Republicans Pile On Over "MoveOn.org" Ad: "General Betrayus"...from 2007!
Republicans Pile On Over MoveOn Ad
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Has MoveOn.org moved too far?
The liberal anti-war group is getting bombarded today from the right for a full-page ad in The New York Times that questions the integrity of Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is testifying now on Capitol Hill on the progress of the war in Iraq. Despite the criticism, or perhaps because of it, MoveOn says it stands by the ad.
“Cooking the books for the White House,” reads the headline under a picture of General Petraeus, who is the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
Republicans and others on the right have lashed out at those behind the ad, saying it shows them to be unpatriotic. They are using the ad today as an opening to link Democrats to what they say is an extremist organization and, some say, to divert attention from doubts about whether the military surge is working.
Former Senator Fred Thompson, the newest Republican candidate for president, joined the attack on MoveOn today, saying in a statement: “This is the group that funds the Democratic Party. I call upon the Democratic Party and all of the Democratic candidates for president to repudiate the libel of this patriotic American,” referring to General Petraeus.
The MoveOn.org ad states that while General Petraeus says the surge has made progress in Iraq, “every independent report on the ground situation in Iraq shows that the surge strategy has failed.” The ad says General Petraeus is using a “bizarre formula” to measure success. But, it says, “Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war.”
Republican members of Congress are mentioning the ad repeatedly throughout the televised hearings, probably drawing much more attention to it than it might have received otherwise.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, began the day with this statement from the Senate floor, referring to the ad: “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.”
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, opened her remarks by saying: “I offer my colleagues the opportunity to use this hearing to distance themselves from the despicable ad that was published today calling into question the patriotism of General Petraeus.”
MUCH MORE at......
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/republicans-pile-on-over-moveon-ad/
