MoveOn Pleads Poverty, Trying to Get Out of Losing Races

I can't blame them for not wanting to spend money trying to elect bad candidates:

MoveOn, a giant in the progressive political world and an early endorser of Barack Obama in 2008, warns that it might have to “pull the plug” on key campaigns to help Obama and Senate Democrats if its 7 million members don’t pony up with at least $5.

Without a rush of new cash, MoveOn says it will have to give up efforts to elect Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, help the recall fight against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and energize younger voters who’ve soured on Washington.

“It's like picking which of your kids you love the most. I just can't do it,” said MoveOn in an email plea. “If we can’t increase our budget, we might have to dramatically scale back or pull the plug on some of MoveOn’s most important election efforts this year.”

Scott Walker will win his recall race fairly easily and Elizabeth Warren's campaign is in big trouble. I think MoveOn might be trying to find an excuse not to support sure losers.

And apparently their former supporters aren't excited about funding losers either.

Ignorant Boobs Declare War on Susan G. Komen For the Cure

I just couldn't resist giving that title to this story:

Moveon.org launched a campaign Wednesday against the “the world’s largest breast cancer organization” Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

“Susan G. Komen for the Cure just cut all its funding to Planned Parenthood for breast health screenings, bowing to anti-choice pressure and making breast health care suddenly inaccessible to many women,” the liberal group wrote in an email to supporters.

Komen announced Tuesday night that they will no longer be awarding the abortion provider Planned Parenthood with grants due to a new policy prohibiting Komen from giving to institutions under investigation by government bodies.

Planned Parenthood is currently facing a congressional investigation into whether taxpayer funds went toward abortions.

The Komen organization getting a real lesson in how to go from a beloved institution that gets its own month every year to a bigoted, hateful right-wing reactionary Nazi-wannabe collection of bitter clingers.  Welcome to the club!

It's clear from the TV news reports I've seen that the orders from Planned Parenthood headquarters is to portray their organization as a victim of a terrible crime and one that cannot survive without this funding (or "emergency" donations from idiots who support them).  The Los Angeles spokeswoman said this decision would have a "devastating effect on women's health", and then later in the report we were told the LA chapter gets no funding from Komen.  Nice scam you got there, kid.

Here's my question:  Will there be a giant pink ribbon on the White House this October?  That's been the pattern in the past during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but the pink ribbon is a symbol for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure, and all those pink-labeled foods you see in the stores that time of the year make donations to that organization.  You can bet the White House will be under pressure from Planned Parenthood to ignore Breast Cancer Awareness Month...which by the way is fine with me.

I've often said how I oppose giving so much attention to one politically correct disease while other equally devastating illnesses are ignored.  Maybe this whole kerfuffle will finally restore some balance in the world.

MoveOn.org Miscreants, Malcontents and Morons March for Stupidity

I've always wanted to go to a wacky left rally and today's the day.  For some reason the brain trust at MoveOn.org decided this would be a good day to show up at a couple of Bank of America branches in Orange County and yell at them for using the tax laws to their advantage.  Apparently, because BofA does not willingly pay taxes it doesn't owe they're evil and must be denounced with all of MoveOn's fury.

There are two such rallies in Orange County this afternoon - one in Irvine and one in Orange.  I chose the Orange rally for one main reason - it's only a mile from Five Guys Burgers and Fries where I'm going to go after I stop by the rally to wash the stench of socialism out of my nostrils and replace it with the sweet smell of burning cow, sauted mushrooms, and grilled onions.

The Orange rally goes from 4:30 - 7:00 pm (boy, that's a lot of whining) and will take place at the BofA at 941 N. Tustin in Orange.  I hope to have some photos later.

The Tea Party Scares George Soros

The Tea Party has the folks on the far left so badly rattled that their major benefactor, George Soros, is putting his money behind an effort to malign the movement:

Soros and the foundation left have launched a website designed to go after the growing Tea Party movement. Teapartytracker.org will post video interviews and blog entries gathered by folks on the false left who never grow weary of demonstrating their outrage over the very idea of a grassroots political effort overthrowing establishment Democrats and Republicans in the district of corporate criminals.


Teapartytracker.org will be sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America. Think Progress is a George Soros operation connected to John Podesta’s Center for American Progress. Podesta is Clinton’s former chief of staff. Media Matters for America is the brainchild of a MoveOn consultant and Podesta’s Center for American Progress. Soros is a major supporter of MoveOn.

