Time for MoveOn.org to move on

Speaking as someone whose political views are decidedly left, I never thought I'd say this, but would Moveon.Org just put a plug in it already?

As an Internet phenomenon, MoveOn certainly demonstrated how to mobilize public opinion. Indeed, the organization, founded in 1998 by a married couple of nouveau-riche techies, Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, acquitted itself well during the Monica Lewinsky uproar.

Unlike a sadly servile mainstream media, which insisted upon playing to the lowest common denominator, a spunky MoveOn appeared seemingly out of nowhere to rally online opposition to the sham taking place in Washington.

But no matter what you thought about the nature of Bill Clinton's actions leading up to Lewinsky-gate, MoveOn's organizational activity represented a textbook example how civil society is supposed to function in a republic. This was interest group politics at its best--as American as apple pie and Federalist Paper No. 10.

MoveOn has played a big role in Congress' (still-to-be-decided) Net neutrality debate, while its pressure tactics also helped stoke opposition to Facebook's ill-considered Beacon program, which would have posted information about users' activities on partner sites. I wasn't as exercised about Beacon's threat to our individual liberties. Facebook was more guilty of glossing over legitimate privacy concerns than it was due to nefarious intent. In any case, Facebook users would have rejected Beacon and forced the company to go back to the drawing board on their own. Did they really need an energetic, group-think organization to dictate the correct party line?

Even before then, my enthusiasm for MoveOn's shtick had begun to wane. I think it was the "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" advertisement last September that was the last straw.

Nobody in this country should be above criticism--and that includes appointed military leaders. But the ad unfairly smeared Petraeus, a dedicated professional and one of the most capable U.S. officers ever to serve in Iraq. MoveOn's lame response was that the ad was "successful" in its intent. To wit: "Call the credibility of Petraeus' testimony into question. It garnered more coverage than any ad that MoveOn.org has run in years. Every time Republicans debated the ad, they helped raise questions around reliability of the General's report."

When I read that, I could only murmur sotto voce a disgusted, "you've got to be f---ing kidding me."

Now it's Obama-grams seemingly every day arriving in my inbox from the MoveOn crowd. Enough! I'll make up my own mind. Barack Obama's a fine candidate, but I think Hillary Clinton would make just as capable a 44th president.

Blades and Boyd made a bundle by convincing a sucker to pay millions for the flying toaster screen servers and other forgettable pop-culture bric-a-brac turned out by their company. But business savvy doesn't always translate into political acumen. (If they want to give me an argument, I'd only point to Dick Cheney's multimillion dollar payday from Halliburton as Exhibit A.)

[gerrrg]

you're right.

MoveOn has been moving steadily off to the fringes, less an advocacy group and seemingly hijacked by extreme fanatics.<br /><br />I don't want to see the Democratic Party co-opted by the same kind of fanaticism that deluded and infiltrated the GOP with the religious right. That would be a travesty to the essence of political diversity that the Democratic Party has stood for, as long as I have been a member.

[charlweed]

You're right, "You're right"

... except I would not call it infiltration.<br />The fanatics are "hijacking" all discourse, and not just in the USA. It's like the whole world is becoming more polarized, with the people in the sensible middle under ever increasing pressure to take a side...

[Penguinisto]

Wait'll Bush leaves office...

...I fully expect the website to implode. :)<br /><br />/P

[svk1069]

Thank You!

I'm very much liberal in my views, but I recently canceled my donations to MoveOn.org. I used to love what they did, but come on... Facebook? Don't we have better things to worry about?<br /><br />I also felt it completely unnecessary for them to endorse a candidate at this point especially with the way they did it. They let their members vote which in theory seems just fine, but it was extremely easy for people to vote multiple times. I'm sure if I realized this other people did too.<br /><br />If it was absolutely necessary for them to endorse someone, then the MoveOn.org staff should have researched which candidate most closely aligned with the MoveOn.org principles. Their choice should have been presented to their members for approval before going public with it.<br /><br />It's a shame they are bungling things so badly. We need an organization like them.

[advs89]

Correct

You're absolutely right. And I wish the ACLU would go down with them. (they sued the boyscouts for heaven's sake!)

[breached]

Unsubscribe

Just unsubscribe if you don't enjoy their Obama-centric emails. The <br />members of Moveon.org voted on who they wanted to endorse and Obama won over 70% of that vote. You aren't speaking in the <br />majority of the Moveon.org users and I surprised to see such a <br />biased rant on News.com.

[close5828]

I "moved on" from MoveOn...

...when the "Vote for Hillary or Obama" e-mail went out. I said, "That's it!" and unsubscribed.<br /><br />They're definitely the "fringe-left" now, which is not a comfortable place to be (even for a moonbat like me).

[BtmnHatesRbn]

What does this have to do with tech?

