MoveOn Ad Vote: Dems Buy Into Repub Framing (Again)

Yes, it was very important this morning to stop considering things like troops levels, ending the occupation, civil liberties, restoring the U.S. Constitution, the health care crisis, energy policy, the environmental emergency or anything else with real importance to human beings. Instead the Senate took up a "sense of the Senate" debate on whether MoveOn's BETRAY-US ad was naughty or nice. I'm not kidding you. The amendment to the defense appropriations bill eventually passed by a margin of 72-25 with 3 Senators not voting. Imagine what historians will make of this travesty in years to come.

Here's the roll call vote. Note the names of way too many Dems in the Yea category. Lemmings all. Even Leahy. I think every single one of them should be grabbed by the collar and made to read George Lakoff's analysis of MoveOn's framing -- and how powerfully successful it is.

[One positive aspect: Sen. Jeff Bingaman voted against it. Thank you Sen. Bingaman for not playing along with the Republican spin machine and the eternal Republican framing of Democrats -- or anyone else who dares to point out that the emperor has no clothes -- as bad guys.] ***I take back the thank you to Sen. Bingaman contained in the brackets. See my remarks on why in the comments thread below.***

The thing is, Repub gaming on this is losing power. Even after the prolonged, highly orchestrated and chock-full-o'-distortions dog and pony show by Bush-Petraeus, Bush's favorables went down again in the polling. The numbers for ending the Iraq occupation remained steady or rose. The percentage of Americans who believe we're on the wrong track grew. I guess most Americans have finally caught on that they're being lied to AGAIN and that the administration's PR excuses on foreign policy are nothing but hot air and sleight of hand. Too bad too many Democrats are still in the dark on that or at least afraid to publicly admit it.

A Lost Opportunity
The Democrats could have used this lastest example of Republican voodoo-politics-before-the-cameras to point out how wasting time on trivial things when troops and Iraqis are dying is: A) a BETRAYAL of the public trust in elected officials and B) a BETRAYAL of their designated responsibilities as a check on executive power gone mad. Instead, the cowardly Yea voters fell under the spell of their Republican taunters. Do they really think that kowtowing to Bush Bullies will save them from being called names in the future, no matter what they do? Apparently so -- despite it being perfectly clear to just about everyone buth them that their repetitive caving to this same inane maneuvering won't stop the the rightwing mud machine at all. Not one iota. It's what they do.

Thanks A Lot
I work very hard every day (without pay) to try and build support for the Democratic cause, along with millions of other people like me all over the country. You know, like the 3+ million who are members of MoveOn. When too many Dems vote like they did today on the MOVE-ON BETRAYAL AMENDMENT, they wash away any good will or support we've managed to build and replace it with disgust, cynicism and, yes, a sense of betrayal in the pool of possible Dem voters. Bush et al. should personally be thanking every Dem who voted for the amendement -- they've done more for the Republican cause today than any registered Republican could hope to do.

Foot in Mouth Disease
Of course, as Governor Richardson said yesterday in answer to a question about the MoveOn ad: "Why condemn it? I disagreed with it. Who cares?" he said. "You guys have too much fascination with these groups nobody cares about.” I hate to say it, but perhaps the real mistaken fascination is with Richardson's awkward, foot-in-mouth pursuit of the presidential nomination. Doh.

PS: Hooray for these Dems, who voted according to their brains, not their irrational, reptilian fears:

NAYs ---25
Akaka (D-HI) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Clinton (D-NY) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI)	Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Levin (D-MI) Menendez (D-NJ) Murray (D-WA) Reed (D-RI)	Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Stabenow (D-MI) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

Oh, and shame on every single Republican Senator -- every one of them voted for this sham. Anything to try and distract attention from the utter and miserable failure of their party, their president and their occupation of Iraq.