The Tail That Wags the Dog

The New York Times today has an interesting poll on its front page and an outrageous advertisement on A25.

On the front page, the poll says that the American people most trust U.S. military commanders to successfully resolve the war in Iraq. Sixty-eight percent trust the military, 21 percent trust the Congress, 5 percent trust the president. Not much faith in our political leaders for a successful resolution to a problem that most observers say has to be solved by a political process.

On page A25, MoveOn.org calls Gen. David Petraeus by a sophomoric name, General Betray Us, as a way of showing its immature, over-emotional and dangerous perspective on the war.

The fact that the public believes the military more than the Congress should give Democratic congressional leaders some thought that they ought to take a more conciliatory view of Petraeus. Instead they share the view of MoveOn.org, calling the general a stooge of the White House. Sen. Dick Durbin started the attack last week, only to be followed by Sens. Harry Reid and Diane Feinstein.

This isn’t good politics for the Democrats. But they are not driving the truck these days. MoveOn.org is driving it.

How much do we really know about the MoveOn-ers? Well, we know they have received at least $5 million from George Soros and his colleagues. We know they strongly backed Howard Dean in the last presidential election. We know they claim to have over 3 million members, although that is hard to verify. And we know they are dictating the policy of congressional Democrats.

Is it smart for the Democratic dog to be wagged by the MoveOn tail?

Is it ever smart for a major political party to be so reliant on a shadowy, extremist, unaccountable and unbending organization?

It is time to for congressional Democrats to stand up for the American people, stand up for the American military and stand up to the extremists that run MoveOn.org. Their tactics have crossed the line with their advertisement impugning the integrity of a fine American, and they should be held accountable.