Posted on 06/24/2005 9:12:27 AM PDT by smoothsailing
June 24, 2005, 11:46 a.m.
Rove Was Right about MoveOn
Just look at the record.
Some officials at the internet activist group MoveOn are denying charges made by top White House aide Karl Rove, who said in a speech to a conservative group in New York Wednesday that "In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11 liberals believed it was time to submit a petition." Rove continued: "I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what MoveOn.org did. It was a petition imploring the powers that be to 'use moderation and restraint in responding to the terrorist attacks against the United States.' "
After Rove's comments, MoveOn released a statement saying flatly, "MoveOn did not oppose the U.S. military action in Afghanistan." And in an interview with the Washington Post, reporter Dan Balz wrote that MoveOn political chief Eli Pariser "disputed Rove's characterization of the petition calling for moderation and restraint, saying that the petition was a personal project before he was affiliated with MoveOn and that it was not on the group's Web site at the time of the Afghanistan war."
Despite Pariser's contention, there is solid evidence that MoveOn did in fact oppose the war in Afghanistan, and that MoveOn founders Joan Blades and Wes Boyd hired Pariser in significant part because of his activism against the war.
The story began with a man who has received little attention in the controversy, a young film student named David Pickering. Visiting his parents' home in Brooklyn on September 11, 2001, Pickering immediately began to worry about the consequences of U.S. retaliation for the terrorist attacks. "It was this incredible moment in which all doors were opened and the world was seeming to come together," Pickering told me in an interview for my book, The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. "I had this feeling that it would be a shame if that were spoiled by a spirit of vengeance."
The next day, September 12, Pickering wrote a petition calling on President Bush to use "moderation and restraint" in responding to 9/11 and "to use, wherever possible, international judicial institutions and international human rights law to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, rather than the instruments of war, violence or destruction."
At the same time, Pariser, who had graduated from college the year before and was working at a liberal nonprofit organization in Massachusetts, was writing a similar petition, which he put on a website he created called 9-11peace.org. Pariser noticed Pickering's work and e-mailed him to suggest that they merge their sites. Pickering agreed, and 9-11peace.org featured a petition which read:
We implore the powers that be to use, wherever possible, international judicial institutions and international human rights law to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks, rather than the instruments of war, violence or destruction. Furthermore, we assert that the government of a nation must be presumed separate and distinct from any terrorist group that may operate within its borders, and therefore cannot be held unduly accountable for the latter's crimes. . .
Meanwhile, across the country in Berkeley, California, MoveOn founders Wes Boyd and Joan Blades were writing an anti-war petition of their own. Entitled "Justice, not Terror," it read, in full: "Our leaders are under tremendous pressure to act in the aftermath of the terrible events of Sept. 11th. We the undersigned support justice, not escalating violence, which would only play into the terrorists' hands."
As they staked out their own anti-war position, Blades and Boyd were also following the progress of 9-11peace.org. In a September 2004 interview for The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, I asked Blades how she had come to know Pariser. "It was after 9/11," she told me. "He put out a message similar in results to the one we had, basically an e-mail petition asking for restraint. It went viral on an international scale. . . . Eli's petition grew to half a million in half a week. Peter [Schurman, the executive director of MoveOn] contacted him because he figured he probably needed some help. We did provide him with some assistance, and we started working together on other issues and eventually merged." In the end, their shared opposition to U.S.-military retaliation for the September 11 attacks brought Pariser and MoveOn together. (For his part, David Pickering moved to Paris to attend film school.)
Critics have suggested that at the very least, Rove's "liberals" charge was overbroad. That's a fair criticism. But as far as MoveOn is concerned, Rove's words were accurate and fair.
— Byron York, NR's White House correspondent, is the author of the new book The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President — and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time.
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200506241146.asp
Politics is one thing, but it does a disservice to the Democrat members of the armed forces who are risking and giving thier lives every day in Iraq to make comments like this
I remember the liberal petition and I remember their main claim was that we were going to attack a country without proof that they had anything to do with the 911 attack. At one point the libs tried to blame Israel and then tried to promote the idea that it was domestic terrorist. Some other liberal groups wanted face to face meetings with the Taliban and convince them to turn over Bin Laden to face trial here and they were saying that we had to promise not to seek the death penalty then the Taliban would probably turn him over.
Here's the petition..also click on the tab that says why peace. Rove was soooo right. Kudos to Hugh Hewitt for finding it. I was going to post it as a separate thread but I wasn't sure if we could link to Moveon
http://web.archive.org/web/20021127190638/peace.moveon.org/petition.php3
We thank those Democrat members of the armed forces for their service and pray for their safety just like all of the brave service men and women risking their lives. However I think, or at least it's my hope, Rove's comments might do a service to them in that it might help open their eyes and help them see just what the Democrats they support back home are really like.
Thats why Rove didn't say democrats...he said liberals.
And which party had Michael Moore sitting in the Presidential box during their convention?
I have my doubts many in the armed forces are democrats.. how could they be when their own party disses them all the time.
"Dick Durbin is Jane Fonda without the face-lift and tummy-tuck."_Ollie North
I know jesse jackson wanted to do that.
He stopped his "intent" of going over there when he found out the Taliban wanted to hold him, then execute him on TV for propaganda purposes.
They really didn't care what his politics were, he was famous, involved in politics, and an American citizen.
They were going to cut his head off, so he stopped and didn't go.
Your correct. Micheal Moore who is no where to be found of late, was sitting with Jimmmmmmmmy CARTTTTTTTTTTTTTER.
That says that the dems will do whatever it takes to bring down this administration. They are harming our militay more than any one could. I will never forget what the dims of today are doing to our country and world.
You are responding to smoothsailing, who posted the article? Where in the article does it say the word Democrat. Are you saying that the actions of the Democrat Party have been such that you identify it as a liberal organization? Do I smell smoke?
Remember all the publicity these groups got.
Remember the marcher with the sign.......WE SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHEN THE SHOOT THEIR OFFICERS.
Did a single demonrat get up on the senate floor and condemn this?
Its not that rare.
Look at the Florida panhandle, they are registered democrats, but would crawl through broken glass to vote GOP and beat you senseless if you called them liberal, but they are members of the democratic party.
Or as the father of one of my friends put it, he is a democrat, true and true, and will vote for a democrat when a good one is up over a republican anytime.......he hasn't voted for a dem in over 20 years and hates every single democratic office holder there is, some folks are just stubborn.
I remember.
It was heart breaking that some of my friends who were in iraq serving heard about it.
For the record, it was an anti-war rally in San Fransico, and there are pics of it online.
Which party had Jimmy Carter sitting in the Presidential box during their convention?
Only Democrats who identify themselves as liberals should be concerned about Rove's comments. This was not a dis-service to any sane Democrat (a vanishing breed) but an indictment of the pansy-left that has hampered America's ability to be proud of being American.
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