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General 'Betray-Us' vs. 'Max Cleland bin Laden'
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ShareSeptember 20, 2007 12:20 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: The Senate's about a week late on the whole "General Betray-Us" kerfuffle but today passed an amendment sponsored by Texas Republican John Cornyn condemning the MoveOn.org ad.
The ad remains a talking point for Republicans. At his press conference today, President Bush accused Democrats of being more afraid of offending Moveon.org than of offending the troops.
Democrats, for their part, attempted to fight back (if a little bit late) but were unsuccessful.
Sen. Barbara Boxer's, D-CA, offered her own amendment, it too condemning the Moveon.org ad, but including language to condemn other ads run against the patriotism of Democrats in recent political campaigns. Specifically, it points to the ad run by allies of current Sen. Saxby Chambliss in his successful bid to unseat then-Sen. Max Cleland, a triple amputee and Vietnam vet.
In the wake of Sept. 11th, 2001, the ad placed a picture of Cleland alongside Osama bin Laden.
The Boxer amendment also condemns the Swift boat Veterans for Truth in 2004. In her remarks on the Senate floor, Boxer also mentioned Republican criticism of retired Generals Zinni and Batiste, who have been critical of President Bush.
Cornyn said the ads and ad campaigns Boxer illustrated are different because they occur in the course of political campaigns.
"There is a difference between those of us who run for public office and hold public office," argued Cornyn. "There is a difference in kind for Moveon.org to make personal attacks against a four star general commanding 170,000… There is a difference between being public figures by choice or public figures by duty."
Neither of these amendments is binding.
Though it got a majority of the votes, senators rejected the Boxer amendment to deplore all ads impugning a veteran's patriotism (Petraeus, Kerry and Cleland). 51-46. It needed 60 votes to pass as part of the agreement by which they voted on it.
The Cornyn amendment deploring the Moveon.org ad specifically, passed 72-25.
Majority Leader Harry Reid tried again to dismiss the whole matter, which he said is distracting Senators from the more important matter of war poilcy.
"We want to talk about the war. they want to alk about an ad in a newspaper," Reid said.
September 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (5)
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Wow, Dems, your late response is entirely underwhelming.
Harry Reid, you're an ass. Oh, and yes, please note that I left your title off of your name, as I am utterly disrespecting you as a partisan hypocrite.
Posted by: DisdainLady | Sep 20, 2007 3:40:35 PM
Clearly, attacking generals who disagree with the President is only patriotic, while MoveOn's claim that it was engaging in free speech is laughable - they are free to agree with the President, or they are free to "sit down and shut up." Where have you people been since the Republican Revolution? The Bushies are the actors of history, you reality-based "elites" will simply have to suffer in silence as the congressional Dems debate over how far exactly they should bend when bending over. At least the point about Zinni and Abizaid was made, although watered down to a sad and ridiculous extent. Habeas corpus is on its last legs, free speech is circling the drain, and the people we elected to stop this third-reich-lookalike process are wringing their hands over an ad that basically expresses skepticism?
Posted by: Morgan | Sep 20, 2007 4:21:04 PM
A serving military officer by DoD regulation isn't free to engage those who attack them as part of the Washington political game... Retired officers or former officers running for public office are under no such restriction. Mr Reid knows this but finds easier to turn his back to the serving officer than annoy MoveOn...
Posted by: Richard | Sep 20, 2007 11:30:49 PM
Keep up the good work MoveOn. The Corporate owned and controlled media has it's head in the sand and won't take on the Slime in the White House.
Posted by: Becky | Sep 23, 2007 12:20:05 PM
"Keep up the good work MoveOn. The Corporate owned and controlled media has it's head in the sand and won't take on the Slime in the White House."
A decorated American hero is accused of betraying the country he has served honorably and Becky thinks MoveOn is doing "good work"?
As the father of an American soldier who has served in Iraq and will go back next year, I hope Becky learns to appreciate what US troops mean to our country.
Posted by: Grinch | Dec 31, 2007 10:21:28 AM
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