After the 2004 flop of the Kerry/Edwards campaign,
luck shone on the Democrats. The over-reach of the neoconservatives,
the failure to find those weapons of mass deception (sic), the endless
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, turned American public opinion,
especially among the young, against the Republicans. Growing anti-war
sentiment, which had little to do with the organized anti-war movement,
delivered to the Democrats what Governor Mario Cuomo called “The Gift.”
The horrific Iraq war, he explained to a Democracy Alliance gathering,
was the gift that allowed the Democrats to take control of the US
Congress.
It was at this point in early 2007 that the truly dark and cynical
agenda of the professional Progressive Movement and the Democratic Party
revealed itself. Under Pelosi the Democrats could have cut off funding
for Bush’s unpopular wars and foreign policy. Instead, with PR cover
provided by MoveOn and their lobbyist Tom Matzzie,
the Democratic Congress gave George Bush all the money he wanted to
continue his wars. For the previous five years MoveOn had branded
itself as the leader of the anti-war movement, building lists of
millions of liberals, raising millions of dollars, and establishing
itself in the eyes of the corporate media as leaders of the US peace
movement. Now they helped the Democrats fund the war, both betting
that the same public opposition to the wars that helped them win control
of the House in 2006 could win the Presidency in 2008.
-- John Stauber, "The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats" (CounterPunch).