"It is a sad day in the Senate when we spend hours debating an ad while our young people are dying in Iraq. Now that the Senate has twice voted on this ad, it is time to move on and vote to end the war."
Take a moment to tell your Senators that it's time to move on and vote to end the war in Iraq.
Update:
I failed to mention that Senator Dodd voted against the Cornyn amendment, which condemned the MoveOn ad and was passed by a vote of 72-25.
Comments
So, how did Chris Dodd vote? It's sad that a large number of Senators still don't recognize that the American people have been betrayed.
Speaking truth to power is not a waste of time, if you are really convinced that words are superior to the sword. Every person that has participated in creating the various fictions for why over two hundred thousand Americans are sitting in Iraq and over five million Iraqis are either dead or fled from their homes has betrayed the American people.
I'm still waiting for someone to tell the truth and admit that an irrational fear of the "re-emerging" Russia and the "rising" China are motivating this deception. Our Air Force is not flying 10,000 sorties a month (that's a plane taking off or landing every five minutes, around the clock) from Balad in order to track people planting IEDs in the sand. Russia has not reactivated its strategic bombers to track the opium caravans out of Afghanistan. Bush Two is playing a very dangerous game with other people's lives.
The question is when are we going to put a stop to it?
Senator Feinstein and many other Senate Dems, caved in and voted for the Cornyn Amendment to condemn MoveOn.org for their truthfull ad. The pandering and pathetic spinelessness of the Democrats never ceases to amaze me...
AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Lest anyone forget, THE GREEN PARTY TOLD YOU SO. *During* the 5 months of
MSM jingoist propaganda that led up to the '03 invasion, and ever since,
Greens have been at the forefront of advocating international decency and
sanity and a platform of peace and diplomacy. And not falling for NYT/Cheney/JudithMiller jive in particular.
So unless we nominate a Dodd and/or Kucinich ticket, the time has long since arrived that we all need to shout from the hilltops that INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING
can save us from this corrupted election system like no other solution.. indeed if the Dems have ideas superior to those of the Greens, they'll win in IRV elections and have nothing to fear from it, as it would just put the election into the realm of IDEAS and away from the mindless drivel that is the boob tube Air Wars which Madison Ave. power lawyers like Hillary are so cozy with.
"I want a woman president, and can't wait! Draft Winona LaDuke!" (Dodd can serve well as VP or sec. of state, Kucinich at the Peace Dept., Edwards as AG, et al.)
www.fairvote.org/irv
www.gpus.org
And thanks go out to dailykos.com for pointing me here.
See also alternet.org commondreams.org truthout.org cursor.org antiwar.com
http://kcrw.com/podcast/show/ls troubletown.com samsedershow.com kpfa.org/archives
etc etc etc etc etc et. al.
What is it about uniforms in America? Why the slavish devotion to the ideal of people in uniforms, that they are somehow above all scrutiny, all questioning, all attempts to discover the truth about them? Hasn't history taught us that blind devotion is a very dangerous thing, and that blind devotion to religion, politics and the military are probably the most dangerous of all devotions?
Petraeus is not a saint, or a hero, or above all questioning. He gave misleading testimony in front of Congress to give cover to Bush and the Republicans. He is NOT above scrutiny. His uniform didn't stop him from lying about the situation on the ground. It is our DUTY as citizens in a democracy to scrutinize all persons with the power, especially those with power over life and death.
Petreaus has that power, and SHOULD be scrutinized. It's actually incredible that this is even controversial. Haven't we learned anything even in RECENT years about the habit these generals have of saying one thing while active and another once retired? Since when have active duty generals been famous for truth telling? In what country? In what century?
The moveon.org ad was well within the bounds of what citizens in a democracy should be about. But to watch our Congress in action, one would think we were under a military dictatorship, and that the mere questioning of those in power was off limits.
It's not. At least not in the America I know. I really fear for this nation.
