First, he points out an email from the DNC asking people to attend town halls meetings to counter the teabagger goons currently turning them into wingnut circuses. Good lord! Democrats are trying to get people to counter-protest! Hypocrisy!
[The email is] what Organizing for America, “a project of the Democratic National Committee,” has sent by e-mail to its campaign list. The flyer that the DNC wants people to hold as they outshout anyone else in the room can be seen here:
Because nothing says grassroots like the Obama campaign logo on the top, and Obama’s website URL on the bottom. That small print at the bottom reads, “Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee … This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
OK, the self-contradictory legalese is pretty funny, but is this astroturfing? Obviously not. They've got signs they want people to take that show exactly who sent them. Meanwhile, Wiktionary defines astroturfing as "The disguising of an orchestrated campaign as a spontaneous upwelling of public opinion."
Call me unobservant, but I'm not really seeing any "disguising" here. I mean, he points out himself the thing has "Democrat" written all over it and that it includes Obama's campaign logo, as well as the URL HEALTHCARE.BARACKOBAMA.COM. Meanwhile, the insurance lobby is pulling out all stops to hide the fact that they're behind the town hall mobs.
That's astroturfing. Update your notes, Ed.
