The president ended his press conference by knocking out of the park a question about Moveon.org’s advertisement in the New York Times characterizing General Petreaus as “General Betray-Us.” Said Mr. Bush: “I thought that the ad was disgusting.” He added that he felt as if the ad was an attack “not only on General Petraeus but on the U.S. military.” He said he was disappointed that not more leaders of the Democratic Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad. The affair led him to the conclusion, he said, “that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like Moveon.org — are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military.” Added he: “That was a sorry deal. And it’s one thing to attack me. It’s another thing to attack somebody like General Petraeus.”

The thing that struck us about this is how pointedly, fluently, and effectively he positioned the Republicans to make hay on this issue. Within hours of Mr. Bush’s demarche, the Senate — controlled by the Democrats — voted 72 to 25 in favor of a resolution that said General Petraeus “deserves the full support of the Senate” and that the solons “strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.” As if to prove the president’s point, Senator Clinton (and Senator Schumer) voted against condemning the attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and the rest of our armed services, while Senators Obama and Biden of Delaware did not vote. In other words, Mr. Bush has got the front-running candidate of the Democrats in a position where half of the senators in her own caucus are against her on the general she has called a liar.