Restless 'Roots

An e-mail sent out by MoveOn.org is asking its members whether they should push for the extinction of the DINO:

We've all heard it from the Democratic leadership over and over again: "we don't have the votes."

Hundreds of thousands of us worked to get Democratic majorities elected. So why don't they have the votes? One reason is that there are a set of weak Democrats who side with the president--especially on Iraq. They're too scared to fight for what's right and what they were elected to fight for.

This fall, we face a pivotal series of votes on Iraq--votes that, if we win, could spell the end of the Iraq war. MoveOn members have made phone calls. We've held town meetings. We've run ads and written letters to the editor. But now, given this big moment, we have an important decision to make together.

Should we support primary challengers against some Democrats who side with the president on Iraq? It's a tough question, and one we need everybody's input on.

My response was, "Hell yeah, purge baby, purge!"

Yesterday's WSJ had an editorial (sub req) on how MoveOn.org reacts to Democrats who stray from the herd:

In the Hell Hath No Fury sweepstakes, groups like MoveOn.org are gearing up to take on a new set of perceived traitors in their midst -- Democrats who have acknowledged some success from the troop surge in Iraq.

Chief among the targets is Washington Congressman Brian Baird, whose indiscretion was recognizing progress on the ground, despite having initially opposed the surge and having opposed the war in the first place. After a recent trip to Iraq, Mr. Baird said: "One of the things that gets very little attention is that virtually every other country I visited says it would be a mistake to pull out now."

We hope he took his flak jacket home from Baghdad. MoveOn is rolling out an ad this week in Mr. Baird's Washington district, in which a former soldier tells of being shot at in 2003 by the Iraqis he had fought to liberate and calls America's continued presence in the country "wrong, immoral and irresponsible." What does this have to do with the wisdom -- or lack thereof -- of the current strategy? Nada, which tells you something about MoveOn's honesty.