Tea parties bring in big bucks

PT Barnum would be proud.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The tea-party movement, drawing in conservative activists across the United States, has also lured fundraisers, some of them for-profit companies.

Our Country Deserves Better PAC-TeaPartyExpress.org, a group in California, reported raising $585,000, more than twice its goal of $250,000. It spent $235,000, mostly paid to PAC officials, a consulting firm and activists who rode its Tea Party Express from San Diego to Orlando, Politico reported.

Another group, Tea Party Nation, is charging $560 for a three-day conservative convention in Nashville in February, and the fee does not include lodging. The keynote speaker is to be former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who reportedly is being paid a six-figure fee.

Judson Phillips, president of Tea Party Nation, said the group plans to set up a non-profit arm to funnel money to conservatives. (ed note- Most set up the non profit first)

"If this were a perfect world, we wouldn't charge anybody, but to put on an event like this, there are expenses that have to be covered," he said.

PhotOh! HuffPo posts ad by AFP, astroturf group Rachel Maddow exposed

By GottaLaff

Original post about Tim Phillips getting bitch slapped by Rachel here.

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Rachel Maddow took Phillips on, and for good reason. Just watch the videos. I could barely tolerate the exposure to the sleaze oozing from this guy, but Rachel's tenacity, thorough knowledge of all things AFP, preparedness, and obvious intelligence got me through the interview.

I am not exaggerating when I say my blood boiled watching the exchange. In fact, Rachel said something similar about her own feelings. She is the best example of solid, reliable TV reporting that I can think of. She took a risk by confronting Phillips head on, and it paid off. Rachel Maddow did her homework and made mincemeat of a very small man with not even a part of a leg to stand on.

She took on the big guys and made a difference.

That's called patriotism.

After seeing that Tee Vee moment, you'd think that most clear-thinking people would avoid AFP like the plague, especially more liberal types. Why, you'd have to be a fool to support a slimy bunch of phony corporate astroturfers like them. Carrying one of their ads would be akin to a slap in the face, to say the least... especially in light of Rachel's heroic efforts.

Wait. I'm sorry, give me a sec. I'm having a WTF Moment:

I took a screen shot of that HuffPo page just minutes ago. See the "bloody red hand" (as Rachel refers to it) on the right? That's an ad for Americans for Prosperity, the very group Tim Phillips represents.

Now, granted, it may be a rotating ad that they have little control over [we at TPC are well aware of unappealing ads displayed here, too], but this is more than a little bit disconcerting startling nauseating.

Dear HuffPo, Any way to dump that despicable eyesore? Love, Laffy.

H/t: baxterblogs

UPDATE: Please go to BuzzFlash for this commentary.

MUST-SEE VIDEOS: Rachel Maddow destroys Tim Phillips

By GottaLaff

If you missed this, you missed the Demolition Derby of MSNBC talk.

Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, either underestimated the genius of Rachel Maddow, or didn't realize that if you show up ill-prepared (including mentally) on TRMS, you get pureed.

This is an exquisite lesson in worthwhile Tee Vee:

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Introducing the FEC approved Swiftboat Network

By GottaLaff

Please, please, please read the entire piece here. This is major. Huge. And about as unAmerican as anything I can think of, all blessed by the FEC. Someone wake me up when this nightmare is over:

Buried deep within the Internet, there is a place called the Federal Election Commission. Buried deeper within the Federal Election Commission, there is a place where any interested party can view requests for advisory opinions, read both sides’ arguments for and against, comment, and listen to the audio of public hearings.

Buried deeper still, are the seeds of a plan to circumvent all election finance laws and everything we know right now about so-called ‘astroturf organizations’ in a perfectly legal, United States Federal Election Commission-approved kind of way. [...]

