I understand that Republicans would rather talk about a controversial newspaper ad than Iraq policy. I even understand why the right wants to demonize an effective and successful liberal activist organization.
But the problem in the wake of last week’s “Betray Us” ad from MoveOn.org is that the GOP just doesn’t know when to quit. They saw an opportunity, took it, and scored a few cheap political points. Instead of, ahem, moving on, conservatives keep going to the well, to the point that it’s now kind of embarrassing.
Last week, Rudy Giuliani suggested MoveOn shouldn’t have free-speech rights. John McCain suggested MoveOn be thrown out of the United States. This week, the Vice President is not only attacking the group; he’s also alleging some kind of conspiracy involving the New York Times. McCain has now incorporated an enlarged poster version of the “Betray Us” ad into his stump speech, and brings his new favorite prop everywhere he goes.
It’s reached the point that the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee wants to launch a congressional investigation into whether the NYT violated election law by selling the ad at a reduced rate. Seriously.
Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asked committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) Tuesday to convene a hearing on the issue, saying that any rate change “for political advertising could constitute an unlawful campaign contribution.”
Now, in the broader context, Davis is running for the Senate, so he has to go out of his way to demonstrate his capacity for nuttiness to the GOP base, but this just isn’t healthy. Criticizing the ad is one thing; letting the ad drive the Republican Party into madness is something else.
In case there’ any lingering confusion here, the charges have no merit.
No Trackbacks To “MoveOn.org drives the GOP over the edge“
The GOP has been over the edge since Eisenhower left office…
Look at their platform in 1872….Hartmann read it and it reads like a human rights pamphlet
How far they have fallen…ideals & policy have been lost and ‘principles’ & ‘politics’ have ruled supreme….
Its as though the GOP leadership discovered Tom Tomorrow’s “This Modern World” comic strip and, instead of being insulted, said “Yeah, THAT’S what we should do!”
Cheney talking about a NYT conspiracy makes my ass itch. How many times has he used the NYT to betray us? Remember Judith Miller?
He leaked info to the NYT and then quoted “them” on Sunday morning talk shows.
Anyone have a copy of the swiftboat ads? We can blow them up too and use them as a counter point . . . or even put a small jpg (linking to a page with a picture of both the swiftboat ad and the moveon ad, with maybe a question or statement about lying and hypocrasy) on our various A,B,C, D list blogs and web sites.
Can someone do this please?????
Oh and every time a republican talks about his/her digust in the ad, give some money to moveon.
This is all about throwing red meat to the base. They haven’t been fed in quite a long time.
All of the tools from yesterday saying that the UF student being tazered got what he deserved need to read this part very carefully.
Ad in the NYT: $x thousand
Driving the GOP further off the cliff of sanity: priceless
:lol:
All of the Fox News “commentators” have been calling on the candidates for the Democratic nomination to “distance” themselves and to “disavow” MoveOn.org, which I find both funny and hypocritical.
I am wondering when the candidates for the Republican nomination will distance themselves from groups such as the Christian Coalition and such. Not before hell freezes over I am sure.
No, the theocratic fascist wing of the Republican party needs to attack what is successful in order to prove their worth. Too bad the so called “independents” over at Fox News can’t be honest about it.
ok , ive said this before. even though the general is a political appointment, move on should stop giving gifts to the repubs! There are more effective ways of showing just how biased the whitehouse/generals report is! Now these bastards have fuel for the same old bullshit!
Blue Buddha @ 7:
BRAVO!
Oooo… I wonder if Soros is part of the grand conspiracy.
You mean the NYT charged reduced rates to a non-profit organization? Yes, that does sound suspicious! [/sarcasm]
When a political party consists of nothing but nutz, wackos and dip shits…it’s kind of like a child with a mental disorder who gets fixated on a single toy and just can’t put it down, even after it’s destroyed beyond all recognition. That’s the way Republicans act when they find a hot button topic…the flag burning bullshit is a prime example. So it should be seen as a good thing that Move On is able to get the repug’s to go all rabid, gnashing their teeth and pulling out their hairs, and I’m sure even more crying on camera (Boehner I’m looking in your direction) Who even takes republicans seriously anymore (I mean other then the threat they are to America)? It’s just too bad that we had to get this far gone for most people to see the way.
Nice of them to keep the ad in the public eye. For free and everything. On a different note I’m beginning to understand why the gay ol party is so freaked out by things like Clinton’s cleavage…they’re jealous. Wish they had it themselves. Especially rudy.
I don’t think they scored any points. I think the ad kicked their ass. It has been so long since they have had their ass kicked that they can not react rationally.
These people who think they are in charge of the Universe need to grow up.
As is currently being discussed over at DailyKos, the nickname “Gen Betrayus” has its origins within the troops that served under him.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....215826/698
So, who are you going to support: a politically ambitious general or the troops?
Blue Buddha @ 7:
Hehehehehehehehehe! But then… it’s not like it’s a long trip to the edge from where they are now. A good nudge is all it will take.
