Right-wingers were given Cash Incentives for Publicizing Tea Parties

[mod mom]

SORRY IF THIS IS OLD TO SOME, I DID A SEARCH & DIDN'T FIND IT. WHY AREN'T THERE LEFT LEANING GROUPS WILLING TO PAY US FOR OUR EFFORTS?

Americans for Prosperity writes Facebook message offering financial rewards for publicizing tea parties.

The right wing and Fox News are trying to paint tomorrow’s tea party protests as an organic uprising, when they are in fact being spearheaded by high-powered business interests. Now, organizers are doling out generous financial incentives to publicize the tea parties. In a Facebook message today, Erik Telford of Americans For Prosperity told supporters, “I wanted to make you aware of an opportunity. Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Heritage Foundation have teamed up to launch the Stop Spending Our Future project, which offers four contests and $5,000 in prizes“:

1) Spread the Word| Capture the stories of five people at one of the Taxpayer Tea Parties happening all over the nation on Tax Day, April 15. The person that captures the best testimonial will receive $1,000.

2) Make a Video| What’s your biggest frustration about the government’s appetite for more spending in the midst of the tough economic climate? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $500.

3) Write a Letter | Explain how you feel about the debt via a letter that your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild will open 30 years from now? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $250.

4) Give It a Name| Convey the threat of government over-spending and/or excessive debt using 10 words or less. The single best idea-as voted on by visitors to this website-will receive $250 and be the basis for a new video.

“Stop Spending Our Future” has also launched a promotional video using young children decrying the “Troubled Assets Relief Programs” and other “bailouts.”

-snip

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/14/heritage-afp-tea-party/

[NJmaverick]

1. Cash prizes- The sign of a true grass roots movement

[YOY]

2. I think anyone who still calls this a "grass roots movement" needs to be beaten.

Severely.

[drm604]

3. I wasn't aware of this but I'm not surprised.

It was pretty obvious that this thing was not a true grassroots movement.

[CoffeeCat]

4. It appears that this "grass roots movement"...

...is being furthered by a corrupt, manipulative lawn service.

[nxylas]

5. Why, that's almost as bad as what Soros did

You know, funding all those anti-war protests against Dear Leader. This post inspired by an actual comment on The Guardian blog this morning: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/apr/18/republicans-tea-party-epic-fail?commentpage=1&commentposted=1

(3rd comment in. "2orangey4crows" below is me).

[mod mom]

7. good description from the article:

-snip

But after you scrape away the billionaires who founded and funded this "grassroots effort", subtract the large number of liberal observers and amused media people, take away the faked-his-birth-certificate conspiracy crowd, remove the whacky costume-clad exhibitionists and the right-to-life-and-ammunition culture warriors, and I think you'll find that most of the teabaggers were just pissed-off, middle-class white people who got screwed in the economic downturn and are looking for someone to be angry at.

And there's that black guy in the White House, and that's just so foreign to their sensibilities that it all has to be a plot, a conspiracy, a secret plan by unseen forces working through "that negro" (one actually said that to me) to enslave the good hard-working American white folk and take away their freedoms to go to church and own guns and get married and not pay taxes – despite any real evidence to back that claim up. Indeed, some cite the very lack of evidence as proof of the conspiracy.

-snip

Thank for the link! :hi: I'm still waiting for all my checks from Soros.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Well Worth Posting...And Re-Posting...

...as we're sure to see a lot more astroturfing in the future. It's a game the GOOP has long played and has a deep, dark netherworld that has been built for these purposes. Be it paying people to show up at rallies, selecting the audiences at those rallies or whipping up outrage...



Cheers...

[predfan]

9. The wingtip rebellion.

[predfan]

10. Take a look at the faces that changed our country.......and the folks who paid them.

What a disgraceful moment in time.

[LeftinOH]

8. Just call it: "GRA$$ ROOT$"

[rvablue]

11. Heh. Why doesn't this surprise me one bit? Thanks for posting. n/t

[DCKit]

12. US Lefties aren't backed by Corporate Amur'ka. We are "Teh Peoples", and (generally) poor.

The corporations pay for everything they want, from the M$M to political office. It's simply a cost of doing business geared to shaping public opinion and government policy toward a pro-business (profit, profit, profit) climate.

We (filthy, dirty Libruls), on the other hand, expect that common, basic needs should be provided for the common good. That, in and of itself, is anathema to the corporations - entities who demand the opportunity to profit from every facet of the human condition.

But you knew that.

[jberryhill]

15. "and (generally) poor"

All of corporate America's money is money that the rest of America spent.

Aside from which, I believe we demonstrated the ability to outraise the GOP quite handily last time around.

[mopinko]

13. not surprising. my local freep/blogger is a reliable indicator of what is paying

he definitely gets all the memos. and is as bat shit crazy as glenn beck. i always assumed he was getting paid.

linked through google, as his paranoia leads him to check all origins. just incase anyone is looking for a little more sick.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=rogers+park+bench&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[dem mba]

14. I remember when the Obama campaign paid me to

go out and canvas neighborhoods for him. And when they paid me to go online and find like-minded people in my neighborhood that I could meet with to discuss politics and strategy.

Oh wait, that never happened.