In a September 23 New York Times Magazine article on a “sense of the Senate” amendment sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that “condemn[ed] personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General [David] Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces,” writer Matt Bai asserted that Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) “voted for a lighter Democratic version of the resolution, but Mrs. Clinton voted against the final Republican measure and Mr. Obama skipped the vote as a protest. You might say they voted for it before they voted against it.” In reality, the amendment supported by Democrats, introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), was broader than the Republican version, which limited its specific criticism to a full-page advertisement the liberal group MoveOn.org placed in the Times on September 10 titled "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" Criticizing “attacks on the honor, integrity, and patriotism of any individual who is serving or has served honorably in the United States Armed Forces,” the Boxer amendment specifically mentioned the MoveOn.org ad as well as GOP-led attacks in 2002 against then-Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) and in 2004 against Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

While Bai highlighted the purported inconsistency in the Democrats' votes, he did not note the Republicans' opposite votes on the two measures -- for the Cornyn amendment condemning only the Petraeus attack and against the Boxer amendment condemning attacks against both Democratic veterans and Petraeus. Only Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel (NE) and Arlen Specter (PA) voted for the Boxer amendment, and all 46 Republican senators who voted against the Boxer amendment voted for the Cornyn amendment. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) voted against both amendments. As Media Matters for America documented, 50 senators voted for Boxer's measure while 47 voted against it.

From Bai's September 23 Times Magazine article, headlined “Profiting From the Pummeling”:

One by one, top Republicans lashed out at the now infamous advertisement, shifting the attention away from General Petraeus's depressing testimony and branding the administration's opponents as a bunch of radical, pierced-nose pacifist thugs.

The president himself dove in Thursday, denouncing MoveOn from the White House podium, while, on the same day, Senate Republicans forced a vote on a resolution to condemn the group, hoping to trap the party's presidential aspirants between their own primary voters and the rest of America. (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama voted for a lighter Democratic version of the resolution, but Mrs. Clinton voted against the final Republican measure and Mr. Obama skipped the vote as a protest. You might say they voted for it before they voted against it.)

Further, Bai asserted that “MoveOn itself was better off for having fought the battle, but it stifled the conversation Democrats wanted to have about the war.” Bai did not explain how a newspaper advertisement -- as opposed to that ad's critics, or the decision of some media outlets to give more coverage to the ad than the ongoing debate about the war -- could “stifle[] the conversation” on an issue.

Bai's characterization of Boxer's amendment as “a lighter Democratic version of the resolution” and his failure to note that Boxer's amendment also identified the MoveOn.org ad echoed a September 21 Times article, which reported that “Ms. Boxer's proposal, which failed, called for the Senate to 'strongly condemn all attacks on the honor, integrity and patriotism' of anyone in the United States armed forces. It did not mention the MoveOn.org ad.” In fact, Boxer's amendment did mention the MoveOn.org advertisement, calling it an “an unwarranted personal attack on General Petraeus,” as Media Matters for America documented.