Democrats & Liberals: Archives

To be honest, I found the add rather tasteful and so them not airing it is really unfair considering all the laws that have been placed into effect; not to mention, like you stated the anti-drug adds.

Where is this liberal media I keep hearing about?

I thought the ad was very clever and they will probably air sometime in the future (e.g.- after the Super Bowl), but it’s likely to happen only after legal action. MoveOn.org should go ahead and file for an injunction if they want to have a ruling from a judge for the Super Bowl, because their current campaign to nicely ask CBS to comply is frankly going to fall flat on it’s face.

This is a digraceful act by CBS because they are supposed to act in the public interest in order to retain their charter, and they are obviously breaking that promise to their viewers.

I don’t have a problem with that ad either. In fact, a lot of the conservative groups would probably applaud it and its message.

While I was over in the U.K. recently, I caught a BBC commenter make a really neat observation: GWB has the American Progressives all turned around on their arguments. Who would have though we would see a group like Moveon run an ad attacking a Republican’s fiscal responsibility? Next they will be talking about budget reduction! The BBC guy also mentioned Progressives being against new Medicare spending, immigration reform, and going on the air and saying we can’t afford to go to Mars.

Kind of like WJC signing NAFTA, DOMA, and Welfare reform I guess. What’s going on here?

Well, the problem is it is no longer Republican fiscal responsibility. Rather, it is quite the opposite.

That is what the term Neo-Con is for now since Bush, although he is a Republican, is not quite Republican. Sort of like a dragon in wolf’s clothing.

A person told me he is a “Patriotic Progressive”. Strong on defense and progressive on social issues. I liked that one too.

I took a test one time that said I was a moderately conservative libertarian. I must of broke the mold on that one!

With the exception of PBS, we no longer watch TV. We cancelled cable after vomiting one too many times watching network TV leading the cheers for BUSH ADM’s war. No longer is it clear which network is the source of more inaccurate information. FOX, CBS, NBC, CNN,ABC or MSNBC. O’Neill’s book, about the treachery within BUSH ADM. should be top news everywhere, instead, MSNBC, referrred to O’Neill as a former aide, and folks I try to engage on this whole issue have never even heard of him or the book. Let’s face it, the media corporations have no intention of letting anyone stray from watching their inane reality shows, and the mass consumer binge they keep promoting. Wake up America, ‘cuz it’ll soon be too late!!

George -

It is certainly ironic on several levels that an ad promoting balanced budgets is seen as inflammatory leftist propaganda.

Pinning the entire budget deficit on president bush is not entirely acurate. the budget process has become one huge troth where every congressman and senator get a millions in pork for their respective fiefdoms. Bush is not innocent by anymeans, it boils my republican blood to see him spend money as Sen. John Mcain said on the daily show last night “like a drunken sailor, but I never saw sailors so creative.”
the millions for this museum or that crap is rediculous. I almost look longlingly at the days when a republican congress and senate kept a democrat president in check. Now, no one is looking after the piggie bank.
I was encourage by the tone that the president sent at the state of the union the other night when he said that spending would only increase 4% next year, not bad during a war.

I think there’s irony in this for the Republicans. Part of the reason why CBS can discriminate against political ads, especially left-leaning ones, is that FCC regulations have been considerably relaxed.

What makes it ironic is that this same push towards deregulation has made the adult content, especially sex and violence, more prevalent on television. There use to be people whose job it was to watch for violations. Now, people have to complain to the FCC in order for content to be found in violation. Additionally, nighttime material on cable television has become R-rated in many cases.

I guess they have a broad definition of family values in the GOP

Dear MoveOn.org,

I love the winning ad from the Bush in 30 Seconds contest, and I am outraged that CBS won’t air it.

But your petition to CBS contains language that doesn’t represent how I feel about the CBS censorship situation, and it raises concerns about the overall direction MoveOn.org is heading:

> By running an ad from the White House Office of Drug
> Policy while turning down ads by MoveOn.org Voter
> Fund and PETA, CBS appears to be acting out of
> political bias, censoring ads which express opinions it
> dislikes.
>
> Please allow these ads to run during the Super Bowl. If
> you don’t, you risk losing your credibility and the public’s
> trust.

I have not seen the PETA ad that CBS won’t air. I would guess that the majority of the people being asked to sign the petition haven’t seen it either. You are assuming that MoveOn.org supporters will support the airing of ANY political advertisment on basic anti-censorship grounds. But based on my knowledge of PETA’s advertising tactics in the past, it seems possible that the ad in question could contain violent imagery or language that CBS may - even understandably! - find inappropriate. But, again, I have not seen the ad. The bottom line is that I won’t advocate for an ad I know nothing about.

There is also a political dimension to this as well: On the whole I have little political sympathy with PETA, and I have no desire to sign a petition where it appears as if I am advocating for them.

Perhaps my devotion to free speech is being trumped by my preference for MoveOn.org’s political agenda over PETA’s agenda. But I think it is incorrect for MoveOn.org to assume that their supporters are also going to be either (a) unquestioning free-speech absolutists or (b) animal-rights activists. I, for example, am neither. But I do think that CBS should air the MoveOn.org ad. The language of your petition should limit itself to that goal.

Like many other liberal/progressive organizations, you do yourself a great disservice by attaching yourself to fringe political movements that don’t represent the mainstream of your organization’s noble goals. I’ve always admired MoveOn.org for avoiding such alliances and for defining a simple, progressive political agenda that millions of Americans can agree with. The recent fiasco with the “Bush=Hitler” ad should be a clear example of the dangers of allowing fringe movements to share your spotlight. Please stay focused!

Thanks,

- Christopher Fahey

PS: I just went to the PETA.org web site to view their ad. Although I find the ad hilarious, I can see how CBS might justifyably reject the PETA ad, if only on the grounds of potential scientific inaccuracy (meat causes impotence???).

I also see that in their open letter to CBS, PETA makes no mention of MoveOn.org’s rejected ad. Again, PETA and MoveOn.org are not comrades-in-arms.