“Driving GOP to madness” hmm, i think they may have already been riding on that bus…no problem…and they didn’t need help from anyone…I think the real problem for them right now is that NOTHING is ressusitating their party right now…not Freddy…Not a Moveon Ad….Not the War on Terra….not even NEW Been Laden tapes…..and NONE of them wants to be embraced or kissed by Bush, so they are desperately trying to act outraged by an Ad in the paper….
Dear Congressman Waxman,
Please tell the gentleman from Virginia, Congressman Davis, to go fuck himself. Or better yet, tell him you’ll schedule hearings on Betrayus-gate for one week following the completion of the hearings on Fox News and every right wing organization’s advertising audit.
Personally, I kind of like, “Go fuck yourself.” But you’re the politician, I’ll let you decide.
Regards
We’re already living in the world we’ve been hoping to avoid. All of our rhetoric about fascism, reactionary propaganda, complicity of the media, stolen elections… it’s already happened.
Bush has had a private, volunteer army of Christian extremists, harassing and randomly killing his targeted ethnic group since the war began. We’ve known about it.
Bush has already passed all the “laws” he needs to dodge prosecution for monitoring and detaining people without any judicial oversight.
The police in key areas of the country have been selected and trained to recognize “seditious” free speech and make examples of those who practice it (can’t let the 60’s happen again).
It’s zombies vs. mimes people. They have 25% of this country turned into a zombie army, brainwashed by FauxNews and it’s “MSM” underlings. The 25% that actually gives two shits about this country are nothing but mimes. We kept our mouths shut while letting ourselves get trapped in this invisible box, thanks to our adherance to the bullshit politics of the Democratic party. The 50% in the middle, they’re totally apathetic now, but they’ll be waking up soon when inflation (thanks Fed rate cut), oil prices (pump prices can’t be kept artificially low forever while crude prices hit record highs), and the draft for the war in Iran hits.
You have to ask yourself, though, which group will they turn to? Who does the average person hate more: zombies or mimes? Google it. What if, in the middle of all of this, “terrorists” strike again?
Our Reichstag has burnt, our brownshirts already patrol the streets and beating dissidents, and now France is getting on all fours to support our aggression against Iran… reach out and touch that wall people, it’s already there.
Can anyone tell me how Mr. Davis, in his infinite wisdom, is going to conduct a congressional investigation when he belongs to the minority party? How many investigations did the Repugs allow the Dems to conduct when THEY had the majority? And are these people REALLY stupid enough not to realize that Giuliani ALSO received the same ad discount as moveon, and that Giuliani’s ad was placed on page 9 instead of moveon’s page 25, and that any investigation is going to bring this fact to the forefront of public knowledge? It still amazes me how these Repugs have gone so batshit wingnut fucking crazy that they think that the NYT is still a left-leaning newspaper, but maybe after the Repugs keep shitting on them the NYT will finally realize it is not wise to repeat the talking points of a group of people who are certifiably insane. Damn, is this what the Republican Party has been reduced to because of their repeated failures in this country?
All aboard the Crazy Train.
-GSD
The wheels have completely fallen off the right wing bus.
Millions of Americans would never have known this ad existed if a right winger hadn’t tried to change the focus from Iraq to moveon.org during congressional testimony.
The American public is beginning to wake up. Now when a republican says “we should be outraged!”, the average American thinks “it must be true”.
The right wing noise machine has bought moveon more (positive) publicity than they could ever have afforded even if they were paying a discounted rate.
enigma4ever @ 17:
The good news for them is that it’ll soon be time to gear up to ‘battle’ the “war on xmas” again. They’ll get at least a point or maybe even two from the remaining wingnut jebus freaks. Hoorah! Rhetoric for all!
I can’t help but think the repug theme tune should be a parody of the classic Marley tune… we’ll call it “One Hate”. It’s what brings repugs together.
SonOfLiberty @ 19:
Move On might as well be the Jews, that was supposed to be in there to give my crazy rant contextual validity. Ah well. I hate Nazis so damn much, I lose my mind. It’s probably all those Indiana Jones movies, aka Steven Spielberg’s Jew propaganda!
Let them investigate The New York Times and while they are at it, they can investigate FAUX “News” which freely and openly advocates for repugs and Bush.
The Republican Morning Prayer:
Please God, in whose existence I do not believe but profess to in order to scam votes from morons, Please let there be something in the press other than Iraq that I can beat to death. Amen.
Dominic P. Lucarelli @ 20:
The chairman should charitably give Mr. Davis his investigation. Talk about a discounted ad rate! Let them spend a week holding up the ad in congress that questions the political motivations of the General.
Will someone please find an advertising agency media director and have that person explain the facts of media pricing life to these idiots?
Oh, never mind, they’ve made up their “minds” and don’t want to be confused with those pesky facts.
I think some point about how this reminds us all of McCarthyism hysteria and fear of free speech is in order.
Also: Sticks and stones, anyone?
Sheesh, grow some thicker skin republicans.