What this website will do, of course, is send people to Tea Party-related events where they will try to find the most outrageous signs they can declare as racist or violent, and interview the extreme fringe that shows up for those events and try to portray them as a mainstream part of the movement.

Take your best shot, George.  The only people reading the site will be the other wacky lefties who get off on that sort of stuff.

Gays Put a Target on Target

Because we can't have a corporation expressing their First Amendment rights via political donations:

Protestors have been rallying outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.

A national gay rights group is negotiating with Target officials, demanding that the firm balance the scale by making comparable donations to benefit candidates it favors. Meanwhile, the controversy is threatening to complicate Target’s business plans in other urban markets. Several city officials in San Francisco, one of the cities where Target hopes to expand, have begun criticizing the company.

“Target is receiving criticism and frustration from their customers because they are doing something wrong, and that should serve absolutely as an example for other companies,” said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for the liberal group MoveOn.org, which is pressing Target to formally renounce involvement in election campaigns.

The first thing Target corporation should have done is throw these people out of their offices. There's nothing for Target to gain by negotiating with those who are trying to shut down their rights of political expression.

I guarantee you that had Target donated to candidates approved by MoveOn there wouldn't be any protests of calls to "balance the scale".

Liberal on Blue Dog Violence

MoveOn.org is doing the job the GOP just won't do - attack Democrat congressmen. They're running this ad against Mike Ross in Arkansas because he dared to vote "no" on their precious Obamacare (h/t Jim Geraghty):

Geraghty sums it up very nicely:

MoveOn.org: Doing its part to help ensure a GOP House in 2010.

They are their own worst enemies, and the good news is they don't know it.

Is This Fredricksburg or Gettysburg?

Both were Civil War battles, featured suicidal uphill charges against well defended positions, and both turned out badly for one making the charge.

There's lot of talk today about civil wars within the various parties. Well, within the Republican party, anyway. But according to this items, there's a bunch of lefties charging up a pretty well defended hill within the Democrat party:

MoveOn.org is sending out emails today seeking more contributions for its campaign to defeat any Democratic senator who does not fully support Obamacare. Yesterday the left-wing activist group asked members to contribute "to a primary challenge against any Democratic senator who helps Republicans block an up-or-down vote on health care reform." Today, MoveOn reports that it has received $2 million in pledges in less than 24 hours. "It's a clear sign of how angry progressives would be at any Democrat who helps filibuster reform," MoveOn executive director Justin Ruben writes in the new email.

"The larger the war chest we can offer a potential challenger, the stronger the signal we'll send to conservative Democrats," Ruben continues. "So we're setting a huge new goal: $3 million in total pledges by the end of the week. That's plenty to launch a serious primary challenge."

The difference between Gettysburg and this charge by MoveOn is the defenders are being attacked from both sides. If the GOP does well today there will be pressure on Senators to dump Obamacare to keep from having a voter revolt throw them out of office. If they do that, they get attacked from the left.

Now THAT's a civil war.

He's Making a List and Checking it Twice

And if you're naughty, he's not gonna be nice (from Karl Rove):

"Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration's stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president's budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.

Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy. Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.

Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the "party of no." But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.

Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama's plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats. And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.

There's more here. It's Chicago politics writ large.

The Internet Smear War From the Left

Andrew Breitbart has written a piece at the Washington Times on the organized internet war against conservative opinion:

A digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is losing. Read the comment sections of right-leaning blogs, news sites and social forums, and the evidence is there in ugly abundance. Internet hooligans are spewing their talking points to thwart the dissent of the newly-out-of-power.

We must not let that go unanswered.

Uninvited Democratic activists are on a mission to demoralize the enemy - us. They want to ensure that President Obama is not subject to the same coordinated, facts-be-damned, multimedia takedown they employed over eight long years to destroy the presidency - and the humanity - of George W. Bush.

Political leftists play for keeps. They are willing to lie, perform deceptive acts in a coordinated fashion and do so in a wicked way - all in the pursuit of victory. Moral relativism is alive and well in the land of Hope and Change and its Web-savvy youth brigade expresses its "idealism" in a most cynical fashion.

The ends justify the means for them - now more than ever.

Much of Mr. Obama's vaunted online strategy involved utilizing "Internet trolls" to invade enemy lines under false names and trying to derail discussion. In the real world, that's called "vandalism." But in a political movement that embraces "graffiti" as avant-garde art , that's business as usual. It relishes the ability to destroy other people's property in pursuit of electoral victory.

