In Defense of MoveOn -- No More Arrows in the Back

There is a huge problem of "risk aversion" in progressive culture, and nothing exemplefies that more clearly than what happened to MoveOn in the wake of their Petraeus/Betray Us ad in the New York Times. Matt Stoller points to one particularly infuriatingly yet typical email from The Truman Project, in which they encourage their progressive veterans to denounce MoveOn:

Those of you who saw the NYTimes today saw that MoveOn took out a full page ad equating Petraeus with "Betray Us" and accusing him of politicizing the military.

In one fell swoop, they have undone massive work by countless progressives trying to bridge the gap with the military and reconnect.

What's this "we," kemosabe? MoveOn is always out there, fighting the good fight, they've done more to move the anti-war dialog in this country than just about any organization I know. They will, as a result, inevitably be a target of the right. I do think it's possible to have differences of opinion in good faith about the ad, but when people start to claim the progress made by "progressives" as their own, and MoveOn is somehow suddenly outside of that, it's just arrogant, spurious nonsense.

I'm sorry, John Kerry, but you don't help the right wing out. Ever. Now they've got Diaper Dave Vitter out there leading the battle cry, trying to reclaim himself by introducing resolutions to denounce MoveOn. Does Kerry really not know how it works at this point? Paul Krugman does, and he lays it out extremely well in a review of Jon Chiat's new book:

Jon talks at some length about the media, and in particular about the Republican ability to get journalists to harp endlessly on supposed character flaws of Democrats, while their own candidates get a free pass. He emphasizes the right-wing echo chamber, but there's more to it than that. It's also - as I can report from my own experience - a result of asymmetrical intimidation. Quite simply, if you point out character flaws in a conservative, there will be an all-out effort, involving major media as well as blogs and talk radio, to discredit and ruin you, personally. This just doesn't happen on the other side.

So journalists feel that it's safe to ridicule Democrats, even if the supposed character-defining episode never happened; they choke up and shy away when it comes to Republicans. That's why even the most grotesque stuff, like Giuliani's claim that he's a rescue worker too, or Romney's remark that his sons are serving the country by helping him become president, doesn't get picked up.

One of the most frustrating things about getting involved in the political process as part of the Blue America PAC is that we have to confront on a daily basis how little our representatives know about how the media works, how thoroughly it has been gamed by conservatives and how easily they get played. They're so anxious to please, to seem "reasonable," that their reflex is to repeat canards about "those crazy blogs" (or MoveOn or anybody else trying to build progressive infrastructure) without any awareness that they are planting a knife squarely in the back of the only message machine that exists to combat a rabid right wing that doesn't just want to see them disempowered, it wants them destroyed. Permanently.

I realize many Democrats are just as frightened of the progressive movement as they are of the Republicans and were probably quite gleeful about getting to take MoveOn down a peg, but this only goes to underscore how woefully out of touch they are with what is going on in this country and how distant the perspective of the voting public is from the wisdom of the beltway brahmins. Markos Moulitsas fielded the question of the MoveOn ad beautifully on Hardball:

To me, you know, way out in California, it's almost amusing to see how in Washington DC, everybody is all up in arms over an ad. You know, we're in the middle of this bloody war, almost 4,000 dead, half a trillion dollars spent, and people are going to talk about how inappropriate an ad is? I think it's patently ridiculous. And most people, outside of this sort of Beltway environment really don't care about an ad. They want to see our men and women coming home, safe and sound to their families.

The MoveOn ad said what Democrats could not and survive politically -- Petraeus is acting as a politician, doing a politician's job of spinning and his actions are not above criticism just because he's got a bunch of ribbons on his chest that George Bush would like to hide behind. And it traveled. To join with the right and start firing arrows into their backs is both destructive from a movement perspective and displays tremendous naiveté about what it's going to take to end this war.

So unless there is some mysterious wisdom in taking one's messaging cues from Diaper Dave, people who want to be part of the solution and not a part of the problem should find another way to engage in this conversation. One that doesn't leave progressive fighters fearful that their own side will turn on them when the GOP attack dogs decide to lunge.

Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com.

Comments

[Levittown]

When a General acts like an aide to the President he loses the ability to state his own true feelings. If he has the backbone he retires rather that be dishonest, Colin Powell echoed the lies and will never live it down. Gen. Frank retired rather that continue the sham. He has not been very public since his retirement, but eventually he may speak out.

[Mike1960]

Moveon stepped on it and that's all that need be said. Before taking on a military hero who has walked the walk and radiates integrity, MoveOn should have done their homework better. They expose themselves for what they reall are: dupes of an extreme left leaning pack of morons who would destroy this country if they ever get into power. MoveOn should move on--move out of America and take their ridiculous ideas with them. God bless America--and God save us from anybody who subscribes to and believes in the mush that comes from Move On.

[jmcalli]

I agree with Jane. When I saw the Petraeus ad I knew some dems would play it safe and criticize MoveOn. So, like a good progressive veteran, I sent MoveOn a nice donation for their next ad ;-).

