THOROUGHLY ANNOYED

No, make that thoroughly mad.

In the last few days, we’ve had President Obama telling us, essentially, to sit down and shut up; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accusing conservative talk show hosts of astroturfing; Senator Barbara Boxer calling the healthcare, er, health insurance protestors “too well-dressed to be sincere;” and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi calling townhall protestors swastika-carrying astroturf mobs.

Bull (add the last four letters yourself. – Ed). Here are two items of interest to refute the “astroturf” charge.

From Talking Points Memo, a HCAN document accusing “radical right-wing” groups of funding an astroturf campaign: “The people who show up are far right-wing ideologues recruited by paid organizers. Much of this recruitment and organizing is funded by industry lobbyists and public relations firms to engage radical right-wing groups.”

Okaaay ....

Let’s see who Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is: [o]ur Steering Committee includes: ACORN, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Campaign for Community Change, Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, Communications Workers of America, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), MoveOn.org, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, SEIU, UFCW, USAction, Women's Voices, Women's Vote and Working America.

Now from the other side, a quick Google search for “tea party organizations” – gives three names that seem to constitute the bulk of the hits: Tea Party Patriots, Tax Day Tea Party, and Tea Party Warriors.

A quick cruise through theTea Party Patriots website shows it to be aggregation of smaller state and local groups. (LibertyChick.com doesn’t strike me as a well-funded K Street lobbying group.) Partners (not sponsors) include Lagniapper, Sign the Petition, American Liberty Alliance, American Solutions, Freedom Works, Smart Girl Politics, Tea Party Express, Michelle Malkin, Red State, and Red Country.

Check them out – is there any one (or combination) bigger than, say, ACORN? Is any one of them feeding at the public trough like, say, ACORN?

And these Obamacrat clowns (with apologies to actual circus/rodeo clowns) have the unmitigated gall to accuse me of being astroturf? The Obamacrats are so plastic they won’t recognize actual grass until their allergy medicines are withdrawn by our votes.

[Added]
The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge?

[Update] Looks like I'm not the only one mad about the Obamacrats' astroturfing remarks: "And they dare to accuse me of astroturfing, in my own district, on my own dime, with a sign I made all by myself with a magic marker? If they are really that stupid, this is sure to end badly for them." Thanks to Instapundit for the link.