William Kristol writes an Op-Ed in the NYT called "Someone Else’s Alex" to which he speaks of an ad produced by MoveOn.org, you might or might not remember, this was the the group that called General Petraeus, "general betrayus" and accused him of telling lies to Congress, before he ever spoke in front of them.
That backfired so badly that the House and Senate both passed resolutions denouncing them.
The text specifically mentioning MoveOn.org from the Senate version:
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
(3) to specifically repudiate the unwarranted personal attack on General Petraeus by the liberal activist group Moveon.org.
The specific portion of the text regarding Move On.org from the House version:
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(3) condemns in the strongest possible terms the personal attacks made by the advocacy group MoveOn.org impugning the integrity and professionalism of General David H. Petraeus;
"This group, which has now been denounced by both the Senate and the House has now produced another ad, this time called "Not Alex" and the text has a mother saying:
"Hi, John McCain. This is Alex. And he’s my first. So far his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog. That, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. And so, John McCain, when you say you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because if you were, you can’t have him.”
Kristol's NYT piece points out the obvious flaws with the statement and the ad, including the fact that little Alex will only be 9 years old if John McCain served two terms as president, the fact that America has an all volunteer Army which means he cannot be drafted nor can his "mommy" enlist him and that when he is old enough to join, it will be his decision whether or not to join, not his mommies.
Kristol also mentions someone else in his article, and that is a woman named Beth, from Blue Star Chronicles, who is a blue star mother.
For those unaware, a blue star mother is the mother of a child that is serving or has served in the military.
Beth took extreme offense at this ad created and produced by MoveOn.org and she explains why in two separate articles, found here and here.
Excerpt:
The video is nothing but fear mongering. It implies there is a draft. It implies that John McCain will swoop into your homes and take babes from mothers’ arms and send them off to foreign lands to make them do bad things. It also implies that little Alex is more special than the sons of mothers who have to sit at home while their sons fight for our country.
It undermines the military and its disrespectful to those who serve. It is a slap in the face to all mothers who spend months and years having to consciously live their lives with a constant aching in their hearts and terror in their souls while their sons are deployed.
Little Alex is no more special than my son, or any of the other sons and daughters who were raised to feel a sense of duty to country.
Kristol, Beth and a whole slew of others in the blogosphere has had much to say about this ad and you can read their pieces for yourself to see it, but it leaves me with a question about MoveOn.... did they learn nothing from their "general betray us" ad and being denounced and humiliated publicly by both the Senate and Congress?
The second question that comes to mind is about the comparison between John McCain, Moveon and the mother (who may be the mother of the baby or an actress).
The fact that John McCain's own sons serve in the military, (James McCain served in Iraq), and yet he refuses to "use" his son for political gain and largely refuses to even answer questions about him, very firmly telling those that ask that he doesn't discuss his children.
Compare that to MoveOn and the woman in the MoveOn ad and answer for yourself who will use children for political gain, to the point of misrepresentation, and who doesn't?
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