Ad Campaign: Netroots Turns Its Sights From Obama To The GOP

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of Democratic groups and progressive bloggers launched a new campaign on Thursday focusing attention on Republican members of Congress who voted to repeal health care reform while getting their own coverage on the taxpayer's dime.

The line has become a common refrain as the Affordable Care Act comes under attack. And so, on its face, the push by Americans United for Change, along with Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo and Down with Tyranny is not particularly unique. The groups are coordinating with ten state-based blogs to help fund and publicize the ads. On an unrelated note, the Public Campaign Action Fund, which monitors the influence of money in politics, put up its own set of ads on Thursday targeting Republicans for doing the bidding of insurance companies in their effort to repeal the health care bill.

What's more interesting is the macro politics behind the campaign. For the past year, the progressive blogosphere has been one of the loudest soundboards for Democratic frustration, not just with the president but with the contours of his health care law as well. The perception of disaffection was always a bit overstated -- many prominent bloggers supported the health care legislation in its final incarnation -- but it was certainly a reoccurring theme leading up to the 2010 elections.

How quickly that dynamic has changed since Republicans took control of Congress is telling. And Thursday's ad campaign is just the latest illustration of the shift.

"I think it is a lot easier for us as progressive to focus on a common purpose and when it is in opposition to the Republican ideas," said Tom McMahon, Executive Director for Americans United for Change, a group that has never deviated from being an Obama ally. "The quickest way to get everyone to come together is for there to be a common purpose and a unifying element. And people have worked long and hard of getting to where we are. They want to protect these gains."

All of which is not to suggest that the coldness between Obama and the progressive netroots has completely thawed. The selection of Bill Daley as Chief of Staff and the prospects of Social Security reform being a major component of the State of the Union address have and could spur a round of recriminations.

But several weeks into the new year, it's telling how quickly the progressive blogging community has returned to its political origins: as a philosophical counterpoint to a Republican-controlled Congress.

"I certainly think that GOP control of the House will provide us with plentiful opportunities to point out hypocrisy," said Chris Bowers, campaign director for Daily Kos. "As an institution that formed when Democrats where in the opposition ... there may be a sense that this is a lot more natural to us ... As I heard a rightwing blogger say in 2009, to a certain extent it is always more fun storming the castle."

Below is a copy of the ad:

Comments

[SisterAnn]

10:28 AM on 01/26/2011

Loretta Sanchez was on TV last night very happily saying Social Security had to be cut.

[GabeSmall]

04:28 PM on 01/21/2011

I don't think it was conscious, but I think these groups prefer being underdogs fighting an enemy in power and so helped ensure the 2010 election results.

[ChasG]

04:31 PM on 01/21/2011

There is definitely something to that.  They prefer fighting power regardless of who it is, and without much reflection on consequences.

[SisterAnn]

05:59 PM on 01/25/2011

I don't think that is right. We argue to keep them from giving it all to the rich. Not much left now. Just Social Security, Medicare and a few jobs.

[politicsRfun]

04:19 PM on 01/21/2011

It would have been nice if these people came to this epiphany before November. What the repubs were spreading then smelled the same as it does now and maybe we wouldn't have to deal with them now. Better late than never, I guess.

[ChasG]

04:33 PM on 01/21/2011

Yes, but as soon as the Dems succeed they will be back bashing whoever is in power, because bad news attracts a bigger audience than good news, and audience is what these punters are really after, not progress.

[ChasG]

07:36 PM on 01/25/2011

Fan # 10 (shoulda done this with my original reply)

[bilmardre]

02:18 PM on 01/21/2011

Do now they are battling the beast they helped create.

[ChasG]

04:34 PM on 01/21/2011

Indeed they let the beast into our House, didn't they?  Let's remember that.

[ChasG]

07:38 PM on 01/25/2011

And fan # 138 (which I shoulda done 4 days ago)

[NAMU2010]

12:36 PM on 01/21/2011

Finally, fighting fire with fire! Seems that alot of Democrats believe the truth will win out, so they are not as vitriolic in their support of issues that are important to them and the country. If we can learn anything from the Republicans, it is that if you yell loud enough and long enough people will begin to pay attention. It's important to fight back against Republican lies, and put the truth out there where people can see and hear it. Kudos to all involved.

[ChasG]

04:36 PM on 01/21/2011

If we fight fire with fire, we will be just like them, no one will know the difference, and we'll all go up in flames.  Fighting fire with fire gave the House to the GOP.  Kinda self destructive, doncha think?

