The origins of moveon.org

[Don Vito Corleone]

I had never really known where moveon.org came from - this article tells the story.

In 1997, Boyd and Blades sold their software company, Berkeley Systems (famous for its flying toaster screensavers and its trivia game You Don't Know Jack), for a reported $14 million. A year later came the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, which struck them as an absurd waste of public money and time. "Washington was just in this bubble of nonreality," says Blades.

One night during the run-up to Clinton's impeachment, Boyd and Blades were at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. They were griping about politics; this being Berkeley, they overheard a nearby couple having the same conversation. A few days later, they emailed a petition to a hundred or so friends calling on Congress to censure Clinton and "move on." Within a week, it had 100,000 signers. Within a month, more than 300,000.

Although the email petition spread, its effect on Congress was imperceptible. Boyd and Blades were newcomers to politics. Upset at being ignored, they used the list of email addresses to arrange for supporters to make personal visits to congressional field offices around the country. In the fall of 1998, MoveOn members visited more than 400 of the 435 delegations, repeating the message of the MoveOn petition. These meetings also had no effect. Clinton was impeached. Boyd and Blades persisted, using their email list, which now had 300,000 names, to organize against the reelection of impeachment leaders in the 1998 midterm elections. Once again, the results were disappointing. Of the 30 candidates MoveOn opposed, nearly all were reelected.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: DonVito
I had never really known where moveon.org came from - this article tells the story.

In 1997, Boyd and Blades sold their software company, Berkeley Systems (famous for its flying toaster screensavers and its trivia game You Don't Know Jack), for a reported $14 million. A year later came the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, which struck them as an absurd waste of public money and time. "Washington was just in this bubble of nonreality," says Blades.

One night during the run-up to Clinton's impeachment, Boyd and Blades were at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. They were griping about politics; this being Berkeley, they overheard a nearby couple having the same conversation. A few days later, they emailed a petition to a hundred or so friends calling on Congress to censure Clinton and "move on." Within a week, it had 100,000 signers. Within a month, more than 300,000.

Although the email petition spread, its effect on Congress was imperceptible. Boyd and Blades were newcomers to politics. Upset at being ignored, they used the list of email addresses to arrange for supporters to make personal visits to congressional field offices around the country. In the fall of 1998, MoveOn members visited more than 400 of the 435 delegations, repeating the message of the MoveOn petition. These meetings also had no effect. Clinton was impeached. Boyd and Blades persisted, using their email list, which now had 300,000 names, to organize against the reelection of impeachment leaders in the 1998 midterm elections. Once again, the results were disappointing. Of the 30 candidates MoveOn opposed, nearly all were reelected.

:thumbsup: Good find. Interesting read.

 

[Kibbo]

Ditto.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Interesing. I remember the You Don't Know Jack trivia games, too. It was kind of popular.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

 

[Infohawk]

One of the only good things to come out of the Lewinsky scandal was a core of activists who knew they had to fight against a radical group of neocons who would use anything at their disposal to destroy their opponents.

 

[Infohawk]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

Hey, check out the red state thread. If you want to enter a mutual boycott I can assure you the redstates would lose.

 

[zzzz]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

How exactly is he going to shut them down?

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: zzzz

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

How exactly is he going to shut them down?

They are terrorists!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

MUST . . . CRUSH . . . ALL . . . DISSENTERS . . .

I hope the Founding Fathers come back and haunt you good!

 

[Todd33]

Moveon has 2 million members. If the government can shut down a legal activist org, then it's a country I don't want to live in.

 

[viivo]

Originally posted by: zzzz

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

How exactly is he going to shut them down?

By sending the thought police to their underground hideout, of course.

Fortunately Felix represents a minority of a minority of the right. Otherwise we'd all be screwed.

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

Why would he shut them down? More importantly, how could he?

 

[Ozoned]

Originally posted by: DonVito
I had never really known where moveon.org came from - this article tells the story.

In 1997, Boyd and Blades sold their software company, Berkeley Systems (famous for its flying toaster screensavers and its trivia game You Don't Know Jack), for a reported $14 million. A year later came the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, which struck them as an absurd waste of public money and time. "Washington was just in this bubble of nonreality," says Blades.

One night during the run-up to Clinton's impeachment, Boyd and Blades were at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. They were griping about politics; this being Berkeley, they overheard a nearby couple having the same conversation. A few days later, they emailed a petition to a hundred or so friends calling on Congress to censure Clinton and "move on." Within a week, it had 100,000 signers. Within a month, more than 300,000.

Although the email petition spread, its effect on Congress was imperceptible. Boyd and Blades were newcomers to politics. Upset at being ignored, they used the list of email addresses to arrange for supporters to make personal visits to congressional field offices around the country. In the fall of 1998, MoveOn members visited more than 400 of the 435 delegations, repeating the message of the MoveOn petition. These meetings also had no effect. Clinton was impeached. Boyd and Blades persisted, using their email list, which now had 300,000 names, to organize against the reelection of impeachment leaders in the 1998 midterm elections. Once again, the results were disappointing. Of the 30 candidates MoveOn opposed, nearly all were reelected.

Moveon.org just happened . Kind of surreal, considering the lengths that some people go to to be in complete control of every little detail in their life.

