Above: The U.S.S. Cole Bombed, Al Qaeda hostage, 1993 WTC bombing
Posted on 07/24/2006 6:55:01 PM PDT by gophergas
You know, I do appreciate the purported goals of Move America Forward, but sometimes I have to wonder whether Michael Moore is running the show, just to make a conservative outfit look inept.
First and foremost, when your name -- AND your logo -- say MoveAmericaForward dot org, you do NOT have a voiceover that refers to your organization as MoveAmericaForward dot COM. It'd be like George W. Bush all of a sudden referring to himself as George H. W. Bush or something similarly ridiculous.
But you know, even as stupid as that is (and as stupid as it implies conservatives are), I can almost live with it.
Today, however, came the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. In an e-mail entitled "Middle East War," the geniuses at MAF posted the following image:
Anyone know what's wrong with that image? Anyone?
If you said, "the center image was a hoax (and a lame one, at that) using a toy soldier action figure," you're right! (For more on this story, check out the following: www.snopes.com/media/goofs/gijoe.asp
When a conservative outlet makes a mistake as mind-numbingly stupid as this, it makes ALL of us look bad. The folks at MAF don't seem inclined to listen to me (and yes, I'm usually a lot more civil and diplomatic when I write them directly). However, I'm just one voice. If more of us wrote to them and beseeched them to get their act together, maybe they'd pay more attention.
As such, I'm hoping that maybe a few of you will join me in writing to MoveAmericaForward and suggesting...
1. Pick a name and stick with it. You can be MoveAmericaForward dot ORG -- or -- MoveAmericaForward dot COM. YOU CAN NOT BE BOTH!!! To attempt doing so would be ridiculous.
2. When you're using images to get your point across, MAKE SURE that the images are REAL! Do NOT use images of toy soldiers and claim that they are actual Al Qaeda hostages. To do so would be ridiculous.
3. Have an editor look over your work before sending it out (the plural of Israeli is "Israelis" -- not "Israeli's"). To do otherwise would be ridiculous.
Sorry for the heated tone of my rant, but I'm just a little bit cheesed off that an organization that positions itself as speaking for conservatives is doing such a one-buttocked job of it.
Snopes my ass! I was one of the first of umpteen freepers to call that shot a hoax!
cardinal4, I simply needed a link, and Snopes was convenient. No disrespect intended.
None taken, it wasnt even directed at you-far too many folks take credit for Freeper work. Hannity is a big offender of that..
Easy way to tell if Michael Moore is in charge of a website: Is their office next door to a Wendy's?
Yes, someone there was dumb for using the hoax photo and I'm sure that they've corrected by now.
Somehow I'm reminded of the presidential debate in 1960 when Republican candidate Richard Nixon kept repeating, "America can't stand pat." (For those of you under 50, his wife was named Pat.)
When a conservative outlet makes a mistake as mind-numbingly stupid as this, it makes ALL of us look bad.
Hey, your waltzing around the neighborhood in that Speedo and flipflops covered in peanut butter at 3 AM hurts my self esteem.
Spiff, I'm not referring to the domain itself -- I know that both of them are valid domains.
I'm referring to the fact that their logo says MoveAmericaForward.org, but their voiceover says "Move America Forward dot COM"
If your logo says "org," you should refer to yourself as "org." It's as if they're saying, "We spell our name 'F-r-a-n-k,' but we pronounce it 'Richard.'"
Ehh... I'm just tired of their ineptitude. While I'm honored to be considered a freeper (or even a freeper wannabe), I don't want to be represented by MAF in any way unless they get their act together.
One quick way to tell if it's a Freeper running the site is to search for the word "looser" and see if it's being used in place of "loser".
MAF managed to organize an effective counter to Cindy Sheehan last summer in Crawford. They have their act together.
What did you do?
While I feel that their hearts are probably in the right place, their execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Exposing conservatives to ridicule is not, at least in my opinion, the best way to advance our cause.
They've done some good things. They could do a lot better -- especially if they'd show a willingness to listen to people who could help them.
|
This is not a course of events any of us would have chosen to pursue. God only knows how much we in this nation have tried to ignore the threats from Islamic terrorists. We allowed them to blow up U.S. embassies around the world - and we did little or nothing to respond. We allowed them to blow up the U.S.S. Cole, and again our response was limited. We even allowed them to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993 and limited our response to criminal prosecutions against a handful of terrorists.  Above: The U.S.S. Cole Bombed, Al Qaeda hostage, 1993 WTC bombing But we have learned the lesson that Israeli's came to understand a long time ago. You can appease terrorists, you can give in to their demands - but that will not stop them from wanting to kill those who stand in the way of their spread of militant, facist radical Islamic fundamentalism. The question now before us is whether we still stand strong and resolute as a nation, or whether we will cave in to the weak and divisive factions in our own nation: the "Blame America First" anti-war crowd. is dedicated to supporting the men and women of the United States Armed Forces - and also THE MISSIONS that they are serving in the fight against terrorism. At a time of great international uncertainty, we need your help now more than ever. There must be a loud and strong voice from the American people that we are not wavering from the war against terrorism. We will not back down. And we will not withdraw our support from our troops or their missions. We are asking for YOUR HELP to support our national television advertising campaign to broadcast the message all across this nation that the people of the United States say to our troops: "Thank you for a job well done" and to let them know we will stand behind them as the fight against Islamic terrorism continues to unfold. Please make a generous contribution to this campaign by . Or click on the image below to make a donation. All contributions are tax-deductible. Corporate contributions are allowed. There are no contribution limits - so please, give as generous of a contribution as you can afford.
P.S. You can also mail in a contribution to our offices if you prefer. Just send in your donation to: Move America Forward
|
Why not convert your criticism into volunteering to help the organization with their site. I'm sure a FReeper such as yourself can contribute to the efforts of MoveAmericaForward.
I'd be glad to help them and have told them so. Sadly, they appear to consider my lowly services unworthy of their august publications and video productions.
As such, my only recourse is to offer criticism in such a manner that it gets their attention. Or so I hope.
(And for what it's worth, I do think some of the things they produce are reasonably good.)
And didn't they start off with the Censure Carter campaign only to find that they can't censure Carter?
Or was that just left-wing windbags trying to call off the dogs?
To the best of my knowledge, the Censure Carter effort is still under way. I ran a cursory Google search and didn't find anything indicating otherwise.
So if you've heard that they can't censure the peanut-brain, it's probably your 2nd possibility --- leftoons trying to throw wrenches into the works.
For what it's worth, I signed the petition. But again, this was another effort where execution left a lot to be desired. I watched the ad, hoping to see something really compelling. What I saw was an ad that made little sense unless you already knew some of the history behind it.
IMHO, they'd be a lot better off getting a group of media-savvy Freepers and other conservatives together to screen these things before sending them out for mass consumption. But then, that might lead to campaigns that were actually effective...
Followup...
I still haven't heard back from the folks at MAF. Not even a "thank you for expressing your concern," let alone an "Oh, crap --- we sure screwed up" message.
Must be nice to have such high self-esteem that you can ignore perfectly valid criticism.
(And for those of you wondering, the answer is yes. I have indeed made some phenomenally boneheaded mistakes in the past. And yes, I've owned up to them -- and learned from them -- as well.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