I really love the fact that this is driving goopers crazy. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!
Keep it up, MoveOn!
Congress should continue on to investigate the broader media. The amount of conservative vs liberal pundits in columns, on radio and on television. Let’s get it all out in the open. This is the best kept secret in America. It still isn’t clear to the majority of people in this country just how conservatively biased the corporate media is. Investigate I say! Investigate and publish the results for all to see.
Why didn’t General BETRAY US like the ad? I saw nothing misrepresented there… just because that bushbot wears a uniform doesn’t make him any less accountable for lying to the public.
MargeAggedon @ 13:
And they wish they’d been Monica, too.
They’re overplaying a hand that wasn’t very strong to begin with. Waxman should tell that knucklehead to quit his crying and get used to life in the cheap seats.
Of course the Repukes are going off the deep end. The Petraeus report was supposed to be their lynch pin in the fight to keep Iraq going onward. The liberals fired off a well-received preemptive strike that bitch-slapped the Geriatric Obsolete Pedophiles back to square one. Well done MoveOn.org
The Repukes can’t stand anyone else calling one of their own unpatriotic. Its nice to see them react so poorly to some of their own medicine.
dirty d @ 9:
If you roll over and give up, they won’t respect you, but they’ll go back to feeding on each other. The blue dogs are completing the rubber stamp congress, and they get no respect either, for toeing the line on Republican Party agenda. But at least the Republicans don’t call them names.
So they’ve got no one to go after except the Democratic base.
The ad must have worked wonderfuly, as evidenced by the GOP response.
More ads, MoveOn!
How to respond to questions about this (or: How to shut the right wingers up)
“The problem is not that an organization exercised their first ammendment rights by publishing that ad, the problem is that so many people in our country agree that General Petraeus is misleading us about the war in Iraq. The burden is not on us to demonize MoveOn or General Patraeus, but for both parties to make their case to the American people and let them decide.”
And if they ask you, “Do you believe he’s betrayed us? Do you believe he’s cooking the books?”
“Right now, his honor is not in question, his facts are. I believe that in a time of war, with the stakes so high, nobody should be above scrutiny. We all have a duty and a right to look into all of the facts available to us and uncover those that currently are not and come to an informed decision.”
Personally, I think the good General is a lying sack of shit desperate for public recognition after a lifetime of service. But, that answer won’t fly on the Sunday talk shows.
Well they would rather dwell on the ad than face the facts that what the ad said has proven to have merit and the war is going down the crapper for our military.
I hope Webb’s bill gets to the white house and if bush vetoes it, which he says he will do, I think the word betrayal should pop up again. This time who supports the health and well being of the troops and who doesn’t? Those who don’t, appear to me to be betraying our troops.
The party of hubris and deceit will get what they richly deserve—their paranoid wailing about Move On will actually help Move On. These cowards can’t understand why everyone won’t adopt their bankrupt philosophy which they feel came directly from the Almighty and act as if theit God anointed them personally in their “holy” mission.
And if these people are really that paranoid and egotistical, there are meds and mental health professionals that can help with that. If not, the voters will deliver a prescription to them in November 2008, at which time they become the permanent minority party.
This whole thing reminds me of the little boy who went around gleefully punching other children in the nose. He was very proud of his punching ability. One day he ran screaming to his mother.
“Billy! What’s happened?”
“Johnny hit me back!”
Just like Andrew Meyer who got out something which the majority of americans are too afraid to discuss (the disenfranchisement of 5,000 voters mostly afro-americans, the lack of impeachment calls for Bush right now, and why John Kerry conceeded the election so quickly), MoveOn.org is a thorn in the side of this corrupt GOP. They are “outing” these hypocrites left and right and are taking no prisoners as they cut a legitimate “swath” through the Republican party.
Keep on movin’ on, Move.On! Bring it on!! Bush is taking the Republican Party down with him. Bill Maher got it right as he always does.
These are the same people who *supported* the Swift Boaters in ‘04, so fuck ‘em.
There is a coming revolution against those who have trampled our constitution and sabotaged this democracy. Any democrat or democratic presidential candidate who fails to recognize and immediately begin dialogue about how we got into this mess and how we can stop it immediately will be left in the dust. Needless to say, ALL Repuke candidates are wasting their time and money in even campaigning at this point because we all know the REPUBLICANS ARE LIARS AND CANNOT BE TRUSTED.
Bush’s legacy (by default) will become: The “inciter” of the coming american revolution.
“Last week, Rudy Giuliani suggested MoveOn shouldn’t have free-speech rights.”
Trust me, if Ghouliani gets in, this statement will apply to ALL of us.
Let them start an investigation. Two illegal wars, prison camps, torture,… maybe, finally, somewhere, someone will launch a counter investigation against them & some god damned arrests will be made,…
“When you trade your freedoms for the illusion of “security”, you deserve neither - freedom or security. We’ve lost both under Bush.
They have nothing else, it was the life saving piece of wood that just happened to drift by.