Is MoveOn Cheap? Or Just Ineffective?

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, based on a Feb. 13 report, MoveOn PAC has spent $9.3 million for the 2006 election cycle. Of that enormous sum, MoveOn PAC had donated exactly $1,675 to congressional Democrats. In fact, all $1,675 of this left-wing group's 2006 campaign contributions went to exactly ONE Democrat…

And that Democrat happens to be…go here for the answer.

Comments

[Cedarburg]

MoveOn amuses me even more now.

[John]

They have to take the prize for most Orwellian named political group. They are moveon, but they spend all of their time and effort talking about the 2000 elections and the invasion of Iraq.

[keith]

I'd donate to MoveOn.org if they promised to eliminate "Hey hey ho ho, insert evil thing here has got to go" and "What do we want? When do we want it?" chants from all liberal activist gatherings. Also, no more puppet theater.

[Cedarburg]

They have to take the prize for most Orwellian named political group. They are moveon, but they spend all of their time and effort talking about the 2000 elections and the invasion of Iraq.

No doubt. MoveOn needs to invent a time machine if they want to have any chance at being relevant.

[Mike]

They are moveon, but they spend all of their time and effort talking about the 2000 elections and the invasion of Iraq.

As opposed to conservatives who are still reeling over Roe v. Wade, Evolution in public schools, and our defeat in Vietnam.

[N. Godbout]

The link provided from the Donkey Cons website went here.

On it it says that MoveOn contributed "($1,675)." The site then goes on to say "Figures in parentheses denote negative numbers, and may indicate returned contributions or bounced checks."

So they haven't really contributed anything, if I'm reading it correctly.

[Evan]

Mike:

Au contraire! Cons are actually good at staying "in the now". Check it: ragheads are gonna blow us up right now, so you need to vote GOP! fags are gonna get married and adopt/brainwash poor foster kids right now, so you need to vote GOP! liberals are murdering babies right now, so you need to vote GOP!

See? The blunder in Iraq is so 2003! Time to focus on the future, like: ho-mo's gettin' hitched!

[VM]

"the invasion of Iraq."

yeah - lord knows that there's nothing to debate on that.rend mig.
(mike: good call. fucking fundies don't seem to realize that they look just as stoopid from the libertarian POV)

[Brian]

Moveon is one of the Emmanuel Goldstein like constructs the righties need so they have something to talk about. Nobody wants to talk about the steaming loaf in the punchbowl that is the Bush Age. Sort of like Ward Churchill, Hollyweird, whats her name who's son got killed, Soros, Fisk, etc.

Whether they do the democraps any good is rather questionable.

[linguist]

MoveOn PAC has spent $9.3 million for the 2006 election cycle. Of that enormous sum, MoveOn PAC had donated exactly $1,675 to congressional Democrats.

So where'd the rest go? Local elections? Green Party? Why is this not explained?

[John]

Mike,

Roe is about abortion with is legal and some people object to and liberals are the only ones I ever hear talking about Vietnam in that every war must be a repeat of Vietnam just like every scandel must be another Watergate and every issue must be another civil rights movement.

[StevoDarkly]

Dear MoveOn:

If you want to be a force for change, go out and earn some money, you hippies.

[madpad]

MoveOn PAC has spent $9.3 million for the 2006 election cycle. Of that enormous sum, MoveOn PAC had donated exactly $1,675 to congressional Democrats.

How much money did they raise?

Dear MoveOn...If you want to be a force for change, go out and earn some money, you hippies.

To paraphrase a recent comment by Barak Obama(sp?),If you want to be a force for change, go out and win some elections.

[joe]

So, um, has it occured to anybody else that the Democratic Congressional primaries haven't happened yet? And maybe this has something to do with why Moveon hasn't made its donations?

[wellfellow]

Mike,

Gotta love the non-sequitor-as argument.

"Yeah, well, the conservatives do stuff like that too, ya know!"

MoveOn indeed.

[Mike]

Gotta love the non-sequitor-as argument.

Don't worry, it wasn't an argument. It was an just an insult.

[wellfellow]

how valuable...

[kmw]

Joe,

The Texas primaries were last Tuesday, and the MoveOn pick lost. (I was assuming that was the main point of the article.)

[Bubba]

1. The Democrat that MoveOn.org supported: Sen. Robert Byrd.

2. Apparently, some people are unaware that on most issues that matter, "fundies" are far more libertarian than, for example, the feminists.

[Mike]

Apparently, some people are unaware that on most issues that matter, "fundies" are far more libertarian than, for example, the feminists.

