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MARCH 26, 2004 – More evidence of
why we exist in the middle.
Moveon.org is a left-wing internet activist organization that
was set up to counter the Bush/Limbaugh blame-and-lie machine.
Recently, Moveon.org set up what they call their “Daily Mislead” for
the purpose of chronicling what they claim is a constant flow of
“Bush administration distortion” of fact and reality.
Now, if you’ve read anything here at The
Moderate Independent you know that they are correct, that President
Bush and the Bush/Limbaugh-brand of Republican is extremely and
constantly dishonest. Their standard staple is to twist and skew
the truth, putting intentionally distortive rhetoric above truth and
what is best for America.
However, now Moveon.org has shown itself
to be no more trustworthy than President Bush or Rush Limbaugh.
Today on their website they ran a “Daily
Mislead” report which made the following claim (see
Moveon.org Daily Mis-Lead story:)
“…on April 30, 2001, CNN reported that
the Bush Administration's release of the government's annual
terrorism report contained a serious change: "there was no
extensive mention of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden"
as there had been in previous years. When asked why the
Administration had reduced the focus, "a senior Bush State
Department official told CNN the U.S. government made a mistake in
focusing so much energy on bin Laden."
That is a very important find and fact
and an explosive expose – if it were indeed even remotely true or
accurate. However, it is not.
What makes this all the more troubling
is that it seems absolutely clear that Moveon.org is doing this
misleading with full intent, as evidenced by the fact that, while
other sources cited are given with links to the original source, the
CNN report misrepresented in this story is not given a link. In
other words, it appears clear they knew they were taking things out
of context to build a misrepresentative case and so figured they had
better leave out a referring link because, if people read the
original story, they will be found out to be lying.
We, however, went and found the original
story, and here is what is says (see
CNN
story):
“For the second year in a row, the State
Department warned that South Asia "remained a focal point for
terrorism directed against the United States" and said trends in
terrorism continue to shift from the Middle East to South Asia.
“The State Department's "Patterns of
Global Terrorism 2000" cites Afghanistan's ruling Taleban (sic) as a
major reason for South Asia's role as a hub of terrorism, as it
"continued to provide safe haven for intentional terrorists,
particularly Saudi exile Osama bin Laden and his network."
Here you see that the article is clearly
stating that the main focus of the report is on those who are
supporting “Osama bin Laden and his network.”
So how did Moveon.org end up using this
report to pretend it says exactly the opposite?
They begin with the following paragraph
from the story:
“Unlike last year's report, bin Laden's
al Qaeda organization is mentioned, but the 2000 report does not
contain a photograph of bin Laden or a lengthy description of him
and the group. A senior State Department official told CNN that the
U.S. government made a mistake last year by focusing too tightly on
bin Laden and "personalizing terrorism ... describing parts of the
elephant and not the whole beast."
Now again you see that even in this
paragraph it is clear that the shift in focus is not away from Osama
or al Qaeda as threat but to not just trying to hit a single man in
a tent with a missile but, instead, attack the entire infrastructure
that allows him to exist and operate his terror network – exactly
what the Bush team claims it wanted to do.
But Moveon.org saw an opportunity in the
part that says, “A senior State Department official told CNN that
the U.S. government made a mistake last year by focusing too tightly
on bin Laden,” and uses it – clearly out of context – to make it
sound like this report is downplaying the importance of dealing with
the terrorist threat presented by Osama bin Laden.
Moveon.org then leveled the charge that
the CNN report claims, “there was no extensive mention of alleged
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden."
As you see above, the report by CNN
says, “Unlike last year's report, bin Laden's al Qaeda organization
is mentioned, but the 2000 report does not contain a photograph of
bin Laden or a lengthy description of him and the group.”
Now, it is entirely possible they are
referring to a TV report given on CNN that same day, and that is why
their quotes are slightly different. However, this report we have
cited is from the same network on the same day, and it is clear the
reporting lays out not a retreat from pursuing bin Laden but if
anything a broader, more aggressive strategy for going after him.
And in any case, they should have consulted ideally the original
report the story refers to or other stories covering the report to
be sure they were getting and reflecting and accurate picture. Quite
simply, there is no reasonable excuse for this clearly misleading
story.
In their rush to come up with something
exciting to put on their website - ie a massive “Mislead” from
Presidentt Bush with regard to Osama bin Laden to fire up
Moveon.org’s supporters and donors - they have gone and committed
the worst form of exactly the type of misrepresentation that they
claim to exist to combat. There is no question that President Bush
and his administration does mislead the nation constantly, but now
Moveon.org’s Daily Misleader can not be taken seriously as a
credible source to be used in countering the Bush/Limbaugh
blame-and-lie machine. Indeed, if the organization does not
immediately retract and remove the entry and issue an apology, their
very integrity must be brought into question.
Moveon.org has been contacted for
comment. As of this time we have not received a response. | 
