Hitting Below the Belt…

“We agree that the two ads in question were in poor taste and deeply regret that they slipped through our screening process. In the future, if we publish or broadcast raw material, we will create a more effective filtering system.” – Wes Boyd, Co-Founder, MoveOn.org

Two advertisements comparing President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler were pulled from a page by MoveOn.org. The ads had been part of a contest where contributors would have their work judged by various celebrities and the winner would have their commercial broadcast on television as part of a nation-wide campaign funded by MoveOn.org.
In a statement released on the MoveOn Voter Fund website, founder Wes Boyd distanced himself from the ads, their content, and the screening process. Mr. Boyd then issued what he calls an apology, “regretting” that the ads weren’t excluded from the contest in the screening process.
Mr. Boyd calls RNC claims that they sponsored the Bush/Hitler advertisements false accusations, but let’s look at the facts that surround Mr. Boyd’s “apology.”
1. The bushin30seconds.org site and contest are sponsored by the MoveOn.org Voter Fund.
2. The bushin30seconds.org site was registered by someone with a MoveOn.org domain email address. So, in simple terms, MoveOn.org paid to register the domain name for the website and by doing so, MoveOn.org is the registered owner of the domain–meaning: they are responsible for all of the content.
3. MoveOn.org was allowing the Bush/Hitler advertisements and still images from the ads to be downloaded by visitors to the bushin30seconds.org site, and is allowing other ads to be downloaded.
So, MoveOn.org provided bandwidth for downloading the ad, sponsored the contest that the advertisements were submitted in, owns and funds the website on which the advertisements were available, but it’s not their fault?? I don’t buy that for one second and neither should you.
Wes Boyd’s statement that MoveOn.org regrets that the screening process didn’t catch the ads is a farce. His contention that the RNC’s claims are “deliberately and maliciously misleading” is an attempt to distort the truth and an outright lie. The bottom line is this: his site provided downloadable advertisements that compared George W. Bush to Hitler.
The most interesting passage in his statement in his “apology” to me is this one: “We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.”
What’s missing from his statement? This: “I wish to apologize to President Bush, to Holocaust victims and survivors, their families, and to any person who was offended by these advertisements. While we did not create these advertisements, we did make them available for download and we are ultimately responsible for the content as a result.”
Mr. Boyd, the First Amendment is a beautiful thing, but like everything else it needs to be used responsibly. If you and your site are going to raise public awareness to the causes you hold dear, then not only do you need to act responsibly, but you also need to take blame in the same manner you seem to be willing to take credit. Don’t blame it on a screening process and don’t distance yourself because you don’t like the press you received. If you’re going to issue an apology, then make it an actual apology. You might even try using the words “I’m sorry,” or “I apologize” to at least try to make it sound sincere. If you want to criticize the RNC, or anyone else for that matter, do it outside your apology because you cheapen the message to the people you offended. Your apology is an affront and you should be ashamed that you tried to lob a softball at us by writing it.
If you’re going to encourage the participants in your contest to be bold in making statements in their advertisements, then you should at least be able to exercise the same courage in telling people you’re sorry.
No one in this Presidential race, Republican or Democrat, deserves comparison to Adolf Hitler, regardless of what anyone thinks of their policies and agenda. No one. Disagree with the man all you want to, but show some responsibility in your critique and some spine in your retraction.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com