Townhall Mobs -- Brought to You by Big Oil and Dirty Coal
House GOP Leader John Boehner promised Democrats a "long, hot August." And the corporate special interests that bankroll the conservative movement have not disappointed. They appear willing to go to any length to stop President Obama's agenda -- even if that means outright fraud in some cases.
Each day brings new reports and shocking videos of angry and increasingly violent mobs disrupting Democratic Members of Congress attempting to discuss health care reform. Here's one from just last night in the Tampa area. Rep. Kathy Castor eventually had to be escorted out by the police (another video from the event showed hundreds of angry, screaming protesters outside the meeting). Watch it:
As Paul Krugman noted today, there appears to be substantial overlap between these mobs and the so-called "birther movement" (not to be confused with the equally bizarre "deathers"). Even more disturbingly, Nazi-related signs and t-shirts have become something of a leitmotif amongst the protesters in recent days.
While much of the effort is clearly designed to kill health care reform, there's also considerable evidence that these same astroturf corporate lobbying operations are also trying to derail clean energy jobs legislation -- and the entire progressive agenda with it. And who is funding much of this -- our friends in the oil and coal industries. Media Matters Action Fund has pulled together some of the lowlights on dirty energy's ties to the astroturf army.
One prime example is Americans for Prosperity, which is trying to kill health reform, clean energy, and the Employee Free Choice Act. And who, pray tell, is this Americans for Prosperity you ask?
AFP is just one giant, multi-headed hydra of a front group for Koch Industries -- a huge oil and gas conglomerate and one of the largest privately held corporations in the world. And since being funded by one giant oil company is not enough, AFP has also taken cash from ExxonMobil. In fact, just last night Rachel Maddow caught AFP president Tim Phillips in a lie about the Exxon cash. She also ran through a laundry list of AFP-related astroturfing and dirty tricks. Watch it:
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Intrepid googlers might say, "Hey, I can't find anything about Americans for Prosperity taking Exxon money." That's because AFP used to be called the Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation when it took the Exxon money. And in a sign of just how nebulous the right-wing attack machine is, be sure not to confuse that with Citizens for a Sound Economy. The latter broke with the former in a schism in 2003 and went on to become...wait for it...FreedomWorks. FreedomWorks, run by former Republican House Majority Leader turned Washington powerlobbyist Dick Armey, is the main group behind the Tea Party Patriots, the 9/12 Protest, and, of course, the town hall mobs.
And it doesn't stop there. Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future (of "Drill here, drill now, pay less" fame) is also lobbying heavily against the Obama agenda generally, and for dirty energy interests in particular. The GOP minority on the House Energy & Commerce Committee even trotted out Gingrich as its star witness as the committee was considering comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. His buffoonish performance -- a retread of the failed Bush-Cheney energy policy with some jacuzzi jokes thrown in -- did not disappoint.
It came as no surprise, then, that we came to find out last week that ASWF has taken nearly half a million dollars from Big Oil during just the first half of 2009. That comes on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it has also taken from Peabody Coal. Newt King Coal?
Wait, there's more! The massive coal industry front group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which has already spent tens of millions of dollars to kill clean energy jobs, announced this week that it is spending $1 million on ads in August and will be deploying an astroturf "America's Power Army" to town hall meetings and events in 39 states.
Wondering where you've heard ACCCE's name recently? You might recognize them as the group at the center of a massive and growing fraud scandal in which one of their contractors sent forged anti-climate bill letters to Congress. They are being investigated by Congress and the Sierra Club and others are also calling on the Department of Justice to initiate a formal criminal probe in the matter.
And just who is creating this astroturf army you ask? The Hawthorn Group -- the same firm also at the center of the Congressional letter fraud. ACCCE's chief spokesman -- who famously once said he didn't know if burning coal had anything to do with global warming or not -- said he "didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater." Why let a little fraud stop you?
So next time you see one of those angry mobs on TV, don't just blame the drug companies and the "insurance rackets" (as Harry Reid called them today), blame our besties at Big Oil and Dirty Coal.
UPDATE: We learned late today that Lincoln Strategies, the firm ACCCE hired to build its "purest form of grassroots" "America's Power Army," is one of the most notorious GOP voter fraud operations in the country. Here's what a former Republican Member of Congress, Chris Cannon from Utah, had to say about Nathan Sproul, the head of the firm:
The Difference Between ACORN And Sproul Is That ACORN Doesn't Throw Away Or Change Registration Documents After They Have Been Filled Out.