Hugh Hewitt's popular site shut off its comments section because of the success of these obnoxious invaders. Breitbart.com polices nonpartisan newswire stories for such obviously coordinated attacks. Other right-leaning sites such as Instapundit and National Review Online refuse to allow comments, knowing better than to flirt with the online activist left.

During the Clinton impeachment scandal, a new group out of California called MoveOn.org employed a plan to get its members to dial into right-leaning talk radio shows with scripted talking points falsely claiming that they were Republicans. They said they would never vote for the GOP again if the case against Bill Clinton was pursued.

They're known as "seminar callers" on Rush's show. Folks who have attended the seminars that teach them how to mislead call screeners to get on the air. Almost all are stopped, but occasionally one makes it to the air but quickly becomes obvious.

As far as the war on conservative blogs goes, my site (unfortunately) isn't big enough to attract a lot of attention from the left, but I do see them from time to time. Since I monitor the Google search terms used to find HolyCoast, I'll periodically see someone searching for blog stories on some controversial matter and then posting a lengthy, obviously pre-written comment supporting the lefty policy of the day.

Since those are such obvious spin attempts I usually just delete them. If they want to write a liberal thesis they can get their own blogs.

This isn't about honest debate, it's about propaganda and attempts to create false smears against conservative voices. The big blogs can't take the time to monitor all comments for potentially actionable statements. I can.

You can read the rest of Breitbart's column here.

MoveOn Chooses Irrelevance

This is actually good news:

After more than a decade spent railing against the Republican machine, MoveOn wants to move on —even if it means leaving some of its high-minded ideals behind.

Last week, the group’s members chose their top four priorities for the organization, winnowed down from a top-10 list culled from 50,000 suggestions. The decisions they weighed would determine in large part whether the group would become a friend or foe of the Obama administration, a player or a gadfly in progressive politics, a piece of the Democratic machine or a thorn in the party’s side.

What they chose: universal health care; economic recovery and job creation; building a green economy/stopping climate change; and end the war in Iraq.

What they didn’t: holding the Bush administration accountable; fighting for gay rights and LGBT equality; and reforming campaigns and elections.

MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser says that this happy alignment with Barack Obama’s agenda — and fortuitous absence of conflict with same — comes in part because “the people he’s listening to and the people we’re listening to are the same people.”

Since the urge to stop global warming really stopped in 1998 when the globe stopped warming, and all that "green economy" nonsense will get blown up as people realize the technologies just aren't there and the ones that are are too costly, and the war in Iraq is already basically over, that all means that MoveOn has basically chosen to become irrelevant. That's good news for everybody because that annoying bunch was getting on everybody's last nerve.

It would have been more fun to see them railing about non-existent Bush administration scandals or going to war on gay marriage, but irrelevance is fine with me if it means they'll basically just go away.

Local Texas Yokels Indict Cheney and Gonzales

Somehow I doubt this will hold up:

McALLEN, Texas — A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers.

The indictment criticizes Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees by working through the prison companies.

Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at the federal detention centers.

Another indictment charges state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies.

Although I doubt he'll do it, I hope that as Bush is cleaning off his desk during those last couple of days in office he signs blanket pardons for all the key current and former members of his administration. That would effectively stop all the partisan witchhunts that are already being promised by certain Democrats and would allow the country to, in the words of a favorite lefty special interest group, Move On.

Obama Begins the Process of Disappointing the Lefties

Barack Obama cannot win the presidency as a hard left liberal (which is, in fact, what he is). He promised the lefties a lot of things in order to win the nomination, and now it's his job to start disappointing them by shifting his positions closer to where most of the American people are.

He began the process of disappointing the left by rejecting public financing for his campaign, and will continue this week by supporting the FISA bill which grants retroactive immunity for the telecom companies who cooperated with government wiretapping requests. Some lefties are going to try and make this vote uncomfortable for Obama. Just look at this message from MoveOn.org:

On Friday, House Democrats caved to the Bush administration and passed a bill giving a get-out-of-jail-free card to phone companies that helped Bush illegally spy on innocent Americans.

This Monday, the fight moves to the Senate. Senator Russ Feingold says the "deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation."2 Barack Obama announced his partial support for the bill, but said, "It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses."

Last year, after phone calls from MoveOn members and others, Obama went so far as to vow to "support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies." We need him to honor that promise.

Can you call Senator Obama today and tell him you're counting on him to keep his word? Ask him to block any compromise that includes immunity for phone companies that helped Bush break the law.

