I count 227 e-mails weighing in on "MoveOn Org" and thirty-three of you expressed wanting to go on record. Here are the 33.
Kara: MoveOn appears to want us to just move on from caring about Iraq. If that's the case, then they're making a huge strategical error. That's what got so many of us involved with the organization to begin with. I'm not seeing a lot of bravery in trying to hop onto Sojourners activism at the last minute.
Lynda: I'm not a member of MoveOn but I always thought they were this really passionate organization fighting the good fight. I read the links to [Norman] Solomon and Danny [Schechter] and I visited the site. I honestly found the site staid.
Cedric: When MoveOn decided they wouldn't distribute Danny Schechter's WMD film, I wondered what was going on. I've purchased WMD and watched it. It's a powerful DVD and
if they were committed to speaking out against the war, it just seems like they would have gotten behind this movie.
Rob: They've dropped the ball on the issue of the war. I don't even open the e-mails anymore.
They've stopped being about brave activism and are now just one more group trying to distinguish themselves from a herd of other left and left-leaning organizations.
Karen: I support MoveOn and will always be a member because it was there when it counted. But having said that, I'm deeply disappointed with them currently.
Gina: What bothered me was that they're acting like they're committed to ending the war. I get around five e-mails from MoveOn a week. This one comes in and it's the first I've heard from them of protests and rallies. If this was planned ahead of time, they would have given everyone ample time to plan. This seems more like a quick response to growing criticism.
Brad: I'll give them a month more to see what's what. After that, if they're still going after the same issue every other left group is, I'm done with them. MoveOn was a leader in the past, but it's starting to just follow everyone else now. They need to find some guts. Quick.
Zach: They aren't speaking to me lately. I'm about to unsubscribe if they don't start getting serious.
Eric: They're like a declawed, overgrown tabby.
Joan: I don't think it's beating up on the organziation to weigh in with criticism. I think MoveOn needs a lot more criticism because it's moving away from it's core. I don't know why that is but people need to let them know this is not why we signed up with them, gave them money and showed our support.
Keesha: Another group that had real impact decides it wants to be just another beltway player meaning it has to ignore its members and we're all supposed to be happy just to hand over money. No more.
Charlie: I like MoveOn but I'm tired of their e-mails. It's like listening to NPR during pledge week only pledge week is every e-mail. Send money, send money. Is this a political organization or my deadbeat brother?
Marcia: I find it so disgusting that they've lost all interest in the war and occupation. CodePink's not suddenly decided to go after 'acceptable' issues. They aren't looking around asking themselves what everyone else is advocating. They're making a difference. MoveOn just wants our money and then to go play in D.C. with it. They're e-mail list is an envy for many but what's the point of having that list if the only thing you do is whine about social security? That's all they're doing. NOW has fact sheets on social security, other people are really analyzing it. And MoveOn wants us to be excited over a cutesy commercial? They need to get serious and get real before everyone bails on them and moves on.
Grant: MoveOn, to me, is like the girl I wanted all through high school, then I go to the reunion and find out all the talk of what she'd be fell apart and she's working at a Quickie Mart and more focused on reality TV and Desperate Housewives than anything that's going on in the world.
KeShawn: Last time I checked, people were still dying in Iraq. I don't get why MoveOn decided to move on.
Maria: They picked the wrong time to bail on what's becoming the most important issue to the nation especially since they could be signing up a lot of new members if they were taking the war head on. Kids are getting more and more aware and more and more outraged and they could be speaking to those kids. They're abdicating not just their responsibility but the very thing that made them matter.
Erika: My hunch? They were stepping away from the war. They have been slammed and slapped down in the press for months now. They went for the simple fights that wouldn't cause controversy (social security for instance). [Danny] Schechter and [Norman] Solomon's criticism touched a nerve and hopefully this will lead MoveOn back to the issues that caused people to be excited about them in the first place.
Toni: I still support MoveOn. I hope it pulls itself together because I worry that they are going to start losing members.
Ben: The whole thing feels like a reaction to criticism. I'm not sensing this as being an issue that even matters to them anymore. That's why I stopped reading their e-mails a few weeks ago. It used to be a fun organization and now it's just one more group asking me for money. I hope it can return to its roots because it has done a great deal in the past.
Doug: MoveOn has done a lot of great things and I think they can still do great things but that's going to take members holding them accountable. They're trying to figure out where they stand now and they've been a good friend to the left but you let a good friend know when they're going off course and right now they've gone off course and lost the wheels. If your really they're friend, you tap on them on the shoulder and say, "Hey, buddy." They need some taps on the shoulder right now. And if that doesn't work, they may need an intervention. If they're not being told how people are feeling, they can't work at fixing what is becoming a real and serious problem.
Lyle: They seem to have lost their own voice and now try to speak like everyone else.
Stan: We're outraged. Result? They quickly try to piggy-back on Sojourners. That doesn't deal with the issue of where there stand right now on the war.
Dominick: I'll give them three weeks. No change after that, I'm moving on.
Cameron: How can the organization that revolutionized internet activism have such a boring website? They need to have a contest again. When they were asking you to pick ads, it was interesting. Now it's just the same site day after day. They could write a weekly commentary to liven things up, if not a daily one. It also seems like they don't take a stand these days until everyone else has.
Betty: MoveOn still does a lot of good. But I wish they'd return to speaking out against the war.
Portland: How does MoveOn get away with turning their back on all their members who were and are still against the war?
Jimmy: Seems like they want to be 'respectable' at the expense of their members who want an organization that has real guts and a strong voice.
Elaine: MoveOn seems less brave each day. Distressing since the majority of Americans are now up to speed with where MoveOn was a year ago.
Margot: Someone got a little fat & lazy over the holidays and needs to shed that weight quickly before they shed members.
Liang: If you're committed to ending the war, you do more in the last month then one lousy e-mail about peace rallies.
Alabama: I agree that the web site needs to be improved. I don't go to that link anymore. I used to but I never found anything new. And no, I don't want to watch their social security commercial which is always the top link. I'm pretty much tired of social security. Bully Boy's plan bad. I get it. I've told my friends. We're against it. We've written our elected officials.
Seems like that's been their only issue for sometime now.
???: They've made a huge mistake but I'm willing to give them another chance to show that they are still committed to ending the war.
Lori: I think it's going mainstream and center. I'm not happy.
[Note, this post was written in advance -- late Thursday night/early Friday morning.]