As usual, somebody always has to do this with a tech site that <br />decides to let some idiot employee "blog" an opinion as fact:<br /><br />What does this and its presentation have to do with the tech <br />industry and tech news and developments?<br /><br />And remember, moveon.org was founded by the morons who <br />made the flying toasters in After Dark screensaver and get <br />money from George Soros, who's a Communist currency <br />investor.

[real_bgiel]

MoveOn could not exist...

without technology. And don't forget that Al Gore invented the Internet as we know it.

[RussJr]

I could not have said it better

The General Patreus ad did it for me as well. As a political stunt I was irritated, but as an American I was outraged.

[fafafooey]

Suprising from DNC|Net

Usually DNC|Net.com articles are left wing suck ups.<br /><br />I guess they figure the Demokooks at MoveOnOutOfTheUSA.org are damaging their chances.<br /><br />Or more likely because MoveOnOutOfTheUSA.org is supporting Barack Hussein Obama and the Clinton shills have been given the order to take them out.

[soul_tech]

Anything Left of Timothy McVeigh is Liberal?

Seems the uber-right "mainstream" press has convinced their followers that neutral=left.<br /><br />I'd point out that this publication posted articles supporting the re-unification (monopolization) of telecommunications, which was clearly a right-biased movement.

[Louise_in_CA]

MoveOn.Org

I used to subscribe to their email list, but after being bombarded with what became (for me) a non-ending fountain of increasingly fringe-tainted rhetoric, I've decided that I'm just not interested in their obviously biased, agenda-driven diatribes.<br /><br />It's sound and fury, signifying nothing to me.

[Penguinisto]

Truer words...

While I personally have no wish for Mrs. Clinton to get anywhere near the White House, I do agree with you on moveon.org. <br /><br />Their entire raison 'd etre is, IMHO, a large-scale rabble-rousing. It is in my opinion an exercise in herding 'sheeple' - giving people talking points and telling them what any right-minded progressive should think... or else.<br /><br />Obama I like. Hell, McCain I like. Huckabee I also like (mostly because I got to see up-close how he cleaned out one hell of a corrupt state government). But... voicing the opinion that any politician who isn't Barack may be even remotely human (even --gasp-- Bush), would cause the moveon.org crowd to cry "Havoc", and unleash the dogs of rhetoric.<br /><br />Bah - moveon.org only proves to me that masses of people can be easily manipulated and brainwashed.<br /><br />/P

[ralfthedog]

"...cry "Havoc", and unleash the dogs of rhetoric."

I do not wear a leash.

[pmchefalo]

Your Politics, Like Your Choice of Operating Systems, Are Pointless

So you're from Arkansas. Hate the Clintons, can't tell the difference between John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama as a potential leader.<br /><br />It would appear that you give no thought to your choices beyond a pretty face. Are you seriously thinking that there would be no difference between a 72-yo military veteran, a 52-yo minister and a 47-yo lawyer / college professor? <br /><br />Given the nonsense you spout about operating systems, why does this not surprise me?

[jamander]

Your Wrong

MoveOn.org does a very positive service when it points out the lack of principal and courage that the Democratic Party has shown. I became a member when no one else would even comment on a line officer being injected into a political debate. MoveOn is attempting to build a back bone for the Democrats. On issue after issue the Democrats have failed to do the right thing. The Democrats lack of courage includes Iraq funding, torture, survaillance, failure to even acknowledge current administrations illegal and immoral actions, and last but not least an inability to work towards it's own goals. Now is the time to support MoveOn before our democracy is gone forever.

[johnekaes]

Move on members VOTED TO SUPPORT

We voted to support obama-it's the way a democracy works.

[Tuxcat]

Dirty little kid politics

MoveOn.org has long been an example of the "dirty little kid" school of political discourse. <br /><br />Picture a little kid who starts reciting all the dirty words he knows to shock the grownups. If they don't react, he escalates, until he's shrieking obscenities and they *have* to pay attention. <br /><br />My politics are rightish, and we've got dirty little kids of our own, of course. Ann Coulter comes to mind, and the more virulent anti-McCainiacs. I think DLKs are more common on the left, but leftish people would doubtless say the opposite. But none of them are doing political discourse, or the country, any good at all.<br /><br />I'm a free speech absolutist, but I'd sure like to see it exercised a great deal more responsibly -- perhaps with some attention to facts, and logic, and courage, and even honor.

[gerrrg]

that's funny...

you're correct, the left (me) thinks the same way of the right - that there are a lot of DLKs on that side of the aisle than on my side (Drug-Rush Limbaugh for one).<br /><br /><br />I gotta say, Coulter is a bully that deserves to sit in a room with her mouth sewn shut, forced to listen to Gloria Steinem speak on Feminism for 8 hours.

[cefran]

where's the beef?

Big headline: not much content. If MoveOn never receives any more substantive criticism than this, there is not much to worry about.

[M C]

CNet: Day Late or Dollar Short?

That was like complaining about Bea Arthur primarily based on 'The Golden Girls' but inspired by seeing her in a tabloid recently.<br /><br />MoveOn is no longer relevant - just about everyone has already acknowledged the political landscape has changed from the one they were set up to fight - ergo, the time you spend railing about them seems gratuitous.

