ASTROTURFING - The New Buzz Word

Until this past year I had never heard the term Astroturf, except to describe various football fields.

But it has a political definition, artificial grass roots. And it is being lobbed at anyone who shows up at town halls meeting to ask questions or voice opposite opinions of the administration.

AstroTurf is when groups are hired and paid to go and protest, by larger groups with a stake in the outcome.

An excellent example of AstroTurf groups would be last years Presidential election. ACORN, their hundreds of affiliates, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, and many other Unions, all participated in the phony grass roots support of Team O.

Now the American people are being accused of this by the Democratic leadership. Along with being called Nazi's.

An organization called Health Care For America Now has launched it's own AstroTurf campaign against the American people who truly want their voices heard at town hall meetings.

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/fight

The have a full instruction sheet on how to stop regular Americans from voicing their concerns. Including this passage I find highly disturbing:

Another way to limit protesters’ ability to hijack your event is to confiscate signs or leaflets that they may bring into the venue from outside. The best way to do this is to make a blanket rule that no one can bring signs or leaflets and to advertise this fact as you do turn out in the weeks preceding the event. You can distribute your own signs in the event and offer them one as they enter if you choose to allow them to enter

So there is no doubt on who is behind this group, from the About Us page:

Our organization and principles are supported by President Obama, Vice President Biden, and more than 190 Members of Congress.

And:

Our Steering Committee includes: ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Campaign for Community Change, Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, Communications Workers of America, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), MoveOn.org, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, SEIU, UFCW, USAction, Women's Voices, Women's Vote and Working America.


It is no wonder that suddenly ACORN members were filmed monitoring the door at one event, and only allowing fellow ACORN members inside, while keeping the local constituents out. At another event SEUI members are seen in a video ruffing up a poor guy outside.

From the blog section of their site:

The lobbyist-funded right wing is getting violent. There have been death threats. Physical assaults. Arrests. And now more threats of violence:

Based on the news that health care events are edging into violence, an anti-health care reform protester in New Mexico named Scott Oskay is calling on his hundreds of online followers to bring firearms to town halls, and to 'badly hurt' SEIU and ACORN counter protesters.

This is not the way to have a debate about health care reform. Yelling, screaming, Nazi imagery, and violence are not how we solve our problems here in America.

There they go calling us Nazi's again. I tried to link to their source to see the call to arms, but only got a non existent Twitter page. So I have no idea if this threat was real, or just something to rally the masses around.

But I did find the Nazi connection. At one event in which Pelosi attended in Denver, a 16 year boy was wearing a t-shirt, which had a picture of Obama and the slogan Hitler gave good speeches, too.

There you go, we are all Nazi's.

Now, since the AFL-CIO, ACORN, and the SEIU have all stepped up to keep the town halls from being taken over by constituents, things sadly might turn violent at these meetings.

Many of these meetings have already been canceled.

Rep. Brad Miller did receive a death threat. But also conceded he had no planned town hall meetings scheduled anyway. And the caller called from his home phone, and their caller ID got the number and it was turned over to the police.

The web site also states their have been physical assaults. But following their link takes you to a Roll Call article, and I found no mention of any assualts, Under the link they state:

No word yet on who it is. Will update when I know more.

That was 4 days ago, so use your best judgment.

They also claim ARRESTS...........but when you follow that link to the actual story, it was the 6 SEIU members who assaulted and hospitalized a man passing out Don't Tread On Me leaflets who were arrested.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/07/health-care-town-hall-turns-violent-tampa/

I think the democrats are fanning the fire. And sending in ACORN and the Union thugs to keep folks out will only make it worse. What is really disturbing is this all seems to have been signed off on by the Obama administration. Chicago politics on a national scale.

I don't know if they are really so arrogant they think they can fool everyone with these thug tactics, or if they are really trying to pick a fight. Time will tell. But clearly it is meant to intimidate and close the entire discussion. They do not want our opinion. They are marginalizing us now, like they have for the Tea Party movement.