Lefty astroturfers attack the "mob"

[DarrinS]

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/08/05/leftist-bloggers-who-get-march




Last month, President Obama held a conference call with a small group of liberal bloggers, asking them to keep pressure on Congress in the health care fight. Now those same bloggers are part of an orchestrated effort by the Democratic Party and the White House to portray protests against their health care legislation as, well, orchestrated.

"It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington," Obama instructed the bloggers last month. "And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not... People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody."

Obama later added, "I know the blogs are best at debunking myths that can slip through a lot of the traditional media outlets...And that is why you are going to play such an important role in our success in the weeks to come."

Since then, support for legislation has cratered, and those bloggers who get their marching orders from the White House and DNC have become part of the effort to attack ordinary Americans expressing their beliefs about an issue of great importance.

John Amato of Crooks and Liars was on last month's conference call with Obama. Yesterday, Amato asked, "How long will it take the traditional media to expose the corporations that are running this con and even mention the word 'astrotufing' in a serious way?" In the same post, he praised Robert Gibbs for accusing the protesters of being phony.

David Dayen of the blog D-Day was on the call. Yesterday, he wrote a post titled, "Top-Level Democrats Assault The Extremist Astroturfers." It began, "The White House took the lead on this, publicly calling the teabagger disruptions an example of astroturfing and citing conservative industry-backed groups taking credit for activating the rioters. Now other elements of the Democratic Party are taking up the baton. Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer blasted the clown show today..."

Joan McCarter of Daily Kos was also on the call. Yesterday, she wrote of the protesters, "It's kind of sad, isn't it? They think they're part of a real populist movement, but the freedom they're fighting for is the freedom of corporations to make even more money off of them. It's that cynicism of this astroturf campaign that's particularly disturbing, because it's not about the rights of citizens to freely express their dissent."

So just to sum up, Obama enlists the aid of a small group of liberal bloggers in the health care fight, and then those same bloggers write posts echoing White House and DNC talking points -- and in the very process of doing that, accuse their political opponents of astroturfing!

[George Gervin's Afro]

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/08/05/leftist-bloggers-who-get-march

I guess if you can prove the lefty bloggers are misrepresenting the bill that is proposed then you might have a point.

[101A]

Which SpursTalk posters might be some of these Obamabloggers?

[Michael Brown]

Not me!

[DarrinS]

I guess if you can prove the lefty bloggers are misrepresenting the bill that is proposed then you might have a point.


I guess you don't see the total hypocrisy in Obama's orchestrated bloggers called out "orchestrated" opponents that show up at the town hall events.


I saw some video of some elderly people at these events. I find it hard to believe that these octogenarians are shills, bought and paid for by BIG insurance.

[clambake]

I saw some video of some elderly people at these events. I find it hard to believe that these octogenarians are shills, bought and paid for by BIG insurance.

i agree with this.

i also think that they have been told they'll be left to die.

why pay someone when fear is free?

[angrydude]

So it is genuine

[DarrinS]

i agree with this.

i also think that they have been told they'll be left to die.

why pay someone when fear is free?



Or, maybe they can read.

[DarrinS]

If you believe this Huffington post blogger, old people are just plain stupid.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/get-your-goddamn-governme_b_252326.html





At the risk of bringing down the digital wrath of blog-savvy oldsters, I've noticed that a considerable number of the anti-reform Republican "hooligans," as Rachel Maddow describes them, who turn up at various town hall meetings to shout incomprehensible loud noises just happen to be senior citizens. And while the old people who turn up to protest health care reform are, to come extent, victims of the usual Republican lies and disinformation, they're still adults and therefore responsible for their opinions, their actions and their ziplock baggies filled with crazy.

Yes, they've been tricked by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh into believing that health care reform will somehow involve golden-grilled ACORN thugs showing up at bingo with a tray of syringes filled with black liberal death juice. Yes, they've been tricked by Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs into thinking that this "halfrican American" president with his terrorist pals and Kenyan birth certificate is trying to supplant God's U.S. government with a liberal fascist homocracy.

But failing to grasp the extraordinary contradiction evident in receiving Medicare benefits while simultaneously shouting nonsense about "government-run health care" is quite simply inexcusable.

President Obama at a town hall meeting last week described a letter he received from a Medicare recipient:

"I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'"

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-08-05-oldladiesteapartysticker2.jpg


At a town hall meeting held by Rep. Robert Inglis (R-SC):

Someone reportedly told Inglis, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare."

"I had to politely explain that, 'Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government,'" Inglis told the Post. "But he wasn't having any of it."


It's no wonder with "very serious" analysts like Arthur Laffer are appearing on CNN and saying things like this (and getting away with it unchallenged):

"If you like the post office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government."

Yeah, just wait until the government gets its mighty robot claws on Medicare and Medicaid -- snatching control away from, you know, the government. (Incidentally, the post office is amazing. As Maher said recently, anyone can drop a letter into a blue metal box on the sidewalk and in a couple of days it arrives at the place listed on the envelope. For 44 cents. Off the top of your head, can you name anything that costs 44 cents and actually functions exactly as advertised?)

