This is well known. They ran a contest inviting anti-Bush attack ads. The choice to put that one on their website was theirs and was quite popular with their base but was disavowed the moment it was exposed to the general public in numerous newscasts. (which translates as 'a US right wind group obtained a copy' )

Did the Toronto Star mention the discount the NYT gave moveon for the Petreus ad - in actually contravention to numerous laws the NYT has been quite righteous in defending? Pinch Sulzberger is hardly a credit to his predecessors ( though Duranty's Pulitzer still hangs on the wall in lobby )

In any case, Moveon is like the PLO in being able to present the reasonable non-foaming at the mouth side to the unconverted while feeding the faithful red meat. ( not unlike right-wing groups )

In fairness, there is a solid core of moveon people who are committed to genuine social change and are quite rightly fascinated by the opportunities modern communications offer (hence their synergy with meetup )

But just a the GOP has a devil's bargain with the loony right and the religious fanatics, the Dems have to play with DailyKOS and moveon's wackier element.

Of course all these people are moderates compared to the activists I remember from my youth.

I knew a lot of Maoists who left SDS because they were Imperialist running dog lackies and on the road into my university was a "Save our Republic - Impeach Earl Warren" billboard from the John Birch Society.

When people were talking about about the 'poisonous political climate' in 2004 I could only smile and remember the year I graduated from college - 1968 <bg>



>BTW, while were at this, you've brought up MoveOn and their comparison of Bush to Hitler. There was a letter to the Toronto Star the other day that might interest you. I have no great familiarity with MoveOn, but I assume this guy does. Anyway, it is as follows:
>
>Reporter Tim Harper wrote, "During the 2004 campaign, MoveOn spared no
>quarter in going after gaps in President George W. Bush's National Guard
>record but had to withdraw one ad that compared Bush to Hitler."
>
>Any reasonable person reading that statement would conclude that in 2004
>MoveOn had produced an ad comparing Bush to Hitler, paid for it to run in
>commercial media, then withdrew it. In fact, MoveOn did none of the above.
>The so-called "ad" was a contest submission, one of many submitted to MoveOn
>by the general public. It did appear on MoveOn's site briefly, as one of
>many. Once MoveOn became aware of it, the organization removed it and
>repudiated it.
>
>However, a U.S. right-wing group obtained a copy and posted it on their own
>site, accusing MoveOn of endorsing it. This is a falsehood.