The latest poll from the New York Times shows that the Democrats are making a seriously bad decision to unleash proxy attacks on General David Petraeus. The poll finds that the public trusts American commanders quite a lot more than they trust Congress or the President when it comes to making decisions about Iraq. The Democrats decision to let groups like MoveOn try character assassination on General Petraeus will backfire badly.
The poll found that both Congress, whose approval rating now stands at its lowest level since Democrats took control from the Republicans last year, and Mr. Bush enter the debate with little public confidence in their ability to deal with Iraq. Only 5 percent of Americans — a strikingly low number for a sitting president’s handling of such a dominant issue — said they most trusted the Bush administration to resolve the war, the poll found. Asked to choose among the administration, Congress and military commanders, 21 percent said they would most trust Congress and 68 percent expressed most trust in military commanders.
The Senate voted their approval of General Petraeus when they confirmed him as commander in Iraq. Unleashing attacks on him now – when he is seen as more than three times as trustworthy as Congress – is a really bad idea.
UPDATE: Yep. Bad idea. The Associated Press just put Democratic politicians right into the hotseat:
WASHINGTON – Hours before he was to tell Congress the U.S. military needs more time in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus found himself in a political hornet's nest. Anti-war protestors decried him as a traitor, Democrats called him a yes-man for President Bush and rank-and-file Republicans waited quietly to be convinced.
"General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" the grassroots anti-war group MoveOn.org wrote in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times that accused the four-star general of "cooking the books" on the war for the White House.
Republican stalwarts swiftly came to his defense. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said the ad amounted to insulting "childish tactics" and should be condemned. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., called the ad a "slap in the face of every member of the armed forces" and branded MoveOn.org a "left wing anti-military organization."
The Democrats might want to distance themselves fast from this group.
The Democrats might want to distance themselves fast from this group.
I sincerely hope they don’t! When Dems are destroying themselves I want them to go for it.
I’d like to think that when the dummicrats attack General Patraeus, that they’ll see their approval numbers drop to single digits… not that they would care, as long as they can further the BDS! Morons! They’d be better served to stop listening to the MSM and go to church!
Gaius, I think the Dems are too afraid of MoveOn to repudiate them for that scurrilous advert accusing Gen. Petraeus of committing treason by not agreeing with Moveon’s agenda. They need MoveOn’s money machine too much to ever dare more than the mildest of rebukes.
I dunno TC. This one is getting mainstreamed – it may be too much heat.
Note that the NYT even fakes the results of its own poll. Public opinion of Congress is not just the lowest it has been since the Democrats took over, it is the lowest ever. The implication of the NYT’s description is that it was lower at some point under the Republicans, which is a lie.
I agree with TC. Democrats are addicted to all of that lovely hate cash that MoveOn shovels out. If the Democrat Congress’ recent steep drop in overall approval did not wake them up, nothing will. We can count on the GOP to head for the hills and cower at the first hint of criticism from the MSM.
Democrats are absolutely convinced that everything they do is golden, and that the public backs them 100% no matter how crooked and evil they get. Morons.
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