Freedom's Watch - a right wing MoveOn?

I’ve been watching Freedom's Watch since its inception in August of 2007, posting about it on September 13th and October 3rd.

According to Right Web, “…Freedom's Watch (FW) is a well-funded pro-war advocacy outfit that was set up by a group of prominent conservatives to, in their words, ‘protect America's interests at home and abroad, foster economic prosperity, and strengthen families’….Among the group's core agenda items are supporting the ‘surge’ in Iraq and advocating intervention in Iran….”

On January 20th, The Washington Post published "A Conservative Answer to MoveOn - Political Advocacy Group Formed by Former Bush Aides Plans a Broad Agenda." “Freedom's Watch has loudly announced that there will be no limits to what it might do. From its $15 million summer ad campaign defending the Iraq strategy to its six-figure effort in the House special election in Ohio, the group has put Democrats on notice that its agenda will go far beyond the conservative principles of its largest financial backers….

"We're a permanent political operation here in town. We're not going to be Johnny One Note," said Joe Eule, executive director of the expanding group, a nonprofit organization that many are describing as the MoveOn of the right....

“Wes Boyd, who co-founded MoveOn.org with his wife in their home in Berkeley, California, said the two groups are fundamentally different because his liberal organization was set up outside the influence of Democratic Party operatives and is funded primarily by small-dollar donors around the country.

“Freedom's Watch, on the other hand, is ‘doing attack ads by Beltway operatives, financed by billionaires, at the request of the White House,’ Boyd said by e-mail. ‘MoveOn helps millions of real people get engaged and be heard and is solely funded by these same people.’"

My recommendation: Read The Washington Post article, then keep your eye on Freedom's Watch. Perhaps you’ll decide to give a little more to MoveOn.

(logo: Boston.com)