House Dems Sell-Out MoveOn, Condemnation of Free Speech Gets More Votes than Children

The United States House of Representatives just voted to condemn Moveon.org for an ad, which ran in last Monday's New York Times. The vote was 341-79.

Yesterday, the House passed legislation that will increase health care coverage to an additional 3.5 million children. That vote was 265-159.

By an embarrassingly significant margin, the House of Representatives favors condemning the Constitutional right of free speech over providing health care to children. This is about as bad as it gets. How can these people sleep at night?

I'm beside myself.

Comments

[BushSunkOurShip]

They are ashame to see some one with a backbone and speak out. They are getting like Bush when someone makes you look bad you attack them.
The republicans must roll over laughing in bed at night at the spineless and weak democrats.

[prairdog]

MoveOn.org's Ad was brilliant. Visually and conceptually it crystalized the distrust that so many Americans now feel for their government and government agencies, after nearly seven years of the lies of BushCo.

I do believe that BushCo has betrayed us, especially in regards to Iraq, and I will therefore remember moveon.org's ad when I consider the issues and vote.

That's the mark of a "bullseye" in marketing --a lasting image/memory -- and moveon.org hit it. Well done.

[WorkingClass]

Please Please. Stop saying the Democrats are cowards. They are complicit. Tell is like it is. The Democrats are complicit.

[Not Blind]

It's not surprising the Congress would vote to save their own backs, but leave the children of this country more vulnerable to disease, illness and their families to poverty and/or bankruptcy.
They did so when they voted for the war, and then to perpetuate it by approving billions upon billions of "supplemental" funding, sold out our Constitutional guarantees to freedoms and basic rights, all to appease the administration, PNAC, AIPAC and religious fundamentalist right-wingers.
They went along with the no-bid contracts for Hunt Oil (Bush's), Haliburton (Cheney's), the Carlysle Group (Bush's), Blackwater, Bechtel and others, while our soldiers in uniform "on the ground" and front lines lacked training, equipment, decent pay, benefits, or adequate rest time (at home with their families) before redeployment.
The reason (du jour) for additional funding of this war is to support our troops: by keeping them for prolonged time in harm's way, so that those who have already made the ultimate sacrifice will not have died in vain, and to stabilize Iraq (currently in a brutal civil war which will last for a decade, if not more) as the government is corrupt, incompetent and inept.
It's easy to pick on one ad, and cast a swift vote of condemnation, but to show real back-bone, and vote on a substantive matter, like providing basic preventive/maintenance health and dental care to our own children is too hard for them, as they may have to face off with the Almighty One (our president).
Picking on one puny ad, although its content was accurate, even if the language was rough, is easier than standing up for Constitutional freedoms and rights, or asking this nation to provide for our children's well-being (our future generations).

[jazzman]

Well, I can't say they sealed the deal because I already had decided to quit the Democratic Party. However, the House joining the Republicans just confirmed that I made the right decision. So hear this Dems, I worked for you in the last two campaigns and I sent money to your campaigns. Those days are over. I sent a check to MoveOn.org last night for the first time and they are the only organization that will receive my support from now on. I want people representing me who I know have my back not you Democrats who stab your own supporters in the back. Hope you enjoyed that vote, Dems, it's going to cost you alot of support because I'm sure I'm not alone.

[dawlishgal]

Good for you! I, too, worked for the Dems, specifically for Amy Klobuchar, who talked a good game, but once elected has spent the bulk of her time and energy sucking up to the Bushies.

Now we have moved to PA, only to find that Bob Casey is just Klobuchar in a suit and tie.

It is going to be a lot easier to not bother with contributing to or campaigning for a party with so many inexplicable turncoats (new senators who either lied in their campaign speeches or allowed themselves to be bamboozled by the Bushies or Harry Reid).

[MmeFlutterbye]

Me too!

[cadawa]

The Democratic Congress has betrayed the voters that gave them power by refusing to do the job they were elected to do; stop the war and hold Bush accountable.
Now they are in the bizarre position of trying to enforce a losing strategy ala Karl Rove; failing forward.
The American people are in the unenviable position of having no legitimate government.

[MmeFlutterbye]

I will NEVER vote for Diane Feinstein again. And rather than contribute to the wimpy dems, I'll contribute to MOVEON. This whole todo reminds me of how the Dems acted to get into the Iraq War...They allow the minority of Repigs to take the lead...and meekly follow. Stupid craven Democrats. I never thought I'd write something like this.

[SkippyJones]

I think an advocacy group aimed at 'moving on' past partisanship shouldn't have handed their keys to a twenty-three year old executive director. What you get is an organizational culture quick to embrace juvenilia. The silicon valley model of twenty-three year old CEOs got a lot of attention, but it didn't work during the dot.com era and it doesn't work in the political arena, either. I believe in Moveon and the foundations of the organization - I'm rather less excited about a bunch of gooey-pr-advertising-speak about 'stickiness' etc. which all simply serves as a codeword for 'shock-value'. Shocking people gets attention, yes, but depletes another quite precious resource: Trust. An organization builds trust by the maturity they exhibit. Many, many, many of us were attracted to Moveon because maturity is exactly what they promised during the Clinton impeachment scandal -- it was the hallmark promise of the organization. Let's 'MoveOn' past this silliness. Electing a twenty-three year Executive Director betrayed that promise as did this ad with its juvenile playground pun on the man's name.
Sorry, but we all make mistakes. The message could have been put in a way that the majority of Americans respect. Silicon Valley edge and experimentation really doesn't translate in the heartland. Let the grownups play with the dynamite next time.

