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This is especially for those
of you who are interested or involved in e-government, spreading a dissenting word,
or missionaries against an increasingly corporatized mentality. This is simply stacking the deck, paid
for by the National Republican Committee.
This fake vox populi was
perfected under Ralph Reed at the Christian Coalition with postcards and
faxes. Is the assumption here that
GOP supporters can’t write for themselves? I know you don’t need a
sermon here, and I gave plenty of that this weekend. But this is the kind of
Monday – Friday Orwellian activity that many people do not understand they are
doing. I hope to hear from you
with your objections if you have them.
I understand building coalitions and networks. I don’t see this as such, not in these
times, not with this Team Leader. I went to the website. It impressed me as a
commercial-political version of Amway, because Team Leaders are encouraged to
“build their own teams of activists”. Check out FAQs, Benefits, GOPoints, ie.
(actual excerpt) “In addition to being given a "political
edge" over the competition, you earn GOPoints for each Action Item
completed. Action Items range from
writing a letter to your editor to calling local voters and gauging public
opinion. The GOPoints you earn can, in turn, be redeemed for collateral of your
choice, ranging from coolers to mouse pads.” Lobbying By Letter
A GOP Web site lets supporters send
mass-mailings to mainstream media outlets with the click of a mouse By Seth Mnookin, NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE @ http://www.msnbc.com/news/864295.asp?0cv=KB20 Jan.
25 — “When it
comes to the economy, President Bush is displaying genuine leadership.” It’s a sentiment
shared by fewer and fewer Americans—a NEWSWEEK poll released today found that a
full half of the country actually disapproves of the way Bush is handling the
economy. But between Jan. 9 and
Jan. 15, at least 10 people felt so strongly about Bush’s economic leadership
that they felt compelled to dash off exactly
the same sentiment to their local newspapers. All 10 letters had other language in
common. “Contrary to the class
warfare rhetoric attacking the president’s plan, the proposal helps everyone
who pays taxes, especially the middle class,” each of the letters read. MASS BRAINWASHING? Not quite. The
letters are the latest example of Astroturf lobbying—so called
because it looks like grass-roots but is artificial in
origin. The “genuine leadership” letter,
as it has come to be known, is a form letter available on a Republican Web
site (www.www.gopteamleader.com) that can be mass-mailed to
virtually any newspaper, radio station, or broadcast network in the country
with a click of a mouse. Another Republican Astroturf effort that began “Our nation is already
moving in the right direction, thanks to the historic majorities achieved by
President Bush and Republicans at the polls on Nov. 5,” showed up in at least
16 newspapers in between Nov. 26 and Dec. 29 last year. While the practice is accepted within political circles, some newspaper
editors are ticked off about the effort.
“It’s dishonest,” says Glenda Buell, the letters editor at The Boston
Globe. The Globe ran the “right
direction” letter on Dec. 1, and the “genuine leadership” letter on Jan.
12. “The Republicans
are trying to manufacture public opinion.” Jim Frisinger at the Dallas Morning News also doesn’t like the
practice. “We try to avoid those
letters,” Frisinger says. “We
prefer for people to send in their original words. But in an open society, with freedom of speech, sometimes we
need to let these things in.” For now, the newspapers seem more upset by the letter campaigns than
the opposition. Democratic
strategist Donna Brazile, for one, says she’s impressed. “This is just one of the ways the
Republicans are becoming more sophisticated,” Brazile told NEWSWEEK. “The Democrats need to be doing more of
this.” Outgoing mail scanned by NAV 2002 |
