Lieberman Acts Honorably, Sensibly Thereby Alienating Democrat Activists

"General Petraeus has served his country honorably and selflessly for over thirty-five years. He has risked his life in combat and accepted lengthy deployments away from his family to defend our nation and its citizens from its enemies. For this, he deserves the respect, admiration, and gratitude of every American -- not the disgraceful slander of Moveon.org," said the senator, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats. MoveOn.org has close ties to Democrats.

Lieberman, in fact, charged, "It has been widely reported that Moveon.org has worked closely over the past months with many members of the Democratic Party in coordinating their efforts to derail the strategy that General Petraeus has been leading in Iraq."

The senator said he did not know if Democratic leaders were consulted. "That is not the point," he said, "The point is that when partisan political attacks which have already divided and weakened our nation in many ways are directed at a non-partisan, non-political commander like General Petraeus, everyone has a responsibility to shout, 'Stop. Enough.'''