People who might otherwise make donations to 527 groups (which are subject to campaign disclosure laws), will instead incorporate on their own as Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs). Each corporation will advertise, take polls, or conduct direct media campaigns for or against Federal candidates as they choose. The corporation will not accept any funds from any outside sources. Simply put, wealthy donors will no longer be restricted to current contribution limits or disclosure laws because they will be acting individually as a corporation to put their message on the air. This has long been held to be a First Amendment right of individuals. They’re allowed to spend whatever they want. It isn’t new. [...]

It’s not difficult to imagine 100 different Swiftboat ads, each with the same message but a different messenger, a messenger who is a client of Black Rock Group and involved in the same campaign against the same candidate. [...]

[W]e will be inundated with negative campaign ads funded by shadow entities who will be shielded from the light of day. They will say whatever they want to say in whatever fashion they want to say it, including the usual smear tactics, but will never have to own one word of what they’ve said, because they are shielded by a corporate entity surrounding the individual.

That’s the real problem here. If a Goldman Sachs executive wants to go negative on a candidate and has the funds to pay for it, no one will ever be able to point back to Goldman Sachs, nor will that executive ever have to own the words. Now multiply that by a factor of many, all blasting the same message over radio, tv, push poll, polls, and other means. It’s lucrative for Black Rock Group, shields candidates from associations they’d rather not disclose, and inundates the rest of us with a barrage of ‘nattering nabobs of negativity.’

This isn’t astroturf. It’s a concrete firewall, intended to shield and protect the messenger who brings destructive messages.

Bye bye democracy.

Go. Now. Here.

Astroturf Firm Bonner Institutes New No-Forgery Policy

By GottaLaff

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Remember Bonner and Associates? Rachel Maddow has done a great job of exposing their little antics. I guess they heard her... and Congress:

Bonner & Associates, the DC 'strategic grassroots' firm facing a Congressional investigation for sending forged letters opposing the climate bill to members of Congress, is instituting a new No Forgeries ethics program to get out in front of the emerging scandal and ensure its astroturf campaigns are not tainted in the future.

"This is a very rare occurrence," says a Bonner spokesman who asked that his name be withheld as a condition of talking to TPMmuckraker. "In response to it, as of August 11, the company has introduced a five-point check against this sort of thing. And every employee at Bonner has signed it and dated it."

Rule number one: no forged letters.

Wowee, good for them. It's not every day we get a check list that assures us of no forgeries.

Funny...Most firms wouldn't feel the need to so much as consider including something like that... Oh, but leave it to Bonner, they don't miss a trick. Always thinking of The People.

With reassurance like that, who needs investigations?

More details over at TPM, and they're important to read, but let me leave you with their last sentence. It's swell!

In other words: Bonner clients can be sure of ethical, best practices astroturf campaigns from here on out.

Who's paying to kill health reform: The Chart

By GottaLaff

Just follow the bouncing ball arrow!

(click on image to enlarge)

We could turn this into a freakin' board (no pun) game.

VIDEO- Freedomworks activist: "It's not a grassroots event. They're all paid." American flags not welcome.

By GottaLaff

Oh my, the deception... How does it feel to be squashed by the Enormous Corporate Foot, Freedomworks flag wavers? Will you believe us now? Silly question.

This is one of those videos you have to watch all the way through:



Big Oil barred Freedomworks recruits/activists from their astroturf event. Can you say, "Schadenfreude"?

Disguising a company picnic as a citizen's energy rally, private security and police barred interested citizens from entering the "astroturf" event. Even though they advertised the event as a public, grassroots rally, and even had emails sent out encouraging people to attend, not even staunch supporters of the industry's stance on climate legislation were allowed in. The only people allowed through the doors were those with petroleum company employee badges and yellow "Energy Citizen" t-shirts that were handed out amongst the employees.

Any converts to liberal fascism? Hands?

Video- The Rachel Maddow Show: Stealth Campaigning

Via Heather.

Who's behind the attacks on a health care overhaul?

By GottaLaff

McClatchy joins Rachel Maddow in refuting all those Rushpublic punditiots on the Tee Vee Machine, and everywhere else for that matter:

Much of the money and strategy behind the so-called grassroots groups organizing opposition to the Democrats' health care plans comes from conservative political consultants, professional organizers and millionaires, some of whom hold financial stakes in the outcome. [...]

