Left Attack on Petraeus Poses Problem for Democrats

The Democrats, especially the Democrats running for president, have a problem, and his name is Petraeus.

In two days of hearings on Capitol Hill, he probably didn’t change any of the views held by members of Congress about the war in Iraq. But he almost certainly impressed a lot of people sitting at home by displaying all the traits Americans hope for in a military leader.

He was, to put it simply, good, a man who came across as brave, honorable, and true, and that’s the problem.

On Monday, the day Petraeus was to begin his testimony, in the great tradition of Washington politics, MoveOn.org blasted him before hearing a word of it. In a full page ad in the New York Times, that became the talk of Congress, the talk shows, and cable news (as it was supposed to), the liberal group accused Petraeus of "cooking the books," and charged that he was betraying the American peoples' trust by spinning the facts to support the White House.

That is, by the way, how MoveOn itself summarized the ad, in an email to its supporters sent the next day, giving notice that it wasn’t backing down. Read more of Susan Estrich

A New Strain of Anti-Semitism is Spreading

Who recently said: "These Jews started 19 Crusades. The 19th was World War (1). Why? Only to build Israel."

Some holdover Nazi?

Hardly. It was former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey, a NATO ally. He went on to claim that the Jews -- whom he refers to as "bacteria" -- controlled China, India and Japan, and ran the United States.

Who alleged: "The Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperated with the Zionists, actually. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs."

A conspiracy nut? Answer

US Senate Race, Oregon 2008

In Oregon, the concept of doctor-assisted suicide is not a revolutionary idea. The notion that the government ought not mess with someone's guns is also well within the mainstream. The state has an income tax, but no sales tax, and anyone who tries to change that will bring upon themselves the combined wrath of Oregon's approximately 3.5 million, mostly socially liberal, fiscal conservative voters.

Divided roughly a third of the width of the state by the Cascade Mountains, there are strong conservative areas in the eastern high desert, though new transplants from California are giving Democrats a chance in state legislative elections in wealthy Bend, in the middle of the state. Those conservatives are outnumbered by liberal Portland, a town that epitomizes the concept of a Pacific Coast liberal bastion.

The combination of four straight Democratic presidential wins, a Democratic governor since 1986 and four Democrats out of five congressional representatives would seem to preclude national Republicans from having so much as a hope of picking up a Senate seat. Instead, the state is home to a long tradition of moderate Republican statesmen, including former Appropriations Committee chairman Mark Hatfield and Republican-turned-Democrat Wayne Morse.

It is no surprise, then, that Gordon Smith...read on

Oden To Miss Season

Celebrated Trail Blazers rookie center Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, will likely miss the 2007-08 season after undergoing knee surgery Thursday, the team said.

Doctors found cartilage damage during an exploratory procedure, and team physician Dr. Don Roberts performed microfracture surgery to repair the damage.

"There are things about this that are positive for Greg," Roberts said in a statement posted on the Trail Blazers' Web site. "First of all, he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from microfracture surgery."

Seven-footer Greg Oden will spend pretty much all of his first season in the NBA on the Trail Blazers' bench.

The 7-foot center is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks. A full recovery likely will take six to 12 months, the team said. Read more at ESPN