Ron Fournier, national political writer for the Associated Press, incorrectly reported on October 18 that, characteristic of this “mean political season,” a “television ad by a Democratic interest group compare[d] Bush to Adolf Hitler.” Fournier did not name MoveOn.org, but conservatives (led by Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie) have repeatedly -- and falsely -- accused the group of having run an ad making the comparison. Media Matters for America found no other evidence -- beyond the RNC's specious allegations about MoveOn.org -- of any television ad making such a comparison.

As MMFA has repeatedly noted, the group never created, aired or endorsed ads comparing Bush to Hitler; rather, MoveOn.org ran a contest to which ads comparing the two leaders were submitted. When the submissions were discovered, they were promptly pulled. As the nonpartisan Columbia Journalism Review's website The Campaign Desk noted in its “Distortion” column, while “at least one [ad] was posted briefly on the organization's website ... MoveOn quickly removed it and disassociated itself from the offending ads.”