From MoveOn - RNC lies about "Nazi" ads - not sponsored or commissed

[papau]

Dear MoveOn member,
As the New Year begins, we'd rather be talking about positive things, and there are plenty of good things happening. But MoveOn.org has come under attack from the Republican National Committee (RNC), which has launched a campaign of malicious misinformation to divert attention from the creativity and power of the Bush in 30 Seconds contest. We need your help to make sure the media don't fall for it.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie launched the attack on "Fox News Sunday," and the RNC followed it with press releases and calls to reporters. The charges centered on two ads posted on the Bush in 30 Seconds website which compared President Bush's tactis with those of Adolf Hitler. Mr. Gillespie repeatedly referred to the ads as 'the MoveOn ad' or 'MoveOn's ad,' implying that we had sponsored or perhaps even commissioned the ad. And he also claimed that we might spend $7 million to run it on TV.

This is a lie. MoveOn.org hasn't sponsored such an ad, and we never would -- we regret the appearance of these ads on the Bush In 30 Seconds site. 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!

When we've explained this to journalists, most have understood that this is a game of gotcha politics, not news. But even our statement for the press below, which goes through the entire process in detail, hasn't stopped the right wing from working this angle as hard as they can.

That's why we're asking you to please watch for stories on this as they appear, and let us know. Call the news outlet yourself and give them hell for falling victim to such political baloney. I've attached our statement, which fully explains the situation, below. Then please let us know so we can contact the outlets directly.

You can help us track inaccurate reporting on this story at:
http://moveon.org/smear/

Second, we need you to get the press back on the right track. After you've corrected the negative accounts, write an upbeat letter to your local paper about the exciting and positive aspects of the contest and the finalists. These ads reflect the courage, hope, and deep patriotism of our membership. They're creative, passionate, and totally unlike most of the political ads that are out there. And perhaps most importantly, they were picked in a democratic way. Now that's a story.

The finalists are online at:
http://www.bushin30seconds.org/

By sharing that URL with your friends, family, and colleagues, you can help to make sure that the RNC isn't successful in stealing our finalists' glory.

Not only is the RNC campaign deceptive, it's also totally disingenuous. Yesterday, the New York Post ran a long opinion column focusing exclusively on how much Presidential Candidate Howard Dean resembles Hitler, even calling him "Herr Howie." Of course, the RNC hasn't issued a condemnation of that. When close RNC ally Grover Norquist repeatedly compared taxing the wealthy with the Holocaust in an interview on NPR, the RNC was muted. And in 2002, the RNC and its allies were silent when supporters of President Bush actually aired TV ads morphing the face of Senator Max Cleland, a triple amputee as a result of wounds sustained in Vietnam, into Osama bin Laden. Given such a transparently partisan track record, the RNC's moral outrage doesn't mean a whole lot.

Obviously, MoveOn.org and its 1.7 million members are now on the right-wing radar. They are going to do everything they can do to silence us, and we simply won't let it happen. Smear tactics and campaigns of misinformation have no place in American democracy.

Sincerely,
--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
January 6th, 2003

P.S. Here's the statement we released to the press yesterday, which explains the whole situation.


ADS ATTACKED BY RNC CHAIRMAN
ARE NOT MOVEON.ORG VOTER FUND ADS
MoveOn.org Voter Fund Regrets
Screening Process Allowed Ads to Slip Through
Statement by Wes Boyd, Founder of MoveOn.org Voter Fund:

The Republican National Committee and its chairman have falsely accused MoveOn.org of sponsoring ads on its website which compare President Bush to Adolf Hitler. The claim is deliberately and maliciously misleading.

During December the MoveOn.org Voter Fund invited members of the public to submit ads that purported to tell the truth about the President and his policies. More than 1,500 submissions from ordinary Americans came in and were posted on a web site, bushin30seconds.org, for the public to review.

None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.

We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.

Contrast this with the behavior of the RNC and its allies when supporters of President Bush used TV ads morphing the face of Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) into that of Osama Bin Laden during the 2002 Senate race.

MoveOn.org and the MoveOn.org Voter Fund exist to bring the public into the political process and produce a more fact-based election process. We regret that the RNC doesn't seem to embrace the same goals.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. You might want to remove the link in your post...

http://moveon.org/smear/...
because it contains personal info about you! Click on it and you'll see what I mean...

Edit it down to http://moveon.org/smear/ and it will link to a blank form...

[papau]

3. Thanks

:-)

[rumguy]

2. I wonder if the media will clear up this issue?

Somehow, I doubt it. The truth has been twisted by the rethugs yet again...they should have been openly challenged and even scoffed at by the members of our media. Instead they let them inject, unchallenged, this lame talking point into our national discourse.

But hey, it gets more people visiting moveon.org to see the fifteen ads that are posted as the finalists.

