Democrats Framing the 'Betrayal' Argument
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
September 20, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - MoveOn.org has released the latest ad in its controversial
"betrayal series" -- this one, criticizing Senate Republican Leader Mitch
McConnell and his fellow Republicans for a "betrayal of trust."

A week after calling Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq,
"General Betray Us," the liberal advocacy group is blasting Republicans for
undermining U.S. troops by denying them "a reasonable time to spend with
their families before returning to war."

The ad comes after Republicans blocked an amendment that would have required
the military to give soldiers as much time at home as they served in combat
before they could be redeployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. In other words, the
dwell-at-home time would equal a troop's deployment time.

The measure, introduced by Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)
failed to muster the 60 votes necessary for consideration on Wednesday. It
fell four votes short, just as it did in July.

Here's the script of the latest MoveOn.org ad:

We trust them to put their lives on the line every single day in Iraq. And
they trusted our leaders to keep their word.

But this week, Republicans voted against a plan that would give our soldiers
reasonable time to spend with their families before having to return to war.

This week, Republicans who brought us this awful war, turned their backs on
the men and women who fight it.

Mitch McConnell. The Republicans. A betrayal of trust."

MoveOn.org said the ad will air in Kentucky -- McConnell's home state --
where a new poll shows 55 percent of voters disapprove of McConnell's
position on Iraq while only 38 percent approve." The ad also will run
nationally on CNN.

"Yesterday Mitch McConnell and many Senate Republicans betrayed our troops'
trust when they blocked reasonable leave times. The Republicans had the
chance to support our troops, but instead they supported the president's
failed Iraq war policy," said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org
Political Action, said on Thursday.

But some military families have accused Democrats and liberal activists of
betraying U.S. troops by failing to support their mission in Iraq and by
failing to give victory a chance.