The opposition groups' names sound catchy and populist: Patients First. Patients United. Americans for Prosperity. Conservatives for Patients' Rights. FreedomWorks. 60 Plus. Club for Growth.

Here's who's behind them:

Conservatives for Patients' Rights is led by health care entrepreneur Rick Scott, the co-founder of Solantic urgent care walk-in centers, which he's spread across Florida and is looking to expand. [...]

Scott left his job as CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospitals during a federal Medicare fraud probe in 1997 that led to a historic $1.7 billion settlement. He wasn't prosecuted and got a golden parachute. [...]

FreedomWorks, which has been advocating against the overhaul but has not launched TV ads, is chaired by Dick Armey, the former Republican majority leader of the House of Representatives from Texas.

But also noteworthy are the group's other backers and board members. They include billionaire flat-tax proponent and former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes; Richard J. Stephenson, who founded Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which offers alternative as well as standard therapies, sometimes not covered by insurance; and Frank M. Sands, Sr., chief executive officer of an investment management firm whose offerings include a Healthcare Leaders portfolio.

"They're on our board because they support lower taxes, less government and more freedom," said FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon. [...]

Patients First and Patients United are creations of a larger group called Americans for Prosperity. AFP's Web site describes a grassroots organization with more than 700,000 members that advocates "for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint."

It was started by billionaire David Koch, of the Koch Industries oil family, one of the country's top donors to conservative, free-market causes. The foundation's board includes Art Pope, a former North Carolina legislator also involved in conservative causes, whose family owns hundreds of discount stores.

Tim Phillips, AFP's president, is a former Republican congressional staffer who helped former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed start up the consulting firm Century Strategies in the 1990s. Clients paid the firm to build Christian grassroots support for various business causes. That included work for since-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The group, along with FreedomWorks, was involved in promoting the anti-tax "tea parties" earlier this year. AFP also is organizing a campaign "exposing the ballooning costs of global warming hysteria." [...]

By Labor Day, he said, his group will have organized 600 rallies on health care. [...]

Two other grassroots groups have financed ads targeting peoples' fears that more government involvement would hurt seniors and hasten end-of-life decisions.

One of them, Club for Growth, which advocates lower taxes, is led by president Chris Chocola, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who lost his re-election bid in 2006. Club for Growth this week announced a $1.2 million ad campaign against a health care overhaul, to run in North Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas and Nevada.

The other, 60 Plus Association, is a conservative senior advocacy group that wants to abolish the estate tax. Singer Pat Boone is the group's national spokesman. Chairman Jim Martin started the group in 1992 with fund-raising help from conservative direct mail guru Richard Viguerie. It spent $1.5 million on TV ads opposing a healthcare overhaul in the last week.

Martin declined to identify his major donors. In 2006, he acknowledged that his group was getting funding from the pharmaceutical industry. But this year, pharmaceutical companies lead the spending spree on behalf of a health care overhaul.

Dickle Me Armey defends himself, laughably, here.

Health Care Watch- Dick Armey quits firm over controversy: "It is a sacrifice I must make"

By GottaLaff

You can bet Rachel Maddow will be all over this astroturf poster boy Dickle Me Armey news:

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress.

[...] Armey said that he was concerned about the media scrutiny the health care protests were drawing to the firm he has been associated with since retiring from Congress.

As he should be.

“The firm is busy with its business, and shouldn’t be asked to take time out from their work, to defend themselves of spurious allegations,” Armey said. “No client of this firm is going to be free to mind its own business without harassment as long as I’m associated with it.”

He has a real flair for stating the obvious, doesn't he?

In a statement Armey said, “It is painful and frustrating to see a good, decent, able and effective partnership of honorable men and women and their clients attacked for things in which they are not involved simply because of their association with me. One would expect a higher degree of competence and professionalism from members of the media than spurious attacks on innocent bystanders.”

