USO directors object to MoveOn’s cash
You may have read over the holidays that the Petraeus-bashers at MoveOn raised money for the USO. Now, some directors have assailed the decision and want the organization to return the tainted cash:
The chairman of the United Service Organizations defended its decision to pair with MoveOn.org to provide phone cards to U.S. troops after some USO board members were outraged by a partnership with a group that opposes the Iraq war.
At least one board member, Vietnam veteran John Gioia, called for USO President Edward Powell to be fired over his decision to accept more than $350,000 from MoveOn’s members to buy phone cards for troops overseas.
In September, MoveOn angered opponents and even some supporters by placing an advertisement in The New York Times in advance of congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, about the status of President Bush’s war strategy. The ad said, “General Petraeus, or General Betray Us?”
That’s hardly a sentiment felt by USO board members, many of whom are retired military officers or Bush appointees.
There were rumblings of discontent over Powell’s decision last month to accept MoveOn’s offer to e-mail its 3.3 million members soliciting $15 contributions to pay for the phone cards.
“USO is partnering with an anti-war, anti-administration organization that castigates the efforts of General Petraeus and our troops – past and present – who have served in Iraq,” Gioia said in an e-mail to other USO directors and employees. “I am disgusted by this action.”
William Moll, chairman of the USO’s board of governors, defended Powell’s decision, saying in an e-mail to fellow directors that the organization welcomes contributions regardless of the political slant of the donor. He said special steps were taken to make sure MoveOn didn’t make partisan or controversial statements when soliciting their members to give to the USO.
Perhaps, in the interest of full disclosure, any calling card paid for by MoveOn should be emblazoned with the MoveOn ad attacking Gen. Petraeus. Then the troops can make a fully informed decision about whether they want to use them:
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I think it was a mistake to take money from that foul group, especially after that ad. MoveOn is anti-military and giving this money is only a ploy to be used to claim they care about the troops, which of course, it total BS.
You lay with dogs, you get fleas. The USO will come to regret this.
Accepting money from a terrorist organization… not a good look USO.
No doubt about it. Bad move.
But you see, they don’t support the war, but they support the troops!
That’s their calling card.
I would’ve returned the money.
If they have their money, I guess they don’t need mine.
Keep the cash. Giving them back the money only enables them to spend it on their wayward, wild-eyed left-wing propaganda.
While I like the full disclosure approach (letting the troops know who donated the cards so they can decline them), I’d rather that moveon.org not be given any publicity for the donations, especially on the cards themselves.
The money was donated by Americans (mostly, I guess) who receive the benefits of the troops’ efforts by living in a relatively safe country. So regardless of their motives, it’s an opportunity for them to pay a debt of gratitude to the troops.
But the directors who supported this partnership? Fire them! Fire them before they damage the organizations reputation any further and drive away people who openly support the troops and their efforts.
So, if OBL sent $350,000 through some back-channel to the USO for phone cards, the USO would accept it?
These folks can decide for themselves yet I did 20 in the Army and if it were me, I’d tell the USO to tell MoveOn dot org to use their money for TP.
MoveOn could only come up with $350,000 out of 3.3 MILLION members? Such small change shows exactly how much they care!
To follow up on rsb1’s comment: that means that only 23,334 members – out of 3.3 million – actually coughed up cash (@$15/phone card)…which means a whopping 0.7% of MoveOn.org’s members contributed. Nigerian mail scams have better returns.
Should Brooke Army Medical specify what parts of their facility Rosie O’Donnell’s money paid for? Or Cher’s?
At least this didn’t show up in that silly “They don’t care about the troops” tag.
This is $350,000 for the American troops to call their families and friends. And you want to take it away. If you people really cared about the troops you’d be ecstatic while still condemning what Move On believes in. Instead, you care more about scoring points against a liberal organization.
People who mess around with recruitment and try to stop military supplies from going through…they are hurting our troops. People and groups that oppose the Iraq war do not fall into that category.
If you want to have fun with this, then urge troops to use the cards to call Move On and complain. But I bet they’d rather call home. And Move On is helping them do just that.
Where are your priorities?
This will hurt the USO. Those not affiliated with MoveOn, aka those most inclined to contribute on a regular basis to the USO, will think twice before sending any cash their way in the future.
