September 10, 2007
The Tail That Wags the Dog (John Feehery)
The New York Times today has an interesting poll on its front page and an outrageous advertisement on A25.
On the front page, the poll says that the American people most trust U.S. military commanders to successfully resolve the war in Iraq. Sixty-eight percent trust the military, 21 percent trust the Congress, 5 percent trust the president. Not much faith in our political leaders for a successful resolution to a problem that most observers say has to be solved by a political process.
On page A25, MoveOn.org calls Gen. David Petraeus by a sophomoric name, General Betray Us, as a way of showing its immature, over-emotional and dangerous perspective on the war.
The fact that the public believes the military more than the Congress should give Democratic congressional leaders some thought that they ought to take a more conciliatory view of Petraeus. Instead they share the view of MoveOn.org, calling the general a stooge of the White House. Sen. Dick Durbin started the attack last week, only to be followed by Sens. Harry Reid and Diane Feinstein.
This isn’t good politics for the Democrats. But they are not driving the truck these days. MoveOn.org is driving it.
How much do we really know about the MoveOn-ers? Well, we know they have received at least $5 million from George Soros and his colleagues. We know they strongly backed Howard Dean in the last presidential election. We know they claim to have over 3 million members, although that is hard to verify. And we know they are dictating the policy of congressional Democrats.
Is it smart for the Democratic dog to be wagged by the MoveOn tail?
Is it ever smart for a major political party to be so reliant on a shadowy, extremist, unaccountable and unbending organization?
It is time to for congressional Democrats to stand up for the American people, stand up for the American military and stand up to the extremists that run MoveOn.org. Their tactics have crossed the line with their advertisement impugning the integrity of a fine American, and they should be held accountable.
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Maybe they don't realize that most of the dissenting generals have been replaced. Speaking of polls, Feehery, 42 percent of Dems believe now that Bush had something to do with 9/11.
You may want to watch this video where Bush had a chance to deny 9/11 involvement but had literally nothing to say: http://www.freepressinternational.com/?p=167
So again, Feehery, since you were one who worked to stop the investigation, what did you know and when did you know it?
Comment by Gary Anderson — September 10, 2007 @ 11:40 am
See Lanny Davis' comment. He condemns family values and that's the problem with the entire Democratic party. They have no values.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — September 10, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
John: Agree with your points but the most fundemental point; our process of funding campaigns is broken. What gives Moveon the power to lead the democratic party to disaster? money. We have a representative democracy but it is not distributed by population counts. It is distributed by dollar counts. Moveon gets disproportional representation in congress because they "feed" the beast. Whoever feeds the "beast" gets a seat at the table.
Improve fact checking on "issue ads" and expose the distortions. Increase individual limits on campaign funding to $3000.00. Shorten the amount of time a politician can fundraise and campaign. Make donor lists easily trackable on one central "real time" web site. A few thoughts. We need real change in financing campaigns and it should be very simple to enforce and favor the individual voter…
Comment by Rich — September 10, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
MoveOn is the same group that was organized around the time of the Clinton impeachment proceedings to try to turn the media's focus away from Clinton and on to anything else. They originally claimed to be bi-partisan, but that soon proved to be a lie. Now they are the leftwingnut spin machine. Of course, if the Republicans tried to pull off the same stunt, they would be called all kinds of names in the media.
Comment by John Simmons — September 10, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
John;
If the you and the rest of your rightwing buddy haven't figured this out yet, the WH is writing the Betrayus Report. It has been proven that the information is being cherrypicked to kick the can down the road for another Friedman Unit. Is that so hard to understand. Also, you referenced one poll about support for the military, but you failed to note that over 53% think that the general is going to sugar coat his report and not tell us the truth. So in the end, Bush and the rest of the neo-con chickenhawks (that includes Ron "I served my country by sitting in the oval office" Christie)can have their little war. If you were really interested in winning this, then support a draft where there is no deferments for everyone up to age 42, that way all you folks who believe the surge is working can find out first hand.
Comment by Mike Coleman — September 10, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
John, this is a very special moment in American politics. Why do I think that?
