None Dare Call It Astroturf
The moneyed interests that organized last week's Tea Party protests may insist that their efforts did not constitute astroturfing--that, much like the anti-Iraq war protesters who've taken to the streets between 2003 and today, the tea party attendees are articulating organic anger, and groups like FreedomWorks have only helped them co-ordinate.
That's probably not how students and officials at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, SD feel about it. According to the Argus Leader, 19 school drummers and 15 choir members (though there appears to be some overlap between the two) showed up at the local tea party and were shocked to find themselves at a political event.
The school's assistant principle, Mike Klinedinst, told the Leader that the band and choir had been assured the event would be non-partisan, and the students themselves were told to expect a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party, organized by Sen. John Thune (R-SD).
The reality was, of course, very different, and seems to have put the school in violation of district policy. The invitations came from a percussion teacher (whose wife works in Thune's office), and from Sioux Falls lawyer Jim Even. I've placed a call to Even to see where he first learned about the protests and how he characterized the even to the school, and will report back if I learn anything more.
Josh
Matt
Eric
The ends justify the means.
April 20, 2009 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
It really pisses me off that even NPR has been reporting on the teabag parties as if they were completely grass-roots gatherings.
April 20, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
As if that weren't bad enough, parse this quote from "Face The Nation":
On what planet does an extremely popular President, whose trajectory has been (so far) rising, experience a "spreading... disaffection", simply because the exact same small hardcore of extreme right-wingers who didn't vote for him in the first place* were corralled into a hype protest by Fox News, and got their venom on camera?
(* = And these are people who never would have voted for him. Half of that is because he's a Democrat. You can probably guess what the other half is!)
How the hell does that translate into "spreading" unpopularity?
But probably the biggest travesty that came out of the teabagging, with regard to journalism, was the Susan Roesgen (CNN) incident.
TV Newser, an insider-type trade watchdog site, carried the story of Roesgen, attempting a live shot from a teabagging rally. The crowd around her started getting surly when they noticed her presence, and began mau-mauing her and shouting out vile epithets about both her and the "liberal" CNN.
Roesgen finally announced live that she was bailing from the interview, as what she was heaing around her was not "family-friendly". But then, she stepped on the Fox News Third Rail: she characterized the insults as being from a crowd more amenable to the "organizer" of the event, the "right-wing news network" Fox News.
(We pause, to savor the beautiful flavor, of hearing the words "right-wing" actually spoken on national television...)
As you know, Fox News is absolutely adamant that no one DARE accuse it of having any part in the organization of those demonstrations... but to refer ON NATIONAL TELEVISION to Fox News as a "right-wing news network" invites total destruction, a la Dan Rather and the Dixie Chicks...
Surf this story on TV Newser, and remember where you're reading it.
Imagine exactly how many crazy RW militia types would actually be aware of TV Newser, let alone read it faithfully.
Now, surf the comments on these Roesgen stories: they are about 100 to 1 anti-Roesgen, anti-CNN, pissed-off to the max, and the word "bitch" gets used a lot.
Gee whiz. I wonder who didn't organize THAT?
April 20, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is quite remarkable isn't it? For the last 2 months Obama's approval rating has been flat. Its been going around 60-64, just margin of error can explain the small changes day to day. Meanwhile his disapproval rating has been flat for the last 2 months as well, 30-26. Again this is very flat for day to day polling.
Bush's approval rating for the year 2007 was around 40 - 30 and in 2008 it was on avg at 30. So Obama's disapproval rating is pretty much the same as Bush's approval rating. Now I am no genius but I am willing the bet there is quite a bit of overlap between those two groups. And quite frankly i don't care 1 bit about the opinion of people who approved of how Bush was doing in 2008.
April 20, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I hear there's gambling in Casablanca...
April 20, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congrats to the Argus Leader, for actual reportage!
Thune is a political opportunist, who would arrange for a busload of babies from local hospitals to be brought to a 'grassroots' anti-abortion rally, if only he could. However, it is possible that the teabaggers didn't think it was a partisan rally at all...since they are all True Patriots.
April 20, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
At worst the school officials can be accused of being too trusting. The blame-the-victims attitude that has inundated the local media is disturbing...not a syllable of scolding to the organizers who misrepresented the event.
April 21, 2009 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Constitution says nothing about marching bands, so Even is on solid legal ground here.
April 20, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
That'll teach Assistant Principal (spelling, guys) Klinedinst to trust the word of a Republican. And the percussion teacher needs a reprimand for this. If his wife works in Thune's office he KNEW it was political.
April 20, 2009 6:45 PM | Reply | Permalink