Fox Defames MoveOn

Posted on January 5, 2004 in Falsehoods Journalists & Pundits

UPDATE from Moveon: “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!

Faux News and the Republican Party are intentionally misrepresenting the agenda of Moveon in an effort to head off a planned winter ad campaign setting the record straight on George W. Bush’s record.

The ad in question used a tape recording of the Nazi leader speaking while it showed images of Hitler and German military prowess during World War II. At the end of the ad, a photo of Bush raising his hand to take the oath of office is seen.

“A nation warped by lies. Lies fuel fear. Fear fuels aggression. Invasion. Occupation. What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003,” the ad said.

Republican groups and Jewish organizations expressed outrage over the ad, which has been removed from the MoveOn.org Web site. The Republican National Committee called on all nine Democratic candidates to condemn the ads.

Go here for starters. Look for the Hitler ad. It’s not there. Why? Because MoveOn had the integrity to pull the ad. Because the ad did not represent Moveon’s views — it was merely one entry in a contest. Fox eventually gets around to admitting this in the article, but the purpose of this nonstory is clear: the Republican National Committee is terrified of what MoveOn can do with its ads against Bush. They saw how Moveon’s last minute campaign against Ahnold ate up ten percent. If it can do that in the space of a weekend, imagine what can be done in the course of a year.

There is absolutely no call for condemning every last MoveOn ad (especially not after the Tom Daschle transmogrifying into Saddam Hussein trickery that the RNC deployed in 2002.) The RNC is seizing on an act of integrity by MoveOn and shamelessly characterizing it as corrupt and underhanded. This says more about the Republicans and Fox News than it does about MoveOn. The wolf always says that the deer is a carnivore. The purpose of the campaign is to expose the Bush record for what it is. The RNC simply does not want this to happen.