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Senate Condemns Antiwar Ad

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By ANNE FLAHERTY, The Associated Press

Published: September 21, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to condemn an advertisement by the liberal antiwar group MoveOn.org that accused the top U.S. military commander in Iraq of betrayal.

The 72-25 vote condemned the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times last week as Gen. David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill. The ad was headlined: 'General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House.'

The ad became a life raft for the Republican Party as the war debate kicked into high gear. With several Republicans opposed to President Bush's war strategy, GOP members were able to rally around their disapproval of the ad.

Sen. Gordon Smith, one of the few Republican senators who supports legislation ordering troop withdrawals, said Thursday he thought Petraeus' testimony and the MoveOn.org ad were the two biggest factors in keeping Republicans from breaking ranks with the president: Petraeus' testimony because it was persuasive and the MoveOn ad because it went too far by attacking a popular uniformed officer.

'It was stupid on their part and disgraceful,' said Smith, R-Ore.

The resolution condemning the ad was sponsored by conservative Republican John Cornyn of Texas. Voting against it were Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

In a news conference, President Bush denounced the ad as 'disgusting' and criticized Democrats for not immediately condemning it.

Eli Pariser, executive director of the liberal group, responded: 'What's disgusting is that the president has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq and end this awful war.'

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