AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is tired of normal, everyday, working Americans, acting individually, actually having some influence on the political process. To that end he’s marshaling his troops, who have a lot of experience in intimidation, to counteract anti-stimulus, anti-tax, anti-health care takeover protesters at town halls for members of Congress during August:
“The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts,” reads the memo. “We want your help to organize major union participation to counter the right-wing “Tea-Party Patriots” who will try to disrupt those meetings, as they’ve been trying to do to meetings for the last month.
OK, let me get this straight. Angry Americans are showing up spontaneously at town halls of their congressmen and expressing their concern over the direction of the country. Sure, some groups have latched onto the anger, but isn’t that always the way it is? Meanwhile, unions and the National Democratic Party have, in the last two days had to manufacture a counter-protest effort via emails and blogs. So, which one is the real astroturfing example?.
