Hypocrites, The Bunch of Them!

Actually had some other posts planned for today, however, upon opening my eyes early this morning, I soon descried what the day would be - An absolute, merciless hammering, like a Blackwater USA security detail in the a heart of Baghdad, of allergies.

So, instead, I rant.

Why-O-Why do the Democrats, after all the twisted spin, outright lies, hurtful smears, keep buying into the Republican/Rightwing/Freak Show straw-man, talking point hissy fits?

General Betrayus!

How could the Senate Democrats possibly join in with the Rubber-Stamp Republicans, to the tune of a 75-25 vote, to approve a resolution condemning MoveOn.Org for their "General Betrayus" advertisement, the day the PetraeusReportPalooza kicked off.

While The Commander Guy, and the rest of the blathering pinheads wipe away the foam and spittle from their mouths, over this "outrageous insult to our troops", where was your rage when the "Betrayus" line was first used - or, at least uttered before the MoveOn.Org ad?

It occurred on a TimesOnLine (UK) article from 19 August 2007, titled "Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge".

Here's the money shot;

"AFTER being hailed as King David, the potential saviour of Iraq, the US commander General David Petraeus is facing a backlash in advance of his report to Congress in September on the progress of America’s troop surge.

Critics, including one recently retired general, are privately calling him “General Betraeus” on the grounds that he is too ambitious to deliver a balanced report on the war."

Seems that the the title "General Betraeus" was coined by military people, the same people that The Commander Guy, the Republicans, and more-than-a-handful of Democrats are accusing MoveOn.Org slandering.

I don't have access to Lexus-Nexus to verify when it was first used, but, by way of the above-quoted article, it was used, at least once, prior to MoveOn.Org.

I mean, wake the fuck up!

It wouldn't take a fifth-grade (including one from that Fox show) class clown all that much to figure out the rhyme potential of "Petraeus" and 'Betrayus".

But no, the Harry "Just-Don't-Hurt-Me-When-You-Walk-All-Over-Me" Reid-led Senate Democratic Majority folds like a beer-barrel-song accordion every time.

The Golden Boy General chose to make himself the water carrier for the Bush Grindhouse and it shouldn't be incumbent on the Senate, or anyone else, to try to hid him behind his uniform, free of criticism. He's playing politics just like everyone else, he lobbied, wine-and-dined the dog-and-pony shows in selling this, and because he has a lot of scrambled eggs on his chest, that doesn't give him any free passes.

The Senate Republicans are a very partisan, even meaner Lucy, and the Senate Democrats seem all-to-content to comply to their Charlie Brown role, but even more gullible, kicking at that football that isn't there.

But Wait, There's More

And in case you have any thoughts of this is part of Reid's grand strategy, or they're fighting the battles they can, get a glove, get in the game

We had a vision yesterday, a sneak preview, rated "N" for nauseating, on how the next year-and-a-half is going to play out.

Better, I guess, to have 130,000 tired, burned-out, over-extended soldiers stationed in Iraq, than, say, 65,000 well-rested and refreshed.

Pretty amazing, with the mantra of the Republicans the past few years, of beating the Democrats over the head with false charges and lies about not wanting to support the troops, "Defeatocrats" and the like ...

Given the opportunity to do something that would truly aid and assist our military troops, the Republicans all raced to shove their heads up The Commander Guys' ass.

And here is, essentially, what the Republicans continue to support, without question or oversight, from Sidney Blumenthal today over at Salon;

"One week after Petraeus flashed his metrics, a whole new set of facts on the ground suddenly emerged: an admission (previously denied) by Petraeus that the United States was arming the Sunnis, who might use those weapons in the next phase of Iraq's civil war; the release of a Pentagon report that there is "an increase in intra-Shi'a violence throughout the South" (a report conveniently withheld as Petraeus was testifying); the Iraqi government's expulsion of Blackwater, a private security firm with close ties to the administration, after a band of its guards gunned down Iraqi civilians; the restriction of all nonmilitary U.S. personnel in Iraq to the Green Zone; a report by the Iraqi Red Crescent that about 1 million people are internal refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing (apart from the more than 2 million refugees who have fled the country); and the announcement by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of an investigation into the State Department's inspector general for quashing scrutiny and embarrassing studies of fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, among other projects.

As these events played out, Petraeus was detailed as Bush's Willy Loman to preside over the cooling of the special relationship with America's most important ally in the coalition of the willing. The general traveled to London to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the policy from which he is rapidly disengaging, already having withdrawn British forces in Basra to its airport before final evacuation. Such is the face of victory 10 days after Petraeus' march through Capitol Hill. "

Apparently, since they like to rig voting counts, they want to apply the same policy to death counts, and will continue to blindly support the failed policies of a failed president.

Not a big fan of Chris Matthews, but he did have a good point yesterday (apply the "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile" here), noting the Republican actions in not supporting the Webb Bill, by saying "but we now realize that we stay in this war six more months, do the multiplication. Six times 90; 550 some people are going to be dead ..."

Time, sadly, once again, to cue up Que Sera Sera...

More To Wade Through Links

Digby: Make Em Talk

Joan Walsh: When winning is still losing

Glenn Greenwald: Limitless wrongness

Good Post Alert - Launching Brand Petraeus

The PetraeusReportpalooza ... Ready For Your Close-Up, General?