MoveOn.org plays a valuable role in this country's political theater. It galvanizes the liberal base and ensure the ultraprogressive movement is consistently represented.
That all said, why can't they just learn to shut their mouths every once in a while?
For those of you who don't know what happened, here's the situation. Gen. Petraeus, the commander of the Multi-National Force - Iraq, testified before Congress last week about the state of the U.S. occupation. Petraeus is seen by many as a mouthpiece of the Bush administration and is criticized at times for taking a nonpolitical military job and making it partisan.
Never one to miss an opportunity to attack Republicans, MoveOn.org rightfully sought to draw some attention to Petraeus' less-than-objective testimony. How did it do this? By taking an ad out in The New York Times that provided no facts and no evidence against Gen. Petraeus. The ad called him a liar but offered nothing to back up this claim.
Naturally, controversy swarmed. The substance (or lack thereof) in Petraeus' testimony wasn't anywhere close to the media's story; now everything was about MoveOn.org's ad.
What exactly did MoveOn think it was doing? Did it accomplish anything? From where I sit, MoveOn accomplished nothing other than being snarky. That's pretty much it. There was a ton of snark.
Oh, and it succeeded at making a pretty obvious pun on the general's name. "Petraeus" was turned into "Betray-Us." Isn't MoveOn clever? It's like a child in the school yard.
Is this persuading anyone? No. Is it rallying the United States against the war? The United States is already rallied! This kind of ad does nothing but give fodder to those seeking to slam progressives as anti-military and disrespectful of everyone risking their lives in Iraq.
Democrats are trying to walk a fine line in debating about the Iraq war. All of the Democratic presidential candidates have been bending over backward to show they support the troops, just not the strategy or the administration.
MoveOn.org's attack on Gen. Petraeus was irresponsible and counterproductive. The blog did nothing to help its cause; it only served to fracture the Democratic caucus and amalgamate the Republicans at a time when Republicans were faltering on their biggest strength: unity.
The Republicans have always had a very top-down power structure, giving Americans the idea that Republicans are strong and organized. For the first time in years, we have Republicans feeding on their own and turning on the president, splintering on social issues, embroiled in what is already a discordant presidential primary.
And now MoveOn.org has, in one dastardly swoop, united the entire party against the fact that "liberals hate our troops."
And the Democrats? Congressional Dems are responding to this message crisis with an adeptness reminiscent of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Press conferences from senators and representatives have been acrobatic. Democrats try to distance themselves from the ad while not offending MoveOn.org, condemning the language of the ad but not the message. They have praised the spirit of Petraeus' testimony and have bashed the president, all the while saying how much they love the troops for their sacrifices.
It seems MoveOn.org was more interested in making a meaningless splash than accomplishing anything. This is what happens when an overly glorified blog thinks it is an actual player in the political theater. The blog simply thought it was too big for its britches.
Some advice for MoveOn.org and other organizations seeking to "help" the progressive cause: Next time you go public, take two seconds to think through your actions. It would save everyone else a lot of grief.
Roddy Flynn is a senior in the School of Public Affairs and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