More than four decades ago, starting with Kennedy's assassination there was a dramatic shift in this country from believing in it's history and tradition, in fighting external enemies, in instinctively feeling that law and order were good things to a guilt-ridden, America-hating, destructive political movement championed by radical Democrats. This shift received a boost with Watergate and was in retreat during Reagan years but overall was on the ascendancy.
Today, with the evil language that the Democrats and their ultra-radical sponsors are demonstrating, we are witnessing the traitors exposing themselves and their evil ideology to the fullest. There was a deeper meaning to Senator Allen uttering the word "macaca" and thus ultimately giving control to Harry Reid. The meaning is that with the success in Iraq that will happen from now on, coupled with the cries of and for defeat from the evil Democratic left, the end for the dominance of the self-destructive, anti-American forces is near.
Comment by Igor R. — September 10, 2007 @ 1:31 pm
I see the treasonous, anti-military W loving Chickenhawks are in full screech mode today
Seems that Pelosi & Reid are giving a big one-fingered salute to the liberal base by rolling over for yet another W Iraq-funding bill, so where y'all get the idea that Reid & Pelosi are cowed by these groups is something I haven't figured out yet
But by allowing any funding bill to come to the floor for a vote without including strict timelines/timetables shows Reid & Pelosi are still terrified of hissy fits coming from a clearly out of control, incompetent hack masquerading as Commander in Chief
Personally, I can't imagine how aggravating it must be to blather unquestioning support of the President who meekly surrendered to Usama bin Laden by idiotically invading and occupying Iraq, especially with the never-ending change of easily-debunked rationales for why the invasion and occupation were necessary in the first place
Comment by KingCranky — September 10, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
Mike, you mentioned at least twice that you believe the White House wrote the Petreaus report. What evidence do you have to back that up? Are you just a puppet for MoveOn?
Comment by John Simmons — September 10, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
[...] John Feehery / The Hill: The Tail That Wags the Dog [...]
Pingback by Swiftboated Again « his vorpal sword — September 10, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
If MoveOn was so powerful why did Howard Dean fizzle? Why have we had six years of Republican success? (as measured by: thirty percent increase in spending, huge national debt, millions displaced, killed and injured in unending war–little things like that) It's a special moment in American politics, for sure.
Comment by Don Bacon — September 10, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
You write of the Democratic leadership: "they are not driving the truck these days."
I got news for you pal: They haven't been driving the truck for a long time now.
(I'm surprised that you, as a "pundit,
As regards your implicit critique: At least SOMEONE is.
Comment by Hart Williams — September 10, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
CX — mangled in transmission evidently:
(I’m surprised that you, as a “pundit, hadn't noticed that.)
As regards your implicit critique: At least SOMEONE is.
Comment by Hart Williams — September 10, 2007 @ 8:32 pm
3 of 18 benchmarks met. And yet we have General Betrayus working to spin it.
But Westmoreland did the same think in the Vietnam War. The war machine demands it. To bad Betrayus is not more of a man. Just goes to prove, a uniform does not make a man.
Comment by Gary Anderson — September 10, 2007 @ 10:01 pm
I always get a kick out of the rights crying that Democrats have no "values". Personnaly I don't see hatemongering against gays, muslims, liberals, take your pick, as having much value to our society.
I also found interesting Mr Feehery's query, "Is it ever smart for a major political party to be so reliant on a shadowy, extremist, unaccountable and unbending organization?"
Gee, I don't know, how about the American Enterprise Institute? It would certainly fit that description, except that it has direct access to the White House, and the ear of the President. How smart is that?
Comment by Ian Sawyer — September 11, 2007 @ 7:19 am
John Simmons;
You wondered where I got the idea that the WH was writing the Petraus report: How about from here:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_utter_uselessness_of_the_petraeus_report
and here:
http://boards.historychannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700018179&messageID=800429610
and here:
http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2007/08/15/when-the-petraeus-report-isnt/
enjoy!