I agree with George Lakoff's analysis of the ad in all but one respect. And that's because it turns out that neocons have a somewhat peculiar definition of freedom, which puts that value in conflict with our commitment to equality. Contrary to our historic conception of freedom as a synonym of liberty, the neocon ideology conceives of freedom as being purchased by obedience--as a ticket to an existence, freed from responsibility and guilt. Indeed, obedience is what insures the right and banishes the wrong, regardless of the outcome of any particular act.
To levy a charge of betrayal against the General is an act of disobedience--i.e. even the truth is wrong when it violates the proper order. Which tells us that obedience does double duty: it assures right behavior and it supports the social hierarchy. Where freedom reigns there is neither liberty nor equality. Bet you didn't know that.
I see no difference between teh moveon ads and the Swiftboat ads.
There is no reason either should be debated or require a vote of approval in the Senate. Don't they (the Senators and Senatoras)have MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO WORK ON? THAT IS THE ISSUE!
Ending the war or passing a children's health care funding bill would be two things that come to mind as better uses of the Senate's time.
And yet, this matter has sparked a necessary discussion of some very important issues.
WE'RE AT WAR MORON.
There was no declaration of war. The President declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003. What we are in now is, as Dick Cheney said, a quagmire. We are now just attempting to build the largest embassy in the world along with a bunch of permanent military bases and hold off the civil war that we created. We are not at war though. The President did not ask the country to sacrifice for the war, he asked us to go shopping.
If we throw our moral standards out the window, what are we fighting for?
The difference is obvious to any sane person.
The ads sliming Kerry were nothing but lies, based upon lies, with their high points reaching all the way up to the level of distortion.
The moveon ad told the truth. Petraeus DID cook the books. His "facts" go against the Pentagon's own studies, the work of the GAO, and just about every single independent organization that has ever looked at the disaster in Iraq. Petraeus lied. And his lies will cause hundreds of Americans to die.
Again, this is nothing new. Active duty generals have been lying since the advent of war. In all countries, in all eras. Why on earth would ANYONE be such a child to believe that Petraeus, alone among generals over the course of thousands of years, would actually tell the truth about his command?
Not only are there far too many Americans in love with men in uniform, like lovesick schoolgirls, there are also far too many Americans deeply in the fog of incredible naivety and dangerous levels of credulity.
When it came time to vote against the condemnation of the Moveon ad?
Cowering with Biden, afraid that a vote one way or the other would get them smeared by someone. Even Hillary had the balls to vote against the condemnation.
In case you care
Dodd voted the right way on this. I would have liked to have seen a quote from him on why this was a waste of time BEFORE the votes took place (and he may have spoken out then, too, I haven't read the transcript).
The question is why is the Democratic led Congress continuing to allow the Republicans to set their agenda? When the resolution to condemn MoveOn was raised by Sen. Cornyn there should have been nothing short of laughter and derision.
Even if the Democratic members of the Senate felt that the ad was in poor taste or overly personal or even outright offensive, they should have pointed out that this sort of ad hominem attack is the stock in trade of dozens of right-wing "pundits" and very often with far less justification. They should have pointed out the swift boat ads and the attacks on Max Cleland. The UNIFIED response of the Democrats should have been that it is simply NOT THE ROLE OF THE SENATE TO EXPRESS OPINIONS AS TO THE PROPRIETY OF what is clearly PROTECTED SPEECH BY AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION.
Once again in its efforts to appear "strong on defense" or "bipartisan" or "above the fray" or whatever feckless rationale motivated this bonehead move, the only result was that they were once again gamed by the Republicans. It was plain to see that they had been manipulated into denouncing their own supporters. They came off as WEAK and you can't appear "strong on defense" while appearing weak overall.
I continue to hope that this Congress will get it together at some point, but that hope is fading fast. Maybe I should just hope that along with the next wave of Democratic victories over Republicans there are also some more Ned Lamonts out there that can displace some weak Democrats (ideally in places where there is a viable enough Republican challenger that the sitting Democrat can't "pull a Lieberman").
But overall, kudos to Sen. Dodd on this one.