Tell it to Ike

General Grant, General Patton, General MacArthur, and General Westmoreland would be surprised by the recent revelation from Republican politicians and pundits that active-duty generals are immune from public criticism. What's really going on is that the GOP has to play guerrilla gotcha (claiming, for example, that MoveOn.org is a surrogate of the Democratic Party), as there does not appear to be so much as a single substantive issue on which they might possibly stand to win the election. Note to Dems: start talking about the economy, health care, the environment, education, trade. Talk about anything and you win, while the President leads his patriotic parade to nowhere. Meanwhile it's true that General Petreaus did not in fact betray us: when asked if the invasion of Iraq was a good idea, he answered, "I don't know," a polite phrase that translates as "No."