This week there was a fairly harsh criticism of the Iraq war from Lt Gen Sanchez.

The liberals have gleefully seized it as a chance to poke the noses of the Republicans, and as expected some Republicans have taken issue with the speech.

My first observation was based on a blog at Hot Air, where some inconvenient clarifications were noted, notably that Sanchez’s comments was just as critical of Congress and their politicizing of the was as they were of the Administration.   Most Liberals were more concerned with sound bites, not the speech.

Sanchez had a simple message, one most clear thinkers agree on:  We need a strategy to victory because failure would be too costly.

Something new surfaced today, a Blog by John Amato at the liberal Crooks and Liars:

Lindsey Graham throws Lt. Gen. Sanchez under the Bus: “…his criticism is a bit astounding to me given his role in the war itself.”

Let the GOP attacks begin! Sen. Lindsey Graham wasted no time reminding the American people how awful retired General Sanchez’ tenure was in Iraq. He joined Blitzer this morning and commented about the General after he came out and criticized the Iraq war policy. The key phrase you’ll hear is that they appreciate his service, but….I wonder if Graham violated the Cornyn amendment?

First, if Sanchez makes public comment they are fair game for rebuttal and criticism,  That’s how the system works.

But more to the point, who is John to take issue with it?  I noted at least 30 blogs on his site critical of the testimony of Gen Petraeus, many before he even testified, and many defending the MoveOn.org hatchet ad, or other critics.

What a bloody hypocrite.  If the message is favorable to him, he loves it, defends it and attacks the critics, but if you take a position and attack his position, he is all over you like white on rice.

Sadly this is the norm in politics, which is yet another reminder that politics and truth have no intrinsic interconnection.

Note that I am not making this a liberal issue, ti is an issue of politics.

But I do not that conservatives are more likely to attack behavior and ideas in cases where liberals will focus on character and personal attacks.

Take the Graeme Frost issue.  The dems trotted out this 12 year old kid as their poster child to attack Bush’s veto of the S-CHIP expansion.  Conservatives dissected it on the basis of the families need for public assistance.  At no time did anyone call the kid ugly, delusional, stupid or evil.  The only comment I had was that he is a tool of the party, a reflection of the Democrats, not him.

Compare that to a story about Rick Santorum and his kids, which was just dealing with personal issues.  Go to Wonkette and see how they attacked his kids:

Another liberal attack on little kids

Previously, we noted that the left claims to hold to ethical standards in political discourse that, upon closer inspection, they don’t in fact hold at all.

Now, with that in mind, who said this, and about whom?

That appears to be a Catholic school plaid.. which I’m sure Mr. S’s kids attend. never saw a doll to match tho. My favorite is the brother…. He has an impressive look of Fear — maybe Darth Cheney is lurking nearby?

Here’s your answer.

And check out the whole post while you’re at it. And then read the comments. Not one editor or blogger at Wonkette, and not one liberal commenter, ever saw fit to ask anyone to stop viciously attacking the children in the photograph. Here’s the 5th comment in the thread.

Did Santorum’s kids get switched at the hospital, or did he adopt? I mean, he’s a dipstick and all, but he and his wife aren’t as homely, say, as Bob Barr and Lynne Cheney, just to name two Republican lens -busters - but those kids - Jesus, Mary, Joseph - they all look like they got smacked with the ugly stick.

Nobody busted that commenter’s chops for attacking Rick Santorum’s kids for crying the night their father lost his senate race and along with it, his job.

Here’s the comment that immediately followed the one above.

For a while now, I’ve felt for the oft-overlooked older but less pouty daughter. Her Jay Leno chin is in reverse proportion of the chinless sobbing girl in the foreground, who’s hogging up all the limelight. Anybody even know the story of the silent older sister?

A few comments later, a prediction for the Santorums’ older daughter.

FishbowlDC has learned that former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum’s (R-Penn.) pouty older daughter has signed on to be a stripper on the Fox late night Channel.

And again, no rebuttal, no condemnation for attacking a child.

And a few comments later:

Oh shit. My avatar is going to be completely obsoleted by this little slut’s new and exciting faces.

No rebuttal. No warnings to stop attacking the kids. Of course, having set the tone in the post and with Ken Layne’s own comment, how could Wonkette warn anyone for doing something they were already guilty of?

That’s how the lefties at Wonkette and all of the liberal commenters who chimed in on that post, which attacked the children of Rick Santorum one after the other, treat the children of their political opponents.

Classy. Ethical. Keep those boundaries tight, Wonkette.

The libertarians at Reason aren’t much better, fwiw.

Why is this an issue?  They love to hold conservatives up as the essence of evil:

What did the Firedoglakers say about the left and attacking kids, again?

The difference between the far right wing and the far left wing: the far right will do anything — anything — so long as the ends justifies the means. The far left folks have ethical boundaries that they try very hard not to cross: things like attacking other people’s minor children is bad form . . .

I am certainly not going to announce that conservatives would never stoop so low.  They do, but it seems like when they do it is in isolated hate filled places, and they face ridicule from within their own camp over such behavior.

It’s sad.  When did the theater of ideas become the theater of abuse?

When did it become the norm to attack the people in ad hominem attacks rather then deal with the ideas?  

Are places like C&L and Wonkette and even the larger HuffPo and Daily Kos so weak in reason and logic that they cannot carry a simple debate forward without some manner of personal attack?

Apparently so.   Note to Firedoglakers.  The far left have no boundaries that I hve been able to discern.

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