aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Jim Marshall (D-GA): still not liberal

Through the last three election cycles the unsuccessful Republican strategy to defeat Macon Bush Dog Jim Marshall (for those who don’t click, I’m steamed by the stupid liberal targeting of Marshall) has consistently been to paint him as a liberal out of step with his conservative Republican district.

So it should not be surprising to find that the National Republican Congressional Committee is trying to associate the guy with the full page MoveOn.org ad in the NYTimes referring to Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.” The NRCC is calling on Marshall to give back a campaign donation from MoveOn.org.

What is surprising - and pleasantly so - is to find that MoveOn actually contributed to Marshall!

Well it turns out that contribution came in 2000. That’s before Sept. 11, before the Iraq war and before Marshall got elected to Congress.

From The Macon Telegraph’s Political Notebook:

“Will Jim Marshall, who has benefited in the past from over $3,000 in campaign cash from MoveOn.org, do more than pay lip service to the group’s despicable behavior and give up the money MoveOn gave him?” the NRCC’s news release asks.[...]

Marshall’s press secretary, Doug Moore, was more than happy to point out a television interview Marshall gave shortly after Petraeus’ report on Iraq this week.

“(It was) not at all a fair characterization of the character of Dave Petraeus,” Marshall said.

Marshall also said Iraqis should look forward to the day when they can take out newspaper ads that amount to “a vicious attack against a commanding general ... without fear of physical reprisal.”

As for the substance of Petraeus’ report, Moore said Marshall found it “spot on.”

Ken Spain, press secretary for the NRCC, said the group stands behind its news release. He said Marshall should give back the money and speak out against Democrats who are jumping on Petraeus and calling his report to Congress less-than-accurate.

Republicans were hapy to use the ad to political advantage and some Democrats piled on. MoveOn’s Tom Mattzie says the ad worked as they intended it to.

Here’s how Marshall’s likely opponent reacted:

[R]etired Air Force Maj. Gen. Rick Goddard, who is campaigning to be the Republican nominee to face Marshall in the 8th Congressional District, put out a statement about Petraeus’ report earlier this week.

An excerpt: “I found it utterly disgusting for Moveon.org to question General Petraeus’ patriotism when he has spent the last 40 years of his life defending this nation. Moveon.org may not support this war, but to call General Petraeus a traitor is cowardice and un-American.”

However, Petraeus, 54, has not spent the last 40 years of his life defending this nation. Forty years ago, in 1967, the general was still in high school in upstate New York. He graduated from West Point in 1974.

By the way, there’s been no word lately from former Congressman Mac Collins, who said he’s considering another run against Marshall and would face Goddard in the primary.

My 2¢ on the ad is that I am not willing to be held captive to the Right Wing construction that using such language about Petraeus is by implication going after the brave men and women he commands, but I do agree with James Joyner that it’s not the level of discourse I favor.