When 23 Senate Democrats joined all the Republicans in a vote Thursday to condemn MoveOn.org for its New York Times ad questioning whether General David Petraeus would deliver truthful testimony about Iraq, they also condemned one of the planet's biggest defenders - and everyone concerned about the environment should be concerned about this as well, no matter your feelings on Iraq (this is true also of groups that work to promote public television, clean elections, and democracy in general).
MoveOn has been one of the environment's best friends, running a sustained and highly effective campaign to tackle the climate crisis. I've personally witnessed the fruits of their labors.
When I was working as Deputy Field Director for a major national environmental group, we worked closely with MoveOn.org to set up district meetings across the country to fight George Bush's energy policy; MoveOn's involvement enabled us to do far more in less time than we otherwise would have been able.
In 2004, when four hurricanes bashed the coast of Florida, MoveOn was just about the only group (including environmental groups) to point out that intensifying hurricanes could be related to the climate crisis - and calling for action to do something about it (needless to say, they were also willing to talk about Hurricane Katrina in the context of the climate crisis as well). More recently, they've organized thousands of house parties around the climate crisis, getting loads of new people to take action to protect the planet. We owe them our gratitude; now that they're under attack, we also owe them our defense.
I hope that everyone who cares about the environment will sign their petition promising to fight back against this unwarranted attack. Our friends are in trouble and it's up to us to help them.
Because even if you believe MoveOn's ad was over-the-top, whatever violation of decorum they may have committed pales in comparison to Republican attacks on veterans and soldiers that the Senate has never condemned (Swift Boats, anyone?). And MoveOn's fundamental message was right on: David Petraeus has disgraced himself by inappropriately engaging in politics by writing an upbeat (and entirely inaccurate) op-ed about the Iraq War in 2004, urging that we continue the fight. And his testimony about advances in Iraq seem to be based on willful distortion of the situation on the ground: his assessment of the violence apparently excluded deaths from car bombs and only counted assassinations that occur when people are shot in the back of the head, not the front. Finally, it's shameful that the Senate would condemn MoveOn without condemning Bush's huge failures in Iraq - that's the real crime here.
So stand up for our fellow planet defenders at MoveOn now by clicking here.