Holy Joe Bewails Free Speech

/in , /by

Petraeus8_3MoveOn has a hot new ad in today’s NYT pointing out that Petraeus’ statements differ from all the known metrics out there. And boy has it made Sanctimonious Joe pissed. Not surprisingly, Joe is trying to call in those chits he got for agreeing to caucus with the Democrats in January.

The personal attack on Gen. David Petraeus launched today byMoveon.org is an outrageous and despicable act of slander that everymember of the Congress — Democrat and Republican — has a solemnresponsibility to condemn.

General Petraeus has served hiscountry honorably and selflessly for over thirty-five years. He hasrisked his life in combat and accepted lengthy deployments away fromhis family to defend our nation and its citizens from its enemies. Forthis, he deserves the respect, admiration, and gratitude of everyAmerican — not the disgraceful slander of Moveon.org.

Ithas been widely reported that Moveon.org has worked closely over thepast months with many members of the Democratic Party in coordinatingtheir efforts to derail the strategy that General Petraeus has beenleading in Iraq.

[snip]

As a member of the Senate Democratic caucus, I therefore call on SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi todenounce Moveon.org in no uncertain terms for its vile attack on Gen.Petraeus. General Petraeus deserves no less.

Mind you, Joe doesn’t address the central allegation that MoveOn makes–that Petraeus is lying to Congress. Which he’d have to do to prove his own accusations about slander. Rather, Sanctimonious Joe says we’ve got to honor Generals, even if they lie to us.

If I were MoveOn, I’d lodge a legal complaint against Joe for alleging that MoveOn and the Democrats are violating restrictions on 527s and PACs.

  3. Bill Melater says:

    Sanctimonious SOB should be reminded of a saying out in the real world: â€You’re only as good as your last job.â€

    Applied to General Betrayus, this would be revised to: â€You’re only as honest as the last time you told the truth.â€

  4. Anonymous says:

    one-word edit;
    â€If I were C.R.E.W. I’d lodge a legal complaint against Joe for alleging that MoveOn and the Democrats are violating restrictions on 527s and PACs.â€

    Just a suggestion…

  5. Anonymous says:

    It’s a stupid, counterproductive, distracting ad.

    The focus oughtta be on the numbers, but the noise about this stupid ad will practically drown it out.

    Yes, that’s because the GOP is immoral, noisy, and fact-averse, and because the media sucks. But that’s the lay of the land.

  6. phred says:

    Elvis, I disagree. MoveOn and the lefty blogosphere have been trying with limited success to point out that there is a lot of fiction where the WH and the punditocracy declare facts. With this ad MoveOn will draw a lot of attention to the discrepancies. Yes, Holy Joe & the Rethugs will wail and scream about how mean we all are, but that will give progressives a very big megaphone to discuss the facts of the matter. The question remains however, whether they will make use of the megaphone that’s just been handed to them. I’m guessing Pelosi and Reid will yet again crumble rather than take advantage of the gift they have just been handed.

  7. rukus says:

    Applied to General Betrayus, this would be revised to: â€You’re only as honest as the last time you told the truth.â€

    Shouldn’t this be: You are only as honest as the last time that you told a lie.

    As with these people, they tell a lot of lies—why ever believe anything that they say? Even if they do tell the truth every once in a blue moon. (Actually I don’t even think this.)

    If you don’t lie, then you are honest.

    Eh, I don’t know why I am arguing this.

  8. Maalox says:

    Looks like Joe is hiding his crotch behind the lectern again. Must have pissed his pants again. He gets a little cranky when other folks see or smell his urine.

    He’ll make a great spokesmodel for Depends Undergarments someday.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Unfortunately, as a realist, I have to concede that Elvis is right. MoveOn can try to get free publicity in a way that their experts know will make it about the concrete distortions of the Pentagon and the partisan record of General Petraeus rather than about whether they are important as a progressive mouthpiece.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Move-On is appealing to their base… We, the People.

    Which is not some â€lefty†collection of closet commies, it is all of us.

    No doubt, many of Move On’s managers proudly claim the â€Lefty†label, but the essence of the movement isn’t right or left or center, Move On has NEVER been about â€lefty politics,†it has ALWAYS been about peace and justice.

    When did those become â€Lefty†concepts?

  16. pseudonymous in nc says:

    As a member of the Senate Democratic cau–

    Oh, fuck off, Joe. Whatever happened to your petty cash fund last year, anyway?

    Let the fucker jump. Heck, kick him off his committee and go to sharing chairs with the GOP. His committee is a joke as it is.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Agreed with Elvis and norbizness. In such a target-rich environment, that was a stupid targeting decision, especially since the public thinks we should start leaving Iraq, regardless of whether or not we’re making military progress. The public appears to respect Petreus, but they don’t give a crap about his report. Stuff like the MoveOn ad just help the GOP to legitimize a report that currently isn’t likely to have any effect at persuading the public that we should stay in Iraq.

  18. Anonymous says:

    â€General Petraeus has served his country honorably and selflessly for over thirty-five years.â€

    But today, instead, he served his commander in chief, not the American People.

    Shades of Alberto Gonzales!

    Protect the President, not the Constitution.

  19. P J Evans says:

    The public appears to respect Petreus

    The public respected MacArthur and LeMay, too, right up until it became clear they were putting the country second. H*ll, they probably respected Arnold (Benedict, not Hap).

