subscribe | blog | contact

• About
• Services
• Buzz
• Contact

MoveOn’s virtual town-hall…

Posted by David on April 10th, 2007

…is a fascinating use of technology.

The second-half is about to begin if you’re still hanging out. I’m currently listening to a vintage REM track, watching the hundreds of comments from other town-hall goers, and kind of chuckling at all of the pictures of the anti-war protesters.

The announcer just told me to take my seat, the next half will begin in 60 seconds.

It’s starting… He just told me that Senator Hillary Clinton is up next.

11:09 PM: Hillary Clinton sounds very angry - especially over the phone line. She’s speaking way too quick. My guess is that she’s reading from a script. It’s hard to hear and comprehend anything she’s saying. Was this pre-recorded?

11:10 PM: Honestly, she sounds horrible. I hope Peter Daou is listening. She just ticked off a few reasons why America should cut-and-run. She just applauded Nancy Pelosi for going to the region. She just said, “if this President won’t end this war, when she’s President, she will.” Scary.

11:12 PM: Bob Hackney, Moveon member up next: “Will there be troops on the ground, cities on the ground, how many troops, what vital interests will they protect, how long will they be there, etc.?” Apparently Bob didn’t get screened properly to know that he was to limit his question to ONE.

11:14 PM: Hillary’s digging in. She still sounds really aggressively angry…not the same way she sounded during her announcement video where she told us that she wanted to have a “conversation.” It almost sounds forced.

11:15 PM: The Moveon announcer, who sounds like he’s straight off of NPR’s “All Things Considered…” There’s his name, Eli, Hillary just said it before she answered the question. Points for her for that. People like to know that you know who they are. Helps with the ego.

11:17 PM: Hil just said she’s not willing to “throw in the towel.” She’s urging people to sign-up for her online petition so that she won’t give up on standing up against the President. That’s kind of strange.

11:18 PM: Closing remarks by Hil. She just pandered to MoveOn, “power of the Internet is something I personally welcome, for decades you’ve refused to back down. You’ve changed the face of American politics for the better. Though some of your Members may not believe that I’m saying this, but I appreciate your efforts.”

11:19 PM: Chris Dodd is up next… Also known as bathroom break for millions of listeners…

11:20 PM: Dodd just said there’s “no military solution.” He’s ready for re-deployment which is French for surrender (no offense Pascal, it really is).

11:21 PM: Dodd still going like an energizer bunny. He was much funnier on Jon Stewart.

11:22 PM: Question about the Bush Administration granting specific rights to BP and Exxon for Iraqi oil. Typical.

11:23 PM: Dodd had the same reaction as I did and questioned the validity of the question. Dodd just made a call for energy independence. Agreed.

11:23 PM: Dodd dodged the question and shifted back to his message. Good work.

11:24 PM: I just realized that I can’t see the MoveOn screen because I’m looking at the backend of my blog the whole time. I’ll add the screen shot:

11:27 PM: Barack Obama is up next. I clearly must have showed up late and caught this thing in a loop because I noticed that Matt Stoller wrote about it at 8:30 PM. Smart of MoveOn to loop the show to ensure that they’re hitting the West Coasters.

11:29 PM: Talk radio is NOT the forum for Barack. He sounds really drab and boring. You can’t really tell he’s charismatic which is his strongest asset.

11:30 PM: Obama just said he’s going to introduce legislation to restrict the President’s power with regard to the war. Is that Constitutional? He is the Commander-in-Chief after all.

11:31 PM: It would be funny to hear a question from a former professor back in college. They were all MoveOn-types.

11:34 PM: Here’s another screen capture:

11:35 PM: Barack said he’s going to continue to work “with his Democratic colleagues” to end the worst foreign policy disaster in our history.

11:36 PM: Barack pandered to MoveOn — you’re all the bestest, you’re making a difference in the world, with your help we’ll bring our troops home…

11:37 PM: And that’s it. Edwards, Biden, Richardson, Kucinich, Dodd, Clinton, and Obama all participated. That’s fascinating. Our guys will barely even take phone calls from conservative bloggers let alone thousands of people. Two more town-hall meetings are planned. One on health care and the other on global warming. What about taxes and spending?

Here’s the final screener:

I really hope our Party finds a counter to MoveOn sooner rather than later.

Share This

1 comment to “MoveOn’s virtual town-hall…”