 

[Infohawk]

Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

"Facist predispostion" - tell that to the idiots who oppose the swift boat vets in their quest to tell the truth. You people want it both ways. Forget about it. Who can speak and who cant, etc.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Moveon has 2 million members. If the government can shut down a legal activist org, then it's a country I don't want to live in.

.............














Unless it is swiftvets....

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

"Facist predispostion" - tell that to the idiots who oppose the swift boat vets in their quest to tell the truth. You people want it both ways. Forget about it. Who can speak and who cant, etc.

Do you listen to yourself talk, or do you find you just drift in and out?

The reason I ask is that you are saying people can't have it both ways (some have free speech, some don't), yet you support the PRESIDENT, who represents the government if I recall correctly, shutting down a political group while at the same time ranting about individuals who are expressing their right to say that they think that another political group is lying.

Your logic astounds me. I cannot figure out how you could have come to this position of yours.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

"Facist predispostion" - tell that to the idiots who oppose the swift boat vets in their quest to tell the truth. You people want it both ways. Forget about it. Who can speak and who cant, etc.

Do you listen to yourself talk, or do you find you just drift in and out?

The reason I ask is that you are saying people can't have it both ways (some have free speech, some don't), yet you support the PRESIDENT, who represents the government if I recall correctly, shutting down a political group while at the same time ranting about individuals who are expressing their right to say that they think that another political group is lying.

Your logic astounds me. I cannot figure out how you could have come to this position of yours.

He didnt understand, and neither do you, that all 527s must go - including moveon. I was hoping that pointing it out the way I did, mentioniong sbvs, would do it. Apparently however, logic escapes you. Go ahead and reply, but it wont matter because Im right. Shut them all down, both sides. Period. Thats what the President wants.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

"Facist predispostion" - tell that to the idiots who oppose the swift boat vets in their quest to tell the truth. You people want it both ways. Forget about it. Who can speak and who cant, etc.

Do you listen to yourself talk, or do you find you just drift in and out?

The reason I ask is that you are saying people can't have it both ways (some have free speech, some don't), yet you support the PRESIDENT, who represents the government if I recall correctly, shutting down a political group while at the same time ranting about individuals who are expressing their right to say that they think that another political group is lying.

Your logic astounds me. I cannot figure out how you could have come to this position of yours.

He didnt understand, and neither do you, that all 527s must go - including moveon. I was hoping that pointing it out the way I did, mentioniong sbvs, would do it. Apparently however, logic escapes you. Go ahead and reply, but it wont matter because Im right. Shut them all down, both sides. Period. Thats what the President wants.

Interesting...but I didn't see anything about 527s in anything you said. What I saw was your first post where you said you hope Bush shuts down Move On, ASAP. Then you said "you people want it both ways" in reference to the "idiots" who oppose the SBVFT.

Apparently it's my fault that I took that to mean you support the right to free speech of one group you agree with, and oppose it for a group you don't agree with :roll: In the future, if we are having a discussion about 527s, actually USING that term might help some of us see what you are talking about.

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Old news. Hopefully Bush shuts down these clowns asap. Too bad my flying toaster scrensaver money went to them. :|

Why would he shut them down? More importantly, how could he?

I think it's safe to say he meant the ads. 527 ads need to go, I think people from both parties can agree.

 

[cpumaster]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Infohawk
Sadly I don't think FelixDeKat is that rare. Anger over 9/11 gave fuel to people with a fascist predisposition.

*shakes head and wonders what ckg would think*

"Facist predispostion" - tell that to the idiots who oppose the swift boat vets in their quest to tell the truth. You people want it both ways. Forget about it. Who can speak and who cant, etc.

Quest to tell the truth? Sir, you haven't been following the news have you? Most people/media is not trying to shut them down, they just trying to find if the swift vets are telling truth or lie and most have come to conclusion that most of the vets in SBVT if not outright lying, then they tell stories based on third party info, not actually the 1st person witness. Granted Kerry campaign try to shut them down thru FEC because 1.) they are not telling the truth, 2.) they are damaging to his campaign,

but Bush and other candidates throughout campaign history has always done the same thing... that's why we have the judicial system to decide such thing...

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Moveon has 2 million members. If the government can shut down a legal activist org, then it's a country I don't want to live in.

Personally IMHO they should lose their tax exempt status.

And hes not talking about shutting down moveon, hes talking about shutting down their 527 activities.

 

[cpumaster]

Originally posted by: digitalsm

Personally IMHO they should lose their tax exempt status.

And hes not talking about shutting down moveon, hes talking about shutting down their 527 activities.

Then what would moveon do? Isn't their core existence and main activity now is based on the 527?
If you shut down 527, you sure any negativity will go away? IMHO, people will find way to channel money to anything they want to say about whatever they want... the process is not perfect but it's better than complete shut down of freedom of speeches...
Can you imagine if all the political viewpoint & news only comes from the govt?

 

[Kibbo]

You guys used to have a regulation of the media that required equal time to both sides. Would you be happier with that? Instead of just shutting down all non campaign originated material, wouldn't it be a neat compromise to allow some of it, but to limit the amount in order to ensure fairness? I know that you guys take your freedom of speech so seriously that you would rather have it all, or none at all, but couldn't this be a neat compromise?