Comment by Mike Coleman — September 11, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
Stating facts about people's actions and the consequences of the same is not hate mongering… It is called reality.
Comment by Rich — September 11, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
This is the most ignorant and peurile article I can imagine. This general lies, as does anyone in this administration. No one can accept and trust its lies and numbers and outputs. Bush and his mafia have so corrupted the governement with incompetent and political hacks as to remove the US from consideration as other than a third world dictatorship in which its people have blindly and stupidly stripped themselves of their civil
liberties willy nilly. The allow themselves to driven and motivated as a herd by fear and theats of fear. Moveon called it correctly and all the Quislings supporting this general should remember, if he cannot take the heat, he should quit. But, you and I will remember the Moveon item, which is more than we can say for the rest of the guttersnipe crap from the right. Instead of worrying about the left, Feehery should be surveilling republicans to see which one of those idiots is gonna screw a little girl, or more likely, some boy. He is simply one of the feebleminded and ignorant purveyors of rightwing propaganda. Moveon may not be dignified but it calls crap crap, not dressing it up in some rightist propaganda which makes no sense but smells sweet. As the right tells us every day, screw them.
Comment by wafranklin — September 12, 2007 @ 9:51 am
Has anybody been wondering why the Froot Loopies Led democrats refused to bring to the floor a bill by Sen Judd Gregg asking for a Senate refutation to the Move on NY Times ad and asking the Democ rats to also refute the statemsnt by Move on that they ( Moron.org) have BOUGHT the fruit loops??
Is Pelosi and Reid really one of the newly activated Islamo Cells???
Comment by Len — September 12, 2007 @ 10:25 am
We are in a war started over false information, waged with money unnacounted for in the budget and with statistics being skewed to fit the report, not reality (popped in the back of the head counts, popped between the eyes doesn't). We have become the type of power that we fought a revolution to get away from. Freedom requires sensible use of power. Our revolutionary forefathers would not recognize the country we've become. Don't Tread On Me.
Comment by Mark — September 12, 2007 @ 11:01 am
Mark, we are in a war started by islamo-fascists seeking world domination. Freedom requires defending it. Indeed, our revolutionary forefathers would not recognize a population full of deluded socialist America-hating surrender monkeys.
Comment by Igor R. — September 12, 2007 @ 3:56 pm
I hear it repeated over and over by those from the right on how evil the Democrats are but the Democrats have never called me a feme-nazi which I saw used again yesterday. I would be ashamed to be a
a Republican today and am proud to be a Democrat. I left the Republican Party when it moved to the extreme right and started bigoted name-calling and hate mongering, and went on its spending spree which has sent the national debt out of sight. They also opposed equality for women and call those of us that support equality all kinds of names. It is well known that when one repeats something often enough even if there is no basis for it that it becomes a truism. It is a lie that Democrats have no values. We may not all agree but that's because we are independent thinking people. Those of us who believe that government has a role to play in a civilized society are called all kinds of unkind names by the right wing Republicans. As to the war in Iraq, I opposed it from day one. I wrote to my Senators and Representative asking them to not go that route. They went anyway. Now look at the mess we are in over there and how bad it is for the innocent Iraqi people who had nothing to do with 9/11. They have paid a high price just to remove one man from office.
There were independent thinking Democrats in Congress like Senators Bryd, Feingold and Graham (Fl) and others and Representatives like Dennis Kucinch and others who also opposed this invasion but not enough of them to stop it. Move-on has the same right to free speech that every right wing extremist organization has. Howard Dean was on target on the issues but the corporate media didn't want him and set out to discredit him as they do to any candidate that puts the people first rather than corportist profiteering. I went to hear Gov. Dean twice and liked what he said and still support him as do many other Democrats. I like most Americans would prefer an honest serious discussion of the issues without discrediting the people who you disagree with.
