oh the furor

So Democrats are joining the Republicans in condemning MoveOn's "General Betrayus" ad slamming Iraq top military dude David Petraeus, even passing a meaningless Senate resolution. People are up in arms about the ad hominem attack alleging that Petraeus is just shilling for de facto President Bush in Iraq, rather than telling it like it is.

Funny thing is, MoveOn might be right. And still they get slammed. How many Republicans slammed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for their provably false and slanderous attacks on John Kerry in 2004? Precious few. Of course, one difference is that the Swift Boaters were connected to the Republican National Committee.

Dirty politics isn't pretty. But there is no reason the Democrats should refuse to use it when the GOP plays dirty politics as it's first and primary tactic.