(CNN) – Coinciding with the Republican National Convention, MoveOn.org's political wing released a new television ad Monday to air in the Tampa media market attacking Mitt Romney for what the group claims is his focus on the rich.
The 30-second spot titled "Stepping on the Middle Class," features presumptive GOP presidential nominee and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan look-alikes preparing to accept the Republican Party's nominations. As the duo crosses the stage, they literally step on people dressed as typical middle-class Americans – fire fighters, students, seniors and children – lying on the convention floor. The ad concludes with Romney and Ryan, accepting the nomination for "president and vice president of the 1%."
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(CNN) – The liberal MoveOn.org took on Mitt Romney's opposition to the "Buffett Rule" through a play off the Lolcats meme in a new ad released Monday, according to the group.
The 30-second spot, set to run on cat-themed Animal Planet programming, accuses Romney of letting "fat cats rig the system" through a series of images that show large felines on a private jet and swimming in money, among other rich-themed scenarios.
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Retail giant Target is under fire for a campaign contribution. (PHOTO CREDIT: CNN)
Washington (CNN) – A liberal political group and some gays and lesbians have put a bulls-eye on one of the nation's largest retail giants, targeting the Target Corporation with a massive sales boycott despite an apology from the store Thursday night.
MoveOn.org is angry with Target over a political contribution the company made. MoveOn.org sees the contribution as Target's attempt to "buy elections."
Pro gay rights groups are angry with Target because the political contribution went to a group that has endorsed a candidate who is staunchly against same-sex marriage.
On Friday, MoveOn.org delivered a petition to the retailer's Minneapolis headquarters. The political activist group told CNN the petition was signed by over 250,000 people who have pledged not to shop at Target. The group also told CNN that MoveOn.org members went out to protest at over 1,000 of the retailer's stores across the nation on Friday, dropping off letters to Target store managers.
(CNN) - The liberal group MoveOn.org is taking aim at President Obama over a recent interview during which he appeared to refrain from criticizing Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon over their multi-million dollar bonuses.
In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek Tuesday, Obama was asked if he thought the 2009 bonus packages totaling $9 million for Blankfein and $17 million for Dimon were acceptable.
"I know both those guys. They're very savvy businessmen," Obama responded. "And I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That's part of the free market system. I do think that the compensation packages that we've seen over the last decade at least have not matched up always to performance."
Obama also compared the big payouts to those of some professional athletes: "Of course, there are some baseball players who are making more than that who don't get to the World Series either. So I'm shocked by that as well."
In an e-mail to supporters Thursday, MoveOn.org Campaign Director Daniel Mintz especially targets Blankfein, saying "'savvy' doesn't accurately describe a businessman who brought the world economy to the edge of collapse."
(CNN) – Supporters of a public health care option are getting a helping hand from Austin Powers actress Heather Graham.
A new ad released Wednesday by MoveOn.org features Graham representing the public option in a foot race towards the finish line against big insurance companies CIGNA, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Health and Humana.
"Insurance companies have gotten lazy, bloated from the profits of raising our health care costs sky high while the health care crisis keeps getting worse," the announcer says in a 30-second version of the spot, which will air on national and cable television. A 60-second version of the ad is set to air on the Web.
The ad targeting insurers comes amid a new push by liberal groups against the industry. The fresh pressure follows the release last week of a report, funded by the industry's lobbying group and heavily criticized by Democrats, that suggested the president's health care plan would do little to stem surging insurance premiums.
Moveon.org is not releasing the size of the ad buy.
(CNN) –- MoveOn.org named a new executive director Tuesday to head up the daily operations of one of the largest liberal political action committees in the nation.
Former National Organizing Director Justin Ruben was appointed to the post, held until recently by Eli Pariser. Ruben, a long-time political organizer, aided in the establishment of the group’s field organizing program, and headed the 2006 “Call for Change” campaign that facilitated in the election of a Democratic congressional majority, and served as a supervisor for two years in MoveOn's issue campaigns.
"I am honored to take the helm of this organization at this critical moment," said Ruben. "Our five million members stand ready to fight for President Obama's progressive agenda of creating jobs, developing a new green economy, providing health care for all and ending the war in Iraq."
Eli Pariser, the committee’s former executive director, will transition to president of the board.
MoveOn.org supported Barack Obama’s White House bid, a first-time endorsement move for the PAC. Since the organization’s inception, the 527 turned 501(c)(4) organization has spent millions of dollars on ad campaigns and grassroots organizing.
(CNN) - Barack Obama on Monday seemed to take a direct swipe at MoveOn.org, the powerful liberal group which endorsed the Illinois senator's candidacy earlier this year and was at times instrumental to his organization in several key battleground states.
In a speech designed to combat charges he lacks patriotism, Obama sharply condemned organizations that use "these old, threadbare arguments" to level criticisms and specifically pointed to MoveOn.org's controversial newspaper ad last fall that attacked the top U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus.
