RADICAL DISTORTION: MoveOn.Org Launches Misleading Attack Ad; Will Obama Endorse Their Left Wing Attacks, Just As They Have Endorsed Him?

WASHINGTON, Apr. 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Today, MoveOn.Org Released An Ad Attacking Sen. McCain's Position On Iraq By Taking His Words Out Of Context:

WASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- MoveOn.Org's Ad Only Quotes Sen. McCain Saying: "[I] Don't Think Americans Are Concerned If We're There For 100 Years Or 1,000 Years Or 10,000 Years." (MoveOn.Org Political Action Website, http://www.moveon.org, Accessed 4/30/08)

FACTS: The Full Quote From Sen. McCain Shows That He Was Talking About A Non-Combat Presence. Sen. McCain: "[I] don't think Americans are concerned if we're there for 100 years or 1,000 years or 10,000 years. What they care about is a sacrifice of our most precious treasure, and that's American blood. So what I'm saying is look, if Americans are there in a support role, but they're not taking casualties, that's fine." (CBS's "Face The Nation," 1/6/08)

Just Yesterday, FactCheck.Org Criticized The Democrat Party For Launching A Similarly Misleading Ad, And Have Also Noted Distortions By Obama:

FactCheck.Org On New DNC Ad: "The DNC ad doesn't mention that McCain was speaking specifically about a peacetime presence. And the text of the ad paired with images of Iraq under siege leave a clear impression that McCain proposes to allow a century more of war, with U.S. involvement. That's not what he said, in New Hampshire or in other settings when he's been asked about it." (FactCheck.Org Website, Accessed 4/29/08)

Non-Partisan FactCheck.Org Called Previous DNC Attacks On "100 Years" Comment A "Serious Distortion" And "A Rank Falsehood." "The DNC's message portrays McCain as bent on fighting an 'endless' war in Iraq. DNC: We can't afford four more years with a President who fights an endless war in Iraq. ... On the war, McCain scoffed at Bush's call to leave troops in Iraq for 50 years, saying 'Make it a hundred!' That of course is a serious distortion of what McCain actually said to a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire back on Jan. 3. ...There's little doubt that McCain is less eager than either Clinton or Obama to bring troops home without further suppression of insurgent attacks. But it's a rank falsehood for the DNC to accuse McCain of wanting to wage 'endless war' based on his support for a presence in Iraq something like the U.S. role in South Korea." (FactCheck.Org Website, http://www.factcheck.org, Accessed 4/30/08)

Non-Partisan Politifact.Com Called Obama Attacks On "100 Years" Comment "False." "[O]bama twisted McCain's words in the Cleveland debate. He said, 'We are bogged down in a war that John McCain now suggests might go on for another 100 years.' As we explain above, McCain was referring to a peacetime presence, not the war. So we find Obama's statement False." (Politifact.Com Website, http://www.politifact.com, Accessed 4/30/08)

    --  Politifact.Com's Bill Adair: "It's really a distortion of what
        McCain said. McCain was talking about a peace time presence in Iraq that
        would continue. He even said as long as 1,000 years, not a war that
        would last that long. And so, the line that Obama and some other critics
        of the war have been using is really not an accurate description of what
        McCain said." (Fox News' "The Big Story," 4/2/08)

Columbia Journalism Review's Zachary Roth: "[L]ately, Barack Obama in particular has stepped up his attacks on McCain's '100 years' notion. But in doing so, Obama is seriously misleading voters--if not outright lying to them--about exactly what McCain said." (Zachary Roth, Op-Ed, "The U.S., Iraq, And 100 Years," Columbia Journalism Review, 4/1/08)

MoveOn.Org Has A History Of Radical Statements And Left-Wing Policy Positions:

MoveOn.Org Purchased A Full Page Ad In The New York Times, Calling General David Petraeus "General Betray Us" And Accused Him Of "Cooking The Books." "[Gen. Petraeus] has already come under fire from MoveOn.org which in a full page ad in Monday's New York Times dubbed him 'General betray us' and alleged he was 'cooking the books for the White House.'" (Peter Wuetherich, "Petraeus: Battle-Hardened General On The Frontlines In Iraq," Agence France Presse, 9/10/07)

MoveOn.Org Opposed $87 Billion For Troops And Reconstruction In Iraq And Afghanistan. "[MoveOn.Org] is criticizing President Bush's $87 billion request for Iraq and Afghanistan in a television ad ... The commercial is part of MoveOn.Org's effort to defeat the supplemental spending bill pending in Congress." (Will Lester, "Political Notebook," The Associated Press, 10/15/03)

Two Ads Comparing President Bush To Hitler Appeared On MoveOn.Org's Voter Fund Website. "One ad begins with Adolf Hitler making speeches, until a picture of President Bush appears. Another also uses Nazi and Bush images, with the tag line: 'What were war crimes in 1945 is foreign policy in 2003.' The videos appeared on the Web site of MoveOn.Org's Voter Fund as part of a nationwide contest for an anti-Bush television ad on which the liberal group plans to spend a considerable sum." (Howard Kurtz, "Anti-Bush Ad Contest Includes Hitler Images," The Washington Post, 1/6/04)

    --  Click Here To View Ad
    --  Abraham Foxman Of Anti-Defamation League Called Ads "Vile And
        Outrageous" And Group's Comments Explaining Them "Hardly
        Comforting." (Anti-Defamation League, "Hitler Ad Should Never
        Have Appeared On MoveOn.Org," Press Release, 1/5/04)

MoveOn.Org Pushed For Peaceful Response To 9/11 And Opposed Military Action. "Joan Blades of Berkeley, a founder of MoveOn.Org ... said her group had collected 30,000 signatures since the attacks Sept. 11 on a statement calling for 'justice, not escalating violence that would only play into the terrorists' hands.'" (Tony Pugh, "Against Tide, They Clamor For Peace," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/21/01)

    --  Sen. Clinton Recently Noted That MoveOn.Org Didn't Want Us To Go Into
        Afghanistan. Sen. Clinton: "We have been less successful in
        caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic
        Party. MoveOn.org didn't want us to go into Afghanistan. ... I mean,
        that's what we're dealing with. And, you know, they turn out in great
        numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and
        it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I
        don't agree with them." (Christina Bellantoni, "Clinton's
        MoveOn Remarks Draw Fire," The Washington Times, 4/20/08)

"MoveOn.Org ... Is Responsible For The 'Fire Cheney' TV Ad That Shows The Statue Of Liberty With A Hood Over Its Head." (Bill Holland, "Getting Out The Vote," Billboard, 7/3/04)

Obama Is Endorsed By MoveOn.Org; Will He Denounce Their Misleading Attack?

"[B]arack Obama Earned The Endorsement Of MoveOn, One Of The Largest Grassroots Membership Organizations In The United States, After Clobbering Hillary Clinton By 40 Percent In Internet Balloting." (Ari Melber, "MoveOn Endorses Obama," The Nation's "Campaign 08" Blog, http://www.thenation.com, 2/1/08)

Obama Pledged He's "Not Going To Go Around Doing Negative Ads." Obama: "Now, one of the things I'm proud of at the beginning of this campaign I said, this is a different time. This is an extraordinary time. We've got to run a different kind of campaign. So we're not going to go around doing negative ads. We're going to keep it positive. We're going to talk about the issues." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event In Wilson, NC, 4/28/08)

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