A good friend tells you when you're wrong, and it's time to be good friends to our Senators. Any Senators who voted to "censure" MoveOn.org for an ad which raised legitimate concerns about the Bush Administration's politicization of the military simply blew it. They rubber-stamped the right wing's effort to paint sensible discourse as out-of-bounds while validating (by not censuring) extreme right wing abuses.

 

Here are just a few examples of outrages our Senators chose not to censure: Ann Coulter advocates executions to "intimidate liberals," writes books accusing Democrats of "Treason," and chides terrorists for not blowing up the NY Times Building. Rush Limbaugh claims liberals want people to get AIDS and openly advocates anti-gay bigotry and racism. Bush and Cheney warned that a vote for a Democrat would invite "mushroom clouds" over our cities. Republican TV spots morphed Democrats including then-Senator Max Cleland into bin Laden. Our Senators took no action. No resolutions condemning these attacks on our national character.

MoveOn deserves better treatment than the Senate gave Sen. Joe McCarthy! It can't be that MoveOn's Petraeus / Betray Us ad was less acceptable than Republican hate speech. MoveOn was far more generous than Petraeus' immediate boss Admiral William Fallon who called him an "ass kissing chickens***." It's self-defeating for Democrats to intimidate MoveOn. This vote is politically tone-deaf. It is dangerous for the U.S. government to attack citizens participating in legitimate discourse. The Senate voted to condemn Americans who have been correct about Iraq rather than the Bush Administration which lied us into war. Polls show Congress dropping toward a single digit.

 

James Carville wrote (seeking donations for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee):

Dear Mike,

I want to let you in on a not-so-secret secret: George Bush ain't the decider. Not anymore.

We're the deciders, and we don't need to wait until November 2008 to decide to strengthen our stick-thin majority in the Senate. Republicans have to defend Twenty twoincumbents whose records are, frankly, indefensible. On top of that, there are three seats that are wide open. We've already got some amazing candidates, and Chuck Schumer is out there recruiting more each day.

It's our job - heck, it's our patriotic duty - to make sure those candidates have everything they need to get themselves elected to the Senate. As a dedicated Democrat, you know what an important time this is.

[snip]

Come next November, we're going to reap what we sow. Like I said, we're the deciders. Let's decide now to plant the seeds for a big victory.

It's on,

James Carville

Dear Jim,

How many Democratic Senators supported Sen. Feingold's effort to censure Bush? Not many. "I'm amazed at Democrats ... cowering with this president's numbers so low," Feingold mused after the Republican leadership sought a vote on his measure to hold Bush accountable and Democrats blocked the vote. How many Democrats voted to censure MoveOn? Twenty Two. I agree with you, Jim, " Come next November, we're going to reap what we sow." That's what I'm afraid of!

Twenty Two Democrats can't read the results of the 2006 election which loudly and clearly said: END THIS DAMN WAR! What does that augur for 2008? Not any "big victory." Nothing good. Maybe these "Timid Twenty Two" Senators can't even read the Bill of Rights as far as the First Amendment. The entire planet wants this war to end now. That includes most Americans and most Iraqis. Support the troops? Most them want to come home.

I'm not donating anything to anyone who doesn't see it as their "patriotic duty" to defend legitimate criticism of anyone who lies to the American people or pushes Administration spin, such as Gen. Patraeus. MoveOn is correct. The American people are on this. Where's our Senate? Censuring MoveOn while falling for another Republican dirty trick. The Republicans tricked these Twenty two Senators. Again.

Twenty two Democratic Senators ignore astonishing abuse and hate speech from Bush and Cheney on down, but they've summoned enough courage to attack a moderate, measured voice representing millions of MoveOn members and the majority of voters. Twenty two timid Democratic Senators joined with the Bush Administration that claims a vote for a Democrat invites risk of a nuclear attack.

These Democrats rejected the vast majority of Americans to embrace the tiny, dwindling pro-war base and declared passionate, principled opposition to a war based on lies and deceit out of bounds: Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Conrad (D-ND) Dorgan (D-ND) Feinstein (D-CA) Johnson (D-SD) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Leahy (D-VT) McCaskill (D-MO) Mikulski (D-MD) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Salazar (D-CO) Tester (D-MT) Webb (D-VA) Lincoln (D-AR)

If Democrats want to be the "deciders," we'd better learn to make better decisions and not obey Bush like docile lap dogs. Barking at MoveOn is not the way to "plant the seeds for a big victory." If we want to win, we have to start to stand for something. We have to stand up to an Administration that is running amok. We have to rise up against the right wing rhetoric and risk excoriation from FOX News and others. We have to show the voters that we take the name Democrat seriously. Write back when the DSCC is doing that. Until then, I'll donate my time and money with people who have the guts to fight for my values and principles.

Ann Coulter advocates executions to "intimidate liberals," writes books accusing Democrats of "Treason," and chides terrorists for not blowing up the NY Times Building. Rush Limbaugh claims liberals want people to get AIDS. Bush and Cheney warned that a vote for a Democrat would invite "mushroom clouds" over our cities. Republican TV spots morphed Democrats including then-Senator Max Cleland into bin Laden. Our Senators took no action. No resolutions condemning these attacks on our national character.

MoveOn was far more generous than Petraeus' immediate boss Admiral William Fallon who called him an "ass kissing chickens***." It's self-defeating, stupid, and downright un-American for the Senate to waste its time intimidating citizens from exercising their freedom of speech. The Americans who paid for this ad have been correct about Iraq while the Senate has repeatedly been wrong. The Senate's time would be better undoing the harm it is complicit in creating.

If the Senate is going to take offense - take offense at being lied into an illegal war and endless occupation. Take offense at being intimidated into sacrificing the civil liberties that provide the foundation of a free country and an antidote to tyranny. Take offense at the Neo-Con proto-fascist, imperialist fantasies that have set our economy back, destroyed our standing in the community of nations, and continue to take a tragic toll of human lives.

I am calling and faxing my Senators to express disgust over their votes, and demanding they vote to repeal this shameful resolution. They should condemn Bush's misuse of the military as PR stooges and the "cherry-picked" intelligence used to engineer this immoral war. Call your Senators. Faxes work. Don't send letters, they must be screened for anthrax. The sender(s) of the poison packages is still at large, so is bin Laden. Anyone for resolving to condemn someone for that?

 

Use the Op-Ed News Action Form to contact the Senators who caved in to the right wing by attacking MoveOn for accurate criticism of Bush and Gen. David Patraeus. Also, FAX a Spineless Citation to any Senators who voted to "censure" MoveOn.org for an ad which raised legitimate concerns about the Bush Administration's politicization of the military by sending Patraeus to Congress as a PR stooge. The Timid Twenty Two blew it. Tell them you know they screwed up.