Because nothing says, "proletariat" like flying an airplane
MoveOn has a glaringly blind eye towards Obama.
Obama, whose plutocratic, power-grabbing, constitution violating presidency (new boss, same as the old boss), is a large part of why we're protesting to start with. While I'm confident that this movement isn't going to get sidelined with presidential politicking for wall street's puppets, and this just goes to show that MoveOn is potentially a worse enemy than FoxNews.
At least with FoxNews, we KNOW they're against us. MoveOn is the worst kind of enemy, the kind who smiles and compliments you while they smother you in your sleep.
Sure, Mitt Romney and his allies have millions of dollars. But Obama has the same allies on Wall Street. And they're also giving Obama millions of dollars. And is wasting money on airplane banners really "making sure our dollars go far?" Just... WTF MoveOn?
Dear MoveOn.org. Please try this: Instead of trying to make this into an anti-Romney, or anti-Republican thing (which Occupy has never been), why not make this an "anti-money" thing? Pressure Obama to run as a clean elections candidate? Pressure congress to create a Clean Elections system modeled after the one in Maine? Why not take a firm stance against corporate contributions and the use of SuperPACs by ANY candidate? Until then, you're just hacks for the Democratic party, who turn a blind eye to the DNC doing the same things you are berating the GOP for doing.
via an email from MoveOn.org:
99airlines is off the ground, and we need ideas for airplane banners to fly over high-profile Mitt Romney events. Rate, submit, and share an idea today.
Submit Your IdeaDear MoveOn member,
We just launched 99airlines, our program to fly airplane banners over high-profile Mitt Romney events with messages from the 99%.
And what's the coolest part? You get to decide what the banners say! If you could fly a message over Mitt Romney's head, what would it be?
Will you suggest a short, pithy, memorable phrase for a 99airlines banner? Or check out and rate other people's ideas?
Click here to submit or vote for a 99airlines banner.
Imagine if Mitt Romney and his Super PAC friends had to deal with the sights and sounds of airplanes following them everywhere, reminding Americans how Romney stands for corporations and the 1%. Reporters at the events will film and write about the banners—it'll drive Romney and his corporate backers crazy.
That's why we're taking it to Romney, exposing him as Mr. 1%. Here's the banner we flew over a Romney fundraiser in Boston last week.
We're ready to fly a whole lot more over his high-profile appearances this summer, including fundraisers and a major event with Latino political leaders.
We need you to submit your ideas today. And the highest-rated, most shared, and most timely messages from the 99% will get flown over Romney's head. So get your ideas online today!
Click here to submit or vote for a 99airlines banner.
MoveOn members stepped up and funded 99airlines as a way to combat the Super PAC ads and corporate money that will flood into this year's election. We're transforming Mitt Romney's 1% fundraising tour into an airborne progressive message machine that will be seen by the people at the events and the media covering them.
They've got millions of dollars, but we've got more people and more creativity than they can muster. If you submit your ideas—-and make sure as many people as possible rate and contribute ideas—99airlines can define Mitt Romney and the people he represents in a visible, memorable way.
Click here to submit or vote for a 99airlines banner.
Thanks for all you do.
–Garlin, Elena, Emily, Victoria, and the rest of the team
Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to andrew pollack on June 1, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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I absolutely agree with you about the growing irrelevance of groups like MoveOn. But when you say, "Instead of trying to make this into an anti-Romney, or anti-Republican thing (which Occupy has never been)" I say, well, MoveOn is not an Occupy thing, and never has been. As a community organizer that has had more conversations about what direct action really means than I care to count, I am grateful that there are organizations out there that better fits the average middle-class person's vision for getting involved. All those soccer moms out there have a lot of untapped power and resources, and MoveOn reaches them and at least puts the idea of direct action on their radar. Do I wish they would push the envelope and stop being a mouth-piece for the Dems? Hell yes. But I also understand that their can be an advantage to being co-opted by a group with this wide of net. Instead of whining about it; use your clearly capable brain power to co-opt them right back.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Occupy is not doing as good a job to get middle-class, work-a-day, soccer mom types involved. However, they also have been coming to us, and helping with donations, with local occupations, with doing direct action. The local occupation in my town in Maine is a great example of this.
DeleteAnd I really do appreciate the fact that our language is becoming part of the national dialogue. But to turn a blind eye to crimes from the Democrats, while using language that highlights those crimes... I fear that our energy for the movement will get diverted into the Democratic Party, where revolution goes to die. I can only hope that when those middle-class soccer-mom MoveOn people start participating in the movement through MoveOn sanctioned channels, that we really DO have the ability to co-opt them into the movement, and to start calling out the Democrats for their complicit participation in crime.
Keep up the good work sir. You've got a good start there in ME with public funded elections if I'm not mistaken? Clean Elections Act if I remember correctly? (another organizer I work w/very closely here in Seattle is from ME) At any rate, I feel your pain. It's so hard to get people to understand that legislation is important, but politicians aren't and that we owe them nothing, especially our free time on their campaigns.
ReplyDeleteSee you on the front lines,
~Angela