Watch: Obama talks patriotism
"All too often our politics still seems trapped in these old, threadbare arguments – a fact most evident during our recent debates about the war in Iraq, when those who opposed administration policy were tagged by some as unpatriotic, and a general providing his best counsel on how to move forward in Iraq was accused of betrayal," Obama said.
MoveOn has not responded to Obama's comments.
The full page ad was published in the New York Times to coincide with Petraeus' appearance on the Hill last September to brief Congress on the progress in Iraq. Under a picture of Petraeus, a banner read, "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"
Watch: New York Times takes heat for ad
The ad went on to allege the general was "cooking the books for the White House," and intentionally painting a rosy picture of the conditions on the ground.
Despite pressure from Republicans, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama formally repudiated the group for the ad, though both expressed criticisms. Clinton voted against a Senate resolution to formally condemn the group, while Obama specifically avoided voting either way on the resolution.
"The notion that we're wasting time debating about a newspaper ad, makes no sense," he said then. "So I didn't even vote on that vote, I just said I'm not going to vote on this. This is the kind of game playing that the American people are tired of."
MoveOn.org, which endorsed Obama shortly before the crucial Febuary 5 round of primaries, boasts more than 3 million members and has since conducted large-scale get-out-the-vote efforts and fundraising on the Illinois senator's behalf.
(CNN) – MoveOn.org announced Wednesday they are launching their massive television ad buy aimed at presumptive Republican nominee John McCain with a new spot tomorrow, the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.
The 30-second ad, funded by the group’s donors and its political action committee, marks the start of the liberal advocacy group’s million dollar, month-long ad campaign aimed at the Arizona senator.
MoveOn will spend $160,000 to air the new ad - titled “Candles” - on cable as well as on broadcast networks in Iowa and New Mexico, where the McCain campaign is currently on the air without competition from either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
“MoveOn.org is attempting to smear Senator McCain just like it smeared General Petraeus. MoveOn.org is joining Barack Obama and the DNC in maliciously misquoting John McCain,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant. “At nearly every event, Obama bemoans the ‘negative tone’ of politics, even while groups that support him are now running negative ads. Now, Obama should prove his rhetoric is more than ‘just words’ and stand up to MoveOn.org.”
(updated with MoveOn response after the jump)
WASHINGTON (CNN) - MoveOn.org, a grassroots powerhouse that supports Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, launched a fundraising drive Thursday to counter Sen. Hillary Clinton's wealthy supporters.
Her supporters have recently argued with their checkbooks that superdelegates should vote their conscience at the Democratic National Convention in August.
MoveOn's drive sets up a face-off that illustrates the widening gap in the Democratic Party between some of its traditional financial backers, many of whom support Clinton, and a Netroots donor base that leans toward Obama.
Twenty of Clinton's major donors sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday that suggested they might rethink their support for the party's congressional efforts this cycle if Pelosi did not alter her publicly stated view that superdelegates should support the party's pledged delegate leader - a position that would be fatal to Clinton's presidential bid.
"We have been strong supporters of the DCCC," they wrote. "We therefore urge you to clarify your position on superdelegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August."
The DCCC - Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee - assists the party's House candidates.
A day later, MoveOn.org announced its fundraising drive to demonstrate its support for Pelosi's position
"It's the worst kind of insider politics - billionaires bullying our elected leaders into ignoring the will of the voters," wrote organizers in an e-mail to the group's members. "But when we all pool our resources, together we're stronger than the fat cats. So let's tell Nancy Pelosi that if she keeps standing up for regular Americans, thousands of us will have her back. And we can more than match whatever the CEOs and billionaires refuse to contribute."
Senior advisers to Clinton's campaign denied Thursday the campaign had anything to do with the donors' message to Pelosi.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are teaming up for a new project, but this one probably won't lead to an Oscar.
The two actors are part of a new effort from MoveOn.org to create a television ad in support of Barack Obama's bid for the White House. The liberal group, which endorsed the Illinois senator last month, is asking its 3.2 million members to create a 30 second campaign commercial that "shows what inspires them about the senator's candidacy."
Damon and Affleck, along with film director Oliver Stone and singer John Legend, are among the panel of judges.
"After eight years of President Bush campaigning on fear and war, people are feeling hopeful again. They're eager to talk about what inspires them about our country - and Senator Obama leading it,” Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn said. “Since creative and grassroots energy has helped power Barack Obama’s campaign from the start, this contest is a great way to deliver that message of hope to voters in Pennsylvania and across the nation.”
In a statement, Affleck said the competition is "a chance for everyone, from aspiring filmmakers to armchair pundits, to raise their voices to put Obama over the top."
MoveOn says it will announce the winner before the crucial Pennsylvania primary which takes place early in April. It says the winning ad will air on national television but has not yet decided when. The winner will also win a gift certificate for $20,000 in video equipment.
The group held a similar competition in 2004, asking members then to create a "Bush in 30 Seconds" campaign ad. The organization received 1,500 entries in that contest.
From CNN Politics
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