GOP Astroturf for K Street Lobbyists and the Status Quo

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The health insurance industry lobbyists, right-wing political action committees, and the RNC are orchestrating an Astroturf campaign to disrupt townhall meetings of Democratic members of Congress to create YouTube moments for the easily gullible and incompetent mainstream media to report as public opposition to health care reform. The people who show up at these meetings would have you believe that their agitprop performance art is spontaneous and genuine. Bullshit. In some parts of the country these agitators have been bussed in by their corporate lobbyist sponsors.

The corporate lobbyists for America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and right-wing political action committees, in particular Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks – chaired by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (TX), are behind this Astroturf campaign. That FreedomWorks was involved with Tea Party Patriots dispels any notion that these are some sort of citizen activist grassroots organizations.

This mob rule tactic has actually been endorsed by the Republican Party. NRCC Celebrates "Recess Roasting" The Republican Party should be ashamed. It is right out of Karl Rove's playbook, the "Brooks Brothers riot," staged in Florida in 2000 to shut down the Florida recount. When you can't win at the ballot box, you resort to force. Is this what America has become?

Uncivil behavior which denies others their First Amendment rights (free speech and to petition their government) is hooliganism, it is not an exercise of "free speech." The people who disrupt these meetings are not interested in civil discourse or in even receiving an answer to their rudely shouted questions. Their only purpose is to "shut down" the meeting with threats and intimidation and to deny others their First Amendment rights. It is un-American, and is unacceptable behavior in this country.

And let's not forget the unholy role that the mighty Wurlitzer right-wing noise machine, the irresponsible ansd reckless conservative conspiracy media led by talk radio and Faux News, plays in promoting such mob behavior.

The responsible media, if there is any, has an obligation to call out these agitators for corporate lobbyists and right-wing political action committees for who they really are. The media has an obligation to shame these hooligans into civil behavior, and civil discourse. Stop reporting their boorish behavior as sport for your prurient entertainment. When someone is assaulted, and they will be, the media will be an accessory to the crime.

Think Progress reported Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: ‘Yell,’ ‘Stand Up And Shout Out,’ ‘Rattle Him’

Missing from the [media villager] reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.

The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country for more protests against Democratic members. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now “over.”

Meanwhile, [America's Health Insurance Plans] AHIP, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry is sending staffers to monitor town halls and other right-wing front groups are stepping up their ad campaign to smear reform efforts. The strategy for defeating reform — recently outlined by an influential lobbyist to the Hill newspaper as “delay” then “kill” — is becoming apparent. By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform.

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As noted in the post, MacGuffie is a volunteer who actively posts and volunteers with the website Tea Party Patriots. A review of the sponsoring organizations reveals that both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity are sponsors of the website as "Freedom Coalition" partners. A few months before joining Americans for Prosperity, Menefee herself worked for the medical device/pharmaceutical industry-funded "think-tank" called the Galen Institute.

Another right-wing group, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, the operation that’s running a national campaign against a public health care option, is now publicly taking credit for helping gin up the sometimes-rowdy outbursts targeting House Dems at town hall meetings around the country, raising questions about their spontaneity. Anti-Reform Group Takes Credit For Helping Gin Up Town Hall Rallies:

CPR is the group headed by controversial former hospitals exec Rick Scott that’s spending millions on ads attacking reform in all sorts of lurid ways, a campaign that’s being handled by the same P.R. mavens behind the Swift Boat Vets.

* * *

The spokesperson, Brian Burgess, confirmed that CPR is emailing out “town hall alert” flyers, and schedules of town hall meetings, to its mailing list.

These efforts — combined with CPR’s effort to enlist Tea Party-ers, as reported yesterday by TPM — provide a glimpse into the ways anti-reform groups are trying to create a sense of public momentum in their favor.

CPR spokesman Burgess confirmed that the group had set up a list serv designed to reach out to “third party groups” involved in the health care fight, including the Tea Party activists. And in a statement emailed to me, Scott, who was ousted as a health-care exec amid a 1990s fraud probe, took credit for the town hall showings.

* * *

Similarly, America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, the insurance industry group, has stationed employees in 30 states to track local town hall events.

* * *

“The more you dig the more you learn that this is a carefully orchestrated effort by special interest lobbyists and the Republican Party, who are using fringe elements on the right to protect insurance company profits and defeat health care reform,” said House Dem leadership aide Doug Thornell. “The anger at these events looks very similar to what we saw at McCain/Palin rallies in the fall.”

The question is whether these uprisings are actually helpful to the anti-reform cause, or whether their raucus agitprop will work againt them.

UPDATE: Think Progress has an updated post Health Care — Swiftboating Town Halls