ADL Says Hitler Ad Should Never Have Appeared on MoveOn.org

U.S. Newswire ^ | January 5, 2004 | Anti-Defamation League

[Roberts]

To: National Desk

Contact: Myrna Shinbaum, 212-885-7747, or Todd Gutnick, 212-885-7755, both of the Anti-Defamation League

NEW YORK, Jan. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said it was deeply troubled that MoveOn.org had allowed an outrageous and highly offensive political ad that directly compared President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler to be posted on its Web site.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director and author of "Never Again: The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism," issued the following statement:

It is shocking that a mainstream political group like MoveOn.org not only allowed this vile and outrageous comparison of the American President to Adolf Hitler to be entered into its "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest in the first place, but that they even went so far as to make it available to the public on the Internet. Those responsible for this contest at MoveOn.org should have immediately identified this advertisement as one going far beyond beyond legitimate criticism and rejected it out of hand. Instead, they made an irresponsible decision that has given legitimacy to the explotative manipulation of images in a campaign season.

MoveOn.org clearly would not have accepted a pornographic ad as legitimate criticism of a candidate. Why did they think that images of Hitler, the Nazi whose evil regime was responsible for the slaughter of millions of people during the Holocaust, was a fitting and credible expression of criticism of President Bush and his policies? Their lack of descretion cheapens the level of political discourse in America, and their comments explaining it were hardly comforting.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

[Prodigal Son]

Link to actual ADL story at their site:

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/4435_52.htm

[Prodigal Son]

Link to Wiesenthal Center's criticism:

http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?ItemID=8720

Link to Wiesenthal Center's "acceptance of regret" from MoveOn:

http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?ItemID=8726

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said today that it accepts the regrets expressed by its Founder and President, Wes Boyd regarding the posting of two ads comparing President George Bush to Adolf Hitler.

In a telephone call to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Center’s Dean and Founder, Mr. Boyd stated, “We certainly agree that the ads in question should not have appeared even in our voting process, even as 2 in 1500 ads submitted by members of the public, and we’ll work more diligently in the future to filter out such content.”

The statement released by MoveOn.org states, in part, the following:

We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they (the ads) slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.

---

The thing is, these were finalist entries if I am not mistaken. There is no way the managers of MoveOn did not know that these ads were there.