[otohara]

6. the media will repeat the GOP lies

don't they always?

[truthisfreedom]

4. lies, incorporated, strikes again.

[candy331]

5. I think the apology may be seen as an admission of guilt

and garner the opposite effect of what is wanted. The situation was explained and I think should have been left at that.


"We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system."

[Sterling]

16. Apology was a mistake.

When you are right there is no reason to apologize. Sorry Hitler was alot like Bush.

[Gman]

7. Everyone must also get over to moveon.org

and check out all the finalists. They are all absolutely fantastic! I can't wait till the SOTU address!

[papau]

8. SFGate on Ads is fair - But NYT spreads GOP lies

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/01/05/state1953EST0127.DTL

Advocacy group winnows hundreds of anti-Bush ads to 15
BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Monday, January 5, 2004
(01-05) 19:08 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

Ask liberals to participate in an advertising contest dubbed "Bush in 30 Seconds," and you'll get more than a few negative entries.
Children toiling on a grocery checkout line to pay the bill for the nation's budget deficit. Faces of American soldiers killed in Iraq paired with video of President Bush making the case for war. An elfin Bush impersonator taking money from the elderly and delivering it to a corporate doorstep.

These are just some of the images from the 15 television ads selected as finalists Monday in the contest sponsored by the liberal online advocacy Web site, MoveOn.org. The contest generated some 1,500 submissions from amateur videographers critiquing President Bush and his policies.

"Our purpose was to tap into the huge creative pool outside the Beltway, and from that perspective, it totally succeeded," said Eli Pariser, Campaigns Director for the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. "We were amazed at the amount of new thinking we saw."

The 15 finalists -- produced in a range of non-Beltway locations including Foster City, Calif., Lawrence, Kan. and West Linn, Ore. -- were selected by more than 100,000 MoveOn members who viewed and voted on the submissions, which appeared on the organization's Web site. The winning ad will be chosen by a panel of Democratic activists including filmmaker Michael Moore and consultant James Carville and announced at a gala in New York next week. The ad will air during the week of Jan. 20, when Bush delivers his State of the Union address.

Not included among the 15 is a controversial submission comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler that has drawn angry protests from Jewish organizations and the Republican National Committee. The ad appeared on MoveOn's Web site during the voting period, which began Dec. 17. It was removed at the close of the contest Dec. 31.

"It is shocking that a mainstream political group like MoveOn.org not only allowed this vile and outrageous comparison of the American President to Adolf Hitler to be entered into its ... contest in the first place, but that they even went so far as to make it available to the public on the Internet," said Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. <snip>


FROM OUR "FRIENDS" AT THE NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/politics/campaigns/06ADS.html

Critics Attack Efforts to Link Bush and Hitler
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY


WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 — It sounded like a fun way to expand participation in this year's presidential election, at least for those opposed to re-electing President Bush. The left-leaning Internet group MoveOn.org sponsored a contest, "Bush in 30 Seconds," inviting people to submit television advertisements about Mr. Bush, with the best to be determined by a vote of visitors to the site.
But two of more than 1,500 submissions have outraged Republicans and leading Jewish groups for comparing Mr. Bush, in profile and policy, to Hitler.

"This is the worst and most vile form of political hate speech," Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in one of several statements he issued. He urged the nine Democrats running for president to repudiate the advertisements.<snip>

On Monday, MoveOn.org said more than 100,000 visitors to the site had selected 15 finalists, none of them the Hitler advertisements. A panel of celebrities and political experts has been asked to pick a winner, which will be televised.

Mr. Boyd conceded that the advertisements were "in poor taste," and said he "deeply regretted" that they had "slipped through."<snip>

From the right:
Ads compare Bush to Hitler By Stephen Dinan THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040105-114507-1007r.htm


Jewish advocacy groups led an avalanche of sharp criticism yesterday against two potential television ads that compare President Bush to Adolf Hitler and were posted on a Web site run by MoveOn.org. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress said the ads were beyond the pale of political discussion. Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, called them "hate-mongering." <snip>

The two 30-second ads were submitted as part of a contest MoveOn.org sponsored. The organization invited submissions of spots criticizing Mr. Bush's record. Two of the submissions compared Mr. Bush to the Nazi dictator of Germany, whose regime killed 6 million Jews during World War II. One ad used computer effects to morph a picture of Hitler into one of Mr. Bush. Another ad compared Mr. Bush's push for war to oust Saddam Hussein in Iraq to Hitler's push for Nazi domination in Europe and said Hitler's war crimes are "2003's foreign policy." <smip>

It is illegal for the political action committee and the 527 organization to receive contributions from foreign nationals, but several foreign Web sites were referring potential donors to the MoveOn.org Web site. After the situation was reported, Mr. Boyd said the organization would no longer accept any foreign contributions.

