How the GOP & Moveon.org support the troops

From Firedoglake,

You have to wonder what on earth the Republicans (and Joe Lieberman) were thinking when they voted down Senator Webb’s plan to ensure that our nation’s soldiers are rested and mentally and physically ready to go into battle. What could possibly justify the continuation of the cruel, punishing policies that send soldiers back to war when they are not yet fit to fight?

Reuters:

Fellow Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a co-sponsor of Webb’s plan, said Republican senators were heavily lobbied by the administration against the measure.

“The White House has been very effective of making this a loyalty test for the party,” Hagel said after the vote.

After voting down the Webb amendment and the failing to restore Habeas Corpus, what important business did the Senate vote on? Debating the appropriateness of a political ad, of course. 72 senators voted to condemn a newspaper ad by the liberal anti-war group Moveon.org. Yes, you read that right.

Here's a real democrat, Rep. Pete Stark, on the subject, via Matt Stoller at Openleft.com:

"I commend MoveOn for their ad and for speaking truth to power," said Stark. "Up is not down, the earth is not flat, and the surge is not working. General Petreaus betrayed his own reputation by standing with George Bush in opposition to the timely withdrawal of all of our brave men and women from Iraq. I thank MoveOn for their patriotic ad and call on Petreaus to help Bush end a war the President should have never started."

In an email I received from Moveon.org today:

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday, an amazing thing happened. After the Senate's shameful vote, and after President Bush called MoveOn "disgusting,"¹ our email started to fill up with messages like this one:

I'm currently in Iraq. I do not agree with this war, and if I did support this war, it would not matter. You have the RIGHT to speak the truth. We KNOW that you support us. Thank you for speaking out for being our voice. We do not have a voice. We are overshooted by those who say that we soldiers do not support organizations like MoveOn. WE DO.

YOU ARE OUR voice.

And then came the donations. By midnight, over 12,000 people had donated $500,000—more than we've raised any day this year—for our new ad calling out the Republicans who blocked adequate rest for troops headed back to Iraq.

The message from MoveOn members was loud and clear: Don't back down. Take the fight back to the issues that matter.

So today we're shooting for a very ambitious goal: Reach $1 million so we can dramatically expand the campaign we launched yesterday going after politicians who support this awful war. Can you chip in $25 toward our goal?

~BT