Posted by Jeff from d53-237-236.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.236.237) on Thursday, January 23, 2003 at 1:13AM :
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: A week like no other.
Date: 23 Jan 2003 02:38:58 -0000
From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org" <moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To: "Jeff Atto" <jeff@attoz.com>
Dear MoveOn member,
Thank you. This week exceeded our wildest dreams.
Our plan was to launch an anti-war television ad campaign, hold 12
local press conferences, grow our "Let the Inspections Work" petition,
and have meetings in Congressional offices around the country. We knew
it would be big. But we never thought it would be this big.
That we were able to reach so far and do so much is because of you.
You made it all possible.
We didn't expect, frankly, to have 100,000 new members join our
organization this week. We didn't expect to be able to deliver a
petition with over 310,000 American signers -- the largest since
MoveOn's inception. (We're told that when Senator Diane Feinstein's
aide saw the petition, his eyes opened wide. He said that this was
the biggest petition he recalled them receiving. Feinstein's
segment was over 8,000 pages long.)
We never thought that our ad -- carrying the "Let the Inspections
Work" message -- would be aired on virtually every major TV news show.
We never thought George Stephanopoulos would show it to Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld and grill him on the dangers of war. We never
imagined it would be broadcast and discussed on news programs in
Australia, Pakistan, Russia, and Japan.
We didn't anticipate that a new national poll, taken on the very days
our story was playing everywhere, would show public support for war
plummeting, or that this poll would be the top story in today's
Washington Post.
We didn't anticipate that local press conferences, staffed by MoveOn
members in 12 cities, would generate front-page stories on the new
breadth and tactics of the anti-war movement.
And then there are the Congressional meetings.
We had high hopes for the meetings that occurred yesterday in
Congressional districts across the country. After all, 9,000 folks
had signed up to participate, and we had an incredible team of over
800 local volunteers and 12 tireless volunteer regional coordinators
who were working to set everything up. But, after a week of continual
surprises, our expectations yesterday were once again exceeded.
One comment sums up the experience of many:
"It was fantastic! Probably the best meeting I've ever been at - ever.
18 regular people who came together as strangers, were in agreement
with one another, speaking eloquently, passionately, respectfully and
from the heart." The member went on to say, "As a former Congressional
staff person, I know this was truly impactful and meaningful."
The impact was pretty clear. Yesterday alone, over 30 members of
Congress signed onto a Dear Colleague letter to the President, asking
him to let the inspectors do their jobs and abide by the UN process.
It's pretty remarkable -- Congress is taking up our petition. And
more signers keep coming in. In one of our most exciting moments, a
pro-war-resolution Representative took a look at the letter, listened
to our members, and then signed on the spot. Now that's democracy in
action!
The Dear Colleague letter is just the beginning. One Representative
from Maryland is taking our petition to the floor of the House of
Representatives. Another offered us space in his offices to do more
anti-war organizing. One enthusiastic Representative is even going to
join MoveOn.
>From Maine to Florida to Arkansas to Washington State, from Grand
Rapids, MI to Huntington, AL, diverse, articulate groups of MoveOn
members got together to talk to the offices of their Senators and
Representatives. Local newspapers, TV and radio stations covered the
events, from the Denver Post to Pacifica Radio.
The meetings themselves were simply incredible. But you don't need to
take our word for it. Here are a few short samples from the hundreds
of reports that have been pouring in:
"The voices of several veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars, of a
VA doctor, a pediatrician, other doctors, nurses, retirees, teachers,
grandparents, a law student, one after another, built a strong case
for encouraging Kolbe to urge Bush to give stronger support for the
Inspections Process. It was a bit uncanny. Not practiced, nor planned,
but one by one, each person integrated his/her contributions into what
had been said before. This was a very intelligent, well-informed,
professionally-diverse, group of people, speaking in one voice for
winning the peace, without war."
--Martha Warner, Congressman Kolbe meeting, AZ
"I was so proud to be associated with the group that showed up to
Congressman Tancredo's office! They were an eclectic group of
housewives with children, high-powered businessmen, grandmas, artists,
executives, PhD's -- and each spoke with such grace and eloquence. It
was just amazing."
--Carol Grant, Congressman Tancredo meeting, CO
"An interesting and exciting outcome of the event is that the
Congressman agreed to lead a rally on Feb. 17th of many different
coalitions. His feeling is that it's up to the public to voice their
opposition--that's the only thing that will make legislators oppose
the President. I/we will be working with him to make this next event a
success."
--Sheryl Barajas, Congressman Davis meeting, IL
"I was glad I made the drive, it was quite an honor to join with these
good folks. A varied group--three women, four guys...a retired Quaker
(though Quakers never retire thank god), a Methodist minister & active
lay person, a retired fighter pilot who is a Republican, a social
scientist, a person who had lived in Kuwait and an anthraxed postal
worker. We were together for just an hour but it was a good gathering
to share & express our concerns."
