Rhyme Scheme Rhetoric

Jane Hamsher is usually a smart lady, but she has a ridiculous defense of the "betray us" fiasco.

The MoveOn ad said what Democrats could not and survive politically -- Petraeus is acting as a politician, doing a politician's job of spinning and his actions are not above criticism just because he's got a bunch of ribbons on his chest that George Bush would like to hide behind. And it traveled.

Well no, Jane, that's not what the Petraeus - betray us ad said. It said GEN Petraeus is a traitor. There is a pretty big difference in a lot of people's eyes.
One of her testoserone pumped commenters (carefulcautius) expressed it more precisely:

Anytime you can knock down a General a peg or two, we make the REAL America stronger.

These blustering morons think that just because most Americans have turned against the war they have become like them - fire breathing leftists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Polls show that the institution Americans trust is the military. Tactics that alienate most Americans only help convince them that anti-war libs can't be trusted. Perhaps 20% of Americans are hard core anti-military types. Another 40% are basically pro-military but are hostile to what Bush is doing. Another 15% support the President but are getting very antsy. Most of the latter two groups are deeply offended by the Petraeus ad - they, and I, see it as attack on us as well as the general.

In the first place the charge is absurd. Petraeus is not a traitor. At worst he is a political general fighting for his plan. Secondly, it's childish - rhetoric by rhyme scheme, suitable only for the gradeschool playgound. Third, it insults and alienates many of the people whose support is needed to end the war. Finally, it detracts from the actual content of the moveon message, that the figures Petraeus was giving were dodgy.

During the Vietnam war - and yes, I remember - kids chanted "Hey, hey, LBJ. How many kids did you kill today." It was a much more apposite message, but it didn't shorten the war by one second or save one American or Vietnamese. It did piss off those with the power to end the war, and that war dragged on for many more long years, with 25,000 more American and countless Vietnamese killed.

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