I went to the General Clark book signing downtown only to hear him announce that the Cornyn amendment (read challenge to the 1st Amendment IMHO) passed with a dramatic margin whilst the Webb Amendment and Habeas Corpus hang in a Filibuster Limbo.
Even as I sat there half listening to him read from his book about a battle in Vietnam, one in which he was seriously wounded, it took me a while to actually digest what'd happened with regards to the vote.
He mentioned that he personally didn't like the ad. He was okay with criticizing the general's policies and positions. But he thought that the name calling was unnecessary.
However, he was very quick to point out that he was unimpressed with the need for this administration and its Republican led Senate (ed: interesting, yet true, slip there) hide behind the general. And interestingly enough his voice got dramatically louder as he voiced his frustration with the fact that the Senate was diddling around with Cornyn's amendment when serious work needed to be done and soldiers are busy doing their jobs in Iraq.
He mentioned also that it was good to see that the Republicans were being held to account??? upbraided??? for their actions re: John Kerry and the Swift Boaters. But I really got the sense of "But still...we've got serious issues that need to be addressed..." was hanging on at the end of that.
And then I got home...
And I am still stunned...bemused...confused...and now...irate.
And I've let my senators know how disgusted I am with their vote:
Senator,
What the heck did y'all just do?
I am stunned. Quite literally I am shocked and amazed that you would join in with the GOP to condemn an organization such as MoveOn.org for expressing an OPINION. One that has appeared on military related blogsites like Black Five at least as far back as 2005: "I don't know GEN Petraeus personally...but when I was in the "Devil Brigade" folks called him 'Colonel Betrayus'". Further discussion of it can be found at Dkos.
This is the United States of America. That first amendment found in the Bill of Rights protects our ability to express opinions.
Factually, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were wrong...provably wrong.
The MoveOn ad was opinion. You may not like it. You may not agree with it. But the basic premise of the 1st Amendment is that it's for all citizens regardless of whether you agree or not.
How many other aspects of the Constitution/Bill of Rights are you going to watch slide from our country's hands?
Frankly...I'm disappointed. Truly, deeply disappointed. Not to mention bone tired of the seeming acquiescence that appears to be so prevalent within the Democratic leadership.
This was so obviously a stunt focused on shifting attention away from the real issues and problems at hand...
I've just arrived. And I know that there are probably a lot of diaries about this.
Still...