John Cornyn: “I join my colleagues in decrying the tone of modern politics where there are all too many personal attacks. But what…”

“I join my colleagues in decrying the tone of modern politics where there are all too many personal attacks. But what they fail to recognize is those who volunteer to put ourselves up for public office, to run for public office, we know what we are going to be subjected to in the back and forth of a political campaign. What this amendment seeks to do, what the Boxer amendment seeks to do, is to change the subject. The subject is this ad. The subject of my amendment is this ad put in the New York Times on September 9, 2007, attacking a four-star general wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army, the Commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq--not only this individual, but everyone under his command, 170,000, approximately, members of the U.S. military. What does it accuse him of? Cooking the books for the White House. The ad asks: Is it General Petraeus or General Betray Us? My friends on the other side of the aisle want to change the subject. They do not want to confront organizations such as MoveOn.org, which have the right to express their view thanks to the first amendment of the Constitution, thanks to people like General Petraeus and the brave men and women of the U.S. military who protect moveOn.Org's right to have its say. But we ought to have our say, too, and to condemn, in the strongest possible words and by our actions, this kind of irresponsible ad.”