MoveOn.org

I have been reporting on how John McCain has an abyssmal record on the Environment, a poor record on Veterans Issues, but gets the full support of the entire Bush family and bigoted, right wing extremist pastors.

Now MoveOn.org has a good round up of what the true John McCain is really like. Anti-civil rights, anti-choice, wanting to continue the Iraq war indefinitely, anti-children, etc. From MoveOn.org:

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

MoveOn.org membership has voted overwhelmingly to endorse Barack Obama. I want to note that this is not the decision of the organizers of MoveOn.org, but of the membership. Obama got 70% of the votes.

Here is the press release from MoveOn.org:

In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%.

Senator Obama accepted the endorsement stating:

"In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. From their principled opposition to the Iraq war - a war I also opposed from the start - to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change. I thank them for their support and look forward to working with their members in the weeks and months ahead."

Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's Executive Director, issued the following statement on the group's endorsement:

"Our members' endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history. Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a President who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America's standing in the world. The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country, and someone who will be willing to change business as usual in Washington. Senator Barack Obama has proved he can and will be that President.

Now that the Republicans have once again shown themselves to be the Scrooge Party, denying millions of children health insurance because it would cost a mere week's worth of the Iraq war cost, MoveOn.org is once again initiating an ad campaign to counter right wing extremist propoganda. Here is the latest ad by MoveOn.org:

If you want to see this get on TV, please give a contribution to fight for children's healthcare in America.

One month ago when Rudy Giuliani's campaign tried, as one blogger put it, humping the corpse by using 9/11 as a theme for a fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani. The idea was to get people to donate $9.11 for Rudy, playing off the 9/11 myth that surrounds Rudy.

Needless to say, many of those who lived through 9/11, particularly those who lost people on that day, were disgusted by the idea.

Let's get one thing straight, and you can take it from someone who saw Rudy in action on 9/11: this whole Rudy 9/11 mystique is a myth. For coverage of that (from another New Yorker) go here and here.

Here's my idea. They, in essence, were desecrating the memories of the victims of 9/11 by turning our tragedy into a fundraising opportunity. That last month. My first reaction was to donate $9.11 to MoveOn.org in protest. Then I decided that was being as disgusting as them.

So I propose, on 10/11, to donate $10.11 to MoveOn.org. I will do it. I invite you to join me to show Rudy Guiliani and his supporters that 9/11 is NOT something you demean by using it to raise money for the man who the real 9/11 heros detest.

Recently, Republicans targeted one of the organizations they fear most: MoveOn.org. Their excuse was an ad MoveOn.org ran that essentially accurately accused General Petreus of betraying American interests by mouthing the Bush line on Iraq. And sadly, several Democrats went along with them. In the discussions that followed, I have heard comments accusing MoveOn.org of being more of a problem than a benefit for the Democratic Party. Well, I think it might be time to remember what MoveOn.org did in 2006. From the MoveOn.org website:

* Volunteers made 7 million phone calls, organized 7,500 house parties, and launched 6,000 in-district events. More people volunteered in 2006 than in 2004.

* We raised and spent $27 million in this two-year election cycle. We spent $25 million on taking back the House. Over 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual 250,000 members contributed $3.6 million to individual House candidates and over $2.8 million to fund MoveOn TV ads in targeted districts.

* Our “Caught Red-Handed” TV ads demonstrated early that Democrats could win a majority in Congress by taking on Republicans others thought couldn’t be defeated. Of the nine long-shot races we targeted with these ads, Democrats won at least five.

Moveon.org, the Progressive activist powerhouse, is presently in some hot water with the usual suspects for having the astonishingly poor taste of telling the truth, in the New York Times, no less.

(Click to enlarge)