Corporate Media desperate to discredit growing movement

[spacemanspiff]

Yesterday morning FOX & Friends ran two separate segments claiming that MoveOn.org - through its public relations firm, Fenton Communications - is recruiting active-duty soldiers for political purposes. They based their report on an article that appeared in the New York Sun. The Sun story mentioned MoveOn.org by name twice.

Reporter Eli Lake wrote: “Yesterday, a company that does public relations for the liberal activist political action committee MoveOn.org, Fenton Communications, organized a conference call for reporters and three active-duty soldiers to unveil the soldiers’ anti-war group Appeal for Redress.” Later on, Lake quoted FOX News Military Analyst Ret. Gen. Thomas McInerney as saying “I think it is shameful because the timing is so close to the election. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. The soldiers should be ashamed of themselves for being duped into this. It is to be expected from a MoveOn.org-type group. They have no standards.”

Thankfully the NewHounds (we watch FOX so you don’t have to) have put these lies to rest…

I went to the website of Appeal for Redress and checked their sponsoring organizations. They are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out and Veterans for Peace. No mention of MoveOn.org anywhere on the site.

The client list for Fenton Communications does not include Appeal for Redress, Veterans for Peace or Iraq Veterans Against the War but does include Military Families Speak Out. Additionally, MoveOn.org is a client among many, many others.

I searched MoveOn’s site and could not locate this particular campaign at all.

I’m a member of MoveOn.org. I get frequent emails about their various programs. I just checked my past 100 emails and I have not received information on this topic.

It looks as if our troops have hit a nerve, and it is our job as the blogging community to turn up the volume on their requests to bring the troops home from Iraq. Do whatever you can to spread the word, especially to other active duty members of the military. They need and deserve our respect and support. Please follow through on this simple request on the appeal for redress website

Several members of Congress have expressed interest in receiving the Appeal for Redress.

Click here to send the Appeal to your elected representatives.
http://www.appealforredress.org/php/appeal.php

These troops have so bravely signed up to protect our nation from harm, it is time for us to do our duty to protect them.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/30/18324629.php

[KharmaTrain]

1. They Have A Lot At Stake In The Next Congress

Broadcasting is doing a high wire act and a Democratic victory next week could push several large corporates over the edge. A few facing big troubles include Tribune Broadcasting, NBC/Universal and Clear Channel. These companies are chafing under their own largess...overpaying for acquisitions, playing games with their stock prices and using creative financing to over-extend themselves and are trying to get more deregulation through as one more stop-gap in total freefall.

One thing at stake is the DeReg bill that was stopped at the last moment by McCain in '04...this would enable companies to purchase as many TV stations as they wanted. In anticipation companies like Tribune and NBC hedged...they bought into properties through LMA arrangements pending taking full control when DeReg was pushed through. A Democratic Congress puts a major damper on any more deregulation happening and could even force companies with TV LMAs to divest...forcing these companies to lose billions on properties they paid top dollar for and will have to sell off at losses...big losses.

So it's no surprise to me that we're seeing the support of the Repugnican sliming (Couric's insulting interview of MJ Fox) to astroturfing (ABC's Mark Halperin) to the constant fear and vitriol spewing from hate radio. The game here is either to spook or lull Democratic voters by either making them think the election is already fixed or reports designated at supressing the vote. On the other side, they're roiling the right wing base with constant fear and hoping to get those church busses filled to sneak by with as many elections as they can.

Expect if the GOOP loses that a broadcasting dereg bill will be introduced in some form or fashion during the lame duck session.