alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

September 21, 2007

About The MoveOn Ad

by AltHippo @ 11:35 am. Filed under Uncategorized

I see that KO’s commentary about Bush’s depiction of what he calls the Democrat Party is making the rounds. (About his continued grating use of “Democrat Party.” At least he doesn’t put on a bad French accent, calling them la parti démocratique.)

I know that tempers flair when it comes to the subject of MoveOn.org and their now infamous NYT ad. Indeed, there’s a strain of liberalism, best characterized by the New Republic, that believes that the Democratic Party should distance themselves from MoveOn.org. Peter Beinert has said so explicitly, adding Michael Moore to the list of who should be shunned, before clutching his pearls. Condemning MoveOn through a sense of the Senate resolution has doubtlessly made the New Republicans happy campers.

As the First Amendment says: if you condemn a general that the president is hiding behind, then you yourself shall be condemned. Or as my mother says, “You may disagree with me. Just not out loud.”

As tempting as it is to add my own 0.014196 euros, there’s an old joke that says it much better than I can. A man walks into what he believes is a jewelry store. He says to the man behind the counter: “I’d like to have my watch fixed.” The man behind the counter says: “But I’m not a watch repairman. I’m a mohel, a performer of circumcisions.” The customer, puzzled, asks: “But then why do you have an enormous clock in the window?” The mohel answers: “And what would you have me put in the window?”

How does this relate to the MoveOn ad? The mohel in the story provides a vital service to the community. But, the people who live in the world described in the joke would prefer he not be so public about his livelihood. Likewise, democratic society can’t exist without the ability of ordinary people to criticize the government. That’s what MoveOn does. That they do so loud and proud, is in the essential nature of their group. But, when they place an ad in the NYT, the Peter Beinert’s of the world would prefer that they put a picture of an enormous clock. Unlike the mohel, they choose to do otherwise.

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4 Responses to “About The MoveOn Ad”

  1. eRobin Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 5:19 pm

    Yep. We need a wider spectrum of Left so the window can move. We need a group buying ads calling for impeachment. Another one buying ads that tears the Dems apart for their clear complicity in extending the occupation they voted for. Another making it clear that BushCo and Cheney are war criminals. Four more taking on the disastrous econ policies we’ve been suffocating under for the last two decades. Then there’s the issue of the loss of the integrity of our vote to corporate control.

    Everyone on the left is so worried about being right and making powerful friends with congress members that they’ve all moved to the right to accommodate them. Enough.

  2. Media Concepts Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 6:47 pm

    I’m not surprised that the Republicans organized this mass distraction from the real issue of the mess in Iraq. They have been doing this for years. What did shock me is how Democrats fell into the Republican trap so easily, even allowing the Senate vote on the Cornyn resolution condemning the MoveOn.org ad, and then voting in substantial numbers for the resolution, when they, the Democrats, control the Senate and could have prohibited the vote. The Democratic leaders in Congress are showing again and again that, regarding Iraq, they truly have no courage. This is especially ironic given that poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans stands with the Democrats on ending the war and bringing the troops home responsibly but swiftly.

    I also read the MoveOn.org ad several times. I fail to find anything objectionable in it. Their facts as to the manipulation of the facts underlying Petraues’ testimony are sourced to major newspapers. As a result, I’m going to make a contribution to MoveOn.org today. Not because I agree with them on every issue, but because I believe in free speech, as required by the First Amendment. MoveOn.org has the right to say what they want, and it is unconstitutional for Congress to censor them. I also support the vile, putrid hate speech spewed by right wingers such as Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly, even though I deplore what they say because they operate under the same First Amendment. I guess the Seanate resolution on this right wing hate speech will take place next week, right?

  3. eRobin Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

    I don’t know. I think it may take courage to ignore the people who voted them in and persist in keeping the occupation going so that they’ll have it in 2008 to try to hang around the GOP’s neck. I think they’re going to be very surprised when that strategy doesn’t work and all the public remembers in 2008 is that the Dems couldn’t get done what they were sent to D.C. to do.

  4. AltHippo Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 9:04 pm

    I’m hoping that what eRobin outlines is not what’s in the back of Reid and Pelosi’s mind. That would be pretty discouraging.

    I also tend to agree with Media Concepts argument that the free speech aspect trumps problems people had with the MoveOn ad.

    Feingold put it very well, I thought when he argued that Free Speech means nothing if it doesn’t apply to speech you don’t agree with, or is unpopular, or however he put it.

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