Senators Who Forced Debate On MoveOn Ad Earlier Complained Of ‘Wasting Time On Empty Resolutions’ [View All]

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/20/senate-hypocrisy-moveon/

Senators Who Forced Debate On MoveOn Ad Earlier Complained Of ‘Wasting Time On Empty Resolutions’

Today, the Senate voted 72-25 to approve Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) bill criticizing MoveOn.org’s Gen. David Petraeus ad in the New York Times. The “sense of the Senate” resolution “strongly” condemns the “personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus.”

Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) has now called for an investigation into “possible elections violations by the New York Times for selling an advertisement to the liberal group MoveOn.org at a reduced rate.”

Neither Cornyn’s resolution nor Davis’s investigation have any bearing on the course in Iraq. The senators who today voted for Cornyn’s bill have previously chastised the Senate for engaging in “a colossal waste of time” on “empty” and “meaningless resolutions.” Some examples:

On Iraq debates/resolutions:

“Mr. President, we have nearly finished this little exhibition, which was staged, I assume, for the benefit of a briefly amused press corps and in deference to political activists opposed to the war.” <Sen. John McCain, 7/18/07>

“We have just seen a procedure in the last 24 hours that was a colossal waste of time.” <Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), 7/18/07>

“I want an open and honest debate, and not political posturing. I was sent here to take action, not waste time on non-binding and empty resolutions.”<Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY), 2/23/07>

On the Gonzales vote of no confidence:

“(W)e ended up…spending our time on a meaningless resolution giving the president advice about who the attorney general ought to be.” <Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 6/12/07>

“This is a very disappointing spectacle here today.” <Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), 6/12/07>

On general partisanship:

“They’ve wasted the first seven months by being excessively partisan and creating unnecessary, in my view, disputes with a pretty robust minority of 49.” <Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 7/25/07>

“The way that they have proceeded, I am not sure that you can count on anything getting done, even those things that look like a fairly certain bet.” <Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), 7/25/07>

Evidently, it’s not a partisan waste of time to condemn an advocacy group for a New York Times ad.