Thinkprogress - More Evidence Of Corporate Sponsorship Of Teabag Protests

[Median Democrat]

The travesty is that the mainstream media is not covering the corporate involvement behind these "grassroots" protests. Indeed, the "organic" nutjobs who actually want to attend, the birthers for example, are being kept out. Worse, Fox News is defrauding the American people by portraying the protests as a grass roots effort despite Fox News's heavy hand in pushing and organizing these protests.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/

/snip

This type of corporate ‘astroturfing‘ is nothing new to either organization. While working to promote Social Security privatization, Freedom Works was caught planting one of its operatives as a “single mom” to ask questions to President Bush in a town hall on the subject. Last year, the Wall Street Journal exposed Freedom Works for similarly building “amateur-looking” websites to promote the lobbying interests of Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader who now leads Freedom Works and is a lobbyist for the firm DLA Piper.

Americans for Prosperity is run by Tim Phillips, who was Ralph Reed’s former partner in the lobbying firm Century Strategies. The group is funded by Koch family foundations — a family whose wealth is derived from the oil industry. Indeed Americans for Prosperity has coordinated pro-drilling ‘grassroots‘ events around the country.

This afternoon, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, leader of the corporate-funded American Solutions for Winning the Futures (ASWF), blasted an e-mail to his supporters with a reminder to attend the protests, along with a "Toolkit" of talking points. Gingrich's ASWF is funded by polluters and helped orchestrate the "Drill Here, Drill Now" campaign last summer. ASWF has been an official "partner" in the tea party effort since at least March.

/snip

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Why do I think of... the attempted coup of '33?

I mean same crew, different decade

[AtomicKitten]

2. Quintessential astroturfing.

n/t

[Median Democrat]

3. Even "Liberal" Shows Like Maddow Are Either Giving Publicity To These Protests...

Or attacking the President on Afganistan. It is as if Fox News itself came up with a "liberal" programming to attack Obama from the left.

[annabanana]

4. Matthews let some RWer ramble on about "grass roots" even though

he clearly knew there was astro-turfing going on... He didn't let the refuter get his licks in...