Norman Solomon at Truthout has noticed the truth about MoveOn—its leadership is pro-war. Oh they try to disguise the fact, which they've just done by supporting the Cindy Sheehan vigil. But by blunting the force of the antiwar movement they may be doing more harm than good—and it raises the question of whom they're serving.

Solomon writes,

... the disconnects between MoveOn and much of the grassroots antiwar movement are disturbing.

Part of the problem is MoveOn's routine fuzziness about the war - and the way that the group is inclined to water down the messages of antiwar activism, much of which is not connected to the organization

And their description of the Sheehan vigils is pure hypocrisy—

Consider how the MoveOn website summarized the vigils: "Last night, tens of thousands of supporters gathered at 1,625 vigils to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq - and their moms and families." Such a gloss excludes a key reason why many people participated in the vigils: They wanted to express clear opposition to any further US involvement in the war.

Iraq does not seem to be a significant issue for MoveOn—

Despite its high-profile role in the vigils this week, MoveOn is still not giving a high priority to addressing the Iraq war in its ongoing work. When I went to the MoveOn website today and looked at its roster of "Current Campaigns," just a single item on the list was focused on Iraq - and that one, from June, involved "demanding that Bush address the evidence in the 'Downing Street Memo.'"

Clearly MoveOn is little more than a front for the Democratic Party and displays the lack of policy and direction for which the Democrats are justly famous.

Previous posts
What in the hell is a content-neutral movement? (3/22/05)
MoveOn conducts a push poll on Iraq and cons its supporters (6/23/05)
What is it with MoveOn? (7/12/05)