Moveon.org Smears General Petraeus

The image shown at left ran yesterday as a full-page ad in the New York Times.

It is an attack on General David Petraeus, the commander of American forces in Iraq and probably our country’s best general (to say nothing of being the guy that wrote the book on how to fight counterinsurgency warfare and countless other accolades).

The ad was paid for by the feverishly anti-war lefty political 527, MoveOn.org.

The National Republican Campaign Committee was quick to point out in a press release that Baron Hill’s political campaign took a great deal of money from the folks at MoveOn.org and he was endorsed by them in 2006.

Read the release, and more, after the leap.

Will Baron Hill Denounce MoveOn.org’s Despicable Ad?

The fringe left-wing organization crosses the line in defaming General Petraeus, but will Hill denounce MoveOn.org after receiving their endorsement and campaign cash?

Washington– Baron Hill and the Democrats are counting on their liberal 527 henchmen to do their dirty work as they slander the good name of General Petraeus. Today, the Democrats got their wish in the form of a full-page New York Times advertisement paid for by the liberal fringe group MoveOn.org. In the ad, General Petraeus, a soldier who has dedicated his life to defending America, is being called a traitor.

The New York Times ad speaks for itself.

Will Baron Hill, who has benefited from over $11,000 in campaign cash from MoveOn.org, finally denounce the group’s despicable behavior? Don’t count on it. It seems that MoveOn.org is doing exactly what Baron Hill and Democrats want them to do.

The Weekly Standard reports on the close working relationship between congressional Democrats and MoveOn.org:

“MoveOn.org has been working closely with the Democratic congressional leadership –as an article in today’s Sunday New York Times Magazine makes clear. And consider this comment by a Democratic senator from Friday’s 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.’” (Weekly Standard, 9/10/07)

Will Baron Hill do the right thing and condemn MoveOn.org for equating General Petraeus with traitors like Adam Gadahn, John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla? If Baron Hill thinks MoveOn.org’s tactics are wrong, he should give back every dollar they have raised for him.

Strong stuff.

So strong, in fact, that Indiana GOP chief Murray Clark decided to chime in with a statement of his own:

Chairman Murray Clark Asks: What Will Indiana’s Democrat Congressmen Do?

“While General Petraeus testifies about the courage of our troops and the progress being made in Iraq, MoveOn.org and its Democrat allies are working together to assassinate the character of this highly-decorated military leader and the brave men and women under his command. MoveOn.org is a proud member of the “blame America first” crowd and proud supporters of Democrat Congressmen Baron Hill, Brad Ellsworth and Joe Donnelly. In 2006, these three congressmen received a combined total of nearly $400,000 in campaign support from MoveOn.org. Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman is correct when he calls the latest attack by MoveOn.org ‘an outrageous and despicable act of slander that every member of the Congress—Democrat and Republican—has a solemn responsibility to condemn.’ Will our new Democrat congressmen do the right thing and condemn MoveOn.org and its latest attack on the American military?”

Baron normally has no trouble with throwing his fellow Democrats and ideological soulmates under the bus.

He did it to John Kerry right before the 2006 campaign, and he did it to William Jefferson (but only after he was indicted; the $90,000 in bribes found in the freezer by the FBI wasn’t enough for him).

Mr. Hill, however, has a striking ability to tolerate all manner of smearing and all kinds of corruption so long as those doing the smearing or behaving corruptly gave him campaign cash.

Consider the example of John Murtha (who threatened another Congressman on the floor of the House).

Anti-war congressman and big-time pork-barrel earmarker Murtha gave Baron campaign contributions, so Baron voted against reprimanding him.

Baron took big bucks from Nancy Pelosi, and votes with her a lot, but Pelosi’s PAC is being investigated by the FEC.

Hill has also taken money from Steny Hoyer, whose PAC is also under investigation, but never said a word against him.

There is a strong and proven correlation between Baron Hill’s willingness to toss his fellow Democrats under the bus on the one hand, and his willingness to ignore their misdeeds on the other.

The difference is all about the money.

If they give him money, he’ll tolerate basically anything.

If they didn’t give him money, he has no trouble pushing them aside.

MoveOn.org gave Baron Hill money.

And, despite their promise to fund a primary challenger to him, I suspect–given past experience–that no condemnation will be forthcoming from Mr. Hill.

Besides, those lefty folks in Bloomington might be a tad angry if he dared to go against them (and they’re already pretty mad at him as it is).

This post is also available at Hoosierpundit.