Netroots Devouring Their Own
Brian Baird’s statements that the surge is actually working has drawn the wrath of the Netroots. According to this article in the Hill, MoveOn.org is calling Baird a flip-flopper in a series of ads:
Rep. Brian Baird’s (D-Wash.) recent conversion on the Iraq war is beginning to affect more than the national dialogue. On Wednesday, liberal group MoveOn.org announced an ad campaign against the congressman in his own district.
Baird recently returned from a trip to Iraq and reversed his position on a withdrawal timetable, citing military progress in the four-year-old war.
MoveOn is calling the move a “flip-flop” and says it goes against the views of his constituents.
The ad does not make specific reference to Baird’s conversion. Instead, it features a soldier who served in Iraq talking about the amount of resistance troops encountered and at the end asks viewers to tell Baird to bring the troops home.
Here’s the striking sentence in that section of the article:
MoveOn is calling the move a “flip-flop” and says it goes against the views of his constituents.
What’s striking is that it doesn’t say that Baird lied about the improving conditions on the ground. It didn’t bother addressing that because they don’t care about what’s happening in Iraq. If that were a consideration, they would’ve addressed that immediately.
Rep. Baird should wear their attack as a badge of honor. At least he’s come around to the side that wants to win, which is far more than I can say about MoveOn.org.
Baird voted against the war in 2003 and had opposed it until last month. Republicans have been quick to key on his remarks as evidence of progress in Iraq.
MoveOn disagrees, calling the war “unwinnable.”
“So far this has been one of the bloodiest summers in Iraq, and voters don’t want to continue down a failed path,” said MoveOn campaigner Nita Chaudhary. “They want representatives who will stand up to President Bush’s reckless policy and bring our troops home.”
Ms. Chaudhary can’t be paying attention to the people. If she was paying attention, she’d notice that support for the war is increasing. She’d notice that more positive reports are getting published. With the trend pointing towards more successes, isn’t it reasonable to think that MoveOn.org’s ideological beliefs, coupled with their hatred for President Bush, have everything to do with their anti-war position?
It’s a sad commentary when a political organization’s hatred for President Bush prevents them from cheering for a military victory in Iraq.
Technorati Tags: Brian Baird, Flip Flopper, Democrat, MoveOn.org, BDS, Iraq War, Election 2008
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
August 30th, 2007 at 7:13 am
Acts like this and the fact that the September report by General P. will be positive is what is going to hurt the Dems in the 2008 elections. If the GOP can stop shooting itself in the foot every couple of weeks we might even be able to win back one if not both houses of Congress.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Just because we may have turned a corner in the war doesn’t mean the Republicans are going to have a cake walk. I dont think theyve learned a damned thing since the last election.
They have a hell of a long ways to go to regain any respect from a lot of conservatives who are just about ready to give up on these turkeys.
I’ll tell you something else, we whine a lot about the Bush lied mantra from the nut roots, but you know what, the Republicans lied to us when they told this guy was another Reagan. Theres a lot of stuff they never deivered on, and if they loose again, they deserve to.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:25 am
The author’s observations are entirely correct: The left’s fervid desire to bring this war to a humiliating conclusion is a thinly disguised function of its “ideological beliefs, coupled with [its] hatred for President Bush.”
Not exactly a noble emotion–or even a good example of critical thinking.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:59 am
I think calling and supporting him is in order. Please do so. He needs to know Americans appreciate honesty and courage in the face of powerful special interests.
Congressman Brian Baird U.S. House of Representatives 2443 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3536
120 Union Avenue Suite 105 Olympia, WA 98501 Phone: (360) 352-9768 Fax: (360) 352-9241
Fax: (202) 225-3478
September 1st, 2007 at 5:27 pm
[...] H/T to California Conservative [...]
September 4th, 2007 at 1:18 am
There is a genre of writing called “science fantasy.”
I like to think of liberal thought as “political fantasy.” It is a world loosely based upon the real one where fantasies take flight and reality is left in the dirt, one where, for example, a sane person can reason with an insane terrorist, or where people do bad things because they’re simply “misguided”, or there are poor people because a) the greedy capitalists have stolen all the poor peoples’ money and b) the guvmint hasn’t given the poor folk enough money yet.
Ah, yes, the great realm of P.S. from the great folks of the S.P.s.