1. Somehow juxtaposing the words "innocent" and "Armey" doesn't cut it.

2. They weren't involved with astroturfing? Really? See: Show, The Rachel Maddow.

To that end, Armey, who had been with the law firm for six years, said that he intends to devote his full attention to FreedomWorks.

I wouldn't exactly characterize that as an upgrade.

“It is imperative for me, within the context of my life’s work in the defense of personal liberty against the encroachments of big government, to give my undivided attention to the work we do at FreedomWorks. In short, the threat to personal liberty in America is so serious and imminent at this time that it requires the full commitment of my efforts. While I consider it a personal sacrifice to leave DLA Piper, it is a sacrifice I must make in light of the important work I am committed to at FreedomWorks.”

What would we do with out Dickle Me to save us from Big Bad Obama? Without Dickle's selfless sacrifice, our very lives could be at stake! Democracy as we know it would die! In fact, we'd all die! We owe him our souls! God bless Dickle Me Armey! ::sniffle, snuffle, schmerfuggle, slobbergibble::

I'm sorry. I need a moment. I'm overwhelmed. I must go to my Quiet Place.

Armey told POLITICO he intends to counter misinformation about FreedomWorks’ role in the health care protests and said there have been no disruptions of any town hall meetings where his group has helped organize participants.

“That’s simply not true. We have always emphasized making a civil presentation. There’s been nobody at a town hall meeting who has been bused in, at least not by FreedomWorks.”

Take it away, Rachel! After all, he'll be on Meet the Press with you this Sunday.

Rather, he said, opposition over the prospect of government-run health care is organic.

As organic as say, astroturf? Of course, all that "organic" opposition has nothing to do with the promos, lists of emotionally charged talking points, and instructions fed to them.

This is one Armey that has nothing to do with intelligence, military or otherwise.

Round 2: Big Oil To Imitate TeaDeath Astroturfers, attack climate legislation

By GottaLaff

SwiftBoaters, Tea Baggers, Astroturfers, Corporate Shills, TeaDeathers, Birthers, and now...

[A]nother of America's corporate sectors has decided to launch its own attack on the communication between congress people and their constituents.

An internal memo obtained recently by Greenpeace USA details polluting interests’ plans to launch a nationwide Astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public events scheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September.

[...]

The objective of these rallies is to ... aim a loud message at those states’ U.S. Senators to avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill and the Obama Administration’s tax increases on our industry. ... To be clear, API will provide the up-front resources to ensure logistical issues do not become a problem. This includes contracting with a highly experienced events management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups. It also includes coordination with the other interests who share our views on the issues, providing a field coordinator in each state, conducting a comprehensive communications and advocacy activation plan for each state, and serving as central manager for all events.

It's no coincidence that "no cap and trade!" is being screamed at town halls that are supposed to be focused on health care.

You can find the letters in their entirety here. I've grabbed screen shots of some of the excerpts.

Yes, the good ol' boys at the American Petroleum Institute are going to fund "regular folks", our "neighbors", to play dress-up, grab signs, organize outrage, and get ugly. They sure have the money to pour into it:

Click on each to enlarge:

H/t: Oliver Willis

Video- The Daily Show: Healther Skelter

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Healther Skelter
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VIDEOS: Police investigating property crime by astroturf town hall mob

By GottaLaff

The TeaDeathers are now destroying personal property... allegedly. One must always say "allegedly", mustn't one:

DENVER--A car owned by a ProgressNow Colorado staff member was vandalized over the weekend during a right-wing protest against health insurance reform.

ProgressNow Colorado staffer Michael Ditto was attending a public "Government at your Grocery Store" event Saturday in Brighton, Colorado, held by Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Golden, when his vehicle was seriously damaged in the parking lot. A report was filed with the Brighton Police Department. Police are reviewing surveillance tapes of the parking lot for evidence.

