MoveOn Starting to Eat Their Own

The antiwar activists thought the 2006 election was about the war (sorry, it was much more about GOP corruption than the war), and as a result they are feeling a little let down by the Democrats they helped elect. As a result, a split has developed in the antiwar movement. Do they attack Democrats or not?

Congress’s failure to secure a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq has split anti-war activists on the tactical question of whether to attack Democrats, who now control Capitol Hill.

The split has also underlined accusations among some activists that MoveOn has abandoned its credentials as an issue-based advocacy group and now instead provides cover for Democratic Party leaders.

Anti-war activists throughout the country are united in spending August pressing lawmakers to bring U.S. troops home. But tensions within the movement have been bubbling for months over tactics and whether their fire should be aimed exclusively at Republicans.

The divisions underscore the tough position Democrats are in — short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass binding restrictions on the war and far shy of the two-thirds majority in both chambers required to override a presidential veto.

Some activist groups say MoveOn is giving a pass to Democratic leaders, whom they say are not taking a hard enough line to stop funding U.S. involvement in the war.

As is often the case the timing of the antiwar left is bad. With good news finally starting to come out of Iraq, now is not the best time to pressure congressmen to abandon the war. The activists won't change their tactics because they have no other tactics, and consequently, their activities will largely be wasted.