The conclusion I reach is that the USO did not disagree with MoveOn’s characterization of General Petraeus, and does not mind the message it is sending to those under his command. It might do them some good to look at the purpose of the USO – I thought it was to boost morale, not destroy it.
Sounds like a housecleaning is in order for the USO leaders.
…the organization welcomes contributions regardless of the political slant of the donor.
Is he implying that if Osama Bin Laden’s boy’s or Hamas were to make a similar approach that the USO would accept it as well? I think it is time for the USO to seek out a more clear thinking individual to make these decisions on their behalf, and duly recognize just what these types of organizations represent as relates to our military.
If MoveOn wants to help the troops they should first apologize to the troops and General Petraeus, at the very least, then promise not to betray them in the future.
A forthright and sincere confession of wrongs against people in harms way would mean quite a lot more than even phone cards
If how often I get solicitations from the USO is any indication, they did need the
money. Between the USO and the Salvation Army, it seems we are always
writing checks.
At least this money is for a good cause.
They should keep it, at least it’s out of the hands of Hillary, Obama and Silky Pony.
The USO should keep the money and issue a public disclaimer stating that MoveOn does not represent the opinions of the USO, its officers or employees.
The Moveon folks will use this in their campaign to win the White House. They love the troops (don’t you know).
I think it is important where money comes from when charities take donations. Our family rotates on giving to Wounded Warriors, USO and the Semper Fi Fund. My initial reaction to this was to drop the USO. I find it very disturbing that they took money from an anti-military group. I am going to have to think about this.
Come on, folks.
We may disagree with some of MoveOn’s actions, but MoveOn’s members love their country as much as we do and this was a very kind, very generous gesture FOR OUR FIGHTING MEN AND WOMEN OVERSEAS.
Way to support the troops, gang! You make me ashamed to be conservative.
Frankly, I’d take every possible dime from MoveOn, then publicly mock them for such a VERY low turn out on the donations, and then get Rush to spend an hour of his radio show on this, and watch him raise over a million, and then mock MoveOn again.
But keep the money.
To my knowledge the USO is a private organization. It depends upon donations. Unfortunately this donation comes from some rather dispicable characters.
Instead of dogging the USO and saying they will regret it. How about digging into your pockets and doing the BOB HOPE thing. Donate to a worthy organization. If we pitch in then they would not have the need for moveon.org’s money.
Come on,David Segal, you are not a conservative, a troll perhaps, a “progressive” no doubt. I have found that the USO is not what it was even 10 years ago. I give my money to people who actually a rats ass like Soldiers Angels.
Totally off-topic, but anyone ever heard what happened to that loon Deborah Frisch? Last I heard she was facing contempt charges around July/August 2007, but not a peep since.. is she in jail, or perhaps she’s been committed to psychiatric care? (physician heal thyself wouldn’t apply in her case).. anyone heard?
Well, I fully expected the members of Trollville to state, “It shouldn’t matter where the money came from, as long as it was for the troops”, or “See, they support the troops, just not the war” or some other mythical BS, and sure enough…I wasn’t disappointed.
This is blood money. This money is stained with the blood of those whose words and deeds have had soldiers killed in this war. This money is dripping with the blood of soldiers who were killed by people whose protests in the streets of this country, whose posters that read, “We support the troops when they shoot their officers”, and, “We support the Iraqi Insurgents” and “Death to Bush and Cheney” and, “Bush is Hitler” as well as, “9-11 was an inside job and was not committed by Muslims” and other such lies and anti-American, traitorous, seditious statements, quotes and nausiating insults to people’s intellignce.
The same people who donated money for these cards also donated money that went directly to the coffers of the enemy to treat their wounded and fund their weapons cache during the Battle of Fallujah when Code Pink tossed the Iraqi “Freedom Fighters” a big fat check.
This little ploy by Moveon did not fool anyone. This was a political ploy pure and simple. There was no “good will gesture” behind this. There was no” support the troops” mivement behind this. There was no “We really do care about our military men and women and want them to call their loved ones”. This was meant to assuage people’s guilt, to embarass the President and all those that expose Moveon for the anti-American Socialist front group they are and I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the majority of the money given, if not all of it, came directly from Soros himself, as a way to make a statement directly to the fact of “See, we can Support the Troops and still be Against the War”
The USO should not give the cards back. They should take a 50 gallon oil can, a 5 gallon Jerry can of Diesel, put the cards in it, douse the whole thing, get out the HD camera, light it up, film it, put it on their site with a message that says, “Thanks but no thanks. If we wanted support from the enemy, we would have asked Osama to send presents at Christmas. If you really want to help, stop the protests, stop speaking out against the war and the troops, jpin the team and come in for the win. That might prove to us your sincerity that you Support the Troops. Tokens are for the Subway. We have enough comedians on stage.”
