Just A Loose Coalition

I’ve written about the AstroTurfing activities of the ObamaNation and the TEA Partiers so often that I’ve started having nightmares about angry blindfolded protesters dressed as Native Americans dumping cases of Snapple on the floor of the Houston Astrodome for no other apparent reason than it’s fun to do on television.  And, while the evidence of well-funded propagandists on both sides ginning up the outrage of ordinary citizens for sinister corporo-political purposes is overwhelming, for some reason, nobody wants to cop to the truth that their side is doing it, too.

Those all-too-willing to jump on the Evil AstroTurfing Obot Train to Townhalls, will routinely recoil in horror and indignantly swear up and down that they would never, ever, ever, Heaven and all things Holy forbid, AstroTurf anything themselves, if any but the demonstrably institutionalized were to actually have the temerity to even suggest such a thing.  “Oh no,” they cry, “nobody’s paying or manipulating me!  I’m really well and truly pissed!”  Yet, according to these same people, the only reason Barack Whosayin’ Yomama is Pretendident now is because Soros-backed David Axelrove channeled Jim Jones and turned a large portion of America into a KoolAid addicted, liberal/progressive/socialist Jonestown, solely due to the machinations of paid Nutroots bloggers and their commenters, ACORN, MoveOn and anybody with a union card.  And, their private corporate pseudo news organization, MSNBO.

On the Obama fluffing side, anybody who doesn’t see the wisdom of genuflecting prior to praying at the Altar of the Obamessiah, in the manner of their Savior before a Saudi King, is obviously a conservative, rightwing neocon wackaloon soldier of Contract With America co-architect Dick Armey, and his sinister Koch Industry-funded FreedomWorks/Americans For Prosperity/Independent Women’s Forum/Citizens for a Sound Economy coalition of Hot Air-filled, gun-toting, Bible-thumping Freepers and Teabaggers, racially united in their opposition to all things Obama, including the color brown.  These clearly delusional-for-lack-of-ObamaLove hypocrites are, of course, whipped into the requisite frenzy for camera by the lackofpersonalities employed by their private corporate pseudo news organization, FOX.

Like that old breath mint commercial, when it comes to the finger-pointing bullshit, both sides should “Stop!  It’s two, two, two Turfers in one!”  No matter what side of the aisle they’re on, if any, everybody’s running around like suddenly headless chicken toddlers who’ve somehow magically retained their ability to squawk.  And, they’re all being paid and/or goaded into doing it.  Just as the Obamania AstroTurf tapped into the ill-defined, yet fulfillment-assured, regardless of primary victor, “hope” for “change” fervor of the people, so, too, does the Townhall AstroTurf strike a nerve with those sure to be “frustrated” and “angry” with any Democrat in office, or anything Obama does, or does not, do.

What brings this up is that the Washington Post has done an incomplete expose of sorts about the “loose network” of right wing factions behind the Congressional  recess townhall protests.  Which is pretty curious in itself; anybody with a search engine can easily find evidence in WaPo’s own archives that the erstwhile, esteemed publication surely knows better, or should; so, the fact that they obviously don’t, (or they wouldn’t have allowed such a sketchy outline to be filed under their banner) raises eyebrows and questions in itself.   In fact, the only thing more curious is that the reluctance of those in the PUMAsphere now flying the townhall flag in opposition to Anything Obie, while simultaneously claiming that his anti-big “D”emocratic embrace of the hated Republican policies and practices is what turned them off to him in the first place, indicates that they’ve conveniently, and selectively, forgotten how insidiously well the Republicans have been deviously manipulating the masses since the Watergate years, for the sake of hating Obama for adapting them.

According to WaPo, the townhall protests are “organic”-ally being lead by FreedomWorks, a group merely magnanimously offering its organizational services to the righteously indignant Silent Majority outraged by socialist gubmint run amok:

One of the most prominent organizers is FreedomWorks, a Washington-based advocacy group headed by former House majority leader Richard Armey (R-Tex.) that is also pushing to defeat Democratic climate-change legislation. FreedomWorks’s major financial backers have included MetLife, Philip Morris and foundations controlled by the archconservative Scaife family, according to tax filings and other records.

Armey said in an interview that the widespread protests over health-care reform could not happen unless people were “truly scared.”

“This is a real grass-roots uprising that is to some extent helped by FreedomWorks, but it would be there without FreedomWorks,” he said. “It’s what they call in the cyber world ‘viral.’ “

The article then goes on to say that while the activities of the various organizers “overlap,” there’s no “official” connection to mainstream political groups like the Republican National Committee, though, there is “synergy” that’s not “intentional.”  It then highlights the involvement of another of these overlapping synergistic unconnected organizations, Americans For Prosperity:

One of the most visible groups is Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax and anti-regulation group known for opposing smoking restrictions and for trying to cast doubt on global warming. The group launched a project called “Patients First” in June and has been conducting bus tours around the country to drum up opposition to the health-care legislation.

