Daily Kos: OFA, PFAW, Unions Organizing Against Tea Party Mobs

[Pirate Smile]

OFA, PFAW, Unions Organizing Against Tea Party Mobs

by mcjoan
Thu Aug 06, 2009 at 11:30:03 AM PDT

With Dem members of Congress being hung in effigy, told to commit suicide, receiving death threats, being physically assaulted, it's time for organized efforts by progressives too bring a little sanity to the process. To that end, Obama's political organization, OFA, is starting a new campaign, "explicitly directing supporters to get the backs of members of Congress at public meetings." From the sample e-mail

I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important town hall with Rep. Frank Kratovil, Jr. this afternoon, Thursday, August 6th. He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback — this is an ideal opportunity to make sure your support for health insurance reform is seen and heard at exactly the right time.

Our congressional representatives are back home this month, and they’re facing more and more pressure from special interests on health insurance reform. It’s critical that we get out there and show them where we stand.

They've also stepped up the effort to show that the majority of Americans really do want reform by asking members to call their member of Congress, and then register the call with OFA.

PFAW is making a similar effort among its members. Here's part of the e-mail they sent today:

Progressives can't let themselves be out-organized on the health care issue and need to counter these lie-driven mobs. It's time for progressives to make their presence known and their voices heard. Tell your members of Congress not to be intimidated and to reject mob tactics.

Here's what you can do:

1. Email your congressional representatives if you have not already.

2. Follow up your email with a phone call (find contact information here).

3. Find a town hall event near you this recess and attend.

Labor is also getting in the act. A memo sent out today by AFL-CIO President Joahn Sweeney describes how the organization will activate its members.

The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts," reads the memo. "We want your help to organize major union participation to counter the right-wing "Tea-Party Patriots" who will try to disrupt those meetings, as they've been trying to do to meetings for the last month. ...

(Remember the hooligans - many of them Republican Congressional staff - who harassed Florida vote counters in 2000? We can't let that happen again!)."

Show up, is the message. And you shouldn't have to be a member of OFA or PFAW or any union to get organized to do it. You can find great tools for finding a townmeeting or forum and a strategy memo at HCAN. FDL also has a townmeeting tracker widget running on Campaign Silo, where you can see who's holding meetings and when.

FDL also has a special shout-out today for folks in the Denver area. At 2:00 today, Reps. Degette and Polis will be appearing with Speaker Pelosi at the Stout Street Clinic at 2100 Broadway. Michelle Malkin has called for her minions to show up and disrupt the event. So all you Denver folks for whom this isn't too short of a notice, go get the details at FDL and show up.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/6/762676/-OFA,-PFAW,-Unions-Organizing-Against-Tea-Party-Mobs

[lib_wit_it]

1. K&R. Fight Fire with A Bigger Fire!

[PDJane]

2. It's the only way to go.

70% of the American public, according to the survey I looked at, want a public health care option. Time to get it done.