InSenatety
In a Contest Between Petraeus and MoveOn, Democrats Choose their side
By Mark I Posted in Breaking News — Comments (21) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
[UPDATE The Second]: Let me sum this up for you, folks. Thanks to Boxer's amendment, Senate Democrats have just finally admitted that their opposition to the war is primarily and partisanly political in nature; and thanks to Cornyn's amendment, only about roughly half of Senate Democrats are prepared to admit that this is actually rather low of them. I suppose that we should be grateful that not all of them are dead to shame.
Huzzah. - Moe Lane
The Senate is voting right now on an amendment to the 2008 Defense Appropriation Bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Berkelygrad) that would equate the despicable MoveOn.org attack on Gen. David Petraeus with past political advertisements by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and those run against then Sen. Max Cleland in 2002. The amendment passed by a vote of 51-46.
Boxer's amendment was offered as a substitute to an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Sen. Cornyn's amendment condemned the MoveOn ad against General Petraeus by name.
Sen. Cornyn made the point in his floor remarks that the MoveOn ad deserved to be singled out for condemnation because its target was a serving four-star general in command of troops in a war zone. Cornyn called Petraeus a, "public figure by duty," as opposed to Sen. Kerry and Sen. Cleland, who were public figures by choice, and thus more open to criticism. That argument did not sway Senate Democrats, who claimed to be eager to condemn MoveOn, but appear unwilling to put their votes where their rhetoric is.
UPDATE: Surprise, surprise! The Cornyn Amendment passed 72-25. Notably, Sen. Hillary! "Politics of Personal Destruction " Clinton voted no. Roll call totals below the fold.
Read on...
Senator Cornyn's effort, although likely to be defeated, should be applauded for its spirit. He has forced the Democrats to take sides between their power base and the troops. It was never a contest. In voting for the Boxer amendment, Senate Democrats have chosen their radical, left wing, defeatist power base.
Republicans in Congress should follow Cornyn's lead on this issue and others. Republicans should seek every opportunity to tie the Democrats as tightly as they can to their left wing support system. If today's votes are any indication, they won't get much resistance from the Democrats.
UPDATE: From the roll call vote on the Cornyn Amendment, here are the Democratic Senators who refused to condemn MoveOn and vote for General Petraeus.
Akaka (D-HI)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
*Clinton* (D-NY)
*Dodd* (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
Democrats so confused by the issue that they could not bring themselves to vote:
*Biden* (D-DE)
Cantwell (D-WA)
*Obama* (D-IL)
* Democrat presidential candidates, the ones vying for the right to be Commander-in-Chief of men like General Petraeus, all refused to vote for upholding his integrity.
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They put their differences aside to do something right.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Commander in Chief should be disqualified when that person openly impugns a military member's integrity. In addition, the poential CIC calls that military leader they could command a liar and refuses to denounce an advertisement that labels that leader a traitor without any evidence.
How could this NOT create dissension in the ranks of the military?
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Vista really sucks!
I saw some of that vote. I never watch these things so I don't know if I understood correctly what was going on (did anybody else notice)...but it looked to me like a number of Dems initially voted against the amendment but once it became obvious that it was going to pass changed there vote to yes. Byrd for example, and I think Feinstein also... about 10 of them. Is that even more pukey or what?
is pretty common though I wouldn't think there would need to be horse trading on a non binding resolution. Still, unless you get inside someone's head you don't know why votes were switched. That said, votes are switched as a common occurrence as Senators make deals in the middle of votes all the time.
"The nine most dangerous words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'"
Ronald Reagan
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
If they vote to support Cleland against his attackers, the question will linger...why did they wait until Democrats brought it up?
HTML Help Central for Red Staters
Reality: Thompson/Romney Dream: Santorum/Watts.
Sorry, by now I've used up all the obvious put-downs of this rather obsessive hobby of yours. Come up with something suitably cutting, if you'd be so kind?