[nunzia]

Jane, perfect post! Thanks so much.

[fourex]

The cacophony to deify Gen. Petraeus rings hard on the ears after we witnessed the false tribute to Gen. Powell that preceded his U.N. show.

[researcher]

Keep in mind Kerry lost the election against a sociopath and a warmonger that he should have won hands down. The man could only talk in sound bites. I voted for him what choice did I have.

Maybe someday Americans will give up its love affair with a two party system. Until we do we will have a choice between warmongers and some demos hiding under rocks that come out once in awhile, talk tough in sound bites and then go hide again under those rocks entitled lack of courage?

Kind of like those neo con chicken hawks that want to wage war but not with their blood.

[Guitarsandmore]

There was no reason to attack General Petraeus personally. The GAO report speaks for itself. The benchmarks have not been met. Petraeus said the troops would have to stay and stay and stay. They have no plan that is working well, or at least not as well as we were lead to believe in 2003.

There is a plethora of legitimate criticism that could be voiced against the administration. Why bring the national dialogue down to the level of Ann Coulter by calling people names?

Now it"s just Ann Coulter and Moveon.org standing out in the middle of a field somewhere calling each other names and the rest of us wondering why.

[JoAnnCr]

317 comments and counting.

Good on you, MoveOn.org. You got the attention and the dialog going.

No matter how grand a career anyone has had, if they betray you in the end, that's their story. You can then look back and examine how they betrayed you in the past and you will probably find plenty where they just didn't get caught.

Thanks to MoveOn.org someone has finally stood up to the perpetuators of the Bush lies. Never, never, never give in.

[NOSMAVAN]

Is this how we Americans define ourselves?:

A big country, rich in wealth and compassion, but with just two philosophies - Democratic and Republican (both being and getting more corrupt as they go)

When are we going to realize that the fast majority of Americans is neither Democrat nor Republican - just American - but is forced to make a choice between bad and worse, and usuallt ends up choosing both: bad and worse.

[janmB]

The righties act as if the General is a god. He isn't. He served our country SO WHAT. How many thousands have served and died and were wounded too. He has a bunch of medals and stars on his shoulders so that means he as a human being would never LIE --never be a puppet of his commander-in-chief ? Apparently other generals REFUSED to be a puppet and they were gone-pronto--fired. BETRAYUS which is a fitting word--duplicated everything Bush has been saying since January and that should be a clue. Now RUDY has a BIG AD out there degrading Hillary for asking HARD QUESTIONS of the republican GOD and saying it was hard to believe. Well SOMEONE needs to treat BETRAYUS like he's no GOD---he's just an employee of our military paid by USA citizens.

[Kirby]

General Petraeus has not betrayed anyone by saying what has been said, and I think it is grossly unfair to attribute any of this to his actions or verbage on the Hill or elsewhere. I do disagree with the premoises upon which this war was begun. It is the President of the United States who has betrayed the American People with his lies and calculated deception. He is moving forward with comparable lies to engage us in big conflict with Iran. Although I wish there were some way to stop him, apparently there isn't anything any of us can do about it because there are enough political whores on the Hill indebted to AIPAC to see him through this. And they will; the sabres have been rattled. Do Kerry, Kennedy, et al have the testicular growth necessary to stop this madman? Only time can tell, but for sure look at the senator from Kentucky leading the way along with Lieberman to the next big debacle.

[tandrmcdonald]

David Petraeus. Before I believe one word from this man's mouth he needs to address the issue of Ted S. Westhusing. What scandal was Col. Westhusing about to reveal before his untimely death in Iraq?
Gramma Rose

[mamacat]

This administration has lost its credibility. The lies and spin they are guilty of boggle the mind. The appointment of Petraeus by Bush was tainted by suspicions of political ass-kissing, not of doing what is right for the country.

MoveOn.org brought out into the open what most of the nation suspects anyway, that Petraeus is less than honest, like his boss.

[Rabblerouser]

Great post, Jane! The Dem party of today (and I'm a lifer) disgusts me when it resorts to what I consider political cannibalism. Instead of utilizing moveon and others to address issues in ways they can't (and appeal emotionally to voters, since that's the #1 thing that decides their votes), we just play "dog pile" on moveon along with the Swiftboaters.
This war should be ended, yesterday! If moveon can help make that happen, since the Dems obviously aren't willing to, more power to them.
I wouldn't believe a damn word coming from Petraeus' mouth after reading about his Iraq incompetence and designs on the presidency. No to mention that his entire career has been built on sucking up to his superiors to get promoted.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956422.ece
Think I'll go donate at moveon.org

[rboylern]

So, what all the fuss about? MoveOn.org is entitled to express its opinion in this country where such speech is protected by our Constitution. It's going to tick some people off; but that's the risk we take in a free society. People just have to be prepared to be offended by some things. Too much has been made about this already.