Bush Uses "Divide And Conquer" Politics With Diversion Over MoveOn.org Ad

Mr. Bush and his Senate Republican allies are once again using "divide and conquer" politics to attempt to rally their base in their diversionary attacks on the recent MoveOn.org ad that attacked the testimony of General David Petraeus. The fact of the matter is that the large majority of the American electorate is so angry at the Iraq War that they don't care about the MoveOn.org ad. The ad has no impact on their feeling about the war. And MoveOn.org is not part of the Democratic Party or should have their patriotism questioned. Public disgust with the war fueled the MoveOn.org ad, nothing more, nothing less. But the recent political efforts of Bush and his Republican supporters in the Senate are little more than some pathetic attempt to rally support by old fashioned "red baiting" type politics, a blow-back to the 1950's Joe McCarthyism.

Mr. Bush may hope to buy a little more time to "run out the clock" and leave the Iraq mess up to the next president. But the efforts to attack MoveOn.org are just plain desperate. MoveOn.org, for right or wrong, had the right to question whether the testimony of General Petraeus wasn't strongly designed to put a good face on a bad policy in Iraq, much like the Bush Administration has done for the last four years.

Mr. Bush actually watched his support drop after his speech on Iraq. There is no widespread support for the Iraq War policy left among most Americans. Mr. Bush may hope to rally some support by the attack on MoveOn.org, but where was Mr. Bush when some like Rush Limbaugh played a racist song on his show among Senator Barack Obama, or Ann Coulter suggests that some officials should die or face violence. MoveOn.org only questioned the independence of the statements of General Patraeus, while right wing commentators sush as Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter suggested far worse in their material. There was no outcry from Bush back then. It's purely old fashioned "divide and conquer" politics. It's also more complete nonsense from this White House.