*applause* nice
I cannot comment on your question…here
It matters very much where money comes from when you accept donations. What if these cards had come from N.A.M.B.L.A.? Or maybe the K.K.K.? How about Al Qaeda themselves? Would you peole that support this donation from these pseudo-criminals at Moveon,org, who bullies small businesses, who makes anti-American statements, who came out with a full page add, libeling a highly decorated general, who was leading our troops in Iraq during a time of war in a way that had never been done in history in this country before and would, just 60 years ago, would have had the entire lot of them up against a wall in a federal prison, who is personally responsible for Internet videos that have compared President bush with a murderous dictator who was responsible for a war in which over 50 million people were killed, 6 million Jews were slaughtered in death camps alone, 5 million Catholics, political dissidents, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others in death camps as well, other Internet videos and propaganda that has been seen by our enemies in the Middle East that has lead undoubtedly to escalations of violence and deaths of our military men and women in Iraq rather have the money come from those groups?
Is there difference, in your minds, betwen the groups mentioned in this post? After all, in your argument, the money is going to the tropps. It is going for a just, good and righteous cause, so who really cares where the money comes from right? Why should we have morals and values when it comes to monetary donations.
In fact, who cares when it comes to our political candidates? If hill-dawg wants to take millions of dollars from the ChiComs or Romney wants to take a couple of million from the North American Man/Boy Love association, who really cares…so long as they use that money for good, and don’t do anything bad. At least the people who donated the money won’t be using it for naughty things any more, and we will know where it is going.
Those of you sitting on the fence on this issue, think about it. Do you really want bad people giving money to good things? Think back to the Mafia. Where did that dirty money come from? Do you want to have anything to do with how that money came about? Do you want to have anything to do with Moveon’s money? Does anyone really want to validate Moveon by accepting anything from them, making them the good gu in anything? they are bad, bad people who do bad, bad things, say bad, bad things and represent a bad, bad, policy and lifestyle.
If I was dying of thirst in the desert and Moveon offered me a glass of water, I would die of thirst first. Their hands are permanently stained with the blood of American soldiers and no amount of donations, no matter what kind, will get the stains, nor the stench of death, off of them.
People have a lot of choices of where to send their charitable dollar. For many folks, who to support is their most closely scrutinized spending decision of the year.
If the USO is going to get into bed with MoveOn.org, people are no longer going to be able to assume that USO can be counted on to always support the troops. MoveOn.org has a long, well documented history of disrespect for our men in uniform. There can be no way USO was not aware of this.
Even if we are to believe that these donations are a demonstration of heartfelt support from MoveOn.org’s membership, less than 1% of them chose to respond favorably to a call for $15 donations for the phone cards. We can be pretty confident the other 99% despise the troops as much as they always have.
You know Retfireman I couldn’t have said it any better than in your above posts. I only wish I had been awake to tell you. My husband has been in the military for almost 20 years and I know he would not accept the card from Moveon, even though he’s over there now. Sorry that’s not what some of you (Rusty & Segal) want to hear, but it’s his choice and I support it. We care where the money comes from and so should you. These people have nothing but contempt for the military and especially it’s Commander in Chief. Maybe some of the people who donated had good intentions, but who knows? It saddens me that the USO has accepted this money considering its source. If Moveon would have encouraged these individuals to donate directly to the USO like many of us do, that would be fine, but this came with a political message and it offends me.
Moveon, take you’re money and shove it up you’re………..
The Devil never gives you anything for free, there is ALWAYS some kind of price tag waiting in the wings to bite the tar out of you. Can we expect anything less from moveon.org?
This partnership should never been accepted, and now if we give the money back the Left will claim that we are the ones who hate the troops. If we don’t give the money back we will seem to be validating Moveon.org.
Either way it isn’t good.
The only way I can see out of this mess is give the cards to the troops with full disclosure, and explain to them if they don’t want to keep the money they should write an open letter explaining why. Then those cards that were returned could be auctioned off and the proceeds could be used to publish the best open letters in newspapers across the country.