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
In fact, Obama made it clear that the move was a political stunt, and therefore he wouldn't vote.
he focus of the United States Senate should be on ending this war, not on criticizing newspaper advertisements,'' Obama said. "This amendment was a stunt designed only to score cheap political points while what we should be doing is focusing on the deadly serious challenge we face in Iraq.''
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/moveon-vote-splits-dems-2007-09-21.h...
It was cowardice.
Mr. New Politics had a chance today to walk the walk. Instead, he chose not to vote so as not to upset his paymasters in the radical, anti-war left. Real courageous.
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Develop alternatives to existing policies and keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable. Milton Friedman
but it was Obama's non-vote. refusing to act honorably is just as dishonorable as acting dishonorably.
...doesn't cut it anymore. Here was the perfect chance to denounce a direct attack against a highly decorated general that was confirmed unanimously by the senate. What better way to show they support the troops.
As for those who think it was a "political stunt", I'd say that term actually sums up the accomplishments of the 110th Congress. These invertebrates stand for nothing.
-imwithfred-
George seems to keep trying to make people who HATE him and HATE him with a delirious passion, somehow change their minds.
Instead, I think he should grow a pair and commence kicking ultra-left butt like MoveOn & its Soros-cide allies ceaselessly.
Learn to accept the fact that your legacy will recede and decline even more, if possible, if you start riding off into the sunset fourteen months before next years election.
Go out and brand some mavericks and force them into the corral.
And oddly enough he'd get more respect from them. The left wing nuts keep attacking because there is almost zero retaliation. Just like a schoolyard bully picking on people until a kid punches him in the nose.
Bush's high road has been enabling the left wing whackos for years now, allowing them to distort and mutate.
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Washington Elected Elite
Bush's high road has been enabling the left wing whackos for years now, allowing them to distort and mutate.
I'd just like to note here that said distortion and mutation have not seemed to translate into getting actual progressive policy positions passed (say that three times, fast). Quite the opposite, in fact; they're worse off now then when they started.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
True, not much "progressive" progress but a huge anchor for achieving real progress on a number of issues. There is a nasty divide based mostly on knee jerk emotional response. This divide has cost us dearly. A more rational group would have allowed us to be much more responsive in Iraq, and make good progress on other important issues.
If Bush found a cure for cancer they'd still hate him. That type of irrational thinking is not good for this country. It's the opposition for the sake of opposition that is a waste and there is a lot of it going on these days.
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Washington Elected Elite
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-blasts-dems-on-moveon.org-ad-20...
I do not say that this should be enough to make you happy; merely that it is something. :)
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
GWB should help his fellow Republicans by pointing out their feckless duplicity in either voting against or absenting from voting on Petraeus.
I wish Laura had Elizabeth Edwards' balls.
of trying to be a nice guy which worked when he was Guv, but doesn't in the acid bath of MSM nastiness into which he is regularly dunked.
Old story. In trying to please everybody and make self-deprecating jokes, GWB simply sinks lower [not as low as Congress, but who could?] in the polls.
BTW. Dr. Sanity has a great diagram outlining the relentless socialist pattern of failure, regroup, change the subject, and march forward. Worth a look.
Oh, and last night I went over to Crooks & Liars love-fest swooning over Keith Olbermann. This morning my pungent comments were deleted by the site monitor, along with the comment that I was "very rude."
That's what the clowns over there call people who bring up facts and express skepticism about MoveOn's ad.
I understand this correctly. A non binding amendment was passed and another was defeated, but at the same time the Moveon.org smear stays in the news for some more time. Do I have this correctly? This is one of those cases in which the vote count is not the true measure of victory. The President came out and condemned the Dems for not condemning Moveon.org earlier today. This is just one more day the advertisement stays in the news, and the longer that happens the better that is for the Republicans and frankly the more times the Dems vote to excuse, equivocate, or dismiss this ad the worse it is going to get for them. This is yet another political victory for the Republicans in this saga.
"The nine most dangerous words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'"
Ronald Reagan
www.proprietornation.blogspot.com