After all, anything to slander patriots and undermine the military.

The New York Times dramatically slashed its normal rates for a full-page advertisement for MoveOn.org's ad questioning the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Headlined "Cooking the Books for the White House," the ad which ran in Monday's Times says Petraeus is "a military man constantly at war with the facts" and concluded - even before he testified before Congress - that "General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us."

According to Abbe Serphos, director of public relations for the Times, "the open rate for an ad of that size and type is $181,692."

A spokesman for MoveOn.org confirmed to The Post that the liberal activist group had paid only $65,000 for the ad - a reduction of more than $116,000 from the stated rate.

A Post reporter who called the Times advertising department yesterday without identifying himself was quoted a price of $167,000 for a full-page black-and-white ad on a Monday.

I wonder – can this discount be viewed as a contribution to MoveOn.org? And does this discount put the lie to claims of journalistic objectivity by the New York Times?

Rudy Giuliani has gone the next step, seeking to show that there is a political motivation for the rate given to MoveOn.org.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) said Thursday he is asking the New York Times for the “same heavily discounted rate they gave MoveOn.org,” for his campaign to run an ad in Friday’s paper.

Giuliani, calling MoveOn.org’s controversial “General Betray Us” ad “abominable,” said his campaign is asking the paper for a comparable rate for an ad to run following the President Bush’s speech on Iraq. The New York Post reported that MoveOn.org paid less than 40 percent of the regular ad rate.

The former mayor said his ad “will obviously take the opposite view” from MoveOn.org, which argued in its ad that Gen. David Petraeus is “cooking the books” on Iraq and cherry picking facts that support his recommendation to keep a large number of troops in Iraq for some time.

Will there be equal treatment for all messages? And will all political organizations and candidates be charged the “MoveOn rate”?

Oh, and by the way – I love the General’s response to the slanderous comments of his moral, intellectual, and patriotic inferiors in the cut-and-run movement.

'I disagree with the message of those who are exercising the First Amendment right that generations of soldiers have sought to preserve for Americans,' he told reporters. 'Some of it was just flat completely wrong, and the rest is, at least, more than arguable.'

I’m proud to have your back, sir.

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