Organizing for America, the DNC's campaign arm set up to support President Obama's agenda, has a familiar target today: Sarah Palin.
Mitch Stewart, OFA's director, told supporters in an email just now they need help to raise "$500,000 in the next week to push back against Sarah Palin and her special interest allies."
His argument is that Palin's "lies" about health care are "widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform." He uses her death panels meme as an example.
In his book "The Audacity to Win," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he was shocked that Palin was such a good fundraising driver for the team.
He writes that he looked at the online fundraising numbers a few hours after Palin made her big debut at the Republican National Convention going after Obama as his only experience being a community organizer.
"I couldn't believe what I saw," Plouffe wrote.
More from the book:
"We had taken in millions of dollars in the three hours since Palin had started speaking. We hadn't even asked for most of it; we had sent out just a single unplanned fund-raising email highlighting her attacks on community organizers, but it was just starting to hit people's in-boxes as I checked the numbers. So the big response from the last three hours meant people were merely venting via contribution. Her speech might have ginned up their base, but apparently it had sent ours into orbit."
He said he thought, "I hope she keeps this up. Sarah Palin has now become our best fund-raiser."
Sounds like that hasn't changed much.
Stewart's email from today after the jump.
Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.
Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.
As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything -- and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.
So we're setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 to help reach our goal.
Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be "dead on arrival." And since then, she's been working fiercely toward that goal.
On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show where she outrageously -- and falsely -- suggested that Americans could "face jail time as punishment" if they don't buy insurance.
Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.
We need to be prepared. And we're counting on you help. Can you chip in $5?
Thanks,Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

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Why oh why
November 20, 2009 11:11 AM
Well, it beats trying to raise money with the Surge (c) in Afghanistan, or the non-withdrawal in Iraq.
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 12:36 PM in reply to Why oh why
Yep: beats doing overnight that which can't be done overnight.
Eh, whiner?
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NuttyProf
November 20, 2009 11:14 AM
It seems like Palin's base is more excited than Obama's...I wonder why?
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 11:41 AM in reply to NuttyProf
Late-stage rabies infection looks like excitement.
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Annie Oakley
November 20, 2009 11:51 AM in reply to JNagarya
He he. Touché
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Indie Pro
November 20, 2009 11:18 AM
Maybe one day Obama will nominate Palin to a post in his administration, like he's done with Dana Perino.
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Schmed- ley
November 20, 2009 11:19 AM in reply to Indie Pro
Why give her any legitimacy? That would be a disaster for any future Democratic presidential candidates.
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Indie Pro
November 20, 2009 11:20 AM in reply to Schmed- ley
I agree.
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JEP07
November 20, 2009 4:36 PM in reply to Indie Pro
Palin's not wired to ever reach outside her base.
Considering how that base continues to shrink (the daily obituaries list so many of her aging supporters) it seems unlikely she will change enough to attract any new mass membership.
Not that she won't milk lots of contributions from those lemmings already in lockstep and following her to the edge of that cliff, no doubt she can raise funds.
I'd suggest that is all she is interested in now.
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 12:31 PM in reply to Indie Pro
Let's beat up on Obama: he isn't serving ME before everyone else.
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Indie Pro
November 20, 2009 1:51 PM in reply to JNagarya
what?
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 2:37 PM in reply to Indie Pro
"Maybe one day Obama will nominate Palin to a post in his administration, like he's done with Dana Perino."
What?
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traitorjoe
November 20, 2009 11:28 AM
Sarah Palin's a dummy, she's as dangerous as a fart in the wind. However, the causes she represents - ignorance, hatred of so-called elites, racism, elevation of "just knowin' stuff" as a virtue, inferiority complex manifesting itself as hatred of others, belief her followers are "Real Americans" blessed with special privileges, violence in the name of being Right - are the most dangerous strains of American thought.
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 11:42 AM in reply to traitorjoe
Substitutes for thought.
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jeffgee
November 20, 2009 12:28 PM in reply to traitorjoe
That's what makes her dangerous.
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traitorjoe
November 20, 2009 12:31 PM in reply to jeffgee
Jeff, she's a figurehead, a symbol of the dumbest, most violent, ignorant strain of American society. If she left town tomorrow someone else would replace her in a minute.
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JNagarya
November 20, 2009 12:39 PM in reply to traitorjoe
But probably something other than a mediocrity being falsely palmed off as "attractive".
I saw a shot of her standing next to Oprah, and her ass is as wide as Oprah's. When will the parroting of the "meme" that Palin is "attractive" cease being mindlessly repeated? When will the reinforcing of that fiction -- which accounts for at least 90 per cent of her "popularity" -- cease?
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fitley
November 20, 2009 12:05 PM
The "Slutty Stewardess" look still gives the Repubtards wood.
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o224hsday
November 20, 2009 12:42 PM
Sorry Mitch, but I believe Elizabeth "Betsy" McCaughey has been credited with the death panel origin. Palin just rebroadcast it on her Facebook page.
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mmanion
November 20, 2009 1:10 PM in reply to o224hsday
That's correct, but it got no traction (in fact resulted in a very public smackdown of McCaughey by her own side) until Palin started parroting it. Not sure why Palin gets away with this stuff. Partly, I suppose because she never appears in venues where she can be challenged and partly because she is such a superb victim people are afraid to hold her accountable and inadvertently give her a pity platform.
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Schmed- ley
November 20, 2009 1:36 PM in reply to mmanion
I think this is right. McCaughey made the very foolish mistake of trying to defend her BS on The Daily Show and was totally shredded by Stewart. Palin hid behind her Facebook ghostwriter and was never held accountable.
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JEP07
November 20, 2009 4:41 PM in reply to mmanion
"Not sure why Palin gets away with this stuff."
Not sure she does... maybe she fools the lemmings, but the over-100 IQ crew just roll their eyes at her.
I do believe she's fooling her own lemmings, though, raking in the dough by dishing out the standard dirt, and the day will come when most of them are not so inclined to speak well of her.
Especially those who sent her money, thinking she was sincere.
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JEP07
November 20, 2009 4:58 PM
One other pattern to look for that was graphic in the last election is the way they manipulate the poll numbers to make it look closer, so the inevitable loser is encouraged to pour MORE MONEY into advertising and campaign expenditures.
The MSM simply does not want the public to know the real numbers, because political advertising revenues would plummet, and these days, that is one of their few reliably profitable markets.
If the public knew the real numbers, they would not contribute to hopeless Republican causes.
Remember how they still had McCain neck and neck with Obama, right up to the end, then the election proved they were just plain lying? It was to keep that GOP campaign contribution money flowing in, despite McCain's obvious downwards trajectory.
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