Comment by Joyce Guard — September 13, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Igor, Afghanistan-Yes. Iraq-No. Iraq had ***nothing*** to do with 9/11. You do understand that, don't you? So let's agree that Iraq was a war started for unknown reasons by this administration. Gee, there are bad people in the world?? Running countries that we don't like?? Wow. First time that's happened… Here's a novel concept- let's, as a country, act like responsible world citizens, not like Christo-Jihadists to oppose the Islam-Jihadists. I completely agree that there are a significant number of insane people acting under the auspices of Islam to do very bad things. The same can be said of our conservative Christian President. He has been personally responsible for thousands of deaths of innocent, peaceful citizens of Iraq. Whatever axe you have to grind, you're grinding it on the wrong country. By the way, why the hell haven't we found and killed Osama Bin Laden? Now **there's*** someone who was behind 9/11. Wouldn't you agree? Let's leave the Iraqi's alone, find Bin Laden and continue to dismantle a real terrorist threat.
Comment by Mark — September 13, 2007 @ 11:20 am
I hope you were as outraged over the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for 'Truth'" ads against John Kerry as you are over the MoveOn ad.
By the way; MoveOn.Org was founded on the belief President Clinton should have been censured. The motto was, "Censure and Move On."
Comment by Yankee Clipper — September 13, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Being a former military brat I can assure you that you really can't trust all generals. Bush kept firing any general who tried to make him see reality until he finally found his darling boy. Petraeus is what is known in the military as a "brown noser". He'll do what ever his glorious CIC asks of him. It will earn him his stars and a place in history. Who cares what it will cost this nation in blood and money. Screw the Constitution. He's a faithful NeoCon in uniform. Unless Congress cuts off the funding for this continued occupation in Iraq we will be there way past 2008. Once they've completely destroyed our military they can screw the taxpayers to hire Blackwater at triple the cost of regular military pay. It's their intention to bankrupt this nation and cripple our military and economy then they will get into their private jets and fly off to Dubai and Paraguay to enjoy the fruits of their corrupt labors.
Comment by Theda — September 13, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Mark, there is no clear evidence that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the 9/11 attack. During that time Saddam Hussein was in the final stages of wiggling out of a containment regime that was imposed on him by the UN due to the corruption in the oil for food program, world acceptance of his sending of the WMD inspectors back, and general desire to trade with him by France, Russia, Germany, China and many other countries. He was also shooting at American planes.
Every major world leader believed he was working on reconstructing his WMD capabilities. When he was forced to take the inspectors back, he did not give them unconditional access to any place of their choosing any time. He thus created an appearance of someone who was hiding his activities. Even Hans Blix admitted that.
What 9/11 did was it created a climate where dangerous dictators behaving dangerously was no longer acceptable, it was a mental shift. Saddam Hussein had a clear political choice up to the beginning of 2003 to let the inspectors loose and stop the American buildup. He chose war.
Osama bin Laden has not been captured because he was hiding in the extremely difficult terrain among friendly population. The approach to capturing him in Tora Bora was the same one used to get rid of Taliban in Afghanistan, but he managed to slip away. Lately I cited the Unabomber that was actively thought by the FBI for 17 years yet hid in the United States and was only captured when reported by his brother. There is no way to prove that George Bush deliberately let Osama escape, thus such attempts are nothing but a political attack. There is also strong evidence from analyzing the latest tape that it's a clever fake, so he may very well be dead. Those who saw the outtakes from the tape couldn't help but notice that other than the black beard he has the same face as three years ago.
Currently, Al Qaeda is in Iraq. You can claim that they weren't there until the Americans came and argue all you want that it's not a real front in the war on terror, but they are there. Wherever the enemy choses to fight, that's a front. Semantic arguments won't make Al Qaeda in Iraq disappear, but the American Military will.
Comment by Igor R. — September 13, 2007 @ 9:54 pm
Theda your paranoid rant about the NeoCons' intention to cripple the military and bankrupt the nation, only to fly to Dubai and Paraguay is so bizzare as to defy any semblance to coherent thought. That the NeoCons who are normally identified as "Jooos" who want to protect Israel at all costs and enrich Halliburton would want to live in Dubai is such a strange twist as to cast doubt on your logical faculties.
Comment by Igor R. — September 13, 2007 @ 9:59 pm