It never makes sense to me when people are asked to return money to an offensive donor. For a charity like the USO or Red Cross or for a politician why return it? Returning the money gives it to the objectionable party. It makes much more sense to refuse to keep the money, so the donor can’t boast of you accepting it, but instead of giving it back transfer it to another legitimate charity. Hopefully one that is non-partisan but that the original donor would not think of or want to be seen helping. Harry Truman cleverly asked people to give to the Korean Red Cross. Perhaps there is a charity for women who are fleeing abusive treatment in the Islamic world?
They object? I object!
Many people refered the VFW as “class of ‘41″ for the way they treated the returning vietnam vets. It appears the USO is going down the same road.
Let the troops decide. I vote for full disclosure.
USO – you’ve made a bad situation worse. The folks at MoveOn do not support the troops. And what’s with this change of heart recently on the part of the Lefties? Nancy Pelosi letter to a fallen hero’s father and now MoveOn donating phone cards for the troops to the USO.
I question the timing and motive behind the act. Eyes and ears wide open… Things to make you go hmmmmm.
Powell needs to be fired because he lacks principles. If he doesn’t understand why taking money from a group that has constantly belittled our troops, than he doesn’t deserve a job. Further, if he’s too daft to understand that the USO’s being used by a cunning leftest organization, then he’s too much of a stooge to be working on behalf of our troops.
My wife and I have decided to return some donations. As much as we need the funds, there are just some things we are not willing to sacrifice to keep them.
Mother Teresa did the same thing when she found out where a huge donation came from. We do not compare ourselves to her; it is just a matter of integrity.
The USO should have some integrity and refuse the funds. They are tainted no matter how you look at it. MO spent more money doing the wrong thing then they are in helping the war effort. If MO printed a retraction to that horrible add they placed, it would be a start. MO should set up some shows for the troops through USO. Actions not words have condemned MO.
I am with AJ, the USO should tell MO to shove it – sideways!
How do you know this money actually came from MoveOn.org members or was actually solicited from outside their organization? It may well be money contributed by regular Americans collected by MoveOn.org and passed on to the USO to burnish MoveOn.org’s anti-military image.
Either way MoveOn made their bed and now they have to lie in it. They choose to be against our troops at every turn and you can’t wish that away nor can you make it go away by giving $350,000.00. You cannot put a price on the sacrifice our troops make each and every day. I still say let the troops decide what to do with the phone cards. If that means that they end up in a trash heap…then so be it.
The USO will learn the hard way about tracking mud into the house.
And the soldiers suffer for it?
If a soldier doesn’t want to use phone cards from the USO, that’s their choice. But I doubt a lot of people will make that choice. Those phone cards are extremely helpful and the idea being floated around that they should be returned or destroyed betrays that some care more about partisanship than the troops.
Also, I love the suggestion that the troops are going to be so anti-MoveOn. Being a soldier does not make one pro-invasion.
Rusty did you read what I wrote? I think you are looking for an argument where there should be none…please tell me where you disagree with me. You reiterated exactly what I posted.
You presuppose that our troops take kindly to having their mission compromised and their leaders both the CIC and General Petraeus denigrated on a regular basis. You are looking at this from a very myopic viewpoint.
Are you a soldier? The Soldiers are not happy with what MO did to the General. That is just a simple fact.
We have a son in the Afgan “invasion” BTW.
RetFireman, you are dead on today! Great posts on this subject!
30 pcs of silver, I wasn’t trying to argue with you specifically. In fact, I agree with you regarding soldiers refusing the cards.
I was addressing the commenters who would rather see the phone cards destroyed than given to help the troops. Making a point at the troops’ expense is not something that people should condone. That’s where I pick my argument.
Are you a soldier? The Soldiers are not happy with what MO did to the General. That is just a simple fact.
I see. My bad…
Rusty:
TTFN
You are so out there. There was NOTHING good about what MO did to the General and if you can show me otherwise, I will show you 1000 that would trump your 1. MO aided the enemy ala Jane and Kerry. Now, somehow, they are giving to our troops? What percent of their donations have gone to the war effort? 1%? I will bet you any ammount of money they spend more money trying to undermine the efforts then they do to help. Want to shut me up. Let MO do like I suggested in my first post. Again, actions – not words will show where MO stands.
