Politics

The MoveOn primary that I posted about earlier today is apparently attracting all sorts of attention (as it should) — unfortunately, not all of it is good.

More than a million Internet users will be invited to vote in a virtual Democratic primary next week, but this most modern of elections is facing age-old allegations of vote-rigging.

Howard Dean, who has built an extensive network of Internet-savvy supporters, is expected to get the most votes in the MoveOn.org primary. Organizers of the site say any advantage for the former Vermont governor is due to his appeal among their members, and not any misdeeds in their process or because one of their employees worked on his campaign.

Officials in Dick Gephardt’s campaign said they were surprised when their supporters who registered got an e-mail encouraging them to vote for Dean. Gephardt’s team considered pulling out of the primary but decided to stay in.

“We are not going to change our participation at this point, but we are concerned that the process seems to be rigged,” said Erik Smith, a spokesman for the presidential campaign of the Missouri lawmaker. “We think there is a legitimate role for MoveOn to organize grass-roots support for candidates, but we are worried that it appears they are playing favorites.”

Of course, if the Gephardt people knew what they were talking about, they would have known that Dean’s e-mail was just one of three e-mails being sent out, one from each of the top three candidates in MoveOn’s polls.

Boyd said everyone registered on the site got the Dean e-mail Wednesday because he finished in the top three in a poll conducted by the campaign last month. The other top finishers also got to send a message — Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s was sent Thursday; Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich will send his Friday.

Dean, not being one to take an accusation like this laying down, posted the following rebuttal to his website:

\”MoveOn has done more to get people involved and to give them a voice in the political process than any other organization in recent memory. To question the integrity of MoveOn and its 1.4 million members is outrageous and only serves to further erode the American people’s belief that their voices matter.

\”People in Washington wonder why so many have been turning away from the political process. This type of baseless accusation only gives them one more reason to tune out.

“My campaign will continue to stand for one thing: citizen participation. We must not allow Washington cynicism to erode the fundamental belief that people at the grassroots can make a difference in their government. Join me, and let’s move on.”

(via Taegan Goddard)

Disclaimer: This post was actually written by Kirsten on her site. It just happened to be nearly exactly what I’d been planning on posting, so I’m shamelessly snarfing it. ;)

MoveOn.org is an online grassroots action site with lots of money — and support — to lend to the candidate of it’s members’ choice. 1.4 million members (and growing) will cast their votes on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week for the candidate they want to support. My vote is going to Howard Dean.Today MoveOn sent out an email forward from Governor Dean, one of the three highest polling candidates with their members. I’ve attached the entire letter — which is fantastic — but here’s a snippet:

Our country is at stake. The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war is wrong for America. The Bush tax cuts are not about cutting taxes; they are about starving and destroying Social Security, Medicare, and our public schools. They call polluting our air “The Clear Skies Act,” destroying old growth “The Healthy Forest Act,” and taking away our civil liberties “The Patriot Act.”

…On my first day in office, I will tear up the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. I will end this President’s policy of domestic division. I will repeal those parts of the Patriot Act that betray the Bill of Rights. And I will roll back this President’s tax cuts, because we will never achieve social justice in this country unless we balance the budget.

If you want to show your support for Dean, or another Democratic candidate, you can register as a member of MoveOn.org and vote next week. Moveon will only endorse a candidate who receives a minimum of 50% of their member’s votes — and if the 2000 election should have taught us anything — it is that every vote counts (especially when they’re being counted properly :P ).

Make your voice heard!

Dear MoveOn member,

Our country is at stake. The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war is wrong for America. The Bush tax cuts are not about cutting taxes; they are about starving and destroying Social Security, Medicare, and our public schools. They call polluting our air “The Clear Skies Act,” destroying old growth “The Healthy Forest Act,” and taking away our civil liberties “The Patriot Act.”

If you are as tired and angered as I am by the manipulation and lies, then please join my campaign by signing the Pledge to Take Back America. Let’s show that millions of us are not ashamed to stand up for our values:

http://www.deanforamerica.com/moveon

Too many in my party have failed to stand up to this administration’s assault on our country’s ideals. Let’s show them that the era of conservative intimidation is over. People in Washington worry about “electability” but they forget why they were elected in the first place. Silence equals defeat. Victory requires educating, organizing, and convincing.

Defeating George Bush will take nothing short of a massive grassroots movement. That’s why we’ve taken a page from MoveOn’s book and provided tools on our website to help you build the movement in your community. Click below to see what’s happening near you and to join in. And please forward this email to your friends — I want everyone to know that there is a way to get involved, no matter where they live, or how much time they have:

http://action.deanforamerica.com

Candidates who continue to say whatever it takes to be elected will lose. What Americans want is a leader who believes in and will fight for sensible and principled positions, including balanced budgets, health care for every American, and a defense policy consistent with American values. The only way we can beat George W. Bush is to stand for a clear alternative.

I stood up against this President’s attack on Iraq. I did not support his huge tax cuts. I did not support the misnamed “No Child Left Behind Act,” which is raising property taxes all over America and bankrupting our public school system. Unlike all but one of my opponents, I have balanced a budget and I have appointed judges — and I am the only candidate who has made health care available to 99% of the children and 90% of the adults in my state.