Well, golly gee willikers, Jo Bobbi Anne, hush my mouth, ya heah?!  Good to know that two groups, one of which has been around since 1984, and, in its current former House Majority Leader-led incarnation grew out of the same entity that spawned the other, are only “loosely” related and officially unaffiliated with mainstream political groups.   According to Source Watch:

The cause for confusion is that FreedomWorks was founded in 1984 as Citizens for a Sound Economy. The name was changed as part of the merger deal in 2004. The organization has been continuously operating since 1984. Although the FreedomWorks’ web site states that it was founded in 1984, announcements made by the organization and reported in the press July 22, 2004, stated that “Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and former White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray [joined] forces to counter MoveOn.Org and other liberal Democrat groups in the November [2004] elections” and that Armey, “chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE)” and Kemp, “a co-founder of Empower America, [were] merging their two organizations into FreedomWorks to foster a ‘freedom agenda’,” according to the Washington Post’s Ralph Z. Hallow.

Didja catch the WaPo reference, didja, huh, didja?  Sure you did.  I knew you could.  Even if you don’t wanna take Source Watch’s word for the fact that FreedomWorks didn’t just spring up out of thin air as a “grassroots” backlash to the dastardly manipulations of MoveOn, as is sometimes claimed, take heart, FreedomWorks cops to it on its About page:

Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide. The organization is chaired by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and the President is Matt Kibbe.

FreedomWorks members know that government goes to those who show up, and are leading the fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Join us!

Yes, indeedy, Nefertiti!  Step right up and join the sideshow!  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, nothin’ up my sleeve, so let’s see how this handy dandy cure-all snake oil gets made, shall we?   Why don’t we see what our good friends at Source Watch have to say about Americans For Prosperity, hmmmm?

AFP was established in late 2003 as a successor to Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, an industry-funded think tank.^[2]following an internal rift between Citizens for a Sound Economy and its affiliated foundation.^[3] AFP was formally affiliated with the Independent Women’s Forum. Both organizations shared the same Washington address, and formerly shared most of the same operational staff^[4] In 2008, IWF moved to separate office space.

What the hell is the Independent Women’s Forum, you say?  Well don’t get your knickers in a twist, just hold that thought please, Louise.  We’ll get to them in a minute, I promise.  But, if you just can’t hold your water, check my archives; like those pasta sauce ingredients they used to talk about in the commercial, it’s in there.  But first, lessee what those ol’ boys at Source Watch have on Citizens for a Sound Economy, okay?

Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) is a powerful industry-funded think tank, promoting deregulation. It was founded by Koch Industries interests and continues to maintain strong links. In 2003, an internal rift between CSE and its affiliated Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation led to a split in which CSEF was renamed as a separate organization, called Americans For Prosperity.

In July 2004, CSE announced it was merging with Empower America to create FreedomWorks.

And, sho nuff, if you Google Citizens for a Sound Economy the first hit you git is FreedomWorks.  WaPo’s network don’t seem quite so “loose” no more, does it?  Which brings us back to those gals at Independent Women’s Forum, whose current CEO is Michelle Bernard.  I don’t think they’d mind being called “gals,” being all Hillary-hating, Eagle Forum-lovin’ “traditional values” like they are.  Back to Source Watch:

The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) is an anti-feminist organization predominately funded by conservative U.S. foundations. On its website it describes its mission as being “to rebuild civil society by advancing economic liberty, personal responsibility, and political freedom. IWF builds support for a greater respect for limited government, equality under the law, property rights, free markets, strong families, and a powerful and effective national defense and foreign policy.”^[1]

An article by Sally Patel in IWF’s “scholarly” magazine, The Women’s Quarterly, stated that “the battered women’s movement has outlived its useful beginnings.”

“Okay, it’s kinda loony for anti-”battered women’s movement” chicks to have a CEO who works for the enemy that does not support them and women they like, like Michelle Malkin,” say you, “but, what the Sam Hill does any of this goll-blamed stuff have to do with TEA Parties and Townhalls?” I hear you asking in your best Yosemite Sam voice.  Well, I’ll tell ya what it’s got to do with ‘em, Doc, say I, just hold yer horses, dagnabbit.