[NABNYC]

I was 100% supportive of Move-On. Not just theoretically because of that thing - what's it called - oh yea, freedom of speech. But also because the speech was fair. General Betray-Us. Betray the U.S. Betray the taxpayers, the working people, even the enlistees who will die because of this war. Betray the military by stepping over the bodies of those honorable leaders who have spoken out against this waste. Betray everyone to advance your own narcissistic political ambitions. Put no loyalty, not to country, to people, to truth or honor or dignity, above your own absurd ambitions for titles and crowns.

General Pet Judas
General CheneysPet
General Pet-Useless
General Pantyhose
General PetrieDish
General Pattycake
General He'llSlayUs
General Strangelove
General Rommel

There. That should give the politicians something to do for the next year. They can make speeches, introduce resolutions, debate them, whether it is proper to call this guy General Rommel. Apparently they have nothing better to do with their time other than going out soliciting bribes from corporate America. So have at it Congress. Knock yourself out.

[grendl]

BUSH LEAGUE redux- A Poem of Hope -( bob )- by e.e. grendl

Thanks for the appointees,
The decorated few,
The brave ones that you knew,
Would stand and fight,
A war despite,
The Kobayash(i) Maru
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the casualties,
The boys and girls who fought,
A war this nation bought,
Based on a tale, a mushroom sale,
The seller never caught,
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the refugees,
The ones delivered Brown,
The day the wall broke down,
He'd lead a horse to water,
And then he'd let it drown,
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the amputees,
Who hobble off the planes,
With smiles masking pains,
They lost their limbs to righteous hymns,
And aren't offered canes,
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the memories?
The glaring disconnects,
The lapses in the texts,
If pachyderms remember terms,
Why all these " I forget" s,
How lovely it was.

Thanks for the penalties,
Believing as we did,
you cared about our kids,
Then sent our jobs abroad you slobs,
And now we're on the skids,
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the perjuries,
The blatant little lies,
the outing of our spies,
You cost his wife, if not her life,
Her CIA disguise,
We thank you so much.

Thanks for perversities,
Although you don't recall
What happened in the stall,
You reached out to your bases,
But you couldn't touch them all
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the rising seas,
Although its not your fault.
That fuel emissions vault.
This wounded earth needs healing,
Not rubbing with the Salt
We thank you so much.

Thanks for the times like these,
I really have to say,
That come the judgment day,
I wouldn't push,
the Burning Bush
Too righteously their way,
We thank you so much.

[MR]

Being "beside yourself" is exactly the problems the Democrats have as a party, and liberals have in winning arguments. Instead of being "beside" yourself you should be out in front of yourself holding the Democrats accountable for the cowardice they always show in the face of Republican attacks. Stop the hang wringing and call the Democrats for the political cowards that they are. If they had even the slightest pretense of a backbone they would have insisted the republicans show them the condemnation of the Swift Boat attacks on Kerry and ann coulter's trivializing of Max Clelands catastrophic loss of both legs and an arm in Vietname by saying "Max Cleland is no hero.What happened to him could have happened in the states", and the ads in the Georgia senate race accusing Cleland of being a Bin Laden sympathizer because he opposed Bush poliices that have proved to be the disaster that smart people knew they would be. The Democrats had a golden opportunity to one up the Republicans, make important political points,show the Republicans up to be the amoral political hypocrites and cheap gutter politicians that they are and instead did they what they always do: say "please dont hit me" and do what the Republicans want. Quite frankly you should be beside yourself for being beside yourself instead of attacking the Democrats for their cowardice.

[Lane Hudson - Huffpost Blogger]

I couldn't agree with you more. Be sure to check out my other posts to see how often I call out Democrats when they are cowards.

But, sometimes, you are just so put out, that you don't know what to say, ya know?

[CaptainVideo]

As soon as the Republican bullies cry BOO!!, the Democratic wimps cower in fear and run for cover.

Kudos to Bill Clinton for condemming the Republicans for mock outrage. This explains why Clinton is the one Democrats who has successfully stood up to Republican bullying.

[standforpeace]

So are the Dems who voted for this resolution saying that they believe the lies (or on a good day maybe we'd call it deliberate spin) that Bush's favorite general spouted last week? If so, then they should go on record congratulating Bush for finally getting it together in Iraq -- (Heckuva job Georgie!) But if they know that the general served as a shill for lies and broken policies maybe they should think about signing on to the MoveON ad. More than anything, they should quit doing Bush's work for him and figure out how to END THIS WAR NOW!!