[psychosmurf]

READ THE TITLE . . .

It says NEWS BLOG not TECH BLOG. Think before you speak.

[duggerdm]

Cooper - You're not left, and you're seldom right - you're just biased.

Give us a break. Because you stand to the left of Atilla the Hun doesn't make you "decidedly" left, liberal, or correct on anything. <br /><br />Cooper you obviously think MoveOn was fine as long as they were hanging up the Clinton dirty laundry, but once they supported Obama, not Hillary and started focusing on Bush - it appears to be a problem for you.<br /><br />As someone who receives several calls a week from the Republican political machine (even though I'm an independent) to collect money - I can't imagine that anyone would complain about MoveOn political promotional activity - unless it's because its not for their candidate. <br /><br />Today the Republican call I received was to nominate me for some Republican Business Leader Merit Badge - obviously for a small party donation. I find selling "honor" as contemptuous as it gets. Unfortunately, the sale of honor seems to be main forte of the Republican Party in recent years. You say - "Even before then, my enthusiasm for MoveOn's shtick had begun to wane. I think it was the "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" advertisement last September that was the last straw." Only a true died-in-the-wool conservative Hun couldn't see that Petraeus betrayed his military leadership oath, honors (and the American people) by allowing himself to be compromised and politicized by the Bush Administration. You failed to note he was even criticized for this by his military superiors - who did not sell out to Bush. Time and circumstances have now proven that the surge has failed to meet its primary goal of bringing political stability in Iraq - or any extended peace, or the seeds of democracy. Eventually it is only likely to have met its primary Bush goal - to give Bush some wiggle room to further fund his Cheney/Haliburton war and try to pass his fiascoes in the Middle East to his Democrat successor. Even the minimal security increases in Baghdad that were so heavily promoted by the Bush media machine - are now being lost - not to mention Afghanistan. Troops apparently won't be coming home as promised. Everyday now this Bush/Petraeus fiasco becomes a little more apparent as the fleeting security that was literally bought from Baghdad's dissident religious leaders - unwinds a little more with each bombing. The ignorance - or the attempted deceit of your Petraeus comment is just as obvious.<br /><br />So, give up with this false 'I'm "decidedly left and I have been betrayed by MoveOn.org, Obama, the Clintons or anyone else not supporting this unnecessary liar's war, those who profit from the business of war, and this treasonous administration for which people that think like you voted for repeatedly.

[gerrrg]

i'm biased-left.

but i don't need to issue a vitriolic diatribe a few thousand characters long to deliver my message.<br /><br />for the record, i've volunteered and donated for the democratic party (went door to door in pouring rain to get out the vote), and i still think the petraeus ad reeks of the same swift-boat and religious right tactics we've apparently become accepting of in this country.

[charlie cooper]

Wow

Dude, have a coke and chill. Fact is that you're wrong about 99.9% of what you wrote in that post. But I doubt I'd ever be able to convince you. <br /><br />Peace

[ginadentata]

moveon.org's Obama agenda

I was a loyal moveon member, but I'm about ready to sever my ties. I believed in their campaigns and oppposite to the Bush administration, but I question the legitimacy of their decision to endorse Barack Obama. Who decided to poll members during the primary. Since when is less than 70000 out of 3.2 million a mandate. I question the timing of their member survey and the absurdly short period members had to respond. I believe that it was a foregone conclusion that the leadership would endorse Obama. I opted out of the emails for the Barack Obama campaign, but today I get a pitch about superdelegates that is designed only to help him...why now??...if Moveon had a problem with superdelegates, why wait until now, only when it might impact Obama?? They claim it's undemocratic. What about the undemocratic nature of Democratic Party caucuses that effectively disenfranchise Democrats with an ungainly and easily manipulated process. What's Democratic about less than 2% of voters in Washington deciding a Democratic Caucus?? Obviously the Moveon.org leadership has an Obama agenda and will sacrifice everything for it. It's sickening.

[machoul]

Leave moveon alone ...

As a native Appalachian who has for generations watched the Great Fathers in D.C. trample our culture by 'helping' us, I am decidedly NOT a leftist.<br /> Moveon.org is a testament to free speech. If free human beings want to publicly express their ignorance, let them do so. They help us understand the mindset of those who think themselves so far superior to us that they will use the force of the federal government to make us be what they want us to be, subservient to their concept of 'civilized'.<br /> Please note here that we are not all contented little reservation Indians, and they have not yet turned all Appalachians into happy little Anglos. We were here when they got here, and we'll be here when they're gone.

[savagesteve13]

America was built by People Griping

People griping about how things are and wanting change.<br />For those who are content with how things are, you might like to live in North Korea, where there is no dissent, no discussion, no disagreements with the leadership on how things should be.<br /><br />MoveOn provides a valuable service to a public that regularly is told to "move on, nothing to see here"