Obama's presidential campaign: (866) 675-2008

Obama will say high and mighty things about the FISA bill, but will vote for it because that's what most of America wants and he no longer has to pander to the hard left. He needs to get rid of this as an issue lest the GOP beat him over the head with it the rest of the campaign. A few dyspeptic leftists at MoveOn won't bother him.

Obama Shuts Up MoveOn

There is one good thing coming from the Obama campaign - they've shut up MoveOn.org's 527:

MoveOn, the advocacy group supporting Barack Obama, has decided to permanently shutter its 527 operation, partly in response to the Illinois Senator's insistence that such groups should not spend on his behalf during the general election, I've learned from the group's spokesperson.

MoveOn's decision, which will dramatically impact the way it raises money on Obama's behalf, is yet another sign of how rapidly Obama is taking control of the apparatus that's gearing up on his behalf.

By shuttering its 527, MoveOn is effectively killing its ability to raise money in huge chunks from labor unions, foundations, and big donors who would give over $5,000. The decision doesn't mean MoveOn will stop spending on Obama's behalf. Instead it will raise money exclusively with its political action committee, whose average donation is below $50 and will even be raising money with things like bake sales starting this weekend.

To put this in perspective, MoveOn's 527 raised $20 million for the general election in 2004 -- and at least half of that came from donations over $5,000.

"This is an affirmation that we, like Senator Obama, believe that this election can be won by ordinary Americans giving small donations," MoveOn spokesperson Ilyse Hogue told me.

MoveOn's 527 has been dormant since 2005, but the group had held open the option of starting it up it for the 2008 election -- until Obama's success with small donors showed that huge sums could be raised without it.

The move could also make it tougher politically for John McCain and the GOP to benefit from 527s, which can raise money in unlimited sums, on his side. While he has generally disapproved of such activity, he recently said that he couldn't control negative ads by such groups.

"The hope is that Republicans will match this, so that the voices of ordinary Americans can drive this election," Hogue said.

That last paragraph tells what this story is really all about. With Obama's decision to back out of public funding, and McCain's decision to accept public funds, Obama will probably have 3:1 spending advantage over the McCain campaign. By trying to force McCain to "do the right thing" (as defined by the Obama campaign) they hope to hurt him financially even more by getting him to stop the GOP 527s. There's nothing noble going on here with MoveOn's decision.

Don't Send My Baby to Iraq!

The fools at MoveOn and AFSCME are going to run a new ad against McCain:

The two Democratic-supporting groups air provocative spot featuring woman with an infant telling McCain she won’t let him send her child to Iraq.

If McCain serves two terms the infant will be 8 or 9 years old when McCain leaves office. He won't be able to send it to Iraq. I hate to tell the left how to create their ads, but it would have been much more effective if the woman had been talking to a teenager.

UPDATE: Great minds think alike - from James Taranto:

It's not clear whether "Alex" is a real baby or just an actor, but assuming the former, shouldn't we wait till he grows up and let him decide if he wants to serve his country by joining the military? Once Alex turns 18--which, by the way, will not occur until both John McCain and Hillary Clinton** have completed their second terms--his mother will have no authority over his life choices. We don't know if he'll enlist, but we'll bet he registers as a Republican, as an act of rebellion against his suffocating, overprotective mom.

Fox News Derangement Syndrome

The MoveOn crowd is completely paranoid about Fox News:

About 22 demonstrators gathered outside the ABC News building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to deliver a petition reportedly bearing 200,000 signatures of people who agree that “FOX News is a Republican mouthpiece” and that networks, including ABC News, should stop “parroting” the Fox News Channel’s talking points.

MoveOn.org, a liberal political activism group, sponsored the demonstration and said in a press release that the petitions were delivered to major networks around the country, including CBS and CNN.

The demonstrators told Cybercast News Service that the Fox News Channel is “not a real news organization.” Nonetheless, they said, major news networks use Fox, a cable station, as a source for talking points.

“We are here to say, please, at the end of this election year, engage in responsible journalism and don’t parrot Fox News,” Adam Greene, director of strategic campaigns for MoveOn, told Cybercast News Service.

“We say Fox should not be setting the agenda for what is news in this country,” Deepa Domansky, a regional coordinator for MoveOn, told Cybercast News Service.

“Fox News is taking us away from issues that are really pressing and creating a sense that we shouldn’t be focusing on these issues but should be more focused on tabloid issues. We know that Fox News is not a legitimate news organization. It is a Republican mouthpiece. Yet the rest of the media is taking its talking points from Fox,” Domansky added.

It's just going to get better as we approach November.