MoveOn.org, The New York Post and Media's Double Standard

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As MoveOn.org endures a media lynching in response to two ad contest entries that featured comparisons of President Bush to Adolph Hitler, there is as yet little outcry against a New York Post column by Ralph Peters comparing Howard Dean supporters to Hitler's Brownshirts and Dean himself to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.

NEW YORK, January 8, 2003 -- Witness a media double-standard in action:

Compare mainstream media responses to a January 5 Ralph Peters' New York Post column -- likening Howard Dean to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and Dean followers to Nazi Brownshirts and the Gestapo -- against the responses to MoveOn.org 'Bush in 30 Seconds' ad campaign, which featured two submissions that likened President Bush to Adolph Hitler.

While there continues to be widespread and negative media attention -- orchestrated in large part by the Republican National Committee and Anti-Defamation League -- in response to the two 30-second segments on MoveOn, there as yet exists no response to, or coverage of, The New York Post's decision to publish Peters' hate-filled invective.

In case you've missed it, here's a sample:

'Howard Dean and his Deanie-weenies do all they can to restrict the free speech of others. I can predict with certainty that Dean's Internet Gestapo will pounce on this column, twisting the facts and vilifying the writer, just as they do when anyone challenges Howard the Coward.'

'. . . These are the techniques employed by Hitler's Brownshirts. Had Goebbels enjoyed access to the internet, he would have used the same swarm tactics as Dean's Flannelshirts . . .'

'In Dean's alternate reality, everything the Bush administration has done and might do is a failure, no matter the facts. The president's even responsible for Mad Cow Disease. It's Goebbels again: Just keep repeating the lies until the lies assume the force of truth . . .'

Two days after publication of this column, the media outrage is nowhere to be found.

Here's the evidence: As of 5:00pm EST Wednesday, a Google News search returned more than 100 stories on the MoveOn.org fiasco, with the bulk of coverage casting a negative light on MoveOn.org. A similar search on Peters' Dean-Nazi comparison returns only one story -- The New York Post column itself.

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