“Cap-and-Traitor” versus “General Betrayus”

Published June 28, 2009 4:00am ET



Could somebody please explain the difference between people on the Right calling the eight GOP congressmen who voted for the Obama-Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade anti-global warming energy bill “cap and traitors” and the far lefties at Moveon.org calling Gen. David Petraeus “General Betrayus”?

Sorry, folks, but, as much as I agree this bill is a disaster for America, calling these eight RINOs “traitors” is beyond the line. Here’s why: The word “traitor” has specific reference to national loyalty. Benedict Arnold was a traitor, as were spies like John Walker, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Aldrich Hazen Ames. The traditional penalty for treason is death, though in recent decades that sentence has been all but forgotten in the U.S., though not in other nations.

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