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Wow 21 hours and no new posts! I guess sane people are realizing the the Dems messages are full of lies and exaggerations. HA HA HA -- the Lib agenda is going down in flames! -- I luv it! ^_^
Why can't the townhall presenters have civility ground rules? Why do they have to put up with hecklers? Why can't they post rules saying "hecklers will be put out. people who make noise will be put out. people who disrupt the meeting will be put out."
Is there anyone here willing to take a step towards a solar power company???
Anyone? Anyone at all? Solar Power. Renewable Energy. Anyone?
If the self proclaimed supporters of clean energy aren't willing to step up and support it then I suggest they sit down and shut up!
The Light is Green!
I think I'm in love with Rachel Maddow.
It is disappointing that The Huffington Post has chosen to reference Rachel Maddow’s recent interview with Tim Phillips, Head of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which misleads people by falsely linking ExxonMobil with the AFP and recent public rallies about health care legislation.
For the record ExxonMobil has never funded the AFP and we have not sponsored, organized or participated in rallies regarding health care legislation. While ExxonMobil provided a small amount of financial support for the now defunct Citizens for a Sound Economy, this occurred more than 7 years ago. To try to link this with the activities of the AFP today is both false and misleading.
When ExxonMobil does contribute to organizations in an effort to promote dialogue on significant domestic and foreign policy issues, we do so openly and transparently. In fact we publish this information annually on our web site at http://www
If you take the time to visit the site you will find that we supported approximately 150 organizations in 2008 involved in a wide range of public policy research. These organizations include some of the finest academic institutions and Think Tanks in the world, including the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, MIT, Stanford University and Columbia University.
Ken Cohen, VP Public and Government Affairs, ExxonMobil
Liberal protests are a "groundswell" while conservative ones are "mobs"?
Lately, yes.
Look around.
Sixty-four million voters, not organized by oil interests, voted for a Democratic President to reform healthcare reform. One million Americans filled the mall in Washington DC to watch that President recite the oath of office.
There was no yelling, or gun-toting protestors with a pickets depicting George Bush as Hitler. In fact, there were no arrests during a peaceful gathering of one million people who voted for healthcare reform.
There is a groundswell of support for healthcare reform. These protesters have no intention of ever peacefully demonstrating. There marching orders are to gather in large numbers to disrupt and intimidate. That is what the definition of a mob is.
Why do the Dems find Community Organizing so radical and un-patriotic?
Good post, but remember that the call to Obama's waterloo on health care was a call to all those that oppose Obama on every major issue to get on board opposing the health care debate so they would have an easier time winning their own issues. This is why the health care debate alone is potential transformational for the country. Win it and you truly have a historic president on policy and effectiveness. Lose it and you have a historic president simply due to race. Lastly compromising is the same as a loss.
" I went to a hockey game the other night, and a town meeting broke out..!"
Wow! I'm a freedom loving Aussie and I find this paranoia over decent pubic health care amazing.
We've had it for almost 30 years.
I've expounded on this in many of Huffo's threads but let me simply say... America you deserve better, do not believe the Conservative lies.
Why are these "angry mobs" a problem?
If people disturb public meetings and prevent them from proceeding, eject them or arrest them for disturbing the peace!
And let them scream outside--just give them a place to do it far enough from the event so that they can't be heard inside.
What's so hard about this? The Bushies did it all the time.
What's disgusting is that massive protests against the Iraq War were ignored by the media, but now a few criminals and disturbers of the peace are magnified out of all proportion. Arrest them or throw them out!
The media and the centrist Democrats are to blame in this. By allowing this to become a problem and by blowing it out of all proportion, they have demonstrated their desire to make health reform seem difficult, so that what we end up with is a corrupt plutocratic market-gaming scheme, not real reform.
Let's arrange a massive march for single-payer in DC for the end of the month!
How many of the goons are actually being paid to masquerade as concerned citizens? Are they on the corporate clock?
What's next? TAZING town hall gatherers?!? The legacy of citizen action is poor in this nation and we're so easily duped by conservative-funded mobs. It just get old.
Man, this guy is SLICK. Bill Clinton aint' got nothin' on this guy.
I am a member of The West Michigan Tea Party. We go to town hall meetings, and put on events to speak out against big government and higher taxes. We are not sponsored by anyone. We go garage sales and other fund raisers to raise funds.
Is it just easier to marginalize us in this way, rather than realize that there are Americans who believe government is not the answer?
