Opinion: Petraeus ad remains in the spotlight

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The furor over MoveOn.org continues to move along.

None too surprisingly, President Bush had harsh words today for the controversial ad by the liberal, online advocacy group that questioned the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus just as the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq was to deliver long-awaited testimony on Capitol Hill. Asked about the matter at a news conference --- as he no doubt hoped he would be --- the president termed the ad ‘disgusting.’

He also, again predictably, followed the lead of Republicans seeking to succeed him who have used the ad to hammer Democrats in general and Hillary Clinton in particular. Bush said he was ‘disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org; are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military.’

Perhaps a bit more unexpected was a lopsided Senate vote later in the day in favor of a measure that, without mentioning MoveOn by name, obviously had it in mind in strongly condemning ‘personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.’

The purely symbolic, ‘sense of the Senate’ resolution passed 72-25, with 22 Democrats (including California’s Dianne Feinstein) and one independent (Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman, whose reelection MoveOn unsuccessfully sought to thwart last year) joining 49 Republicans in supporting it.

During the vote, all eyes were on the four Democratic senators who in their spare time are running for president. Clinton voted against the resolution (which was sponsored by GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas), as did Chris Dodd. Not voting were Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Did Obama duck the vote? That question was raised because he had been on the Senate floor a few minutes earlier to back an alternative resolution from Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California that berated the MoveOn ad as an ‘unwarranted attack’ on Petraeus, but also rebuked ads that some believed questioned the patriotism of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the 2004 presidential campaign and then-Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) in his unsuccessful 2002 reelection bid.

The measure lost on a close vote; along with Obama, Clinton and Dodd voted for it. Biden also missed this vote.

The two GOP presidential contenders in the Senate, Arizona’s John McCain and Kansas’ Sam Brownback, supported the Cornyn resolution and opposed Boxer’s.

As these skirmishes were being played out in Washington, MoveOn made clear it won’t be backing off. Executive Director Eli Pariser said of Bush’s broadside: “What’s disgusting is that the president has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq and end this awful war.’

Still, evidence is emerging that MoveOn may have overplayed its hand with the Petraeus ad.

The Times’ Tina Daunt, in a story that will appear later today on our website and in Friday’s print edition, reports that political activists within the entertainment community are among those chagrined that the group has become an unwanted distraction in the debate over Iraq.

-- Don Frederick