For one thing, it’s pretty obvious that all these nogoodniks are in cahoots.  And, just a little digging lets anybody interested know just how deeply involved in the whole TEA Party/Townhall mishegas some of these very same folks are.   To be fair, Malkin’s connection to Independent Women’s Forum is tenuous, at best.  But, not so for her relationship with the TEA Parties.  Along with InstaPundit’s Glenn Reynolds, she is credited by FreedomWorks’ Brendan Steinhauser with being instrumental in helping him launch the whole movement back in February.  In the same month, this guy wrote a piece following the money behind Americans For Prosperity’s Hot Air campaign against “Global Warming Hysteria,” currently featured on the front page of their website.  Also on that same page is a link to a post about AFP-sponsored Right Online, a Netroots Nation-like gathering featuring…guess who?…Michelle Malkin as a speaker.  Again in February, a post by drm604 on Democratic Underground traced the chicagoteaparty.com and angryrenter.com mortgage bailout protest website domain back to FreedomWorks before Rick Santelli’s rant that was supposed to have kicked the TEA Party movement off, indicating that hey, maybe these outbursts were…planned…AstroTurf?  Both “movements” link back to Steinhauser’s “How To Organize Your Own Tea Party” Conservative Revolution blog.  That piece gives Steinhauser’s email address as bsteinhauser@freedomworks.org, and SourceWatch lists his occupation as “Grassroots Manager for Dick Armey’s advocacy group FreedomWorks in Washington DC.”

In April, FreedomWorks admitted on their website that they were involved in organizing TEA Parties, but, said since they weren’t officially connected with the Republican Party and, MoveOn did the same kinds of things, they weren’t really AstroTurfing, they were just fighting back.  That’s like saying Howard Dean’s former campaign arm-turned-grassroots organization, Democracy For America, and Brave New Films aren’t “officially” affiliated with the Democratic party.  So what?  Who says AstroTurfing has to be “officially” sanctioned?  AstroTurfing is never supposed to be “officially sanctioned!“  Does anybody really believe the the Obama campaign AsrtroTurfing was “officially sanctioned” before the primaries started?  That’s when DFA and Axelrod started doing it, and they probably weren’t even coordinating their efforts.  Thanks to Howard Dean’s ex-campaign manager, Joe Trippi’s protege, Joe Rospars’ position on Obama’s staff, and his, and the company he founded, Blue State Digital’s efforts on Obama’s behalf, a very good case could be made that the entire Obama pretendidential campaign was AstroTurf.  But, it wasn’t “officially sanctioned” until after the inauguration.  Dean probably had nothing to do with “1984” or, “Obama Girl,” but he didn’t stop it, either.  He didn’t want to, they were working for the same goal, even though Dean, as Chairman of the DNC really wasn’t supposed to, and certainly couldn’t “officially sanction” his organization’s involvement, even though he had been endorsing Obama since the moment his scream derailed his own campaign.  That’s why he “stepped down” as head of DFA and put his brother in charge.  Besides, FreedomWorks can hardly justify copying MoveOn when they’ve been around for 25 years.

On top of that, WaPo has been on to FW since at least 2006, when they wrote this article about how the group was running an insurance scam:

Documents produced through the suit against Rooney’s company show how FreedomWorks, a political group that made its name fighting for a flat income tax and questioning global warming, has joined the insurance business. Under the deal, proposed by Rooney in 2000, brokers for Medical Savings Insurance Co. sell high-deductible insurance policies and tax-free savings plans at a group discount to buyers who join the conservative political organization.

In April, Republican lawmakers “officially’ came aboard, and, The Atlantic wrote it all up here.  Suffice it to say, FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity are prominently featured in both pieces.  Likewise in this one from Talking Points Memo, and this one from Think Progress.  And, while Dick Armey resigned from his position at DLA Piper after Rachel Maddow’s “expose” of his anti-health care reform lobbying activities, while furiously denying all her allegations, Think Progress accused him of pretty much the same thing with the TEA Parties back in April.

At the end of July, Marc Ambinder helpfully provided an itinerary of planned conservative AstroTurf activities, again calling them “loose,” yet citing the same primary orchestrators, AFP and FW, and helpfully tied them all to the Tea Party crowd and health care.  And, just for the record, FreedomWorks opposes net neutrality legislation.  And, just for the heck of it, here’s a profile of Armey and this nifty quote from him about his character:

Called openly-gay Congressman Barney Frank “Barney Fag” during a 1995 radio show interview, but later denied it was intentional. However, on 2 August 2000, columnist Dave Barry asked, “Are you really Dick Armey?” Armey replies: “Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a dick army, Barney Frank would want to join up.”

Just for shitzengiggles, here are a few more links you might want to pursue if you’ve got the time and inclination.  Loose coalition, my ass.

Answers.com

StealthPacs.org

Right Wing Watch.org

Think Progress GOP Townhall Memo

*NOTE: Zachary Christenson, the guy who registered a Chicagoteaparty.com domain on August 3, 2008, says on his website he’s the executive producer for the Milt Rosenberg show, which airs on WGN radio in Chicago.  This link is to an Obama piece he posted last September.  Notably, Milt Rosenberg is the guy the Obama campaign went to war with last August after the show featured Stanley Kurtz and his involvement with getting Bill Ayers’ Chicago Annenberg Challenge records unsealed from the University of Illinois.