Posted on 01/06/2004 9:21:58 AM PST by areafiftyone
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, often a lightning rod for opposition to the Iraq (news - web sites) war, apologized Monday for posting two political messages on the Internet comparing President Bush (news - web sites) to Hitler.
|
|
One ad mixed images of Hitler and Nazi militarism with Bush taking the oath of office and equated German war crimes of 1945 with Bush's foreign policy. The other quoted Hitler and Bush as saying they acted in God's name to vanquish their enemies.
After being roundly denounced by Jewish leaders and Republicans, MoveOn.org issued a mea culpa saying the two ads were in poor taste. But the group said they had been displayed in error as part of a contest inviting members of the public to create and send in their own ideas for anti-Bush television spots.
Neither of the two ads was ever aired on TV and by Monday had been removed from the "Bush in 30 Seconds" Web site (www.bushin30seconds.org) set up by the MoveOn.org Voter Fund.
The head of the Voter Fund, Wes Boyd, said his group posted more than 1,500 entries in all submitted by "ordinary Americans" and that the two Hitler spots "slipped through our screening process."
"None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund," Boyd's statement said. "We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions."
He accused Republican leaders of a "maliciously misleading" attempt to cast the two Hitler ads as sponsored by his group.
Nevertheless, the leaders of three major Jewish groups -- the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress and the Simon Wiesenthal Center -- roundly criticized MoveOn for placing the Hitler ads on the Internet.
They and Republican National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Ed Gillespie all seized on MoveOn.org's own pledge in the ground rules for its "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest not to "post anything that would be in inappropriate for television."
"To compare the president of the United States, his fight against al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), with the politics of Hitler is ... shameful, it is beyond the pale, and has no place in the legitimate discourse of American politics," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Hier, Gillespie and other critics of MoveOn also demanded that Democrats seeking the presidential nomination in 2004 should speak out to renounce the Hitler ads.
MoveOn.org said Monday it was going ahead with its contest. It said the winning entry will be picked by a panel of celebrities and political pundits, including comedian Al Franken, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and Democratic political strategist James Carville.
The winning spot will be announced at a gala event Jan. 12 in New York and will be aired as a paid political commercial during the week of Bush's upcoming State of the Union address.
It is not the first time Bush has been compared to Hitler. In 2002, Germany's Justice Minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, resigned after creating an uproar by likening Bush's saber-rattling over Iraq to Hitler's use of foreign policy to conceal domestic woes.
What's next? Is all forgiven and forgotten? I'm afraid so.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | Panama | 25.00 |
1 |
25.00 |
5 |
5.00 |
|
|
Thanks for donating to Free Republic!
Move your locale up the leaderboard!
If they do it is too little, too late! Yesterday some Democrats from a Clinton founded website defended the Ad.
Garbage. They found out where the limits of the envelope are and they'll be pushing them from now on. Bet on it.
Perhaps each vote for Bush will result in more Planned Parenthood bombings........much like the 96' vote republican and burn a black church spots.
Backhoe has gathered all the FR links to these ads on the thread linked below:
Wait a doggone minute here! MoveOn.Org is NOT apologizing! Their latest releases do nothing but blame the RNC for all the heat they're getting for sponsoring and hosting the ad!
Sorry, MoveOn...you can't have it both ways. Your Pantless President (for whom you started your idiot site) tried that and any fool can see that didn't fly either.
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.