Recall how last year as the Tea Party emerged in response to the big government initiatives of Obama and the Democrats, Beltway insiders and Democratic leaders were quick to call them Astroturf? This despite no evidence whatsoever that conservative groups spearheaded the movement and abundant evidence of spontaneous protests across the country.
Indeed, the conservative groups who got involved were johnny-come-latelies, trying to latch onto a popular uprising. Now, we have another example of liberal groups trying to imitate the success of the Tea Parties, only it’s leaders of left-of-center organizations trying to spearhead the movement:
In an effort to replicate the tea party’s success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement’s political energy and influence. They promise to “counter the tea party narrative” and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of floundering.
The large-scale attempt at liberal unity, dubbed “One Nation,” will try to revive themes that energized the progressive grassroots two years ago. In a repurposing of Barack Obama‘s old campaign slogan, organizers are demanding “all the change” they voted for — a poke at the White House.
H/t: Mark Hemingway.
Wonder if Nancy Pelosi will call this Astroturf.
Well we’ll see. After many months of complacency it seems the American left has finally been shocked into action by the rise of the Tea Party. Have they left it too late? Can they make much of a difference? Will the presence of the Tea Party drain their strength or encourage a stronger fight back?
I don’t know the answer, and actually you don’t either Dan. I know you love to speak in certainties about future events in an effort to put your political opponents off (Failed Senator! Failed Senator!), but it is a rather tired and cynical tactic. Still, finding the answers to all this will be great fun.
Is this what you do after the “Coffee Parties” gain the popularity of a fart in church?
The TEA Party movement was started by a spark that caught fire across the nation.
The “One Nation” movement is all “thunk out” by professional political “thunkers.” Fine. They have their product and now they will introduce it and we will all sit back to see if it sells or is dumber than a pet rock.
I don’t quite get how Serenity’s attack on Dan rises above gratuitous. Dan predicts and Serenity screams “tired and cynical.” Perhaps Serenity knows that pre-packaged progressivism is only going to draw the kooks and crazies.
It would be fun to watch Michael Moore, Al Franken, Code Pink, Cindy Sheehan, the Ayers squad, the ACLU, the Communist Party, and various Me Firsters prance around pontificating about the Church of Social Justice and Progress.
America is on the verge of decisively answering the question: “Had enough already?” Having Obama, Pelosi and Schumer and Frank and Leahy and Waxman and Waters and Durbin and Biden tell us “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” is hardly going to turn the tide.
What will the
liberalsprogressives“One Nationers” call themselves next?The only thing that shocks the left into anything is the notion of people thinking for themselves. Much like the Borg, they are a particularly insidious group of groupthinkers. They build nothing, produce nothing, create nothing, invent nothing. They steal. They demand. They demoralize. They are destroyers.
Their idea of “action” consists of either assaulting their opposition or standing outside train platforms with clipboards. Both are equally annoying.
And if anyone is qualified to make such a judgement, it would be a leftist, indeed.
None of Obama’s astroturf organizations ever grow.
Not the Coffee movement, not this one.
What’s more, there’s TEA Party groups popping up in Europe.
This is the same Washington Post writer–Krissah Thompson–who propped up the Coffee Party like it was Bernie from Weekend At Bernie’s; it’s deja vu all over again with One Nation. Is One Nation meant to be Weekend At Bernie’s 2?
Check it out at Newsbusters for the full story.