So twice in one day I criticized MoveOn for its "Petraeus-Betray Us" ad. I worried I was piling on; some readers said so. But over at Brent Bozell's Newsbusters, the headline on Tuesday read:
"Is Salon's Editor in Bed With MoveOn?"
Hmm, not that I recall, but ... of course, I had to read more!
Editor Noel Sheppard swept aside my criticism of MoveOn; instead he takes me to task for highlighting a video compilation the group did of Katie Couric's (not so) greatest hits from her Iraq trip. It was a terrific video, the kind of fact-based critique the group is known for, and I said so. (I also said I didn't think the Petraeus name-calling was up to its standards. Twice.)
That means I'm "in bed with MoveOn." Really? All of them? There's a lot of them. And why me? Newsbusters criticized Frank Rich for criticizing Couric (whom they used to hate until she did her Petraeus-eye view). Somehow male Couric critics and male MoveOn fans -- lefty blogosphere skeptic Matt Bai loves MoveOn -- aren't "in bed" with the group. Try to find some new ways to say I'm too nice to MoveOn, OK, Noel? My daughter's kind of alarmed.
All this, by the way, on a day when New Orleans sex worker Wendy Cortez came out, at the behest of Hustler's Larry Flynt, and detailed the paid sex services she performed for Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter. There's nary a headline on Newsbusters about the time Vitter spent "in bed" with Cortez.
It was a rough day for war supporters, all around. Petraeus looked awful. Under fire from Republicans, he told us three crucial things: He doesn't know if the war is making Americans safer, he doesn't know if it will succeed and he doesn't know when Americans can come home in large numbers. He doesn't know an awful lot, but I know one thing: While the so-called surge continues (and if it lasts 18 months, as planned, can we please call it an escalation, finally?), a lot more Americans will die. And Petraeus didn't tell us what they're dying for.
All the Democratic candidates for president did well Tuesday. I thought Joe Biden stood out -- especially after I saw him almost tear up on "Hardball" talking about "fallen" soldiers coming through Dover, Del., in his home state. "What do you say?" Biden asked. "Why did they fall?" (Biden's son Beau, a judge advocate general in the Delaware National Guard, is headed to Iraq next year.) The real question is what Republicans will do. You heard tough talk from Chuck Hagel and John Warner and Richard Lugar, but we've heard tough talk before and only Hagel voted with the Democrats. So that's the real question: Will Republicans step up? I don't expect the Democrats will have the Republican votes to restrict war funding, but I'd love to be wrong.
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