Brendan Nyhan

MoveOn.org smears Petraeus as “Betray Us”

A reader points out that MoveOn.org, which was recently smeared by the pro-war group Freedom’s Watch, is now itself smearing General Petraeus as “General Betray Us” — here’s the ad (see also MoveOn’s documentation):

Moveonpetraeus

There are, of course, serious questions about the case Petraeus is going to make before Congress this week, but that’s no excuse for suggesting he’s going to “betray us” — an extremely loaded term to use in the context of a debate over war.