The wrong debate for the GOP

[babylonsister]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/12833.html#more-12833

The wrong debate for the GOP
Posted September 10th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

snip//

House Republicans, including Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), spent the bulk of their time talking about, and pointing to, the MoveOn ad. At first, I was concerned that the ad would become a life-preserver for the House GOP — instead of having to defend a policy that doesn’t work, Republicans can go on the offensive against one of their favorite boogeymen.

But as Hunter and Ros-Lehtinen continued to whine about an intemperate newspaper ad, I started to believe the opposite.

Kevin Drum’s take was spot on.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Republicans are making a big mistake by spending all their TV time this morning complaining about accusations that Gen. Petraeus is cooking the books in his assessment of progress in Iraq? Repeating the accusation, even if it’s only to denounce it, is still repeating the accusation. And it means that everyone watching the hearing is learning over and over and over that a lot of people don’t trust Petraeus, something they might not have known before since Democrats aren’t mentioning it and not everyone reads the inside pages of the New York Times.

This strikes me as a very dumb thing to do.

Exactly right. Republicans were, on their own initiative, creating a controversy about Petraeus’ independence and credibility. Dems weren’t bringing it up; indeed, Dems offered high praise for Petraeus this morning.

But someone just tuning in and listening to the GOP lawmakers were led to believe that there may be reason to believe that Petraeus may be an unreliable source.

It’s as if MoveOn had set a trap for Republicans to fall into.

[iconoclastic cat]

1. They have Lady Macbeth syndrome! nt

[babylonsister]

2. .