kitty cupToday’s WaPo has an article about MoveOn, but it’s really about the pitfalls of being a truth teller in a Beltway Establishment drowning in its own duplicity and lack of accountability.

The 22 Democrats who voted to condemn the truth tellers and provide the most dishonest Administration in my lifetime with a political distraction need a verbal flogging, but before that, they need a few reminders:

MoveOn did not lie to get the country into a needless, bloody war; Bush/Cheney did.

MoveOn did not fabricate a phony link between Saddam and 9/11; Bush/Cheney did.

MoveOn did not fail to plan for an extended occupation; did not fail to protect Iraq’s national treasures, did not fail to secure Saddam’s conventional arms caches or prevent them from falling into the hands of those likely to resist the invasion; did not disband the Iraq Army, putting thousands of trained/armed soldiers on the streets with no jobs — Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld did.

MoveOn did not install a pro-Iranian government in Baghdad and then profess shock that Iran was gaining too much influence; Bush/Cheney did.

MoveOn did not inflame Iraqis by authorizing torture and failing to set humane rules for Iraq detentions at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo — Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld did.

MoveOn did not authorize the presence of 20,000 to 30,000 armed mercenaries and did not force the Iraqis to accept their presence without any legal accountability to Iraq and did not fail to follow up with any legal accountability in the US — Bush/Cheney and the current acting Attorney General did.

MoveOn did not fabricate one phony assessment after another about how well things were going in Iraq — Bush/Cheney did, and Petraeus’ performance was just another example.

MoveOn did not extend combat tours and shorten rest time for our troops, stretching and exhausting the US Army and placing intolerable burdens on their families — Bush/Cheney did.

MoveOn did not mislead the American people about troop withdrawals by first increasing levels by 30,000 to unsustainable levels and then claim credit when it was forced to reduce levels by almost the same amount — Bush/Cheney/Petraeus did.

MoveOn did not divert our attention from the efforts to capture the al Qaeda organization and leaders who attacked America on 9/11 and did not start an aggressive war against a country that posed no significant threat to America or its allies — Bush/Cheney did.

It takes a specially heavy dose of amnesia to ignore all the facts and a unique brand of political stupidity to vote to condemn, not the perpetrators of these outrages, but instead the organization that has done as much as anyone to get the truth to the American people.

The American people have been fundamentally betrayed by an incompetent, thoroughly dishonest, and dangerously bellicose Administration. Everyone who is sent forth to speak for this reprehensible regime has eventually become either tainted or co-opted, their reputations shattered. Just ask Colin Powell.

It’s time for Congress to stop condemning free speech by those who tell the truth and start holding the offending regime accountable. Because if you don’t, the American people know how to hold you accountable.

Photo: His favorite espresso cup, from josesh27566’s photostream

Related posts:

  1. They laugh alike, they walk alike, At times they even talk alike
  2. Morning Swim, Don’t Make Them Mad Edition
  3. Early Morning Swim: Dick Cheney’s Mouth was Moving on Fox
  4. Early Morning Swim: Special KO and John McCain vs. Dick Cheney Edition
  5. Laura Ingraham on “This Week”: Dick Cheney “Cuts Through” on Afghanistan Because “His Numbers Are Going Up”