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from My Left Nutmeg CT Dems condemn MoveOnChris Murphy: $502K. Joe Courtney: $113KChris Murphy Changes The Tone Here's the text of the 3 page letter I wrote Courtney. I faxed it and 7 other pages, artciles and cartoons I mentioned in my letter. Dear Rep. Courtney,
Why did you support the fascist censure motion against MoveOn.org?
What you did was vote against the First Amendment rights of every American, regardless if they supported MoveOn.org’s New York Times ad or not. You and the entire Democratic Caucus should have walked out on that vote and held a press conference on the steps of the Capital Building decrying Republicans for wasting tax payer money on grandstanding their blatant hypocrisy about ads and stabbing the troops in the back by not supporting bills that would help get the troops home as soon as possible. Congress has no business condemning a specific group for exercising its First Amendment rights. I’m surprised you did not come to the same conclusion as your colleague, Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME): “I voted against this resolution today because I believe it is the job of the Congress to bring our troops home, not legislate free speech.”
For yours and your staff’s edification I’m attaching the “14 Characteristics of Fascism” by political science professor Lawrence Britt (http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html ). Characteristics #3 and #4 pertain to the censure motion you voted on. I’m also enclosing a copy of Al Franken’s op ed response (“Al Franken: Hyper (and hypo)critical” http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1445784.html or at his campaign web site http://blog.alfranken.com/2007/09/26/hyper-and-hypocritical/ ) to Sen. Norm Coleman’s attack on him for supporting MoveOn.org against the Senate Censure resolution. Al Franken framed the argument against the fascist Republican tactic the correct way. And Slowpoke’s political cartoon “Are you Petraeusly Correct?” http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/09/are_you_petraeusly_correct.html should help you ponder the stupidity of supporting the Republican sponsored censure motion, a motion only directed against MoveOn.org, not against any right wing group that attacked the patriotism of Democrats.
American History should have informed you that censure motions against the First Amendment rights of American citizens are wrong. If you read the First Amendment, the military is not exempted from Americans’ First Amendment rights. Censure motions will not stop negative attacks because what is negative to one side is truthful to another. America’s political system also thrives on attacks and counter attacks. Congress can not stop them, unless you are willing to discontinue the Constitution or remove the Bill of Rights and imprison people for free speech.
I’m not only the secretary of Killinlgy’s Democratic Town Committee; I’m also a proud member of MoveOn.org.
MoveOn members donated millions of dollars to Democratic candidates last year. You specifically received over $300,000 from MoveOn members last year. How will you handle the fascist Republican attacks when you cash our checks next year after voting to condemn us? Republicans are already attacking Democrats for taking donations from MoveOn members in 2004 and 2006. Are you ready for those attacks?
Let’s remember one thing. MoveOn.org is an activist organization. Provocative speech is the tool of all activists and the purpose of provocative speech is to get the majority of us to think outside the ruts we have burrowed into our brains. People hated the abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights advocates because they forced the “silent” majority to face the injustices they allow to happen in their name.
"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never did and it never will. Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice that will be imposed upon them. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurances of those they oppress." Fredrick Douglas
The MoveOn.org ad was tame compared to what the Swiftboat Vets did to John Kerry and what the Bush Machine did to Max Cleland in 2002. By voting for this censure motion, Democrats proved that Republicans still control Congress, even though they are in the minority. When they were in power, you didn’t see Republicans sponsoring censure resolutions against the vile groups that slandered Democrats patriotism. This censure motion and how it was mishandled by the Democrats shows what is wrong with the Democratic Congressional leadership and why Congress is at 11% approval rating. Democrats are continually outflanked by the Republicans, whose public goal is to obstruct the Democrats’ agenda so that they can attack you next year by saying that the Democratic controlled Congress is a “Do Nothing” Congress. By joining with Republicans in censuring only a left wing group, you are aiding and abetting the Republican propaganda and strategy of dividing Democrats from their base.
General Petraeus’ motives are even questioned by his boss in CENTCOM. Admiral Fallon, Petraeus’s boss, called the general, after first meeting him, “an ass-kissing little chickenshit” (IPSNews: U.S.-IRAQ: Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39235
). The Admiral must have honed his colorful language during those Army-Navy football games. The reason why Admiral Fallon called General Petraeus that colorful name is because Army Generals primarily advance by “kissing up” to their superiors. The Navy Admirals expect to make enemies on their way up the promotion ladders with their decisions.
Contrary to what the fascist Right Wing pundits say about General Petraeus, the general is a willing political tool. About 6 weeks prior to the 2004 election, General Petraeus voluntarily wrote an op ed (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49283-2004Sep25.html ) for the Washington Post that gave an overly optimistic view of Iraq in order to help George Bush’s reelection chances. And recently in the United Kingdom’s Independent Magazine, Iraqi officials claim that Petraeus has Presidential ambitions, not for 2008 but afterwards.
MoveOn’s provocative ad was framed as a question, not a statement, and unlike the Right wing attacks on Democrats, MoveOn.org backed up their arguments with facts. Nowhere did MoveOn.org call General Petraeus a “traitor”. It was the Republicans who claimed that MoveOn.org called the general a traitor. The MoveOn.org ad was questioning the validity of General Petraeus’ report, a report that was primarily written by the White House. Any military man who is willing to sell lies as truth is a betrayer of the public trust. As I recall from my days in history class, the Nuremburg Trials did not offer “I was following orders” as an excuse for committing or participating in war crimes. Our war against Iraq was a war crime and we are still committing crimes there today.
If you still think that your vote for the censure motion against MoveOn.org was appropriate, will you sponsor a censure motion against Right Wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh? Media Matters reports -- http://mediamatters.org/items/200709270010?src=item200709270010 -- that during the September 26, 2007 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called "phony soldiers" those service members, who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, like the seven members of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division who wrote an op ed, “The war as We Saw It” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?_r=1&8qa&oref=slogin , in the New York Times. Surely, this defamatory label of our troops is worthy of a censure resolution like the one you voted for against MoveOn.org. If you still support your vote to censure MoveOn.org over its ad, I demand that you sponsor a censure motion against Rush Limbaugh who used the public air waves to attack our troops, who protest this immoral war, “phony soldiers”.
Please stop falling for obvious Republican traps. That is what the censure motions against MoveOn.org were. And start going on the offensive against Republican hypocrisy and obstructionism.
Wonder what kind of response I'll get? I plan on attaching to my future checks I send Courtney, this warning label: "Warning! Check is from a MoveOn.org member. Prepare to parry Republican attacks after cashing this check." |
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