MoveOn To Reimburse NY Times For “Betray Us” Ad
Bloomberg:
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — The activist group MoveOn.org said it will pay the New York Times $77,083 to make up the difference between what it paid for an advertisement attacking U.S. Army General David Petraeus and the regular ad rate.
The group acted after the newspaper’s public editor wrote in a column today that the controversial full-page advertisement on Sept. 10 violated standards on content and the price given to MoveOn.org wasn’t proper under Times policies.
“While we believe that the $142,083 figure is above the market rate paid by most organizations, out of abundance of caution we have decided to pay that rate for this ad,” Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org’s executive director, said in a statement confirmed by the organization.
The anti-war organization’s advertisement carried the headline, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” and said he was “cooking the books for the White House” in his progress report to Congress. It was published the day Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, began his testimony before lawmakers.
Spokespersons for the Times didn’t immediately return calls requesting comment.
The ad became an issue in the presidential campaign, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, leading in most polls of Republican voters, calling for Senator Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, to repudiate it. Giuliani’s campaign took out a full-page ad in the Times Sept. 14 accusing Clinton and MoveOn.org of impugning Petraeus’s character.
The MoveOn.org ad “violated The Times’s own written standards, and the paper now says that the advertiser got a price break it was not entitled to,” Clark Hoyt, the paper’s public editor, wrote in a column today.
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The ad “appears to fly in the face” of an internal policy that says “`We do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature,”’ Hoyt wrote.
The leading Democratic presidential candidates have avoided directly condemning MoveOn.org and pointed to attacks by Republican-leaning groups against Senator John Kerry and former Senator Max Cleland during the 2004 campaigns for president and Congress.
Clinton, of New York, said today she didn’t condone the language used against Petraeus, without naming MoveOn.org.
“I don’t believe that that should be said about General Petraeus, and I condemn that,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “I didn’t think it should’ve been said about Senator Cleland or Senator Kerry.”
Senate Resolution
The Senate on Sept. 20 voted 72-25 in favor of a nonbinding resolution condemning the ad. Senators rejected an alternative resolution from Democrats that decried “all attacks on the honor, integrity and patriotism” of anyone in the U.S. military.
President George W. Bush, during a news conference the same day, said Democratic leaders appeared to be more concerned with “irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org” than they are of insulting the military.
MoveOn.org, which claims 3.3 million members, was originally formed to oppose impeachment proceedings against then-President Bill Clinton in 1998. It spent $21.6 million during the 2004 elections to help Democratic candidates, mainly through advertising in key battleground states. In the 2006 congressional elections, the MoveOn.org political action committee donated $785,000 to Democrats and made $2.6 million in independent expenditures.
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While moveon.org pays its bloodmoney to the willing NYT, it will not wash the stains of treason from the hands of either group. Meanwhile, on Fox news this afternoon, Hillary again refused to condemn moveon.org’s attack on the character of Gen. Petraeus. Others seem frightened to do so, but I openly question the patriotism of those democrats who refuse to condemn such an act.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:06 pmTHE HILDEBEAST SAID,
“I don’t believe that that should be said about General Petraeus, and I condemn that,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “I didn’t think it should’ve been said about Senator Cleland or Senator Kerry.”
The distinctions between General Petraeus and the afore mentioned self agrandizing phoneys couldn’t be more obvious.
Cleland was injured, not wounded in combat, while playing with a grenade.
Senator John Kerry, the phoney bastard, not only falcified reports to get medals but lied to the Senate accusing us of terrible crimes, poisoning the American people’s perception of our service, motives and sanity.
Noone knows how many but surely men commited suicide or otherwise ruined their lives, unable to cope with being regarded as crazed murders by an ungrateful, misinformed populace. My VietNam brothers and I hate Hanoi John more than any enemy we ever faced. We’ll never forget or forgive.
Kerry did to us exactly what MorOn.org attempted to do to General Petraeus. How could this happen in the USA???
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:11 pmUgh moveon is disgusting.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:55 pmOh yeah, like paying money is going give them an honorable reputation and going to restore an honorable reputation to the NYT. Don’t think so.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:18 pmjust trying to dodge a possible charge of illegal campaign contributions.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:38 pmfuck them.
The Hildabeast condemns the ad, but voted against the resolution. More bending and twisting with the wind by another libtard Klinton. Only she doesn’t lie as well as the zipper skipper does.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:27 pmthe media missed an opportunity to ask hillary how it is that the treatment of cleeland or kerry can be compared to a soldier that is not running for a political office. In fact a soldier that DOES represent all troops in the field of war? by insulting him you insult our entire military, by insulting kerry or cleeland other soldiers can distance themselves quite easily.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:08 pm“The ad “appears to fly in the face” of an internal policy that says “`We do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature,”’ Hoyt wrote.”
The NYT employs many co-conspirators to help slip the ad into the paper at a reduced price. Someone needs a spanking.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 pmToo little - too late.
There is no righting the damage they did. They are just going through the motions.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm‘In the 2006 congressional elections, the MoveOn.org political action committee donated $785,000 to Democrats and made $2.6 million in independent expenditures.’
That’s $3,385,000 in total from 3.3m members? A whole $1.02? Sounds like there’s a bunch of bandwagon riders, which is fine by me. Just proves how hollow that organization is, all hat and no cattle.
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:41 pm“Clinton, of New York, said today she didn’t condone the language used against Petraeus, without naming MoveOn.org.”
that bitch insulted him right to his face, so yeah she did condone it
September 25th, 2007 at 12:07 am