The New York Times reports on Brave New Films' web campaign to circumvent an upcoming History Channel film that paints the Kennedys in a negative light:

Now a documentary filmmaker who makes no secret of his liberal politics is releasing an Internet video in which Kennedy scholars say the scripts offer a portrait of the president and his family that is, at best, inaccurate, and at worst, a hatchet job.

“It was political character assassination,” the filmmaker, Robert Greenwald, said of the screenplays in a telephone interview. “It was sexist titillation and pandering, and it was turning everything into a cheap soap opera of the worst kind.” Mr. Greenwald said he is hoping that his 13-minute video and an accompanying petition, at stopkennedysmears.com, will take on lives of their own on the Web. A title card at the film’s conclusion reads: “Tell the History Channel I refuse to watch right-wing character assassination masquerading as ‘history.’ ”

Some things never change. You might recall that it was organizing against the anti-John Kerry doc "Stolen Honor" in 2004 that brought together progressive bloggers in a collection action for what was really the first time. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Director Alex Jordanov tracked the web-based organization's growth for a period of six years, and has turned it into a Brave New Films film out at the end of August. Haven't seen it yet, but it should be an interesting chance to look inside an organization whose name everyone knows but whose inner (and outer) workings aren't as well known. From the film's website: "MoveOn: The Movie is a feature-length documentary focusing on the revolutionary history of the biggest progressive grass-roots movement seen in the United States since the 1960s. This film stands as a vivid testimony to times of radical social change in our nation and to the power of people banding together for change." The movie features interviews with everyone from Al Gore to R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe to the White House press corps' Helen Thomas.

Brave New Films had its YouTube channel temporarily shuttered when the company that syndicates fiery radio host Michael Savage complained about liberal California film shop's use of a one-minute clip; Let's forget talk of who sleeps with a Blackberry under his pillow and break it down -- how do Barack Obama and John McCain stack up when you isolate out specific tech issues, assess their records and visions, and assign a clear-cut grade?; He's neither a fresh-faced politician nor cute apple-cheeked girl plucking petals off of a daisy, but he's nonetheless one of the breakout stars of this election cycle; and good helping more.

The Center for Independent Media's Michigan Messenger is taking some intense GOP heat after a reporter broke the news of a local Republican official's comments that they planned to use foreclosure lists to block Michiganders from voting; The Palin Truth Squad is the new response team assembled by the McCain campaign to "counter recent attacks on Governor Sarah Palin, her family, her friends and her record of accomplishment." And ThePalinTruthSquad.com is most definitely not their online home; How did Robert Greenwald go from a little known filmmaker to the force behind a great many of left-leaning video clips you'll come across on the web?; and much more.

The Center for Independent Media's Michigan Messenger is taking some intense GOP heat after a reporter broke the news of a local Republican official's comments that they planned to use foreclosure lists to block Michiganders from voting; The Palin Truth Squad is the new response team assembled by the McCain campaign to "counter recent attacks on Governor Sarah Palin, her family, her friends and her record of accomplishment." And ThePalinTruthSquad.com is most definitely not their online home; How did Robert Greenwald go from a little known filmmaker to the force behind a great many of left-leaning video clips you'll come across on the web?; and much more.

I've been on the road since Thursday, first at a working meeting of the Sunlight Foundation in DC with people working on collaborative governance web designing, and then yesterday in Minneapolis at the National Conference on Media Reform (NCMR), where I moderated a panel on the same topic, and today in Houston at a miniconference at the Baker Institute on the internet and politics. A couple of times over the last two days, I managed to pull out the N95 and shot a couple of fun, Qik videos with some of the folks I bumped into at NCMR. Check out Jane Hamsher, Susan Crawford, Robert Greenwald, Deanna Zandt, Craig Newmark and Tom Steinberg.

Just in time for the Memorial Day holiday, we bring you eight political videos that are guaranteed to stick to your consciousness like ketchup on a burger. You can never escape the tubes!

BlogHer interviews Barack Obama; a literary deconstruction of an anti-Obama smear; Brave New Films hits McCain with another biting video; blowback from the DNCC's choices for credentialed state bloggers; get your Jews For Jews Against "Jews For Obama" t-shirts now!; tracking the Democratic veepstakes on Technorati; McCainPedia claims to be a wiki. It isn't; and The Road to Victory goes behind the scenes in all 33 Democratic Senate races.

Robert Greenwald identifies anti-Obama Fox News "virus"; TheMiddleClass.org releases grades for Congress; LinkTV gives world citizens the chance to weigh in on the US election; a Digg clone for progressives; Ron Paul's avatar raises the tide; Bill Clinton is quizzed by college journalists; Obama and Clinton slow on Facebook and McCain rises; and a video of Obama renouncing Jeremiah Wright gains traction.

MoveOn members funnel more than $500,000 to the Obama campaign, end send out hundreds of thousands of GOTV notes; a new crop of nonprofits are creating political messaging, blurring the line between advocacy and electoral politics; a chart shows the most popular candidates on Twitter; a sneaky move to redirect folks looking for Mitt Romney (who are they?) to Mike Huckabee's site; the cult of the Obama or a genuine movement?; unexciting headlines about moderately interesting things; and the Obama campaign wants to control the fight against superdelegates.