This is pretty interesting. The good people at StopTheCap, who have done a great job fighting Time-Warner’s and other broadband carriers’ efforts to find new ways to gouge consumers, have seen FreedomWorks in action before:
The group behind all of this, Freedom Works, is an astroturfing group I’ve dealt with before on our municipal broadband issue that I write often about on Stop the Cap! It suckers ordinary citizens into advocating against their own best interests by… well, making stuff up and scaring them. They always hide their true funding backers, pretending to be a “consumer group.”
Municipal broadband isn’t a way for local governments to supply broadband service at the speeds and pricing consumers want, it’s an ‘Obama-engineered socialist takeover of the Internet, as part of his secret campaign for stifling dissent.’ They load mostly retired folks who sit around all day listening to talk radio onto several buses and send them into various places to protest and disrupt.
We endured this nonsense in our successful battle in North Carolina, and those asking some of these people questions quickly learned they had no idea what the specific issues were — they were given basic talking points, a bus ride, and told to chant various slogans which usually had little to do with the issues at hand.
This kind of garbage has been going on for years in all kinds of guises. And as far as newly minted Villagers are concerned, it’s all good.
r€nato
soci alism! boo!
Comrade Jake
You really do wonder how long this sort of charade can go on before someone in the MSM points out that the emperor has no clothes. Maybe we should just trust that it’ll never happen, now that Jon Stewart’s scooped them.
WereBear
Journalists would eat this up with a serrated grapefruit spoon.
So, obviously, we no longer have journalists.
General Winfield Stuck
Ratfucking Armbinder. Uses our old bud Mr. Daou who’s downed so many sour grapes his shit has turned to purple vinegar.
But you have to hand it to the Wingnut Wurlitzer. They have re-fitted and set out to conquer American with high decibels and utterly uninhibited chicanery. We’ll see if it works.
cleek
be sure to look at the way Time Warner is trying to fuck NC residents over that broadband stuff.
cleek
err, well, apparently that didn’t work.
here is the link i meant to post above.
Brick Oven Bill
This is just jealousy. The left cannot comprehend that people on the right will show up for something they care about without:
1. Funding for participants at $14/hr.
2. Well paid Jewish and/or mixed-race community organizers to lead the charge.
3. Free cigarettes for participants.
In this manner, the right can operate more efficiently than the left. Unfortunately for the right, the left has figured out how to get the government to fund their $14/hr pay, community organizers, and cigarettes.
Sigh.
jwb
Then the teabaggers come out, the MSM gets all excited, the independents shake their heads at the crazy and the liberal base quickly realizes that withdrawing from Obama is not the solution to their disillusion, bringing us full circle, all ready for the next round of wingnuttery.
Doctor Science
B.O.B. does goes from strength to strength, doesn’t he? The cigs are a nice touch.
jwb
@cleek
What’s the status of the bill now? Did it pass? I couldn’t figure it out from the state’s website or a quick google search.
Anne Laurie
How is Marc Ambinder’s “easy and comfortable” opinion of astroturfing affected by his personal relationship to Megan McArdle, whose fiance (IIRC) is employed by FreedomWorks?
Just another day on the Media Village Idiot party circuit!
Comrade Jake
OH NOES NOT PETER DAOUCHEBAG!
mgordon
Don’t those retired folks they pile in buses already have government run health care?
NonyNony
@Anne Laurie:
Wait – really?
Do you have a reference for this Anne? Because it certainly would put a new spin on my interpretations of McArdle’s ramblings and the ongoing debate of “ignorant fool or vicious liar” that goes through my head whenever I read one of her postings.
pip
For those in Houston, the next Freeper/Teabagging/Freedom Patriots thingy is here.
He’s not my rep, but since I have the time off and they let just anyone in, I will go just to look for the local wingnuts WITH GUNS.
madmommy
@Brick Oven Bill:
I can get 14 bucks an hour? And free smokes?? Times are tough, and I can use the extra cash. But I draw the line at having to say something completely stupid in public. Like telling my Representative to keep the government’s hands off of Medicare.
Crashman06
@Brick Oven Bill: Solid work Bill. I got a belly laugh outta that one. I’ll be sure to put in a good word for your comedy abilities at the next left-wing Overlord meeting. You deserve a raise!
tammanycall
If they’re being bussed from event to event, they should be identifiable. Proving the teabagger wingnuts are salaried would go a long way in discrediting them.
gizmo
I had a similar experience with astro-turfing here in the Hudson Valley of NY in the late 90’s. We were fighting a big international cement cartel that wanted to smother us in their exhaust. They hired a fancy PR firm to create the impression that there was a groundswell of popular support for the company’s plan, but it quickly became clear that their cadre didn’t have a clue about any of the specifics of the issue. They were just happy to get a free T-shirt, a bus ride, and the occasional hot dog for their efforts. They actually put up a website, which was a hoot. They were just pathetic little people being exploited by the corporate thugs.
The Grand Panjandrum
Once again Ambinder failed to address the issue with his earlier post that JMM called him on. Yes we know astroturfing exists. No shit Sherlock! Ttell us why we shouldn’t be pissed that these fuckers aren’t showing up to debate congress critters. They show up to shut down the discussion. THAT is the problem. What part of that objection doesn’t he get?
@mgordon: Yes. But that’s not the same thing as government run healthcare. Right? Get it?
Every time I see these wingers I think of this scene from one of my favorite movies.
pip
Anyone in a conceal carry state should just go to these wingnut outbursts and point to those with guns.
That should shut them up.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
I’m sure they will react with equanimity to being systematically photographed. For extra popcorn points, be sure to tell them that you are using only the best quality official ACORN approved digital equipment to record them.
