Memo to MoveOn:
You folks folded like the obedient clique in high school called into the principle's office.
In the process you blew an excellent opportunity to address the separation of church and state issue and at the same time pissed away a lot of your credibility.
|
MoveOn knuckles under to Republican pressureJan. 6, 2004
|
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn Voter Fund" <moveon-help@list.moveon.org> Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 10:07:04 -0800 Subject: RNC Smear Campaign
Dear MoveOn member,
As the New Year begins, we'd rather be talking about positive things, and there are plenty of good things happening. But MoveOn.org has come under attack from the Republican National Committee (RNC), which has launched a campaign of malicious misinformation to divert attention from the creativity and power of the Bush in 30 Seconds contest. We need your help to make sure the media don't fall for it.
RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie launched the attack on "Fox News Sunday," and the RNC followed it with press releases and calls to reporters. The charges centered on two ads posted on the Bush in 30 Seconds website which compared President Bush's tactics with those of Adolf Hitler. Mr. Gillespie repeatedly referred to the ads as 'the MoveOn ad' or 'MoveOn's ad,' implying that we had sponsored or perhaps even commissioned the ad. And he also claimed that we might spend $7 million to run it on TV.
This is a lie. MoveOn.org hasn't sponsored such an ad, and we never would — we regret the appearance of these ads on the Bush In 30 Seconds site. The two ads in question are from more than a thousand posted by members of the public, and they were voted on by MoveOn members through December 31st. Obviously the few hundred of you who viewed these ads agreed that they were not worthy of further broadcast or recognition, because they got low ratings. Yesterday we announced the 15 finalists — all good, hard-hitting and fair appraisals of the Bush record, in the judgment of the members and others who rated them. The two offending ads can only be found one place now — on the RNC website!
When we've explained this to journalists, most have understood that this is a game of gotcha politics, not news. But even our statement for the press below, which goes through the entire process in detail, hasn't stopped the right wing from working this angle as hard as they can.
That's why we're asking you to please watch for stories on this as they appear, and let us know. Call the news outlet yourself and give them hell for falling victim to such political baloney. I've attached our statement, which fully explains the situation, below. Then please let us know so we can contact the outlets directly.
You can help us track inaccurate reporting on this story at: LINK
Second, we need you to get the press back on the right track. After you've corrected the negative accounts, write an upbeat letter to your local paper about the exciting and positive aspects of the contest and the finalists. These ads reflect the courage, hope, and deep patriotism of our membership. They're creative, passionate, and totally unlike most of the political ads that are out there. And perhaps most importantly, they were picked in a democratic way. Now that's a story.
The finalists are online at: http://www.bushin30seconds.org/
By sharing that URL with your friends, family, and colleagues, you can help to make sure that the RNC isn't successful in stealing our finalists' glory.
Not only is the RNC campaign deceptive, it's also totally disingenuous. Yesterday, the New York Post ran a long opinion column focusing exclusively on how much Presidential Candidate Howard Dean resembles Hitler, even calling him "Herr Howie." Of course, the RNC hasn't issued a condemnation of that. When close RNC ally Grover Norquist repeatedly compared taxing the wealthy with the Holocaust in an interview on NPR, the RNC was muted. And in 2002, the RNC and its allies were silent when supporters of President Bush actually aired TV ads morphing the face of Senator Max Cleland, a triple amputee as a result of wounds sustained in Vietnam, into Osama bin Laden. Given such a transparently partisan track record, the RNC's moral outrage doesn't mean a whole lot.
Obviously, MoveOn.org and its 1.7 million members are now on the right-wing radar. They are going to do everything they can do to silence us, and we simply won't let it happen. Smear tactics and campaigns of misinformation have no place in American democracy.
Sincerely,—Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack The MoveOn.org Team P.S. Here's the statement we released to the press yesterday, which explains the whole situation:
ADS ATTACKED BY RNC CHAIRMAN ARE NOT MOVEON.ORG VOTER FUND ADS
MoveOn.org Voter Fund Regrets Screening Process Allowed Ads to Slip Through
|
Commentary: To: MoveOn.org
Dear Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack,
Regarding the RNC Smear Campaign of MoveOn.org, and particularly this comment of yours:
The Republican National Committee and its chairman have falsely accused MoveOn.org of sponsoring ads on its website which compare President Bush to Adolf Hitler. The claim is deliberately and maliciously misleading. |
What's misleading, your sponsorship or the Bush/Hitler comparison?
You should clear this up — it's poorly written. MoveOn did sponsor the ad in the sense that you planned and carried out the project. I am extremely disappointed that you dumped on the creator of the ad in this fashion.
In addition, I just viewed the Hitler ad and disagree with your assessment that it is in "poor taste". The Hitler ad is spot on in that it raises the issue of separation of church and state. Whether you like it or not, Christian fundamentalism is a factor — as is Bush wearing Jesus on his sleeve (my belief) — in determining our present day American politics. This should be discussed, not swept under the rug. It sometimes take extraordinary comparisons to awaken people.
You folks folded like the obedient clique in high school called into the principle's office. In the process you blew an excellent opportunity to address the separation of church and state issue and at the same time pissed away a lot of your credibility. It is going to take a lot more balls than this to out Bush — you are up against real evil.
For the record I will again state that the focus of your efforts should be on impeachment and not the election. Do you folks from Silicon Valley really believe you will get a fair vote with touch screen voting come November? That should be your second priority after impeachment.
Regards,
Editor's note:
Want to see the video? Too bad, you can't. A few hours after the Republican Party snatched it and put it on their website, they took it down.
I'm pretty sure I saw the same video a month or so ago, long before it popped up at MoveOn.org (and if anyone knows a working web address for the video we'd love to see it again).
And if it is the same video, I'm not surprised the Republicans yanked it — it's too powerful to be easily dismissed.
—H&HH
|
|
|
© 2003, by the author. Comments? newsuneed@yahoo.com |
|
|
Statement by Wes Boyd, Founder of MoveOn.org Voter Fund:
The Republican National Committee and its chairman have falsely accused MoveOn.org of sponsoring ads on its website which compare President Bush to Adolf Hitler. The claim is deliberately and maliciously misleading.
During December the MoveOn.org Voter Fund invited members of the public to submit ads that purported to tell the truth about the President and his policies. More than 1,500 submissions from ordinary Americans came in and were posted on a web site, bushin30seconds.org, for the public to review.
None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.
We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.
Contrast this with the behavior of the RNC and its allies when supporters of President Bush used TV ads morphing the face of Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) into that of Osama Bin Laden during the 2002 Senate race.
MoveOn.org and the MoveOn.org Voter Fund exist to bring the public into the political process and produce a more fact-based election process. We regret that the RNC doesn't seem to embrace the same goals.
Published by MoveOn.org This material is copyrighted by its original publisher.
It is reprinted by Unknown News without permission, solely for purposes of criticism, comment, and news reporting, in accordance with the Fair Use Guidelines of copyright material under § 107 of U.S.C. Title 17.
|
There's much more than this at Unknown News.
|
|
|
We try not to whine too much or too loudly, but we are poor and this site eats a lot of money and time. We couldn't do it without the help of our volunteers. And for those who can't afford the time, giving just a buck or two can make all the difference and keep Unknown News alive.
|
Talk
to Us |
Archives |
If you have something to say, we'd love to hear from you. |
Click here for archives of recent editions of Unknown News |
|
|