[sheine]

There is no party representing the people. The Republicans have a coalition of religious fundamentalists and greedy corporations. About half the Democrats in Congress are decent and the other half are self-serving contemptibles. The Democratic powers will make Hillary the next president. Anybody who wants to know what is wrong with her need only view Jon Stewart's segement on laughing Hillary 9/24/07.

I stll cling to the hope that the country will recover. Unfortunately, we will all undergo considerable pain before the citizens start taking their duties seriously. Remember Benjamin Franklin's response to a question about what kind of government we have, "A republic, madam, if you can keep it".

[mijosta]

I'm also a Democrat. I wrote this to Move-On: That ridiculous Move-On ad screwed everything up for us! Did you see how fast what Republican support we had for ending the war DROPPED? You're well-aware of the 60-vote majority needed in the Senate. All the months of the Democratic Senators and Congressmen trying to get Republicans on our side, and BOOM! It was gone in instant with that ill-advised ad.
If this is the best you can do, PLEASE--DON'T HELP US! You only made things WORSE!
We NEED the moderates to have any chance of ending the war!

[FearlessFreep]

How come "Don't make things worse" doesn't apply to the Democratic Party's leaders?

[Lane Hudson - Huffpost Blogger]

mijosta:

You couldn't be more wrong. MoveOn didn't screw anything up. Spineless Democrats did. They flinched at the first sign that Republicans were coordinating an attack on MoveOn. It was the work of Karl Rove and they fell for it.

MoveOn has done more to end this war than just about anybody. Period.

[grendl]

The spinelessness of the Democrats was in allowing the vote to reach the floor in the first place. You would be hardpressed to prove they didn't vote in good conscience, or that they buckled to public pressure in their condemnation of the ad once that vote inevitably hit the floor. You would be hardpressed to prove they unilaterally support everything Move On does.
Move On may have done more to end this war than just about anyone, but they've hurt the democrats in the eyes of the American electorate, who need a lot more evidence to substantiate the moniker traitor, betrayer, than what was presented. Calling someone a tool for the White House, does that mean they lie to the American public for political purposes? What if they're offering a genuine assessment of the situation to the best of their abilities. What if they want to try to avert total disaster in Iraq by not leaving the people like we did in the first war. Remember how mad they were about that?
Just because you support Move On, doesn't mean every Democrat does, or should. That's the beauty of a free country.

[CaptainVideo]

MoveOn made a serious blunder with its very poor choice of words. It gave the Republican noise machine a weapon to use to divert public attention from the valid arguments in the ad and engage in a display of mock outrage. But the Democrats in Congress made things much worse in letting themselves be bullied into voting for these resolutions.

[BushSunkOurShip]

We either need to replace just about all of our democrats or start another party.
Maybe combining with the Independent party there could be a meeting of the mind....

[BushSunkOurShip]

Are you really serious trying to tell us that you believe the democrats had enough votes to pass anything.
You now sound as if you have not been paying any attention to what in the h... has been going on with our democrats.
They are talking the talk , but when it comes to putting their money up for action they fold like a wet bag...
If the democrats had any backbone they would have condemn Bush , Cheney and the republicans from call democrats and Americans that spoke out about the corruption anti-Americans , terrorist and helpers of Bin Laden.
Democrats have too many republicans that have been elected on their ticket and Pelosi and Reid are very weak leaders and should have been replaced...

[BushSunkOurShip]

When did you write to RNC , Bush , Cheney and the republicans and ask them why they called democrats and Americans that voice their opinion against their corruption , anti-Americans , terrorist and help Bin Laden. How about Ann Coulter , Rush and others that called for the death of democrats that spoke out and they did not like it.
This is the way the republicans have acted for at least the last 7 years, when you bring to the front their deceit and corruption they attack you as if you are doing something wrong.
I say BS to all of them , and the spinelies democrats need to be replaced with real democrats in 2008, and so on....

[edgwynn]

The vote was silly political theatre, despite MoveOn's childish rhyme and hyperbole. Neverthesless, it should tell you something: your netroots influence over your party will erode as general election time nears. As far as free speech goes, unless you see MoveOn censored, stop whining. Free speech is not a trump card to protect one from criticiscm; if you have the stones to say something controversial, expect a backlash.

[laocoon]

I still do not see how you can reconcile the 1st amendment with Congress passing anything condemning private political speech. I do think that moveon should have realized however that only the right is allowed to use such language and tactics in political debate. Did moveon think that the media would actually treat them fairly and in the same manner they treat Coulter, Hannity, Savage, the Swiftboaters and El Rushbo (gods representative on radio)? those on the left have such a mythologized version of Amerika.

[edgwynn]

There's nothing to reconcile. Condemnation is not censorship, despite its ultimate effect. The Dixie Chicks felt censored because they angered a lot of people, and those people reacted. Words have consequences.

[nellyol'son]

so how do you find how your rep voted on this? why not give us the amendment number so we can look it up? i looked at the house.gov page and could find nothing about it.

[nellyol'son]

ha, just found it:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll910.xml

im proud to say my rep voted against it. otherwise, this is just plain demoralizing.

[wldnswmmr]

I can't find Madame Speaker's vote.