[NAMU2010]

07:04 PM on 01/21/2011

you are right about the fire thing......just venting....their non stop lying just drives me nuts...but I agree with these groups confronting the liars with the truth....hope it works

[Thadd007]

12:14 PM on 01/21/2011

GOP strategy is simple. Keep on attacking Obamacare while not proposing any alternative plan - because they know that as soon as the GOP plan is revealed, it will be attacked. It's easier to sit back to complain why Obamacare doesn't work - any fool can complain, and most do.

Anyone who claims that the existing system works perfectly is either:
1) outright lying; 2) not close to any elder friend/family who has been sick and suffers from the denials of insurance over and over again; 3) independently rich; 4) is a member of congress who gets the best healthcare that we have no access too. A simple resolve would be to level the playing field. Give all members of congress the same type of Health Care insurance that populous currently endures.

[Oldchef]

11:19 AM on 01/21/2011

Once upon a time, I was the Exec. Chef at the Capitol Hill Club; believe me, they're down in the men's grill plotting how to kill every program that was good for working people and figuring ways for their corporate masters to make even more money (and themselves) while stripping away safety nets and making workers more and more into literal wage slaves dependent on whatever the multi-national corporations deign to give them. Most of these GOPers are millionaires themselves and the rest desperately want to be. They don't give a damn for the middle class, except to trick them into voting against their best interests. The blue dog Dems and the DLC Dems are no better, they also answer to their corporate masters, not to their constituents.

[ItsGettingWeird]

02:36 PM on 01/21/2011

Oldchef: Thank you for your insight. I wish I could be a "fly on the wall" and witness how our public "servants" undermine our nation in every conceivabl­e way.

[ChasG]

04:43 PM on 01/21/2011

I was with you till you turned your vitriol on the Dems.  Blue Dogs are a dying breed; their states are red, and will move further to the right as the Blue Dogs are defeated.  DLC Dems are center-left moderates who govern from the middle, and have the greatest successes with the economy while still advancing liberal social agendas.  If you leave out moderate and moderate liberal Dems and try to reshape the party in the New Progressive mode, it will be a permanent minority, and no progress will be made.  That's not an absolute truth, merely an observation of the current state of the nation and from being politically active for over four decades now.  We tend to repeat history when we ignore it.

[huff-fan]

09:55 PM on 01/21/2011

Fanned and faved. Well said.

[Oldchef]

11:10 AM on 01/22/2011

The DLC Dems are seeming way too eager to consider cuts to Social Security and Medicare, programs that senior like me count on. Trying to live on Social Security and a little part-time work (knees are shot after 38 years of long shifts on concrete and tile floors) and being told we had no increase in the cost of living while food, electricity, gas, prescription medicines, etc., etc. were going up astronomically is hard to swallow. Then they voted to increase their own pensions, while denying us a COLA. I am outraged. I hope the blue dogs can be replaced by real Dems representing middle class and working class, but it seems unlikely.

[huff-fan]

10:08 AM on 01/21/2011

All progressives should turn their focus from President Obama and attack republican hypocrisy. Did they just figure that out? Progressives are standing with the Republicans when they attack President Obama and health care reform. It is easy to lose the new benefits in the health care law but very difficult to get them back. Progressive should be lauding every gain and building more public support for progressive change.

[ChasG]

04:44 PM on 01/21/2011

F&F

[essbird]

10:00 AM on 01/21/2011

Hey, don't blame them! They're doing just what the Koch brothers, the Heritage Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity told Fox to tell the voters to tell them to do. And you shouldn't wonder, after all that, why it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't have to!

[Buhe]

09:57 AM on 01/21/2011

As i once said, the GOP are now on center stage.

[BVictor1]

08:17 AM on 01/21/2011

The ad would be more effective if they flashed images of those who voted for repeal in the first place, including those 4 democrats. Just having those websites listed isn't enough.

[Daw8it]

08:04 AM on 01/21/2011

http://thi­nkprogress­.org/2011/­01/19/gop-­health-hyp­ocrisy/

[Daw8it]

08:04 AM on 01/21/2011

House Republican­s Explain Why They Won’t Give Up Their OWN Government­-Sponsored Health Care

http://thi­nkprogress­.org/2011/­01/19/gop-­health-hyp­ocrisy/

[Daw8it]

08:03 AM on 01/21/2011

House Republican­s Explain Why They Won’t Give Up Their OWN Government­-Sponsored Health Care
http://thi­nkprogress­.org/2011/­01/19/gop-­health-hyp­ocrisy/

[jalapenolady45]

07:48 AM on 01/21/2011

The lawmakers should go to their own home states and buy their health insurance there instead of buying the government run health care insurance they receive at a significantly lower price then the American people with health care insurance do.