[Terwilliger]

9. Just why can the right-wing get away with it?

They compare Max Cleland and Osama, say things like "Hitlery" and call everyone on the left traitors and Saddam lovers, etc, yet when some individual makes a video advertisement suggesting that Bush may be like Hitler (and the evidence is ther)...oh it's just political hate-mongering.

Give me a fuckin' break!

[AndyTiedye]

13. It is Because the GOP Owns the News

So anything they do is OK,
and anything we do is bad.
It's that simple.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Too bad instead of issuing an apology

Move On didn't stand up for free speech. This is a major free speech issue and they should take the opportunity to turn it into one.

Move On didn't produce or pay for this entry. It was an open contest and the entry didn't even make the finals.

Based on the last 3 years of this misadministration, it is not wrong to ask, is Bu$h another Hitler? Is Bu$h on his way to becoming a brutal dictator? In my book, he is well on his way and if we are so PC that we can't acknowledge this fact, then we are doomed to let history repeat itself.

Now it is time to MOVE ON. The only way to win is to always be on the offensive. They never feel the need to explain or defend themselves, why should we? We can not let them take every major accomplishment and trash it. The response to this contest was phenomenal. The media is ignoring the real news, and blowing one tiny issue out of proportion. It is time to put a stop to the bullshit. Anybody But Bu$h in 2004!

PBWY
DYEW

[CBI]

11. Want to see the ad.

Where can I actually see the Hitler-Bush ad on the web?

So much discussion going on, I have to see it!

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. Here's a link

The RNC has decided to host it on their website. How ever I hear this link might lock up your computer. Be sure to bath when you come out.

http://www.rnc.org/moveon2.mov

[yellowcanine]

14. The RNC lied? I'm shocked, I tell you.

What's next? The Bush EPA guts clean air rules on mercury pollution? Oh, never mind.

[Danieljay]

15. Ed Shultz wants someone from moveon.org

to call his radio program to speak the truth. perhaps someone can let them know. I was just listening.

Daniel

[Sterling]

17. Why not the ads that said Bush was behind 9-11?

I guess they don't want to get too upity about those ads as people might start asking questions.

[TeeYiYi]

18. I disagree with MoveOn in this case . . .

. . . and told them as much with an email reply to their request for support:

I think you're making a mistake not defending these ads. I can't defend your decision to back away from them so I won't be calling the media on your behalf. It seems to me that the ads were created in good faith as a part of your contest and obviously, the sentiment about Bush/Hitler exists or it wouldn't have showed up in more than one ad. Although you did not personally create the ads, I feel that you should be defending the right of freedom of expression for the people who did take the time to create them. And personally, although I did not get the chance to see them or vote on them, I agree with the premise of the subject matter. It's too bad that the democratic party, and you as a major representative of the platform, can't stand up to this obvious smarmy RNC political ploy and point it out for what it is. Another example of the republicans controlling the media, and you . . . behaving like putty in their hands.

Just my 2 cents. ~

TYY

[TeeYiYi]

19. And one more thing . . .

. . . I thought it was weird when Al Jazeera caved and pulled those two cartoons. Now I don't know what the hell is going on.

Get me back through the goddamn looking glass . . .

TYY

[schultzee]

20. Media did this on purpose. Moveon.org had nothing to apologize

for, and they should not have.

[abelenkpe]

21. 'o those crazy hate filled liberals'

Something you hear a lot these days. How could anyone compare Bush to Hitler? Yet interestingly I read this article on Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/01/06/ad/index.html

-snip-

A new television ad against Howard Dean's plan to repeal President Bush's tax cuts says the Democratic presidential front-runner should take his "left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."

In the ad by the GOP-leaning Club for Growth, an announcer asks a couple leaving a barber shop, "What do you think of Howard Dean's plans to raise taxes on families by $1,900 a year?"

The man responds: "What do I think? Well, I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ...," and the woman continues, "... body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs."

The 30-second ad will begin airing in Iowa on Wednesday, running in the Des Moines media market until the state's precinct caucuses on Jan. 19. It is the group's second ad to hit Dean on the tax issue.



Charming, isn't it? I do believe this election year is gonna be brutal. Absolutely brutal.

[Poiuyt]

22. Can't watch video

I've tried opening the famous ad but it just takes me to the RNC's home page. Can someone check and see if it works for them.

http://www.rnc.org/moveon2.mov

[Nevernose]

23. Just heard FAUX whoring this one out

I forget the FOX asshole's name, but he just gave both sides of the story, in a fair and balanced manner.

Then he said, "But despite the claims from Moveon.org, at least one of the ads said 'sponsored by MoveOn.org.'"

I really don't expect anything better, but it really gets me fuming...:mad:

[MostlyBlackCat2]

24. Kick! n/t

:kick: