Some great signs of hope in these depressing times from the activist group moveon.org
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.