"We are calling for a thorough investigation of this act of vandalism at a right-wing protest," said ProgressNow Colorado Founder Michael Huttner. "There is absolutely no excuse for anyone who comes to a public gathering to be intimidated. In this case thankfully no one was hurt, but thousands of dollars in damage was done to Mike Ditto's car."

I truly believe these hostile, violent, mouth-breathing, rabid TeaDeathers should be locked up for what they've been doing... allegedly.

Watch these videos. Insanity. Pure insanity:





H/t: Ryking

Video- Jim Pinkerton says 'MSNBC and the liberal media' commit 'the real terrorism'

Note the mantra "white working class". Hmm. Via Think Progress.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Video- NBC Nightly News fairly covers the Healthers

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I saw this mentioned last night as one of the more fair versions of coverage. Video heavy this morning.

Video- Dylan Ratigan tries to get an answer out of astroturfer Eric Odom on health care reform

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I may not agree with Rattigan, but I aplaud his attempts to get an answer out of the toad Odom. (Gotta posted about Odom yesterday here)

RAW VIDEO: Tampa health care town hall disrupted by wingnuts

More on the Tampa meeting here.

VIDEO--Tea Baggers: "Time to show them what a REAL grassroots MOB looks like!"

By GottaLaff

I'm running out of words. Let this speak for itself, it's just that appalling:

Time to show them what a REAL grassroots MOB looks like!

by Eric Odom

In case you missed it, the Democrat National Committee, with a ton of help from far left bloggers and special interest groups, went on the attack against Americans who dared to state their dislike of government run healthcare.

The DNC put out this ad earlier today. [video of ad is posted]

Did you catch that? They allege that we’re all a bunch of extremist who are leading an effort of mob rule fueled by special interests.

Which is ironic considering the fact that the pro-Obamacare rallies are completely Astroturf events, run by powerful lobbyists, special interest groups and wealthy liberal donors.

If advocating free speech, peaceful dissent, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility makes us a mob… we’ll take the label.

We’ll be launching a new campaign called “The People’s Mob” here shortly. Watch the site for updates.

While you’re waiting, you can join the Facebook Group and get plugged in early.

For Liberty,
-Eric Odom

"For Liberty". No, Eric, for delusion.

Whipping up an already-frenzied, rabid "mob" is about the stupidest, most destructive, anti-democratic idea I can imagine. The sick, cowardly mentality of these animals is like watching an old episode of The Twilight Zone. In fact, I've cobbled together clips from an episode called "The Shelter" to illustrate the point:

The New Normal. Or as I should have titled the video, The New ABnormal.

H/t: The Plum Line

RNC profits from our anger over town hall mobs

By GottaLaff

Hangings in effigy, giggles/applause at the mention of lynching, death threats, hostility, mob scenes, fear mongering, lies, stifling democracy: This is how the Rushpublics make their money. Be proud, Rushpublics. Be proud, Michael Steele:

RNC chair Michael Steele is now raising money off of Dem criticism of the town hall rowdies, claiming that Dems, possibly in league with the mainstream media, are trying to silence ordinary citizens.

Steele’s new fundraising email references the DNC’s attacks yesterday on “mob” rule:

The Democrat National Committee released a memo late yesterday attacking you as a right-wing extremist.

We saw this sort of vitriolic rhetoric this past April when Democrats smugly dismissed grassroots protests against their out-of-control spending. These Tea Parties were ruthlessly mocked by the liberal elites and the mainstream media.

Now as public support for the Obama Democrats’ government-run health care plan unravels, they’re using this fear-and-smear tactic to silence ANY American who disagrees with their risky scheme to nationalize one-fifth of our economy and limit your health care choices. It’s a page out of their standard playbook of name calling and outright lies to stifle all debate.

Once again, Michael Steele proves himself to be a despicable, lying prostitute for his despicable, lying party, and not a very bright one. Think real hard, Michael: Who are the fear mongering name callers who are stifling debate?

Let's see if this refreshes your memory:

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