--Mike DeGregory, Congressman Smith, NJ
"This was my first time ever taking any initiative in political
action, and although it was a little scary, I'm really glad I did it,
as I received nothing but positive feedback and support from everyone.
People really wanted to come out and do this."
--Rachel Smith, Congressman Neal meeting, MA
"Rep. Cummings pledged to sign the Dear Colleague letter and also said
he would speak about the MoveOn statement and visit on the house
floor. He also said he would read comments from the summary of our
petition. "
--Kimberly Nolan, Congressman Cummings meeting, MD
"[Congressman Holt] quoted Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's address at
Riverside Church: We are building a political myth and shoring it up
with new violence. (Dr. King's reference to Vietnam still rings true
today.)"
-- Mara Isaacs, Congressman Holt meeting, NJ
"[Congresswoman] Stephanie Tubbs Jones made a last- minute decision to
meet with us personally, and proceeded to sit and speak for an hour. .
. She was very pleased to receive a copy of the petition with names
and address . . . and VERY excited to hear that ours was one of many
coordinated events nationwide."
--John Sinclair, Congresswoman Jones meeting, OH
"[Rep. Bartlett's aide Mr.] Otis was clearly impressed by the number
of signatories from the Congressman's District, and promised that he
would see the petition and the "Dear Colleague letter." He also
commented "You have represented your cause very well." "
--Gladys Cojocari, Congressman Bartlett meeting, MD
We hope to have a full report on the media coverage for the last week
and these lobbying visits up on our website soon. We'll let you know
when it's there.
WHAT'S NEXT?
As you can see, we are a force to be reckoned with. So what are our
next steps?
Over the next few weeks, we'll be offering you all sorts of ways to
continue to engage on this issue. One way to plug in is coming up
pretty soon. Win Without War, the coalition of mainstream civic
organizations against the war that we helped to found, is calling for
a day of local action on January 29th. Members of the coalition
include American Friends Service Commitee, Business Leaders for
Sensible Priorities, Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Global
Exchange, Greenpeace, Leadership Conference of Women Religious,
NAACP, National Council of Churches, National Organization for Women,
NETWORK, New England Health Care Employees Union (part of SEIU),
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, Sojourners, Tikkun
Community, TrueMajority, United Methodist Church General Board of
Church & Society, Us Foundation, Veterans for Common Sense, Women's
Action for New Directions, and Working Assets. Look for events
organized by some of these groups in your community on the 29th.
You may find local events listed at http://www.unitedforpeace.org .
THANK YOU
The national meetings project and our work for the last week was made
possible by the exceedingly hard work of hundreds of volunteers and
scores of local and national organizations. We deeply appreciate the
assistance that we have received -- we couldn't have pulled this off
without help.
Very special thanks goes to the tireless team of volunteer regional
coordinators, who worked around the clock to make the meetings happen.
They are: Caitlin Fitzgerald, Judy Froman, Diane Jones, June Muller,
Jennifer Oatfield, Jesse Rhodes, Henry Snow, and Hedy Trevino.
Thanks also to:
Sarah Allen, Ira Arlook, Parker Blackman, Sarah Buecher, David
Cortright, Lynn Erskine, Philip Fryers, David Fenton, Trevor
Fitzgibbon, Patrick Kane, Elinore Klein, Kalee Kreider, Dwight Langham,
Pacy Markman, Brendan McCarthy, Segundo Mercado-Llorens, Christy
Meiring, Alistair Millar, Nathan Naylor, Lindsay Reinhardt, Dora Rose,
Noah T. Winer, and Bill Zimmerman.
It's usually our practice to credit by name the local leaders whose
incredibly hard work made this all possible. But in this case, the
list of leaders would double the length of this email. All the folks
who helped put together local meetings and press conferences have our
gratitude and appreciation -- they're heroes and true patriots.
We also appreciate support for the meetings project from the following
organizations: Friends Committee on National Legislation, the American
Friends Service Committee, the National Council of Churches, TrueMajority,
Peace Action, and Women's Action for New Directions.
The last thank you goes to every one of MoveOn's members. It is an
honor and an incredible privilege to work with such an amazing group
of people -- a group that is changing the face of this country and
turning the tide against a war. The Washington Post poll released
today showed support for the war plummeting. That's because of our
work.
The stakes are high, folks. This war is a menace to our country and
our world. But the last week has shown that an enormous group of
Americans are going to do everything in their power to ensure that a
peaceful resolution is reached. So we really mean this: Thank you.
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Randall, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
January 22, 2002
P.S. MoveOn does all this with only four full-time staff members (Wes
and Joan volunteer). If you'd like to support our work, you can give
online at:
http://www.moveon.org/support.html
-- Jeff
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