Liberals find many ways to spread word

Left-wing activists, energized by what they see as an incompetent and ultraconservative Bush administration, have taken their fight to the Internet, the best-seller lists and pop culture, mirroring the rise of conservative media and talk radio during the Clinton years.

The Web site Moveon.org, which started modestly in 1998 to oppose the impeachment of President Clinton, is now a leading light in cyberspace for anti-Bush activists.

The Web site claims to have 3 million members across the country and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for anti-Bush ads in the largest U.S. newspapers.

Former Vice President Al Gore asked the group to sponsor an anti-Bush speech he delivered at New York University on Aug. 7 in which he accused Mr. Bush of leading the nation to war under “false impressions.” Moveon.org followed that up by paying $102,000 to run a full-page ad in The New York Times last week reprinting parts of Mr. Gore’s speech.

Sources involved with Moveon.org said the group recently launched a $1 million campaign to accuse the Bush administration of “trying to disenfranchise minority voters” in Texas through a Republican plan to redraw congressional districts.

“It’s refreshing that Democrats are asking for accountability of this president,” said Tony Welch, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. “The media is more afraid to do what its job is, which is to ask questions. If they do that for Republicans and Democrats, then we’re fine.”

Aside from helping mobilize the Democratic Party, liberal outrage aimed at President Bush has also become big business.

Liberal humorist Al Franken’s book “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” holds the No. 1 nonfiction spot on the New York Times best-sellers list and also tops sales at Amazon.com.

Leftist activist Michael Moore’s documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” a film that excoriates conservatives and the “gun culture,” won an Academy Award, and Mr. Moore’s book “Stupid White Men” was the top-selling nonfiction book of 2002.

The memoir “Living History” by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, has been hailed as the definitive defense of the Clinton presidency. It was a runaway best seller and continues to linger in the New York Times’ top-five list.

Country music artists the Dixie Chicks made headlines in the spring for saying while onstage overseas that they were ashamed to be from the same state as Mr. Bush. The angry backlash by Bush supporters at home was immediate and loud but the flap ultimately didn’t hurt the group’s career.

The Dixie Chicks recently wrapped up the top-grossing North American tour of the year with $61 million in ticket sales.

Outspoken Bush critic Janeane Garofalo has enjoyed a successful career as an actress and comedian. She and Mr. Franken both sat in on the left side of CNN’s political shout-fest “Crossfire,” a sign that sharp-tongued opposition to the president has attracted the attention of the mainstream news media.

On a single episode of “Crossfire” last week, Miss Garofalo held the president “responsible” for the bombing of the U.N. compound in Iraq, claimed he perpetuated a “lie that brought us into war in Iraq,” called the Bush administration “radically corrupt,” and likened the USA Patriot Act — passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress to fight terrorism — “a conspiracy of the 43rd Reich.”

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