I can only hope that the Keep your goddamn government hands off my Medicare! people are exceptions and that a vast majority of Republican seniors understand that Medicare, Medicaid and the Veteran's Administration are all government-run health care systems. Put another way: they're actively and willingly participating in socialized medicine. So the seniors who understand the facts about the Medicare system and yet are screeching at town hall meetings about government-run health care are, well, insert your favorite colorful synonym for "freakishly colossal hypocrites" right about here.

Either these people have been so kerfluffled and enraged by the wingnutty "reparations" and "killing old people" lies they're hearing on AM radio that they've forgotten about the source of their current health insurance coverage, or they're fully aware of the fact that they are, indeed, beneficiaries of socialism, but they refuse to allow anyone else to participate in a similar program. You know, because socialized medicine is bad. Except for them.

Take this guy for instance:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-08-05-oldguywingnut.jpg

He's one of several elderly protesters shouting in tongues at a town hall held by Rep. Steve Kagan (D-WI) this week. And based on his obvious age and USMC cap, we can deduce that he's very likely receiving medical coverage from the government in the form of Medicare or the Veteran's Administration or both (you can do that). I'd wager, too, that he'd be totally unwilling to give up his coverage. He'd be *cough* crazy to do that.

Or, to paraphrase various wingnut emails I've received, perhaps this old timer ought to get a job instead of freeloading off the system. I mean, why should I pay taxes to finance this guy who refuses to work? Of course the realistic answer is that healthy Americans of any age who aren't spending thousands of dollars a month on gouged health care premiums tend to strengthen both our communities and our broader economy -- including my best interests as well. Rising tides, lifting boats and all that. Another argument I've heard, by the way, is that seniors and veterans have earned their socialist health care. To which I usually respond: I see. So socialized health care is a reward for a job well done? Can I quote you?

I don't claim to know the full stories behind the variety of senior citizens who have been recruited to disrupt these town halls, but one thing is clear. They're participating in a corporate lobbyist-driven campaign to prevent the rest of us from acquiring the same affordable, reliable public health care they enjoy. In other words, their government-run health care is excellent. So excellent that it can't be shared. And they're so intensely motivated in this selfishness that they're volunteering their time to infiltrate town hall meetings and loudly ambush public officials at the request of lobbyists who are very simply lying to and exploiting them.

With all due respect to their chronological age, shame on them.

[clambake]

Or, maybe they can read.

they read all day long.

it's called the fox ticker.



where do you think they got the "jihad fist jab"?

[ChumpDumper]

Or, maybe they can read.Or maybe the elderly are already on government health care and you are too stupid to realize that.

[DarrinS]

Old people are stupid. Especially old, white people (i.e. racists) that watch Fox News.

[clambake]

The fox ticker tells me I'm smart!

[DarrinS]

Or maybe the elderly are already on government health care and you are too stupid to realize that.


I think adding 50 million people into the mix will result in better quality health care at a lower cost, because that just makes so much sense. :rolleyes

Want to see angry mobs? Just wait until they pass this shit and dump a value added tax on the middle class.

[ChumpDumper]

I think you are butthurt from having your ignorance pointed out once again. I hope your policy covers that.

[Rogue]

It's still uncertain if Sotomayor's nomination can or cannot get confirmed by the senate. :rolleyes

[clambake]

but you say they already get free health care.

[DarrinS]

I think you are butthurt from having your ignorance pointed out once again. I hope your policy covers that.


Your grandmother is stupid.

[ChumpDumper]

Your grandmother is stupid.They're dead.

You can't make a real argument and you get pissed when you are called out on it. It's fun.

[clambake]

Your grandmother is stupid.

sarah palin is his grandmother?

[Rogue]

but you say they already get free health care.
even the obamacare isn't free lunch despite the socialistic flavor of it. What we know from Obama speeches is we will have more freedom to choose in a bigger variety of healthcare packages, and the money we pay will be used more wisely and efficiently.

[clambake]

even the obamacare isn't free lunch despite the socialistic flavor of it. What we know from Obama speeches is we will have more freedom to choose in a bigger variety of healthcare packages, and the money we pay will be used more wisely and efficiently.

you didn't see anything as it went right by you?

[Rogue]

They're dead.

You can't make a real argument and you get pissed when you are called out on it. It's fun.

You just have no business about how to join an argument, only by insulting and pissing others can you prevent yourself being ignored by others, but these tricks have never helped you win an argument.

The NBA forum is still alive and the reason why NBA got shut down several days ago has nothing to do with you, though I'm glad I have got an idiot willing to take over this blame.

[clambake]

you can't catch fish without bait.......unless you use a net...and thats cheating.

[ChumpDumper]

You just have no business about how to join an argument, only by insulting and pissing others can you prevent yourself being ignored by others, but these tricks have never helped you win an argument.No one can ever tell what you are saying. We mock you because you are unintelligible.


The NBA forum is still alive and the reason why NBA got shut down several days ago has nothing to do with you, though I'm glad I have got an idiot willing to take over this blame.Did you not have sarcasm in your native country?

[SonOfAGun]

Get cho' pitchfork ready

[boutons_deux]

right-wing/red-state spittle-spewing screaming rabid mob already has pitchforks and torches and lynching rope in hand. gotta fight fire with fire.