Moveon Org

IT looked for a while as if MoveOn.org had become one of Hollywood's favorite liberal advocacy groups, especially for those looking for a place to express their antiwar sentiments without incurring a lot of unfavorable publicity. Directors and celebrities lined up to help the Internet-based organization formed in 1998 in the wake of President Clinton's impeachment. Oliver Stone directed an antiwar ad for the group, as did Rob Reiner.

Republicans escalated a rhetorical war with Democrats over political advertising on Thursday, as the Senate voted 72 to 25 to condemn an attack on the U.S. commander in Iraq by the liberal activist group MoveOn.org. President Bush entered the fray for the first time, describing a newspaper ad sponsored by MoveOn.org -- which ridiculed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as "General Betray Us" -- as "disgusting." "I felt like the ad was an attack not only on Gen. Petraeus, but on the U.S.

After two weeks of denials, the New York Times acknowledged that it should not have given a discount to MoveOn.org for a full-page ad assailing Army Gen. David H. Petraeus. The liberal group MoveOn should have paid $142,000, not $65,000, for the ad that referred to the U.S. commander in Iraq as "General Betray Us," wrote Clark Hoyt, the newspaper's public editor.

Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org launched a campaign Tuesday on Facebook against Facebook, raising privacy concerns for users of the fast-growing social network. At issue is Facebook's new advertising program that lets its members notify friends about movies they rent, items they auction and movie tickets they buy at partner sites elsewhere on the Web. Facebook allows its members to opt out of the ad system, called Beacon. But MoveOn.

The online advertising system that was supposed to light Facebook Inc.'s way to riches has created such a storm of negative publicity that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg personally apologized Wednesday and told users they could turn it off. In a mea culpa designed to appease the social networking site's more than 57 million users and the marketers trying to reach them, Zuckerberg said Facebook should have responded to the public outcry sooner.

Maybe to save money and reduce duplication, MoveOn.org and the Republican National Committee should just hire the same ad agency. Usually, the RNC and MoveOn, the giant online liberal advocacy group, go at it hammer and tongs. But they have found common cause of a sort. Both are highlighting the resolution by Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.) asking the Senate to censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency.

The liberal challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) escalated Friday when the political arm of MoveOn.org, an influential online advocacy group, endorsed the political newcomer opposing his bid for renomination. Gaining the support of MoveOn's political action committee was Ned Lamont, a businessman who wants to unseat Lieberman largely because of the veteran lawmaker's staunch support for the war in Iraq. The group announced its backing after polling MoveOn's members in Connecticut.

Authorities are searching for a healthcare reform supporter who they said bit off the fingertip of a 65-year-old man during a fight at a MoveOn.org rally in Thousand Oaks. The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Wednesday at a "We Can't Afford to Wait" vigil organized by affiliates of the activist group MoveOn.org, which drew supporters of President Obama's healthcare plan, said Senior Deputy Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. The rally also attracted several counter-protesters, he said.

MoveOn.org, the online liberal advocacy group, threw its weight into the race for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship by announcing a plan Tuesday for state-by-state endorsements from its nearly 3 million members. The move is expected to help chairman candidate Howard Dean, who finished first in a 2003 straw poll of MoveOn members during his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

With an early fundraising blitz, the online liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org has shown both its potential as a Democratic asset and a Republican target in the 2006 elections. In less than three days last week, the group's political action committee raised from its members nearly $833,000 for Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who next year could face his first competitive race in decades. The amount represented more than three-fourths of the total that Byrd collected between Jan.