Clinton, Dodd vote no on condemning MoveOn ad
usatoday.com, Sept 21 2007
In the latest round of maneuvers over last week's MoveOn.org ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chris Dodd today voted against a Senate resolution that condemned the ad and supported Petraeus. Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden, two other Democrats running for president, did not vote on the measure.
Only 25 senators voted against the symbolic resolution, which said Petraeus "deserves the full support of the Senate" and the Senate "strongly condemn(s) personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces."
Conservative blogger David Brody followed the floor debate and quoted Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell: “Let's take sides. General Petraeus or MoveOn.org. Which one are we going to believe? Which one are we going to condemn?" Brody said the vote could return to haunt Clinton.
Her vote triggered a sharp statement from Republican Mitt Romney:
"Hillary Clinton had a choice. She could stand with our troop commander in Iraq, or she could stand with the libelous left wing of her party. She chose the latter. The idea that she would be a credible commander-in-chief of our armed forces requires the willing suspension of disbelief."
There was no immediate reaction from Clinton.
Dodd called it "a sad day in the Senate when we spend hours debating an ad while our young people are dying in Iraq. Now that the Senate has twice voted on this ad, it is time to move on and vote to end the war."
MoveOn circulated a defiant e-mail vowing to keep up the fight and said of the Senate: "Yesterday, they couldn't even pass a bill to give soldiers adequate leave with their families before redeploying. But they're spending time cracking down on a newspaper ad?"
The AP said Obama did not vote on the resolution even though he had voted "minutes earlier" for an alternative that condemned the MoveOn ad as an "unwarranted personal attack," but also condemned attack ads that questioned the patriotism of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., both Vietnam veterans.
The full-page MoveOn.org ad in The New York Times called Petraeus "General Betray Us." As we have noted here today, President Bush called the ad "disgusting"; MoveOn targeted McConnell with a "betrayal" ad on TV, and Gallup Poll editor in chief Frank Gallup noted that Petraeus is more popular than any presidential candidate. |
