Thursday, September 20, 2007
ridiculous
Instead of voting on something meaningful that could actually end this disastrous and unsubstantiated war in Iraq, the Senate today passed a resolution condemning that clever "Patreas or Betray Us?" ad that ran last week in the New York Times.
That's right, our Senators got their knickers in a twist over an ad. In a newspaper. So twisted in fact that they felt the need to make a formal statement against that ad. That ran in a newspaper.
Of course, they did spend some time yesterday voting on a proposal by Senator Jim Webb of Virginia that would have given the troops as much time at home as they have to be deployed in the war zone. Historically, troops would get twice as much time off as they are required to be in theatre.
But the mental and physical health of our troops isn't as important as making sure that an advertisement is condemned. An advertisement that ran in a newspaper. You see, even though the Webb amendment received a majority of votes in the Senate, a procedural maneuver required it to receive a "supermajority" of 60 votes, which it did not get.
So rather than push another tactic today to try and overcome this Republican obstructionism, the Senate instead decided that its time would be better spent whining about an ad. In a newspaper.
MoveOn.org, which ran the original ad, is not taking this lying down. You can stand with MoveOn, and I encourage my faithful readers (both of you) to do so:
I wasn't expecting to be this pissed off over such a disproportionate response to an ad. In a newspaper. But here we are.
That's right, our Senators got their knickers in a twist over an ad. In a newspaper. So twisted in fact that they felt the need to make a formal statement against that ad. That ran in a newspaper.
Of course, they did spend some time yesterday voting on a proposal by Senator Jim Webb of Virginia that would have given the troops as much time at home as they have to be deployed in the war zone. Historically, troops would get twice as much time off as they are required to be in theatre.
But the mental and physical health of our troops isn't as important as making sure that an advertisement is condemned. An advertisement that ran in a newspaper. You see, even though the Webb amendment received a majority of votes in the Senate, a procedural maneuver required it to receive a "supermajority" of 60 votes, which it did not get.
So rather than push another tactic today to try and overcome this Republican obstructionism, the Senate instead decided that its time would be better spent whining about an ad. In a newspaper.
MoveOn.org, which ran the original ad, is not taking this lying down. You can stand with MoveOn, and I encourage my faithful readers (both of you) to do so:
The U.S. Senate just told us to sit down and be quiet. They passed a resolution condemning MoveOn.org and it has one purpose: To intimidate all of us who care about ending this war. To send a message that anyone who speaks unpleasant truths about this war will pay. To make everyone--especially politicians--think twice before they accuse the administration of lying.
We can't let that happen. I just signed a statement telling Congress that they won't intimidate me, and I'm going to keep speaking out until they force an exit strategy out of this awful war. Can you join me?
Click here.
Thanks!
I wasn't expecting to be this pissed off over such a disproportionate response to an ad. In a newspaper. But here we are.
Labels: Iraq, movement-building, MoveOn, Senate
