The moveon.org vote WAS NOT about free speech!

[calteacherguy]

This is the last comment I want to make on this. I feeling it's time to, uh, "move on" from this topic.

But, it wasn't about free speech! Did they recind the constitution? No! Could they have recinded the constitution? No! Could moveon.org or any other entity publish the same and worse about Patraeus tomorrow? Yes! It's free speech, and it's in the constitution!

So, anyone who tells you it was about free speech is just flat-out wrong! That is all.

[DURHAM D]

1. Are you trying to tell me the sky is NOT falling? eom

[madfloridian]

2. Oh. yes, it most certainly was.

It was about voting to condemn a group because of a choice of a word that Bush did not like..

Oh, yes, it was about free speech.

[Mojambo]

13. And it was representatives condemning the very people they represent. n/t

[Fleshdancer]

3. what was it about? n/t

[calteacherguy]

5. Nothing of consequence! Just a bunch of senators passing gas, basically! nt

[Fleshdancer]

11. But it had to be about something

and I'm not convinced that passing gas was part of it. Why take the time and energy to stop whatever it is you're doing to condemn an ad placed by MoveOn.org?

[mitchtv]

16. and a bunch of Dems displaying their contempt

for their constituents, and Cowardice attn: Biden/ Obama
and. Harry Reid being a fool and a weakling.

[patrice]

14. It was about them and how they do business:

"Two is company. Three is a crowd."

What the People think and feel interferes with how they get things done. And at this point, for many Democrats, it's more about getting something, anything done, rather than getting the Right thing done. We gave the Repuglicans something to bitch about and that supposedly screwed up anything they could have come together on, when there NEVER was and never will be anything they can work on together. The appearance of doing so is what we fucked up for them.

[jumpoffdaplanet]

4. It was Tester and Webb kicking MoveOn after...

taking the money.

It was betrayal and bullshit.

[Mojambo]

6. It was about stifling dissent

Technically not a hard free speech issue, but still dangerous.

[xchrom]

8. what you said. n/t

[calteacherguy]

9. No, no, no! It was not!

Dissent is protected in the constitution, and the Senate stifled nothing by this vote! All they did was pass gas.

Obama was right to stay away from the stinkpots.

[Clintonista2]

17. They were giving free speech a ceremonial "FUCK YOU"

[mitchtv]

18. Obama is a chicken

like Biden.A "no" vote was called for . Too busy? turn in your month's salary

[2rth2pwr]

21. Give me a break about stifling dissent

Does MoveOn plan to stop producing more ads? They are having a fund raising bonanza, and they are proud of the ad and its effects. They ran a full page ad in the New York Times, got coverage on just about every news outlet and their next stunt will get even more coverage.

Eli Pariser, head of MoveOn is making PR releases all over the place today, and Bill Zimmerman the producer of the ads said the group is pleased with the outcome.

"The intent was to elevate these issues by drawing attention to the facts," Zimmerman said. "The idea was to jump start the debate. We succeeded in doing that." 09/21 LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-cause21sep21,1,4561352.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

Stifling dissent, my ass.

[daninthemoon]

7. Then there should have been no reason for a vote at all.

[calteacherguy]

10. Right! Dems shouldn't have even bothered to show up for such conduct unworthy of the senate! nt

[AtomicKitten]

19. I wholeheartedly agree.

Quite frankly, I don't understand why others don't see this.

Jeez, the Dems have been led by the nose for the last six years and some here have a problem with a candidate that does the right thing and just flips off that bullshit system?!! Oy vey.

The Democrats have got to get off the ride and quit buying into the GOP reindeer games.

Kudos to Obama.

[Adelante]

24. egg-zactly

Yet, if there was going to be a vote, the Boxer amendment sufficed. But Dems should have told the other side to stuff the one-sided Cornyn amendment and not voted. Period.

[Va Lefty]

12. What made the ad especially dangerous

was MoveOn.org used the kind of "tactics" repugs have been using for years. That's why, in their eyes, it must be smacked down. God forbid MoveOn would use these tactics next year.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. Every new thread like this one makes so proud I donated today.

MoveOn has lifted the fog from the political playing field and we have a moment of clarity where we can see exactly where everyone stands.

Of course this was about free speech. Rescind? No, they didn't rescind the 1st in this case, although the patriot act managed to do more than a bit of that, ask a librarian to tell you about national security letters, oh wait the nice librarian cannot tell you about national security letters as the librarian had her freedom of speech rescinded. No, today the Senate tried to bully an organization into shutting up for daring to question the integrity of a general officer of the army who recently lied to the Senate. You should be outraged, but you aren't.

MoveOn has lifted the fog from the political playing field and we have a moment of clarity where we can see exactly where everyone stands.

Every new thread like this one makes so proud I donated today.

[Desertrose]

20. The perfect word...bully

...they used bully tactics.


Well put, Warren.

DR

[MadHound]

22. Actually, it is

Sure, it isn't a vote to redo the Constitution, and people can still publish ads like the Betray us ad. However this vote was and is a chilling factor on free speech. It is designed to be a chilling factor, much like the Red Scare of the early fifties imposed chilling factors onto our society.

Sure, there are no legal consequences, but the Congress is trying to establish societal consequences with this vote, ie a chilling factor.

Frankly, this vote should have never come onto the floor, and the fact that not only did it come to the floor, but that have of the Dems voted for it simply doesn't bode well for the party. It confirms the worst about the Dems, that they are willing to throw their base under the bus, and that they are just as much corporate controlled stooges as the 'Pugs are.

No, it isn't an earthshattering vote, but it is both significant and disturbing.

[Larkspur]

23. It was about our aristocrats telling us peasants to "Shut Up and enjoy being abused"

[Skittles]

25. literally it wasn't but SYMBOLICALLY it absolutely WAS

please learn the difference - and the danger