Sorta depends on what issues you think matter, doesn't it?

[ralphus]

Who knew that MoveOn and The Libertarian Party had so much in common?

[Paul]

As opposed to conservatives who are still reeling over Roe v. Wade, Evolution in public schools, and our defeat in Vietnam.

Well, Mike, I'm not sure about this. I mean, few people here will defend the modern republican party, but liberals have been reeling over Roe V. Wade way more than conservatives. I haven't been able to turn on NPR for the last 20 years without hearing a liberal hand-wringer whining about the imminent-- IMMINENT I SAY-- overturning of Roe V. Wade.

[madpad]

Apparently, some people are unaware that on most issues that matter, "fundies" are far more libertarian than, for example, the feminists.

And which issues are those exactly? And are "fundies" fundamentalists or fundraisers?

Who knew that MoveOn and The Libertarian Party had so much in common?

Hands down the funniest line so far in this thread

[Ken Shultz]

Apparently, some people are unaware that on most issues that matter, "fundies" are far more libertarian than, for example, the feminists.

Fundamentalism and feminism aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. ...Are you familiar with the term "ordination of women"?

[togolosh]

Ummm... Am I missing something here, or is there perhaps some other way to influence politics than direct contributions to candidates? How much money did the Swift Boat guys give to Bush?

[Akira MacKenzie]

Apparently, some people are unaware that on most issues that matter, "fundies" are far more libertarian than, for example, the feminists.

Oh, this will be rich. How, pray tell, are the fundies :more "libertarian than... oh... anyone?

Please, I need a good laugh.

[madpad]

Ummm... Am I missing something here, or is there perhaps some other way to influence politics than direct contributions to candidates? How much money did the Swift Boat guys give to Bush?

Probably a lot. Both directly and indirectly.

Seriously, though, you make a good point. But then compelling narratives that create a meme on which to attack is a form of capital in itself...especially if it results in (are you ready for this) more capital.

Money paid for the advertising spots. Money paid for the planning. Money brought the story to market. The news media didn't make a BIG story until the ads were running.

Leveraging the willingness of true believers to act for their cause is just part of a very money-oriented program.

[madpad]

Oh, this will be rich. How, pray tell, are the fundies :more "libertarian than... oh... anyone?

I remember having some beers with a good buddy of mine who's an extreme right winger. He decide to berate me over my libertarianish leanings by proclaiming that he was more libertarian than me.

Beyond that simple statement, he was incapable of providing any details.

[madpad]

Fundamentalism and feminism aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. ...Are you familiar with the term "ordination of women"?

Yeah...by Anglicans, Methodists and a few others... but not by a lot of fundamentalists. If anything, female fundamentalist clergy are all but unheard of. Even the female Baptist pastors are gonna be moderates.

Most fundamentalists hate female clergy almost as much as they hate gays.

[Eddy]

...promised to eliminate "Hey hey ho ho, insert evil thing here has got to go"...

It's such a horrible example of gangsta rap. Why not have the 'ho' do something about it? I guess they couldn't work "put a cap in 'is ass" into the rhyme. Simply pathetic.

[Chris Peterson]

So the 2006 campaign season is just getting warmed up. But look at MoveOn's 2004 contributions:

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.asp?strid=C00341396&cycle=2004

* Total Receipts = $31,870,607
* Total Spent = $30,043,750
* Contributions from this PAC to federal candidates = $203,442
* Total to Democratic Presidential Candidates = $48

These numbers make no sense!!

[joe]

Chris Peterson,

Moveon spent most of its money on its own ads, rather than donating to candidates.

[Bubba]

Evangelical Protestants -- which is who secularists have in mind when they use the term "Christian fundamentalists" aka "fundies" -- are much more libertarian than feminists in this sense:

1. Tending toward a more traditional interpretation of the Bible, they are similarly traditional in their reading of the Constitution, and thus more favorable to a limited federal government.

2. Given their Puritan heritage, evangelical Protestants have strong beliefs about the work ethic, thrift, self-reliance, etc., and thus generally oppose the Welfare State.

3. Evangelical Protestants are harshly critical of government education, and are among the strongest supporters of home-schooling.

Fundamentalists are libertarian, then, in the older sense of opposing Our Enemy The State, rather than "libertarian" in the contemporary sense of wanting to smoke dope and euthanize Grandma. Whereas contemporary feminism is just an identity-politics subvariant of Marxism, with the "patriarchy" substituting for the bourgeois imperialists. If you don't understand the totalitarian impulse at the core of 21st-century feminism, perhaps you should ask Larry Summers to explain.