Let’s give phone cards to the troops, but take away their funding to fight the war and win, right? That’s essentially what MO is trying to do. They absolutely want the Dems to pull our troops out now! They do not want to win this war because they think it’s an “invasion” just like you said above, Rusty! I guess they believe the joke Kerry made last year: the soldiers are too dumb to do anything else except get stuck in Iraq! In other words, they can’t think for themselves and are only sheep. Just like 30 said, full disclosure is warranted and I bet the majority of troops would question the motives of this MO organization just like we are.
I’d like to hear from Armordcav on this subject since he’s serving there now.
Oh, and aj I’ll add to soap’s post #39 by saying “and with a full turn”!
I agree that the USO should throw MoveOns money back in their face. This organization has called one of our countries best and brightest military leaders a traitor. They constantly do everything they can to undermine the mission of our troops in the field while providing aid and comfort to the enemy. Not one of the troops I work with would be willing to use any service provided by the treasonous MoveOn organization.
Some great comments and thought provoking as well. I guess what I would say is, what was MoveOn’s motivation in donating to the USO in this fashion?
If they wanted to give $ towards phone cards to the troops, there are hundreds of other groups out there doing the same thing.
They specifically chose the USO for a tactical reason I would guess.
What that reason is, we can only imagine.
-Marc
No consistently left leaning organization does anything good out of the benevolence of their own heart.
Soaps hit it right on where they can take their $$$ and shove it. Actions speak louder than words anytime and anywhere.
Now the USO is going to have to deal with the fallout and the losers are ultimately out service members.
With this I challenge all of the military veterans groups (ie VFW, DAV, NCOA, and etc…) to pick up where the USO has failed our service members. On a bright side, this won’t be a problem since they are already doing this and then some!
GSP
Who’s providing the phone cards? If MoveOn is brokering a source then I be pretty suspicious of that for a very real reason.
These pre-paid services are usually routed through packeted networks via the internet using VOIP technology, they are easily intercepted and monitored. I got a fried who has very good sources that many of the pre-paid phone card companies have some shady origins as and are not US based.
Soldiers can say allot of things to their love ones over the phone.
Whether or not the USO should return the money is something they will have to decide. I will no longer be supporting them if they are going to take money
from MO because they will no longer need my money and I can funnel it to
other orgs that I support including some children on the Wind River Reservation that are so poor they are below the level of children in third
world countries.
I’ll be the first one to point out that moveon.org has probably caused many of our troops to be killed or hurt by emboldening our enemies. Regardless of how disgusting this is to many of us, some of the moveon.org members might be naïve to this level of understanding. I refuse to believe that all war protesters are acting with anti-American intent even if their actions are damaging. Like many naïve Americans, they might actually think that they are helping the troops with their emboldening activities (by possibly hastening their removal from danger). I suspect that much of the $350k came from such members. The motivation of moveon’s leadership, however, should be suspect.
I’ve often criticized liberals for caring more about politics than caring about what is good for our nation. For many of them, although not all, that threshold is quite low. I believe that that threshold is high on this message board. Improved troop moral is good for the troops and good for our nation. Will being given the option to accept a moveon donated calling card help or hurt troop morale? I don’t think anyone, even someone currently receiving ‘imminent danger pay’, can predict this definitively. I also think there’s only a small chance of hurting someone’s morale by offering them an option. Will a trooper being given the option of accepting a moveon donated calling card help or hurt our nation? If you are only against the USO keeping the funds because you claim that it will help liberals gain political power and that any political power in the hand’s of liberals hurts our nation, then I’ll denounce your opinion. Many liberals use this type of excuse to justify unhinged behavior.
If your concerns are primarily political, then ask yourself who wins (politically) if the USO returns the funds (from the article it appears that the donation is in cash to be used for calling cards – not the actual cards themselves)? How will the impressionable public be influenced by hearing that the USO decided not to accept a donation meant for the troops because they disagreed with the donator’s politics? Isn’t it possible that the would USO lose and that moveon would win from a politics perspective if the funds are returned (or not accepted)?
I’m sorry to the majority of you, but if I was a USO board member, I would vote with the Chairman on this one.