Comrade Kevin
@NonyNony: From McArdle herself.
Phillip Dampier
Yes, astroturfing “citizens actions groups” spontaneously arrange bus trips, talking points literature, and folks not even living within the area suddenly appearing at a broadband hearing to chant generic anti-government slogans about broadband policy. That’s not unusual at all. :-)
Some of our North Carolina readers who actually know the issue inside and out talked with the bus riders, who are actually quite cordial and talkative when the cameras are off and you don’t approach them with hostile debate intent.
It turned out there were a few groups involved, including Freedom Works and another group called Americans for Prosperity, which also was running biased phone polling in the community of Salisbury, North Carolina.
The bus riders were almost entirely retirees who got involved through conservative talk radio channels, got lunch, a free bus ride, and a very simplistic explanation of “the issues” as the astroturf groups saw it.
We had people telling our readers some of the riders had never used a computer in their life, but their grandkids do. Not a single one understood what a municipal fiber optic broadband project was, and were actually sympathetic to the idea of a bond-funded project to take on cable and phone companies that were offering lousy service. As long as taxpayer money wasn’t involved, they didn’t actually have a problem with it.
One thing that even senior conservative activists can agree on — they hate the cable and phone company.
But then, they were never informed about the issue at hand. Instead they were told this was part of a strategy for an Obama takeover of the Internet, starting on the local level, and that their protest would protect Internet freedom. Sounds like they’d be great supporters of Net Neutrality to me.
By then, one of the bus “minders” had noticed the seniors were talking to “unauthorized people” and chaperoned them away.
Actually exposing people to facts is dangerous.
The media needs to avoid simply showing raw footage of protests without also making regular mention of who is sponsoring the road trip, providing the literature and talking points, and coordinating the entire affair. Then, expose where the money comes from.
We’ve been doing that very effectively on our own issue at Stop the Cap! where astroturfing abounds — supposedly “independent” research groups producing worthless studies that magically coincide with the agendas of big telecommunications companies that turn out to be financing these operations and the studies they produce. Magic extra benefit: they also get to obtain the licensing rights to use these “independent studies” as part of presentations to Congress to move their agenda forward.
I argued with one such “I sold my soul for a paycheck” astroturfer that was kept away from the building where he worked to maintain his “independence” to the point where he argued with me about the address of the K Street headquarters that sent him a paycheck every week or two.
The health care “protests” are very familiar to me, and are as engineered as every other astroturf-sponsored event I’ve dealt with on telecommunications issues.
I have no doubt there are honest people out there who have different views on this important issue, and those that respectfully present their views while ALSO allowing others to present opposing views, should be respected and welcomed.
What we’re seeing here is a purposeful disruption of an exchange of views that is designed to disrespect and silence those hold a different view. My advice is to warn the audience up front that respect will be provided to all speakers, and those not mature enough to provide it will be efficiently escorted from the building. It’s not as if these people were pulling the lever for the guy at the podium anyway.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
@Brick Oven Bill:
Wait, you mean like the republican lobbyists that pay people megabucks to wait in line for them outside government hearings?
http://www.politics.com/video/GYJrFYFGd_E/lobbyists-pay-homeless-to-wait-in-line-at-capitol-hill/
Bootlegger
@Brick Oven Bill: That’s right BoB, Cons work for a hot dog and a Bible verse, cheap bastards.
RememberNovember
@WereBear:
i vote for an e coli laden Taco Bell SPork instead.
RememberNovember
@gizmo:
We had the same thing with a Shell subsidy on LI , a company called Broadwater that had a PR firm try to gin up support. THey wanted to park a hideous barge/power plant in the middle of the LI sound. NYPIRG beat them down like a 4′ rip curl.
RememberNovember
@Brick Oven Bill:
Yet again BOB makin’ shit up with a little anti-semitic/racist spice…
Bam! There it is!
Don’t trolls turn to stone during daylight? Or is that only in Socialist countries like Norway…
Evinfuilt
@Brick Oven Bill:
Fail..
We outlawed the giving away of Cigs. Now we pay them off with a Netflix account and free downloads of Michael Moore & Al Gore movies.
Joel
Isn’t this basically the same deal as Code Pink?
I mean, I more than sympathize with the anti-war effort — I was against that clusterfuck from the very moment it was conceived — but the Code Pinkers did everything in their power to disrupt public appearances and such. This is no different, except for the fact that the causes are supported for more nefarious reasons.
Also, the wings are nutty. And they’re probably unemployed.
Jaquestraw
I thought community organizing was a noble calling.Civil disobedience,freedom of speech and all that.I guess it’s only acceptable for groups like acorn.
Badtux
And Jack Straw gets the strawman prize! Uhm, excuse me, but lying to elders who don’t even live in the community they’re being bussed to is not “community organizing”, it’s lying.
Jaquestraw
what?…………..Where?
Peter Principle
The bus riders were almost entirely retirees who got involved through conservative talk radio channels, got lunch, a free bus ride, and a very simplistic explanation of “the issues” as the astroturf groups saw it . . . they were never informed about the issue at hand. Instead they were told this was part of a strategy for an Obama takeover of the Internet, starting on the local level, and that their protest would protect Internet freedom.
After much thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be reduced to a single maxim, namely: ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’. This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism . . . FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, was inscribed on the end wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in bigger letters. When they had once got it by heart the sheep developed a great liking for this maxim, and often as they lay in the field they would all start bleating ‘Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs bad!’ and keep it up for hours on end, never growing tired of it.
George Orwell
Animal Farm
This stuff never really changes.
Jaquestraw
wow.what a shame those poor, innocent ,naive seniors maybe if they had a little more life experience they would have the wisdom not be so easily taken advantage of.