I have to admit that even I was taken aback by the following quote I read over the weekend in Politico:  “No one wants to call [Petraeus] a liar on national TV,” noted one Democratic Senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity.  “The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.”

Wow. 

I mistakenly assumed that the reporter had simply caught a Member off guard and they had misspoken.  But, as you read the piece it becomes clear that there are those who will do anything to declare defeat. 

Then this morning The New York Times ran this ad from MoveOn.org.   This hateful full page fiction accuses General Petraeus of “cooking the books for the White House” and states, “Today, before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us.”

Such drivel is unacceptable but perhaps not surprising given the nature of the opposition to America’s efforts to protect itself from terrorist attack.

The New York Times Magazine looks at the remarkable Washington, D.C.-based union-funded effort to create a hyper-political environment and intimidate Members of Congress on the issue of the war in Iraq.  In the piece Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of MoveOn.org, brags about spinning media coverage in order to gin up opposition to our fight against terrorists and boasts of getting funding for the $15 million effort from MoveOn, the SEIU, and unnamed wealthy individuals.

Read the piece and learn more about this effort.  I think you will agree with me that the effort to tarnish our troops and to brand General Petraeus a liar is reprehensible.  I also think you will agree with me that rather than politicizing a very complex and important security issue, we should be using this time to soberly reflect on the Petraeus/Crocker report.  I have faith that a representative democracy can still rise above petty partisan politics to make sure we take the right steps to ensure our fight against terrorism is successful.