{"id":600,"date":"2007-09-12T09:56:24","date_gmt":"2007-09-12T16:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=600"},"modified":"2007-09-12T09:56:24","modified_gmt":"2007-09-12T16:56:24","slug":"petraeus-betray-us-falacious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"Petraeus? Betray Us? Falacious!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>When General David Petraeus appeared before Congress to give his long-awaited report on the state of the war in Iraq, Republicans found a subject that, in their minds, took precedence over the war itself. Rather than focus on the life and death struggles in the Middle East, Republicans repeatedly assailed a newspaper ad by MoveOn.org<\/a> that asked some provocative questions.<\/p>\n

The headline on the ad asked, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?”<\/em> Republicans immediately pounced on a shallow interpretation that MoveOn was calling Petraeus a traitor. A more profound analysis would show that they were merely warning readers that the General’s testimony might be more aligned with White House spin than with the facts on the ground saying:<\/p>\n

“General Petraeus will not admit what everyone knows; Iraq is mired in an unwinnable religious civil war.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That didn’t stop Senator John Cornyn from introducing legislation<\/a> to censure MoveOn, an action that impinges on the rights enumerated in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Although, Cornyn’s statement<\/a> on the ad twice references freedom of speech, in each instance he qualifies and constrains it:<\/p>\n

“Every American, including a Washington special interest organization like MoveOn.org, has the right to voice their opinion on the Iraq war. But<\/strong> to suggest that the four-star General leading the fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq has ‘betrayed’ his country is abhorrent.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“There should be a full and honest debate on the war on terror […] But<\/strong> hateful, personal attacks that call our military leaders traitors should be condemned.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These attacks on MoveOn are nothing but a desperate attempt to shift the public’s attention from an unpopular war to a false and irrelevant controversy that has been manufactured for media consumption. Cornyn, and the rest of the Republican cabal, should cease their efforts to stifle free speech. Likewise, they should consider placing greater emphasis on the core issues that impact our military and our nation than they do on advertisements that express the views of millions of Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When General David Petraeus appeared before Congress to give his long-awaited report on the state of the war in Iraq, Republicans found a subject that, in their minds, took precedence over the war itself. Rather than focus on the life and death struggles in the Middle East, Republicans repeatedly assailed a newspaper ad by MoveOn.org […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-9G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8399,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8399","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":0},"title":"Fox News Shamelessly Politicizes Petraeus Resignation","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/9\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This afternoon Gen. David Petraeus resigned as Director of the CIA with a letter that cited his having had an extra-marital affair. Petraeus: Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D\/CIA. After being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=628","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":1},"title":"Fox News: Generals Betray Us","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/30\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Col. David Hunt, a Fox News military analyst, has a column posted at FoxNews.com with the headline, \"Top Military Officials are a Disgrace to Those They Lead.\" The article begins by saying, \"Our generals are betraying our soldiers ... again.\" FoxFan Military Matters It's rather astonishing that so soon after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8586,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8586","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":2},"title":"Romancing Petraeus: Why Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Debases Both Journalism And Democracy","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/4\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post's Bob Woodward just published a story revealing that Fox News CEO Roger Ailes dispatched a Fox News defense analyst to deliver a personal request to Gen. David Petraeus. Ailes sent K.T. McFarland to Kabul, Afghanistan, with the message that Ailes wanted Petraeus to run against Barack Obama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8474,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8474","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":3},"title":"Fox Nation vs. Reality: The White House Did Not Edit CIA Talking Points","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/19\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Earning a place at the top of the Fox Nation web site this morning is story that complies perfectly with the non-existent journalistic standards of Fox News. The article cites the uber-conservative blog FreeBeacon and features the headline \"White House Deleted Al Qaeda From CIA Talking Points.\" Get the New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":619,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=619","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":4},"title":"Chilling Effects: Betraying Freedom Of The Press","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/24\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week the U.S. Senate voted to condemn the New York Times for running an ad that was critical of the administration and it's lackey, Gen. David Petraeus. The inevitable consequences of this government imposition of approved thought are already becoming manifest. The Times itself is slamming its ad sales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Free Press"","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":614,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=614","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":5},"title":"U.S. Congress Or U.S. Betray Us?","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/20\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The MoveOn ad affair is still plodding forward with the President's comments this morning calling the ad \"disgusting\", and now the Senate weighing in with a resolution condemning MoveOn for exercising its free speech rights. The bill's author, Sen. John Cornyn, made explicitly anti-speech language in his statement supporting the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Free Press"","block_context":{"text":"Free Press","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=14"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}