Getting Played (And Playing Ourselves)

(By the way, no posting tomorrow, in case I forget to mention it.)

I apologize to every living thing in the universe for plastering this woman’s face on a post on this most solemn of days, but alas, it is necessary.

For the uninitiated, this is U.S. House Repug Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida’s 18th congressional district. She is one of the most odious Repugs in the House, and I know that is saying an awful lot. Though John Boehner’s name calling and relentless negativity aimed at anything whatsoever having to do with the Democratic Party is seemingly boundless, Ros-Lehtinen exceeds that through her childish braying and drop-of-the-hat pontificating about how she came to this country from Cuba (and has freely spoken out about murdering Fidel Castro, by the way), and how her family members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and her husband was wounded in Vietnam.

Anyone who serves has my thanks and my respect, but there’s a word called, “humility.” She should check it out.

Also, did I note that she said it was OK to invade Iraq even though there was no link to al Qaeda because “the common link is that they hate America”?

Well, anyway, the reason I’m mentioning her along with fellow House Repug Duncan Hunter of California is that, after reading what I could of Day 1 of the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker before Congress yesterday, it’s pretty clear that they routed Dem House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton and fellow Dem Tom Lantos in terms of “getting the message out” (which, as any self-respecting Repug will tell you, is more important than representing your office in an even-handed, impartial manner).

And the message is this: Moveon.org is nothing but a bunch of godless, America-hating commie liberal, terrorist-loving traitors for even imagining that they could question the seemingly almighty Gen. David Petraeus.

Now we can laugh at Ros-Lehtinen all we want when she, with typically obnoxious bluster, challenges anyone to refute the Moveon.org ad about General “Betray us,” but when I R-L and Hunter are not answered, they get the lion’s share of the media coverage, they get their message across at our expense, and their narrative is supported, not ours.

But do you know what Skelton and/or Lantos should have said in response? This, or something like it…

“Moveon.org is entitled to air their ads, and Freedom’s Watch is entitled to air theirs, since it’s all free speech.”

Or words to that effect.

There. Now, was that so hard?

And yes, that would have initiated an additional firestorm. So what? Let Hunter and Ros-Lehtinen rant while Skelton and Lantos go about their business.

And from what I can gather, apparently the Repugs are doing the “bad cop” today in the person of Chuck Hagel as opposed to their “good cop” act yesterday in an effort to make it look like they will be the ones to hold our military accountable for Iraq and not the Democrats. And this is how they end up controlling the coverage and maintaining the desired narrative.

And this is how the Dems lose the media battle without every knowing when to fire the first shot (largely because they don’t stand up for people and groups like Moveon who have done more to energize and organize Democratic voters than anyone else…the party is “back in the game” for that reason).

And by the way, speaking of the netroots and other online Democratic supporters and ideologically like-minded web sites (I hope that covers everybody), I have to admit that I’m more than a little shocked by the almost-universal condemnation of Moveon for the Petraeus ad.

Yes, the “Betray us” language was a bit over the top, but the ad is right on the facts, and it’s laughably tame compared to the bilious freeper garbage out there.

You “dance with the one who brought you,” people. If we forget that, then there’s no point to any of this.

Update 9/14 (1): Jane Hamsher does a better job of articulating what I'm trying to say here (and in addition to John Kerry - sigh - her words should be aimed at Democratic Underground also, among others).

Update 9/14 (2): Kagro X explains here why the Repugs leapt to the defense of Petraeus, and that's because his name could be bankable for Repug fundraising, as opposed to Dubya's, which isn't anymore.