Anyone heard from moveon.org? They've moved on, all right

[BannedFromDU]

Orwellian_Ghost  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Sat Apr-11-09 01:34 PM
Original message
Rahm Emanuel's Think Tankers Enforce 'Message Discipline' Among 'Liberals'
   
The White House is ‘helping’ liberal groups to get their political messages in sync with the official line.

by Jeremy Scahill



Over the past several weeks, independent journalists and anti-war activists have tried to shine a spotlight on how groups like the Center for American Progress and MoveOn, which portrayed themselves as anti-war during the Bush-era, are now supporting the escalation and continuation of wars because their guy is now commander-in-chief. CAP has been actively pounding the pavement in support of the escalation in Afghanistan, the rebranding of the Iraq occupation and, more recently, Obama's bloated military budget, which the group said was "on target." MoveOn has been silent on the escalation in Afghanistan and has devoted substantial resources to a federal budget that includes a $21 billion increase in military spending from the Bush-era.

What is clear here is that CAP and MoveOn are now basically psuedo-official PR flaks targeting "liberals" to support the White House agenda. This, though, should not come as a shock to those who have closely monitored these groups. They were the primary force behind Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI), "a coalition that spent tens of millions of dollars using Iraq as a political bludgeon against Republican politicians, while refusing to pressure the Democratic Congress to actually cut off funding for the war." Now, according to John Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, the Center for American Progress is now running "Progressive Media which was begun by Tom Matzzie and David Brock in 2008 and now ‘represents a serious ratcheting up of efforts to present a united liberal front in the coming policy wars....' are working hard to push Obama's policies, including rationalizlng or defending his escalation of the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan as "sustainable security."

On Wednesday, Ben Smith at Politico reported on the latest development in this White House-coordinated campaign to use these think-tankers to whip up support for its agenda. It is a newly formed coalition, the Common Purpose Project, which blogger Jane Hamsher describes as "one of the many groups Rahm Emanuel has set up to coordinate messaging among liberal interest groups." This one includes the direct participation of White House officials, according to Smith:

The Common Purpose meeting every Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol Hilton brings together the top officials from a range of left-leaning organizations, from labor groups like Change to Win to activists like MoveOn.org, all in support of the White House's agenda. The group has an overlapping membership with a daily 8:45 a.m. call run by the Center for American Progress' and Media Matters' political arms; with the new field-oriented coalition Unity ‘09; and with the groups that allied to back the budget as the Campaign to Rebuild and Renew America Now.

Unlike those other groups, however, the Common Purpose meeting has involved a White House official, communications director Ellen Moran, two sources familiar with the meeting said. It's aimed, said one, at "providing a way for the White House to manage its relationships with some of these independent groups."

<snip>

When Rove did it, it was bad.


     Well, there you have it. Talking points provided every week to every leftist in the United States by the closest person to the President. And moveon.org? Why, I thought his name was General Betrayus. Now they're his best buddies in the whole world. Typical, typical shitheaded megalomaniac behavior from liberals. They. Just. Want. Power.

[USA4ME]

Libs already march in lock-step, and now Rahm Emanuel just wants to consolidate their message a little tigher and place it under the umbrella of their exalted messiah.  Any objections the primitives might have to this is nothing but faux-outrage, because this is the model of gov't control to which they wish the whole country were subject.

.

[Chris_]

blindpig (1000+ posts)        Sat Apr-11-09 10:13 AM
Response to Original message
7. Pretty disgusting
 Eight years of bitching about Rove politicizing the White House and here we got the same thing going on. Worse it's not even being used to attack the Republicans but rather to whip supporters into lock step.

These big orgs are useless appendages of the ruling class and are best ignored. People are going to have to develop working class based organizations, these suburban/upper middle class outfits are fatally compromised, their leaders would rather be 'players' than stand for principle. 

Tee,hee!!!! 

[AllosaursRus]

two sources familiar with the meeting said. It's aimed, said one, at "providing a way for the White House to manage its relationships with some of these independent groups."

Therein lies the answer! Ol' Rahmey wants everyone in lock step with the messiah!

[TheSarge]

two sources familiar with the meeting said. It's aimed, said one, at "providing a way for the White House to manage its relationships with some of these independent groups."

Idiot  these groups never were "independent".  Most of the inner circle helping Obama run the WH founded those groups...and took generous amounts of $$$$$ from the DNC.

Tee,hee!!!!   

They really are gullible aren't they?