Why are Progressives Bashing MoveOn?Randy Shawbyline‚ Sep. 27‚ 2007What do the progressive Nation magazine and the Berkeley Daily Planet have in common? Both wrongly criticized MoveOn.org’s “General Petraeus Don’t Betray Us” advertisement, the one that many Democrats joined with Republicans in condemning in a U.S. Senate resolution. Although many are tired of debating this ad, it is troubling that even Daily Planet editor Becky O’Malley, usually a very clear thinker on such matters, has reached factually inaccurate conclusions. The notion that U.S. opinion was swayed by an ad that 99% of voters never saw, and that MoveOn’s ad “drove the substantive problems with (Petraeus’) report off the front page,” is simply false. And media coverage has conveniently ignored malicious Republican attacks on the patriotism of soldier/ senators John Kerry and Max Cleland. Most Americans likely do not even know who Petraeus is, and many would likely assume he is a linebacker for an NFL team. |