Senator McConnell gave the following remarks today on the floor of the Senate in support of the Cornyn Amendment which would express the Sense of the Senate that General Petraeus deserves the support of the Senate and strongly condemns the attacks on General Petraeus and members of the Armed Forces by groups like MoveOn.org which yesterday ran a full page ad in The New York Times calling General Petraeus "General Betray Us." View video of the speech.
Remarks by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell:
“Mr. President, it strikes me that this is an opportunity, the Cornyn Amendment is an opportunity for Senate Democrats to have their reputation restored. I can't believe that Senate Democrats approve of this kind of trash that we've seen in the New York Times in this paid ad which I gather cost over $100,000 last Sunday.
“This organization, MoveOn.org, is claiming that it controls the Democratic Party. I don't believe that's true, but this is what they had to say. Back in 2004, someone named Eli Pariser, an employee of MoveOn, talking about the Democratic Party said:
‘Now it's our party. Now it's our party. We bought it. We own it. And we're going to take it back.’
“They're claiming, MoveOn is claiming, they control the Democratic Party. If I were a Democratic Senator, I’d be offended by that suggestion. MoveOn.org claims, as Senator Cornyn pointed out in his comments, that they communicate on a near daily basis with senior Democratic members.
“Here's a quote:
I called over there and said ‘You guys better have a strategy on this.’
“By ‘there’ Matzzie, who I guess is the head of MoveOn.org, meant the offices of Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill with which he and his staff communicate on a near daily basis. According to Matzzie, Matzzie has personal relationships with several senior Democratic Members of Congress.
“In short, it struck me from this ad on Sunday that this organization, this radical left organization attacking the patriotism of General Petraeus with this act, accusing him in effect treason -- ‘betray us’ they said -- is claiming they control our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Now, I don't believe that. I don't believe that for a minute. And the Cornyn Resolution is an opportunity for the Senate to go on record, hopefully unanimously, objecting to this kind of dialogue.
“Certainly they're free to do whatever they want to. It's a free country. The First Amendment allows everyone to say whatever they please. But you don't have to endorse this kind of nonsense.
“This organization strikes me as a severe threat to the reputation of the Democratic Party, and so this is an opportunity that the Senator from Texas has offered here for all of us to go on record in opposition to this outrageous, outrageous and unacceptable ad that was run in the New York Times on Sunday. General Petraeus, or General ‘Betray Us.’ What an outrage. Are we not offended by that? Do we not condemn that?
“This is the opportunity for the United States Senate on a broad bipartisan basis to condemn this outrageous ad. And I want to thank the Senator from Texas for giving us this opportunity. And I hope when this vote occurs that it will be a unanimous expression, regardless of how we may feel about the war -- and I know this is a deeply divisive issue in this body. We understand that.
“But regardless of how we may feel about the war, some kinds of rhetoric are simply unacceptable. And here you have an outside organization claiming to basically control the Democratic Party. I don't believe they do. And if I were a member of the Democratic Conference and sitting on the other side of the aisle in this chamber, I’d be offended by an organization claiming to control me and to speak for me such as this group apparently does.
“So I thank the Senator from Texas. I think it is a perfectly timely amendment, as General Petraeus is testifying here in the Senate today and the House yesterday. And of course next week we'll be dealing with the Iraq issue again.
“And I hope we can discuss it, discuss it in a typical responsible Senate debate and not have these extreme organizations on the far left who apparently wish for America’s defeat and have a disproportionate influence on this body or the outcome of our debates. We ought to be able to rise above that. I think we have the possibility of doing that. The American people would like for us to do that. They want us to engage in a civil debate about the way forward in Iraq.
“We'll have an opportunity to demonstrate that again next week, and I hope we'll demonstrate it this morning by overwhelmingly and hopefully on a unanimous basis condemning this outrageous ad questioning the patriotism of General Petraeus.”
