Has MoveOn.org betrayed the Democrat Party?

Byron York writes in today's National Review....

With its full-page "General Betray Us?" ad in the New York Times, MoveOn.org has once again put itself at the forefront of the antiwar movement. And if past patterns are any guide, a number of Democrats are embarrassed, and even angered, by MoveOn's actions but are afraid to reveal the true extent of their feelings. MoveOn simply has too much fundraising clout -- and a fear-inducing inclination to attack Democrats who stray from the MoveOn line -- for many in the party to take it on.

Democratic leaders might be further embarrassed by a new email, headlined "Your dog can help end the war," sent out by the leadership of MoveOn's political team. The email asks members to attend a protest on Capitol Hill this morning preceding the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus.

"Congress was fooled before by the White House's 'dog and pony show,' " the appeal says. "We need to make sure they're not fooled again. That's why we're hosting our own 'Dog and Pony Show' outside the Capitol Building right before Petraeus takes the stage for his testimony. We want to show Congress and the cameras that the American people aren't buying the White House spin." ...

[M]oveOn's latest campaign is a continuation of a drive to oppose not just the action in Iraq, but the war on terror in general, and, in a larger sense, America's use of military power in its own defense. ...

At a time when polls showed a huge majority of Americans favoring military action against the terrorists who attacked New York and Washington, MoveOn put its energy into opposing the war in Afghanistan. ...

In recent years, MoveOn has sought to portray itself as the voice of what Pariser often calls the true American majority. For example, in the summer of 2004 MoveOn teamed with filmmaker Michael Moore to promote Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11. ...

Several leading Democrats, including then-Sen. Minority Leader Tom Daschle, showed up at the movie's Washington premiere. But the connection with MoveOn worried other Democrats. ...

Now, with the "General Betray Us" campaign, those Democrats again face the question: Do they dare to cross MoveOn?

Not long after the 2004 elections, Pariser famously said of Democrats, "Now it's our party. We bought it, we own it, and we're going to take it back."

The next few days could be crucial in determining whether he was right or not.

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