On my first day in office, I will tear up the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. I will end this President’s policy of domestic division. I will repeal those parts of the Patriot Act that betray the Bill of Rights. And I will roll back this President’s tax cuts, because we will never achieve social justice in this country unless we balance the budget.

I believe that we can protect ourselves from terrorism and protect the civil liberties that make our nation strong. I believe that we can grow and prosper while also protecting our environment. I believe that a free and brave nation will always be stronger than a fearful nation, and I refuse to submit to fear any longer.

Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people, by the people and for the people would not perish from this earth. Only you — we — have the power to ensure that the ideals of America are not destroyed by this President’s radical agenda. If you share my beliefs, then join me in pledging to take back America in 2004:

http://www.deanforamerica.com/moveon

To plan or to join campaign events near you — including a nationwide day of rallies and house parties on June 23 — please click here:

http://action.deanforamerica.com

We can undo the damage this President has done only by coming together as Americans today. MoveOn members like you have proven that the grassroots has more power today than at any time in history. Yet MoveOn took years to grow to the size it is today. We do not have years. Years from now will be too late. We must come together now to defeat George W. Bush — so please pass this email along to all of your friends who believe, as you do, that we must act now to take back America.

Sincerely,

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

Howard Dean continues to (IMNSHO) kick much butt and take very brave stances in his bid for the ’04 election, today calling for an independent investigation of Bush and the drive to war with Iraq.

“I think the president owes this country an explanation because what the president said was not entirely truthful, and he needs to explain why that was,” Dean said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Dean cited a number of statements made by Bush and other senior administration officials about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the dangers that the regime posed to the United States. The candidate said the claims were made even though officials knew they weren’t true.

“We need a thorough look at what really happened going into Iraq,” Dean said. “It appears to me that what the president did was make a decision to go into Iraq sometime in early 2002, or maybe even late 2001, and then try to get the justification afterward.”

As far as I’m concerned, Dean is exactly who we need in office. Personally, I’d prefer it if he could swear in tomorrow, but hey, you can’t have everything, right?

(via newsguyati, Len, and Matthew)

I guess if Ari had to rebel, being a Republican is better than being on drugs, but not by much.

— Alan Fleischer, Ari Fleischer’s father, in The Advocate

(via Tom Tomorrow)

Hi, Pot? This is the Kettle. You’re black.

(via Daily Kos)

This is just disgusting — the New York Times has an article exposing CBS’ attempt to buy Pvt. Lynch through TV movies, books…and an MTV special event concert.

MTV Networks, the letter went on, was offering a news special, a chance for Private Lynch and her friends to be the co-hosts of an hourlong music video program on MTV2, and even a special edition of its hit program “Total Request Live” in her honor. “This special would include a concert performance in Palestine, West Va., by a current star act such as Ashanti, and perhaps Ja Rule,” the proposal said.

(via Bob Harris)

About the same number of people who think it’s an advantage to be a woman in America would eat a rat on live TV. Clearly, we’ve got some work to do on the whole gender-equality thing.

— Bob Harris, in this TMW post about recent poll results that, among other things, show that a third of Americans believe that WMDs were found in Iraq, and that 22% actually believe that Iraq used WMDs during the war.

It’s probably still unlikely to happen, but as more and more information surfaces about just how much ‘misinformation’ was presented as fact by Bush et al in order to justify our attack of Iraq, more and more people are talking seriously about the possibility of impeachment.

This is explosive stuff. And considering that the war’s number one cheerleader — Bill Kristol — is now admitting Bush made “misstatements”, it looks as though the whole WMD issue could very well be an albatross hung around Bush’s 2004 re-election effort.

It seems to me that impeachment isn’t unrealistic to at least consider, at this point. As has been quoted here before: Bush lied. People died.

In a very interesting “mea culpa” article, ABC News’ political column The Note lists a huge amount of stories that should get more recognition, but for one reason or another, don’t get major coverage.

With all those reporters covering politics and government in Washington and around the country, you would think that the press would be watching the powerful on behalf of the people pretty persistently.

But you would be wrong.

On any given day, owing to tight budgets, the evasiveness of those we cover, and the generally (sorry ? ) lazy nature of some reporters, way too much of what gets covered in politics and government are the spoon-fed public events that the communications staffs want covered.

Even “enterprise” and investigative stories tend these days to come not from innovative shoe-leather work, but rather are generated (and often thoroughly researched by) interest groups, political actors, and other non-journalists who want to see a story come out.

…for every newsworthy evasive action we learn about (because the press gets tipped off or stumbles into something or finds something through hard work), there are literally thousands that never come to light.

With the president headed off to sell Medicare reform in Chicago (and, we bet, suck up to Mayor Daley big time), and the Senate poised to announce today a plan for dealing with what Democrats still see as a ticking time bomb for the president — the intelligence questions surrounding the missing weapons of mass destruction — the questions of hide-and-seek and American political journalism are front and center for us today.

So, we offer you several outstandingly illustrative examples.

~~The article doesn’t have a permalink yet — it will next week, but there’s no telling if I’ll remember to come back and re-link it.~~

[Update:]{.underline} Here’s the permalink. For future reference, though, the title is “W’s WMDs Aren’t the Only Things Missing”, published on June 11, 2003.

(via Lambert)