Republicans Pile On Over MoveOn Ad

[Breeze54]

Republicans Pile On Over MoveOn Ad

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/republicans-pile-on-over-moveon-ad/

September 10, 2007, 5:41 pm

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.

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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.”

Eli Pariser, the executive director of MoveOn.org, said the group had no second thoughts about running the ad.

“Our intention was to put before the public the real facts about the surge and to remind people that General Petraeus is spinning instead of giving an honest report,” said Mr. Pariser.

“The goal was to get people talking about General Petraeus’s credibility and make sure it’s clear that the numbers he’s using are questionable at best and both those things are happening,” he said.

Mr. Pariser said that he had not heard any blowback from Democratic officials.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said in an interview that the ad “may have given the Republicans a talking point,” but in the end, their efforts to deflect responsibility for the war would not work.

He also put out a statement, saying: “Serious questions have been raised, and will continue to be raised, about the veracity of some of the statistics that will the White House and General Petraeus will cite. The Administration has exhausted its credibility when it comes to intelligence and statistics. The burden really is on the White House to demonstrate why we should trust it and its flawed strategy any longer.”

more.......

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The GOP wants them to renounce the AD?? :rofl:

As soon as they pull that 9-11 Freedom Voters Ad!!!

[babylonsister]

1. Calm down, everyone! Bill O'Leilly didn't like it, didn't think it was

'democratic', so it must be A-OK! :thumbsup:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1776524&mesg_id=1776696

[spanone]

15. but he likes the ari fleischer propaganda ads, i assume

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. The fact that they're pissed is good news.

:thumbsup:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Memo to repukes:

You are losing, quite badly, in the court of public opinion. Your words have been tried, found hollow, and sentenced to be ignored. Now, you accuse MoveOn of the sin of telling the truth.

It is not hard to know what you are doing: Just creating a smoke screen to hide your manifold mistakes, lies and crimes.

[AtomicKitten]

4. After the Swift Boat Liars stunk up the 2004 election --

apparently anything and everything goes.

The GOP can suck on it if they don't like it. Brow-beating falls on deaf ears.

[graywarrior]

5. I hope they all have heart attacks over it.

[Breeze54]

6. Me too!! -- They can't handle the truth!!

[Quixote1818]

7. This is why the ad was brilliant

It's drawing all kinds of attention and 'Free Advertising'. Most Americans won't even watch the hearings and most Americans don't believe he is telling the truth. So what you get is their star general being labeled a liar which only reinforces what most Americans already think.

[porphyrian]

8. Waaah. They can dish it out, but they can't take anything themselves. What wooses. - n/t

[BlueJazz]

9. Republicans are "Manly Men & Strong Women" until someone fights back...THEN >>>

[Breeze54]

11. Bunch of lying rethug crybabies!!

[malaise]

10. Fugg them all n/t

[Bluestar]

12. The last time I checked, it was not illegal to run an ad to express an opinion

We are damn MAD and it's high time we started calling out the lies from this so-called administration. If Repukes are upset, that's tough. We have finally gotten under their skin, which means we are winning. MoveOn, keep on keepin' on!

[lyonn]

13. My gawd kids, this is pure repub BS drivel

Ann Coulter, the whole Fox gang, well throw in the whole MSM has dumped on the Dems in the most vicious and outrageous way and it is taken as a joke. MoveOn makes a disparaging remark about Petreaus and his ties to bush and you would think they had committed tyranny.

Every wormy, ignorant repub that speaks at this hearing acts horrified that our General Dearest has been dissed....

[hyphenate]

14. I wrote an email to Reid

I think everyone should address him as Senate Majority Leader, or if you're from Nevada, as your Senator.

Here is my email, if anyone wants talking points.

________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Majority Leader Reid,

I heard today about a campaign asking you to denounce an advertisement from the PAC MoveOn, and I feel I need to comment on both the ad and a possible response from the Democrats in office on this matter.

One comment that was made public about a GOP letter asking you to condemn the ad read: "The ad is distasteful and frankly, below the level of respect that America's commanding general in Iraq has earned. No matter whether any senator supports or opposes the war in Iraq, we should all voice recognition and appreciation of Gen. Petraeus' long and distinguished record of service to our country."

This, sir, gave me pause, and made me feel umbrage at the thought of the Democrats making such a reply. It was only three years ago, sir, that the "Swiftboat Veterans" committed slander in their enthusiasm to siderail John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for president in 2004. They did indeed choose to slander Senator Kerry in light of his bravery and courage to reveal how he felt after his service in Vietnam--at the very least, the fact that he served our country in an unpopular war then made more than clear the fact that many of those in the current administration found multiple excuses not to properly serve. It has been the actions of chikenhawks which have now put us in the midst of another unpopular war, one in which thousands of American soldiers have been tortured, killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have been treated the same.

I tremble to think that our representatives in the Senate would go so far as to condemn or in any way agree with the GOP on the MoveOn PAC advertisement--to me, and to many others like me, this would be tantamount to treason--it would only show that those people we have counted on to protect us from the ever increasingly hypocritical GOP are not serving our nation in the way we hoped they would--is there any doubt that if the Democrats do condone GOP actions in this matter, that they are just as culpable?

Please show courage and conviction in this matter, and do not tow the GOP line in this! If General Petraeus is guilty of perjury and is allowing the administration to influence him in an due manner, that needs to be explored and not covered up. We have heard too many lies, half-truths and straight out fantasies from the current regime in office, and it looks as though we will continue to hear them until the next election because no Congress member is willing to file articles of Impeachment on the Vice-President and President. While the GOP has had free reign to fill the mainstream media with many distractions and falsehoods, the Democrats have allowed themselves to be dragged around as though a leash were around their collective neck. We can only hope that something changes--soon.

Please do not betray the citizens of this country and allow the GOP to continue their stranglehold on the United States--it is about time we took back our country once, and for all.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Breeze54]

17. Good letter but I think I'll send it to Sen. Kerry instead!!

:grr:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: for your letter! ;)

[and-justice-for-all]

16. Rethug party is a sunk ship..

Weap what they sow they must.