Beth Arnold

Thank You, MoveOn.org

This column first appeared at HuffingtonPost.com. Reader comments not included here.

By Beth Arnold

Watching the lead-up to General Petraeus giving his Iraq report on CNN, I expected the Democrats to do their usual wimp out. I expected them to shuck and jive and eventually go along with whatever George Bush wanted, as they inevitably do.

Rep. Skelton, D-Mo, made critical remarks about the Iraq catastrophe that were worth hearing, though he delivered them snoozily. After that, Democrat Tom Lantos aggressively continued to find fault with the current administration and its war. I found myself becoming engaged. This was going better than I thought. Then Republicans Duncan Hunter and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen began the typical GOP march toward wrong-headed righteousness with comments about how upset they were about MoveOn.org's Petraeus/Betray Us ad -- how this ad was going too far and besmirching the honor of the excellent general. Cha-Ching! Now things were really picking up.

Truth or Lie?

By Beth Arnold

I’d contacted my congressman, Vic Snyder, about Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, and I just received an email response that covered his stand on the subject. Congressman Snyder is a good man, an elected official who I actually believe tells the truth. He says and does what he thinks is right without the usual load of political buggery that goes along with public servants who blossom into power junkies. Snyder is a member of Congress whom I trust, which is saying a lot these days. In this form letter, he wrote:

In his State of the Union speech I was encouraged that President Bush referred to reducing U.S. gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next ten years. I am hopeful that the president will work with the Congress to truly reform and modernize CAFE standards for cars and trucks.