And no one sends you a list of Democratic Town Halls to attend, gives you talking points or helpful hints as to how to disrupt and take over a meeting. Really?
You're being manipulated and you don't even know it. The entire tea party movement was organized by lobbyists for big corporations. You don't even know you're a puppet.
The town hall meetings are public, and advertised.
Right, and the events sponsored by "independent" groups like ACORN?, these are just the American people speaking out? No agenda there?
It's funny how those who support our Community Agitator and Chief have a problem with Americans speaking up for what they believe in.
Well, I was a Republican in my youth, and we never did these despicable things. Although I do recall some Nazis crashing a meeting of the Teenage Republicans I was at and trying to take over. I never quite did make it back to that organization after that. But with all the lies, nastiness, obvious racism, negativity, incitement to violence, fear stoking, etc. that is being done by right-wing radio and FN, why would anyone want to be involved in such a movement? What is it you want for the country? Just for everyone to suffer and be miserable? Seems like that's what those on the right are. I don't understand the appeal. You say you want small government, but whenever a Republican has ever been in office, they did just the opposite and grew government incredibly larger. They talk a good talk but walk something completely different. It should be obvious to you that business interests control the Republican message, fund Republican lawmakers, and are now ginning up support for disruptions of the democratic process at the town hall meetings. Encouraging people to shout, rant, prevent anyone else from exercising their free speech, well, that's just un-American and should be seen as such by any normal person. So, what's the appeal? I'm curious. I got over my conservativism almost 50 years ago, never having been one to think I got mine so screw everyone else. What is keeping you?
Excellent post...
and well said.
I was also a Republican, back in the day, along w/ my conservative, American loving, parents who had real family values, and who cared about their neighbor as themselves
Sooo rayanthony: what exactly IS the answer???? Government is supposed to do the work of the people. Government isn't bad, it is the elected officials who have not been held accountable. However, we the people are finding our voice, and we are voting these b@ast_ards out of office. We need to identify the real problem, and fix the blame appropriately.
I bet you do.
rayanthony I believe you. I just have to ask you why you let government run the police, the military, regulate the production of food and so on and you have trouble with the government running health care. I mean youpaid George Bush and Wolfowitz etc. and trusted him and he never had to have a garage sale to raise funds. He just enlisted corporate interests and lied and lied and lied. If you don't want to participate in a government run health care system don't. You can choose. Let others choose. Babies who die under the present system just don't have a choice do they. And you do know that every other developed county has universal health care don't you. And they live longer and they are really just as happy, in fact happier, than Americans. Just for once consider that government does have problemsbut they aren't anything like corporate problems. I mean government didn't lie about weapons in Iraq. government didn't steal the Enron did or Wall street.
When are you going to develop enough perspective to understand that this is not just about you? It is about the 47 million Americans who do not have any health care, because of the existence of a rapacious private health insurance cartel that ought never to have come into existene. It is about the millions more who are undersinsured, with the result that underinsurance and uninsurance is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in America. It is about the $400 billion a year http://www
You say you don't want higher taxes? You want to save tax dollars? Then why do you oppose Americans saving $400 billion a year by getting rid of a zero-value added, corrupt plutocratic cartel whose every dollar in marketing, excess corporate executive remuneration, and PROFIT is a dollar taken away from healthcare Americans need?
Why are you fighting to preserve $400 billion a year in plutocratic graft and to make health care more expensive for millions of Americans? Why are you fighting to destroy a public option, or make it more expensive both to individuals and to taxpayers if we do have one?
You're fighting to increase the profits of a parasitic cartel that has marginalized 47 million people and kills 22,000 Americans a year. Heckofajob, rayanthony!
First off, you should know the new propaganda. Even the President is now using the number "46 million". of course he is no longer using the term Americans. His underlings are still referring to this number as Americans.
Of the 46 million, 9.1 million earn $75,000 or more a year, 11 million declined coverage from their employers, also there are many who are young, single and healthy, plus a growing number who rely on alternative and faith-based therapies. Of course you also have 10 million foreigners included. All of this according to the Census Bureau.
These "foreigners" where never asked if they where legally in the U.S. So even our "official" numbers are skewed by those who break our laws to get into this country.
The funny part of all of this is by Obama's own numbers, his plan would cover 97% of Americans.
One jacked up part is the young people who currently choose not to have insurance will be forced to purchase it, most won't use it, thus they will be paying for other peoples insurance. Great job transferring middle class wealth!!!!
Give everyone enough food and they can afford health insurance, good health insurance. THAT would be the more humane thing to do.
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