Let me ask something else. If an anti-war liberal came to you and admitted to being wrong all these years and wanted to know how to make nice with the troops and other offended Americans what would you say? Would you tell them not to bother because it’s too late? Would you tell them to not to make any gestures at all? If the war in Iraq seriously starts to turn-around (think best case scenario), we might be looking at politicians that will be contemplating this very issue. Yes, I want their careers to end for what they did since they should know better, but I want what’s best for the troops more. If that means making nice with them so that we demonstrate a united front thereby damaging the morale of our enemies, then THAT’s what I’ll do. I will gladly ally with Pelosi and Reid to defeat our enemies. Done correctly, I believe that we can score against our enemies AND score politically for conservatives. Maybe it makes sense for us to start planning how to do this correctly.
By the way, imagine Hillary takes office next year and starts a war that’s unpopular with us conservatives. What steps would we take to bring about it’s end without being hypocrites?
I was forward deployed in Europe when Clinton lied and stated that troops would only be in Bosnia for one year. A big obvious lie that many identified was a lie at the time it was told. Yes, Clinton lied and people died. For some reason everyone forgets this lie (even conservatives). Fortunately, not many people died, but it could have been ugly. What steps could conservatives have taken to pull ourselves out of Bosnia if we didn’t agree that the peacekeeping mission was worth the American lives it could have been costing?
I’m not claiming to have any answers. I think my posts ask more questions than anything else. I’m just trying to offer an alternative framework for thinking about this.
If I walked around my COP right now, not one in ten soldiers would know or care who or what Moveon.org is. If I offered them a free calling card, they would not care in the slightest what the background of the group that donated it was. They would take it and move out smartly for the phone line. I would not deny them that opportunity. I have been given one phone card in just over a year here, and it came from the USO. If Moveon bought it, I don’t care; I talked to my wife and kids for 20 minutes. The USO is #$*# awesome. The way they treated me when I flew through ATL on leave was a memory for life. I have absolute respect for USO, utter disregard for Moveon.org, and will show respect to both organizations’ individual members until they require otherwise from me. If I knew one donated a card to a soldier, I would thank him or her. it is entirely possible for people to separate their feelings for the war from their feelings for the warrior, regardless of the organizational line.
There has to be something behind this that stinks.
Thanks Armoredcav. As I said above, I wanted to hear what you had to say since none of us are there with you. I respect your opinion because frankly, you’re risking your life, so it matters more than mine.
I know talking to your family is important, especially during war time. When my husband calls, it makes my day and his.
Being here, seeing and listening to some of the outrageous and despicable things MO does, makes it hard to see the “good” in this charitable act.
Jeeze louise – take the money. It’s just as green as anybody else’s. And at least MoveOn won’t have it to play with anymore.
Plus-plus, in my book.
armoredCAV…I hope that my donation bought your phone card. You just made
me rethink donating to the USO.
Just over three weeks ago, Moveon was calling for thr Democrats in Congress to cut funding of the troops in Iraq, to leave them high and dry…no ammo, no body armor, no reinforcements, no food, no noyhing, until everything ran out and we were forced to declare defeat to the enemy and retreat, pulling out of Iraq completely. They even went so fr as to call for a fillibuster.
Ir was reported right here a short 24 days ago, but the trolls from Trollville woulg have everyone forget that, and thik only of rainbows and lollipops:
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/12/10/moveon-pressures-dems-to-block-military-funding/
Now, just a few weeks later, these same dirt-bags, these samr defeatist, traitorous, seditious jerks who wanted the Dems to cut the soldiers off, want everyone to believe they support them, love them and only want what is best for them?
Are you freaking KIDDING ME?
What were they going to tell their families when they called? To make sure to vote every one of those Democrat Liberal bastards out as soon as possible before the people who gave them these cards get them all killed?
Sorry AC, didn’t see your post and didn’t mean to put words in your mouth.
I’m not sure what they want everyone to believe.
But I’ll tell you this, if it helps build up troop morale and helps us show a united front, then I don’t see any harm OTHER than political. Political harm is secondary to me. National objectives are primary, and I don’t see any downside for our nation from these calling cards.
Maybe conservatives can praise moveon and begin claiming that they have now “switched sides” and supports our troops. This would force moveon to allow that perception to stick by accepting the credit from conservatives (which would be devastating to our enemies) or they would have to clearly correct the mischaracterization of switching sides.
Such a correction would give you what you’re looking for, Retfireman, since the public would perceive a correction as a confirmation that they really don’t support the troops. The best thing they could do in such a situation would be to claim that they’ve always supported the troops. But even that message would be great to hear from them.
