The great MoveOn debate, continued
Over the objections of some who think it is better for us not to publicly air our dirty laundry, I thought I’d do a follow up on our earlier post about how progressives should fight smarter. DragonFlyEye has also picked up on the debate (in two posts — here and here).
I’d like to highlight what I consider to be a major success of MoveOn — convincing the Democratic party to back out of a debate that was going to be moderated by Fox News. This is exactly the kind of issue where a big national group like MoveOn can flex its muscle to great effect. The Politico has a pretty good summary of what this fight was all about and why it was a smart move for MoveOn (and MyDD):
This also wasn’t about changing the media landscape. The (sane) tactical case critics were making is that Fox is a conservative outlet that’s out to get Democrats, and that there’s no reason for Democrats to traffic with it. This sounds a bit like the flipside of the case conservatives made about The New York Times and the networks in the 1990s, when they built their own media infrastructure, including Fox, to combat the mainstream.
But back then, conservatives worked, successfully, to change the landscape, diminishing the power of the MSM. Now, the left and the Netroots are simply recognizing the changed landscape and working within it. The notion that Fox isn’t conservative is ridiculous. I’ve always been puzzled why journalists recoil from identifying Fox’s slant, and got my own personal attack from a Fox spokeswoman once for my trouble. And their eagerness to launch partisan attacks on critics, as Atrios notes, is one more sign of how different they are from outlets that try to be neutral.
So this wasn’t about killing Fox. It was about recognizing what Fox is, and focusing on building a Fox of the left. But while Huffington Post is staffing up and Air America is reviving and the Netroots are growing, TV is still king, and so it’s hard to argue that the media landscape – with Fox a huge part of it, and the allegedly left-leaning MSM not about to gird for war the way Fox does – doesn’t still favor the right.
“The truth is, Fox News can ‘report’ whatever they want,” Edwards aide Jonathan Prince wrote yesterday, in a recognition that Fox isn’t going anywhere. “And when it works for us, we’ll deal with them on our terms.”
Here’s a funny end to the story: Air America is now offering to hold a debate for Republican presidential candidates.
Update: I hope MoveOn gets on the Gonazles-must-go bandwagon. I just got an email from People for the American Way about a petition urging Alberto Gonzales to resign as AG (you can sign it here). In my opinion, the US Attorney purge is the most blatant presidential abuse of power since Watergate. TPM reports that Gonzales is holding a press conference at 2 pm today — it’s possible that he’ll be announcing his resignation then.
Related posts:
Don’t hold your breath on the Gonzales thing. Only soldiers quit in this Administration, Rummy being the notable exception. How telling is that?
And I hate to have to tell you this, but Fox did a far, far better job of removing the Democratic Primary from their air waves than most anyone else did.
If you want to use a very mild example of political action — getting a group of primary candidates to withdraw from a debate — then you’ll get no argument from me. MoveOn and allied groups can be quite effective in influencing Democrats to perform mostly symbolic actions, especially during the shadowboxing time before the real campaigning begins. But I hope MoveOn supporters won’t confuse this little sop with something that will actually change the country, like the resignation of Gonzales.
The reason that Gonzales is in trouble is because the Congress can now perform effective oversight. MoveOn can air all the ads and organize all the protests they want, and it will not change the fact that having Pat Leahy chair the Judiciary Committee instead of Arlen Specter, and John Conyers instead of James Sensenbrenner, means that Gonzales’ dirty laundry will come to light.
The way that Leahy and Conyers got those jobs is because Democrats won elections. In the 29th, I think we both agree that MoveOn spent a lot of money and accomplished very little. The value proposition — money and effort spent for political effect — is out of whack for MoveOn. The sooner that MoveOn members recognize that and move on to more effective advocacy, the better.
I find this hardly a mild issue and the success of MoveOn and others success here should not be understated.
Democratic candidates going to debate on Faux News would validate Faux News as a news organ. In no way should Faux News be rewarded for its role as a partisan news organization. In this case I’m not with the Democratic leadership who supported this activity.
Is this a sole MoveOn victory? Certainly not. Did they contribute? Certainly. A wise college professor on mine once lectured on the concept of multiple causation. That being multiple underlying reason for why something happened.
Democratic congressional control certainly enables investigations. However, there needs to be a will to conduct such investigations. Calls and letters continually keeping on pressure to investigate or provide opportunities to keep this issue in the news or more accurately on people’s minds is equally important.
These groups worked to pressure the candidates and the Democratic leadership to change the venue and Edwards demonstrated the leadership to recognize a change was needed.
“This little sop won’t change the country like the resignation of Gonzales.”
I think there is come circular logic here. Yes the Democrats are in control and can investigate but how did they come into power? Groups like MoveOn helping get people organized in the process energized the base got people out to vote.
Re Gonzales, George Bush doesn’t listen to the people or the facts which is why Gonzales is still in office. Look at how long it took for Rumsfeld to leave.
“We both agree MoveOn spent a lot of Money and accomplished very little” Who specifically agrees with this concept? I didn’t get that from Exile but he can speak for himself.
Still waiting for that coffee…..
Basically right, although a few ethical conservatives (yes, there are some) took to their heels early on, once they realized just how the Bush administration worked.
Fox did a better job of removing the Dems from its air waves. can you be more specific?
I don’t see your email on this site - can you send it to me? Thanks.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-rucker/fox-attacks-black-americ_b_43397.html
apparently this is kind of a big deal