The US Senate and Moveon.org

So you sit down at the end of a long day and you wonder, "I had a long, hard day at work. I wonder what my government did at its long hard day of work?" You flip on the TV to see that their biggest item of a day last week was to vote to "condemn" the ad that Moveon.org placed in the New York Times questioning the (for lack of a better word) trustworthiness of the General. Seriously US Senate? That's the best use of your time? Playing school yard marm to a bunch of squabbling special interest groups? You really don't think that Petreaus has a thick enough skin to not be able to shrug that off?

Oh come on now, let's not be that silly. Of COURSE none of them are worried that he had he feelings hurt. The moment that ad his the presses, no one cared what it really said, and certainly no one cared about how Petreaus felt about the matter. Republicans saw dollar signs. They saw political capital. They saw a way to punish Democrats and divert attention away from a failing war where the majority of the dislike of their party's leader comes from, which they are irrevocably tied to. The General came in to defend them and their actions, and when the Democrats and Democratic affiliated groups questioned whether or not Petreaus was really being up front and entirely honest, backed into a corner they really did the only thing they could do: Play off the public's trust of the military and try to bypass the whole damned argument. Perhaps surprisingly, the one unassailable group in the US are US men and women in uniform. They are treated with respect and honor, not scorn and ridicule as they were during Vietnam. They are almost universally loved and treated with dignity. So I have to wonder why Republicans, seemingly holding the mantle of defenders of the Armed Forces from those wicked Democrats, are using the military as political cannon fodder to run roughshod over Democrats who take issue with their failed policies. Well duh, the answer is easy of course, it's because it's all the Republicans have left! They know they've lost the public's trust, that even though voter confidence in the Congress is below 30%, more than 50% of Americans still think that it's in better hands with the Democrats in charge. Now that is one hell of an insulting number to Republicans.

So with Democrats outraising Republicans by unheard of margins, with the Republicans in a dangerously precarious position for the 2008 Senate elections (a perfect storm of bad timing has left them in a position to lose several more seats), with a president who is wholly out of touch with the American people, and with a war stuck in their laps that no one wants anymore, they did the one thing they had left when the opportunity presented itself: Use the last respected government institution as a ploy to attack Democrats. Because Democrats can't attack the military and get away with it, so if Republicans can manage to manufacture an attack on the military where none exists (via the ad), and then attach the moveon.org ad to Democrats, well then Democrats just attacked the military! We must demand apologies from all of them! We have to force a vote in Senate to get them on record as being for or against the military.

Never mind the fact that the moveon.org ad actually asked a good set of questions. It showed what Petreaus actually says, and then presents known facts that seem to conflict with his not-under-oath testimony. Um, last I checked that was called being a good American, it's called citizenship actually, it's called civilian control of the military, and it's called not being an ignorant fool who drinks the kool-aid. But hey, that's not the type of attitude we want here in America is it? No sir! John McCain, in response to the moveon.org ad said they should be "thrown out of the country." Because hey, there's nothing more American than suppressing political dissidents right? I'm only mildly surprised that Democrats didn't take that particular line and demand an apology from McCain, but I guess the first amendment doesn't ge the same respect the military does.

Does the censure from Congress really mean anything? No. It's a non-binding resolution that has no teeth when it really comes down to it. But there is a moral to this story: Free speech in America is only possible if everyone approves of what you are saying. If they don't approve, they'll shout you down, or they'll make sure you can't get your words printed in the paper, or they'll get Congress to condemn you, or they'll get politicians you support and who support you to disavow you, and everyone who was once your friend will be forced through PR handwringing will throw you over the side like unnecessary ballast so they can kowtow to the misinformed, stupid public. We're in a new age now, where false umbrage and political maneuvering forces candidates to jump through hoops and creates prerequisites for what they must say before they can be taken seriously. Welcome to our new democracy. That censure might not do anything, but it says everything.