during operations at the al-Kindi Rocket and Missile Research and Development Center," Major General David Petraeus said May 13 during a briefing from Mosul. "Our own chemical section looked at the trailer and confirmed it as a trailer that was very close to identical to the first trailer that was found by Special Forces southeast of here last week."
Petraeus said he spoke with experts May 13, and they have a "reasonable degree of certainty that this is in fact a mobile biological agent production trailer."
Of course those biological weapons labs Petraeus claims to have found were not biological weapons labs at all, and it appears that he probably knew that was the case before he went to the media to announce the "find".
Washington PostOn May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."
The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.
A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.
...
Spokesmen for the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the specific findings of the technical report because it remains classified. A spokesman for the DIA asserted that the team's findings were neither ignored nor suppressed, but were incorporated in the work of the Iraqi Survey Group, which led the official search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The survey group's final report in September 2004 -- 15 months after the technical report was written -- said the trailers were "impractical" for biological weapons production and were "almost certainly intended" for manufacturing hydrogen for weather balloons.
And so now the man who told us that a weather balloon station was actually a biological weapons lab is supposed to be our "credible source" that is going to tell us whether or not the "surge" is working.
For the media to present this guy as having even an ounce of credibility is shameful. Petraeus is a liar. Period. There is a reason Bush choose Petraeus for this job, and if you think Bush chose Petraeus for his objectivity then you don't know who Bush is. Petraeus was chosen for this job because he is more than willing to lie to the public and present the case Bush wants him to present.
We can not fall for the lies that are going to be fed to us over the next week, it is our duty to call Petraeus on his bull . If Petraeus is not forced to explain why he told the media that biological weapons labs were found in Iraq then our Congress is not doing it's job.
Sorry Dan, Petraeus was chosen because he was one of the few commanders who remembered what the others forgot or never learned about counterinsurgency. None of this preliminary, take-someone-else's word for it report about Iraqi RVs changes that. If this is the worst thing you can find about Petreaus, he is obviously the best commander we have had in this war.
So ads by a political group attacking active military personnel is exactly the same as ads by a group of military veterans attacking a Presidential candidate? You can't see any distinction there at all?
The GOP was deathly silent during the smearvets campaign..in fact fox news d that story for weeks on end..
poor little cry babies..
How about no false and misleading ads against anyone? The smearvets were a disgrace that effectively gave Bush the election. So in theory the smearvets affected our foreign policy since 2004 by attacking Kerry. They could be responsible for hundreds of GI deaths because of their false and misleading ads. Pretty serious don't you think?
are you calling the vets who served liars?
Well I won't call anyone I don't personally know a liar. With that being said there were quite a few folks who were present during Kerry's time in Vietnam who refute the accusations of the smear vets. They certainly got put themselves in the middle of a big mess that affected a presidential election so they deserve to get what happens to them. I don't want to single out only republicans on this because many people on the left do the same thing ( see cindy sheehan).
He doesn't agree with moveon, he takes his marching orders
from movon and daily kos. As does most of the other
dimm-o-craps.
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