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Some of the crazy left have come down hard on Gen. Petraeus. John Fund leads the way.

General David Petraeus was unanimously confirmed to lead U.S. forces in Iraq just last year, but it apparently it wasn’t unanimously hoped that he would be successful in his new job. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid has little use for the general now that he might report measured optimism in his forthcoming update. “He’s made a number of statements over the years that have not proved to be factual,” Mr. Reid now says. …

Ed Morrissey is next.

Using a schoolyard manipulation of General David Petraeus’ last name, MoveOn asked in a full-page advertisement whether this honorable commander would betray his nation for the sake of a temporary political advantage. Calling the MNF-I commander “Betray-Us”, the Democratic activist organization accused the general of deliberately misreporting the results of the war effort to boost the Bush administration: …

Byron York comments for the National Review.

With its full-page “General Betray Us?” ad in the New York Times, MoveOn.org has once again put itself at the forefront of the antiwar movement. And if past patterns are any guide, a number of Democrats are embarrassed, and even angered, by MoveOn’s actions but are afraid to reveal the true extent of their feelings. MoveOn simply has too much fundraising clout — and a fear-inducing inclination to attack Democrats who stray from the MoveOn line — for many in the party to take it on.

Democratic leaders might be further embarrassed by a new email, headlined “Your dog can help end the war,” sent out by the leadership of MoveOn’s political team. The email asks members to attend a protest on Capitol Hill this morning preceding the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus. “Congress was fooled before by the White House’s ‘dog and pony show,” the appeal says. “We need to make sure they’re not fooled again. That’s why we’re hosting our own ‘Dog and Pony Show’ outside the Capitol Building right before Petraeus takes the stage for his testimony. We want to show Congress and the cameras that the American people aren’t buying the White House spin.” …

 

… Now, with the “General Betray Us” campaign, those Democrats again face the question: Do they dare to cross MoveOn? Not long after the 2004 elections, Pariser famously said of Democrats, “Now it’s our party. We bought it, we own it, and we’re going to take it back.” The next few days could be crucial in determining whether he was right or not.

Ralph Peters rounds this out in the NY Post.

ONE of the many disgraceful things about Washington is that it really doesn’t matter what Gen. David Petraeus says in his testimony this week.

Minds are already made up. Senators and activists will listen only for a “Gotcha!” opportunity. Staffers have already formulated the sound bites and written the statements denouncing any progress in Iraq as meaningless.

Politically terrified by positive developments in Iraq, Democrats are trying to explain them away preemptively. Premature Iraqulator Sen. Charles Schumer even resorted to outright lies last week.

We’ve reached a grotesque low point when scoring political points means more to our legislators than winning a war. …

The Captain provided three great posts. First on a WSJ op-ed by Fouad Ajami on Iraq. Then on the non-event of Al Gore’s possible endorsement. He closes posting on a WaPo story on the surge.

The Washington Post tells the story of the surge from inside the Bush administration in a lengthy and intriguing article. Headlined as “Among Top Officials, ‘Surge’ Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting,” the compendium from the Post’s reporters actually tells quite a different story. While the surge initially produced dissent — even within the military command — the results have united the administration and the military more than at any time over the last eight months.

In the beginning, Republicans outside the administration objected to the new initiative and the Pentagon’s new chief, Robert Gates, wanted to start drawing down troops. Having just lost an election with Iraq as a significantly contributing factor, the GOP wanted to see an exit strategy by 2008. George Bush wanted to take one final shot for victory, and he pressed for the surge to give the Iraqis enough time to start creating the political environment where it could take root.

And in the end, it turned out that Bush may have been right (via Memorandum): …

Vargas Llosa writes for Tech Central on documentary film – “Mine Your Own Business.”

One would think only a crazy couple would declare war on environmentalists by presenting them on film as snobs, hypocrites and enemies of the poor. Luckily for those of us who think one-sided debates are boring, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney are just crazy enough to question the environmentalists’ opposition to mining projects in poor countries in a documentary — “Mine Your Own Business” — that is gaining attention.

McAleer, an Irish journalist who covered Romania for the Financial Times, and McElhinney, his wife and co-producer, look at three mining investments: a gold project by Gabriel Resources in Rosia Montana, in Romania’s Transylvania region; Rio Tinto’s ilmenite project in Fort Dauphin, in Madagascar; and a vast Andean operation undertaken by Barrick Gold in Chile’s Huasco Valley.

In the movie, many of the critics who claim to live in the affected areas are less than honest. One, a Swiss environmentalist who leads the opposition to mining in Romania, actually lives in the sort of town to which many of the impoverished peasants of Rosia Montana want to move. …

Yale Daily News reports Yale profs donate on a ratio of 45 to 1. Do Pickings readers know which way they swing?

When it comes to the “money primary,” Yale employees favor Democratic presidential candidates over their Republican rivals — by a margin of 45 to one.

Federal Election Commission filings from the first two quarters of the year show that University faculty and staff have given $44,500 to Democratic presidential candidates — most often to Sen. Barack Obama — and just $1,000 to Republicans.

Division of Labour says Hong Kong wins the economic freedom index. Dead last is Zimbabwe.

Interesting series of Corner posts on the natures of men and women. The last post is by Yuval Levin.

… But the basic civilizing forces in a civilized society are the preferences of women. For reasons both low and high, men try to do what women want, so societies try to educate women to want the right things. Think of the Victorian education of women, or the medieval code of chivalry, or Plutarch’s Spartan women. Tocqueville’s reflections on the American woman are full of wisdom on this too (Democracy in America, Vol. 2, Part 3), and the passage on the ideal man and woman in Rousseau’s Emile is not bad either. “Women make mores,” as Tocqueville puts it.

And it’s not just a matter of education. Women generally (all of this is awfully general of course, there are many exceptions) don’t seem to need quite so much coaxing and civilizing to stay with the family and live responsibly as men do. And when civilization breaks down (due to war, say, or some moral collapse) women tend to end up with awful responsibilities and men tend to up awfully irresponsible. That’s why the coming woman shortage in China is cause for great concern, and why the wild west was wild. It wasn’t the federal marshals who calmed it down, it was wives. …

Beltway Blogroll with a round-up of the Norman Hsu puns. Here’s a sample.

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– Tusk & Talon: “Deja Hsu”
– TigerHawk: “Stomach Hsu”
– Grammaticus: “Hsu Two”
– Small Dead Animals: “Hillary Hears A Hsu“