The summer of Astroturf
By: Ben Smith
Politico.com
August 21, 2009
The August recess may not have done much to clarify the health care debate, but it has shined a bright light on one of Washington, D.C.’s secrets:
The town is paved with Astroturf.
In the health care debate, well-financed conservative groups battle well-financed unions to get their members to the head of the line at the town halls of hapless members of Congress. The pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance industry push various talking points through giant megaphones. A public relations firm was busted creating Astroturf at its purest, writing fake letters from real groups in support of the oil industry’s agenda, while vaguely named new coalitions change their messages, and even their names, to match the latest White House messages.
“Astroturf” was coined in the 1980s to describe fake “grassroots” efforts. But now “grassroots” and “issue campaigns” are themselves just the names for product lines at dozens of major political consulting firms, among them the one senior White House advisor David Axelrod left behind in Chicago, as the Republican National Committee pointed out under the headline “Axel-Turf” earlier this month.
Interest groups across the spectrum have grown expert at locating, enraging, and turning out authentic Americans. And the operatives behind the crowds say there’s nothing wrong with a practice as old as American politics.
(Continued here.)
Politico.com
August 21, 2009
The August recess may not have done much to clarify the health care debate, but it has shined a bright light on one of Washington, D.C.’s secrets:
The town is paved with Astroturf.
In the health care debate, well-financed conservative groups battle well-financed unions to get their members to the head of the line at the town halls of hapless members of Congress. The pharmaceutical industry and the health insurance industry push various talking points through giant megaphones. A public relations firm was busted creating Astroturf at its purest, writing fake letters from real groups in support of the oil industry’s agenda, while vaguely named new coalitions change their messages, and even their names, to match the latest White House messages.
“Astroturf” was coined in the 1980s to describe fake “grassroots” efforts. But now “grassroots” and “issue campaigns” are themselves just the names for product lines at dozens of major political consulting firms, among them the one senior White House advisor David Axelrod left behind in Chicago, as the Republican National Committee pointed out under the headline “Axel-Turf” earlier this month.
Interest groups across the spectrum have grown expert at locating, enraging, and turning out authentic Americans. And the operatives behind the crowds say there’s nothing wrong with a practice as old as American politics.
(Continued here.)
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