Now That Hillary’s Calling General Petraeus A Liar Is Proving Unpopular…

...she’d like to go on record with how much she admires him.

Hillary said this to General Petraeus during his testimony before Congress:

“You have been made the de facto spokesman for what many of us believe to be a failed policy. Despite what I view as your rather extraordinary efforts in your testimony ... I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief.”

What can that possibly mean other than the fact that she thinks the General was, well, lying?

Now, however, Hillary is saying this:

ons, including at the last hearing, how much I respect Gen. Petraeus and his service to our country,” Clinton told CNN’s John Roberts on “American Morning.”

“I speak for myself,” said the New York Democrat when asked if she thought the ad, which ran in The New York Times last week, was out of line. “I am a very strong admirer of Gen. Petraeus and his record of service for our country and the dedication that he has brought to a very difficult job that many of us think does not have a military solution,”

So she admires the General who she has also accused of misrepresenting the situation in Iraq to Congress in order to please President Bush? Or, at the very least, on Bush’s orders?

Hillary’s trying to have it both ways, and it just doesn’t work like that.

John McCain Just Doesn’t Get the Free Speech Thing

Republican anger continues to mount over MoveOn's disgraceful ad in Monday's New York Times that referred to "General Betray Us."

Thursday night, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) voiced one of the sharpes rebukes of the far-left organization since the ad was first published.

Speaking in front of a group in Hudson, New Hampshire, while holding a blown-up copy of the ad, McCain said:
It's disgraceful, it's got to be retracted and condemned by the Democrats, and MoveOn.org ought to be thrown out of this country."

Right on the first three items and wrong, dead wrong, on the last.

Despite the fact that I stand for everything that Move On doesn’t; Move On has a right to express their (collective) opinion. And when they step over the line I’ve got a right, ever right, to blast Move On and any of their bought and paid for lackeys that cover for them.

Keep Despair Alive!

One of the articles of faith for those pining for America's defeat in Iraq is that the success of the tribal awakening movement in Anbar province cannot possibly, ever, be reproduced anywhere else in Iraq.
We should believe this, I suppose, because every leftist who starts blogging is instantly granted divine insight into the complexities of Iraqi politics, thousands of miles away. You know, the same people who have been telling us we have already lost in Iraq.
Well lo and behold, perhaps the Juan Cole wannabes don't know a damn thing about Iraq:The tribal movement begun in Anbar has spread throughout central Iraq, as thousands of Sunnis have either volunteered to join the Iraqi Security Forces or formed local defense groups under Iraqi government and coalition auspices. These "concerned citizens" groups springing up throughout central Iraq have not been previously observed on this scale in the country. They permit U.S. and Iraqi forces to hold territory they have cleared more effectively. The volunteers who make up these groups, recruited and deployed in their own neighborhoods, have incentives to protect their families and communities. They are not independent militias, however. They are partnered with Iraqi Security Forces and coalition forces.
The Baqubah Guardians, one such group, recently helped the Iraqi police in that city fight off al Qaeda insurgents until coalition helicopters arrived. The Taji Neighborhood Watch association searched hundreds of homes for weapons caches. Iraq has hitherto lacked a local policing initiative, relying instead on national and regional models. The concerned-citizen groups are filling this gap while the U.S. and the Iraqi governments work to expand and improve the Iraqi Security Forces that many of these volunteers hope to join.
I am sure the defeatocrats will explain this away with all the expert authority they have displayed thus far. They need to. They have bet the whole farm on defeat, and so they need to chant to themselves "keep despair alive!"

GOP Scandals Get More Press

Associated Press reporter David Espo did a story Thursday ("GOP Reeling from Money and Sex Scandals"), which mentioned Sen. Craig, the recent FBI raid on the home of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens and that the telephone number of Louisiana GOP Sen. David Vitter was found in the phone book of a Washington, D.C., madam.
Mr. Espo said nothing about the financial scandals swirling about Ms. Clinton and ACT. He referred back to the 2006 scandals involving GOP former Reps. Bob Ney and Mark Foley, but said nothing about the FBI’s investigation of West Virginia Democrat Alan Mollohan, whose net worth soared from $500,000 to more than $6 million in four years.
Every Republican tainted by scandal in 2006 either resigned his office or was defeated for re-election. Rep. Mollohan and Rep. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, D-La, in whose refrigerator the FBI found $90,000 of bribe money, were re-elected by comfortable margins.
When a scandal involves a Republican, his or her party affiliation is mentioned in the lead. When it involves a Democrat, party affiliation typically is mentioned deep in the story, if at all.
Funny how that works, isn’t it?
But don’t you dare accuse the world truth-seeking journalists of bias or anything.
Don’t. You. Dare.