Despite these attempts to make the “movement” appear organic, the principle organizers of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. The two groups are heavily staffed and well funded, and are providing all the logistical and public relations work necessary for planning coast-to-coast protests:
– Freedom Works staffers coordinate conference calls among protesters, contacting conservative activists to give them “sign ideas, sample press releases, and a map of events around the country.”
– Freedom Works staffers apparently moved to “take over” the planning of local events in Florida.
– Freedom Works provides how-to guides for delivering a “clear message” to the public and media.
– Freedom Works has several domain addresses — some of them made to look like they were set up by amateurs — to promote the protests.
– Americans for Prosperity is writing press releases and planning the events in New Jersey, Arizona, New Hampshire, Missouri, Kansas, and several other states.
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 **** 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.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/
At least the protests on the left don’t need to be heavily promoted on tv, lol. People just show up because their angry.
By the way….where the heck were these Tea protests when President Bush was doubling our national debt???
January 26th, 2010 at 3:10 am
I’m neither Dem nor Rep. uck, but didn’t it bother you some when everyone Obama wanted in his cabinet were law breakers….just curious.
January 26th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Why would it?
Some of their best friends are Corporate lobbyists!
January 28th, 2010 at 5:04 am
Why would it bother them? Corporate lobbyists add to the authenticity.
January 30th, 2010 at 6:05 am
This whole tea party thing seems to stink to high heaven. Fox News, and its billionaire owner Murdoch, promotes it. Republicans with ties to large corporations are calling it “grass roots”.
There is nothing grass roots about this. It is corporations, the rich and right wing extremists who are leading this farce.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:43 am
Ok, well who do you think organizes these liberal groups that you are probably familiar with? Who gave ACORN a huge amount of stimulus money? Corporate lobbyists? Democrats? Hmmm. What do you think Chris Dodd, Barney Fwank, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Geithner, and all the other looney clowns are? Corporate lobbyists much? Oh wait….you want me to only focus on Republicans.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Do you really think all those anti war and anti Bush every thing protests were not funded and supported by left wing elements of the country? Your a fool if you do.
Who do you think has a hand in any thing organized that the left does? Billionaires like George Soros that is who.
I will be going to one just to protest this.
If you don’t have a problem with this then you are incapable of having a thought outside of your own desires for the moment, because this:
will enslave Americans for generations.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:04 am
You ever hear about a little old “grassroots” organization called ACORN?
February 5th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Do you mean as opposed to MoveOn.org?
February 8th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
The Tea parties are a peaceful demonstration of out rage against Obama’s socialist spending agenda.
Socialism appears in many forms: Fire departments
, police, public roads, public schools, the military, etc. Anything where government collectively gathers money to pay for “common benefit” is socialism.
In fact, recent government bailouts of private corporations is socialism, except that it’s socialism for the wealthy at the expense of the poor instead of the other way around which is why we the rightwing are always railing against.
Most countries that are socialist in the purest sense rarely dictate to businesses but do work for the public good. It’s also worth noting that nearly all of those countries are small, democratic, have little corruption, and most are Scandinavian, though there are others
February 10th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
only when it suits a republican is it the rightous thing to do, rightous seems to be the republican bill-fold