Am I the only person that sees potential gain to our country and to Republicans by offering the olive branch to liberals now?
To ArmoredCav #58.
Right on, Brother. It really doesn’t matter who gives the $ for the cards, it matters that the troops get to talk to their loved ones.
JP
Corkie,
I have no intention of offering any olive branch to the likes of MO. Besides the General “Betray us” ad they are pressuring their dems to cut funding to the troops if they can’t get their way (see #63)and have been for quite a while. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the chance to listen to some of their members/celebrities speak at one of their events. It’s very enlightening as to the type of people they are. They are the ones who value political gain over what’s best for our troops and our country. Otherwise, I think MO would have encouraged these members to make private donations instead of tooting their own horns. I think that some of the statements made by their supporters are more likely to decrease morale. If the troops, like armoredcav, don’t mind the cards, than neither should we.
I know, navywife91. I clearly stated so in my post. I just want to be sure that they are the only ones that do.
Yes, yes, yes…they have done many bad things and have emboldened our enemies. I said so in my post. Are they forever our enemy now? If they reject the olive branch, then fine – so be it. However, I still think it can be offered, and we won’t look bad for offering it.
I think that the USO was off its rocker to accept this sort of deal from MoveOn.org. I can’t imagine that the USO is so desperate for money that would risk offending a large portion of their regular donors for the political views of MoveOn. Yes, the soldiers benefit, and $350,000 will buy a lot of phone calls, which is good.
As David Segal (#14) said:
I think the donors are probably not the ideologues with whom we disagree, but are basically unthinking or distracted people who want to do good things.
For my part, I shall think hard before contributing to the national USO (although the local folks–like those at the airports–will continue to get support from me, especially as I have sought refuge in their areas in a number of airports over the years).
When all this is sorted out, the scorecard will probably show good for the servicemen; mixed for MoveOn.org (I’ll bet some of their supports and leaders had kittens over this idea), and somewhat negative for the USO unless the president leaves office. There is a difference between being non-political and getting support from a groups whose leaders essentially mean everything you stand for ill.
BTW, in a previous post around Christmas, Shooter suggested that we Malkin commenters should donate as a group to some useful cause. I suggested the USO. I withdraw that suggestion, with a heavy heart as I have long liked the USO.
Corkie, if you are so easily swayed by such a transparent and menial act, that was being done on the very day, December 20th, 2007, that they were strong-arming the Democrats in Congress to cut the funding of our troops, then you are no Conservative and no supporter of the Military.
While I honor and respect AC and his desire to call home, I truly cannot understand how you cannot see this for what it truly is. I cannot see how you can let something like this act as forgiveness for everything they have done and continue to do.
Go to their site right now, and you tell me just how much has changed since their great “Coming to Jesus” and their great Reconcilliation.
NOBODY can be this blind. Nobody.
Finished it elsewhere
RetFireman
I have more than a desire to call home. I am also not blind, have no respect for their message or policies. I do appreciate any money that the USO gets, regardless of the source.
RetFireman,
You are completely missing my point. I hope others on this site have understood my message.
Please tell me that you are capable of analyzing this on more than one level.
Name one thing I stated which leads you to believe that I was, “easily swayed by such a transparent and menial act.”
I know my posts are long so let me break it down for you. I still think moveon is scummy despite their contribution to the USO. I still think the USO is good despite their acceptance of said contribution. I am not concerned about the USO being “exploited.” I think that anyone that pulls donations from the USO because of this is bad (or lacks understanding). I truly think there’s a way to use this to turn the tables on moveon.
And one more thing, do not ever imply that I’m a troll again, Sir.
Next time my daughter calls from Iraq I won’t be asking her opinion on the matter. Our time on the phone is limited and is to precious to spend on such things. I don’t care where the cards come from, just as long as I get to hear from her. I know that many people that don’t support the war do support the troops. Many of them are my friends who also have children in the service.
I always fear the extended periods when I do not hear from her via phone or email because of communications blackouts in her unit, pending notification of families of injuries or the death of a fellow soldier. The phone card donations are a great way to support the troops and family members stateside. Frequent calls help alleviate the panic I feel every time my doorbell rings if I have not heard from her recently. I don’t care who supports the troops and for what reasons. I’m just glad that they do.
Take the traitors’ money, so we can use it against them. I cannot comment more, or I will be banned.