  20. Anonymous says:

    So should we spend time and attention attacking a guy they respect but who isn’t persuading them to change their beliefs and desire us to stay longer in Iraq, or should we just brush past him and not elevate his standing in the public eye?

  21. oldtree says:

    Old dull Joe has forgotten he works for us. He is demanding the end to free speech, and yet still called a democrat? still given a committee seat? this is insane Mr. Reid. End it.

  22. Sally says:

    The word went forth: Trash the MoveOn ad. The functionaries are in full throat–Hunter, Ros-?, Gergen, Matthews–with more to follow. One must never forget the sensibilities of the Republic thugs and their minions. How sweet it would be if the right’s vocal indignation over â€Betray Us†serves to highlight the truth of the facts presented in the ad.

  23. Anonymous says:

    It has been widely reported that Moveon.org has worked closely over the past months with many members of the Democratic Party in coordinating their efforts to derail the strategy that General Petraeus has been leading in Iraq.

    So is Joe really accusing the Democratic Party of deliberately undermining a military effort? Isn’t that called treason? Does Joe Lieberman really think the Democratic Party is committing treason?

  24. P J Evans says:

    Chris @ 16:28

    Yes.
    The GOP has said so many times, back into Bush 41’s time, so it must be true. [/sarcasm]

  25. Neil says:

    The personal attack on Petraeus’ veracity bumps it up a notch. Usually, this approach causes the underlying issue to be given short coverage and the hullabaloo more than it merits.

    In this case, you’ve got to wonder if Sanctimonious Joe, defnder of military defenders, and his Republican brethren haven’t just picked a fight with the 65% majority that already wonders if Bush has Petreaus under order to sell the war, again.

    It’s rich that whimpering Joe is the man to step forward to protect Gneral Petraeus’ honor.

  26. pseudonymous in nc says:

    The word went forth: Trash the MoveOn ad.

    And remember, Osama is just a lefty blogger, therefore lefty bloggers are terrorists. And so on.

    This is a Cheney’s Lesbian Daughter moment for 2007.

  27. TeddySanFran says:

    I’m amazed Joe called it the DemocratIC party. He probably had to edit his GOP talking points to add the suffix throughout.

    Fucking shill. Bought and paid for with Rove/Sembler cash.

  28. masaccio says:

    I sent Harry Reid an e-mail saying that if Reid had stood up to the administration Petraeus would not have been put in a position to lie to all of us about progress in Iraq.

  29. TCinLA says:

    Calling this Perfumed Prince from Versailles-on-the-Potomac – as my old friend David Hackworth used to call these scum – â€General Betrayus†is exactly right.

    The bastard betrayed his oath as a West Point Cadet: â€A cadet will neither lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate among us those who do†– this obviously-now-quaint bit of â€honor†nowadays being a career killer for those who desire high rank in the Imperial Wehrmacht – as well as his oath as an Officer to â€defend and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…â€

    General Petraeus is a â€good general†the way Erwin Rommel was a â€good general†– happy to support The Leader so long as he was winning.

    Above the rank of Major, the American Military is mostly run by carreerist war criminals and has been for 43 years (at least) by my own experience as a participant in The Tonkin Gulf â€Incident†– the lie that began the war in Vietnam. They’re about as â€honorable†in comparison with the Army that won the Second World War as Caesar’s Legions were in comparison with those who won the First and Second Punic Wars.

  30. desertwind says:

    God, there are so many days when I miss Steve Gilliard.

    Anyway — I think the ad was a bad political move. The ad becomes a story while focus should stay on the arguments against Petraeus’ testimony.

  31. Jon says:

    I agree with Elvis,Norbizness and DHinMI.

    It was a tactical error. There was no need to give the Republicans a whipping boy to beat on instead of making them defend the Adminstration’s failed policy in Iraq and its insistence on running out the clock. All the new polls show that the American people have tuned out the Bush Administration. They don’t believe the Adminstration reports on Iraq.

    Is Petraeus a liar? His report to Congress was disingenous at best. And he’s certainly a very political General. But attacking him in the Move-On ad didn’t really accomplish anything at all, other than giving the Republicans something with which to beat up on the Dims and distract from the reason for the hearings.

    If Move-On wanted to make an ad, why not feature the Commander Guy, the Commander-in-Chief, and highlight his usual habit of finding a compliant General behind which he can hide. How about going after the Republicans for using the troops as political fodder for a President and a Party that can’t admit they made the biggest strategic blunder in American Foreign Policy history?

    Sometimes I wonder why the left-of-center groups are so politically tone death.

  32. AJ says:

    The â€Betrayus†element of the ad is unnecessary and distracting. Focus on what the general says — tear it to pieces. Tear it up to the point where he himself has to wonder what he’s trying to accomplish and why. Don’t become what you deplore in others.

  33. Anonymous says:

    I don’t know.
    You know the Repubs would have found something to squawk about rather than deal with the facts and Petraeus’s testimony, so if not the Move On ad it would have been something else.

    And now it gets the Betrayus meme out beyond the left blogosphere. Most people won’t care if the military benchmarks have or have not been met. Iraq is simply a mess they want the US out of. If â€Betrayus†becomes the scapegoat as the one who is keeping America there, who besides him is going to care? Bush? I laugh.