The Washington Post has a big write up about a new and growing “grassroots” [more on this word in a minute] movement, The Coffee Party. Supposedly the Coffee Party is for all those disenfranchised citizens who are unhappy with government but do not subscribe to Tea Party tenets of small and limited government.
From the Coffee Party’s Facebook page, they state who they are:
We are diverse--ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.
We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a political culture that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented.
We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices; NOT corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.
We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society. The Coffee Party is a call to action. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift --Democracy-- and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
The only real thing you have to know about the Coffee Party is that it isn’t 100% grassroots. As Left Coast Rebel easily found out, it is just another left wing Astroturf effort. The Founder of the Coffee Party movement is Annabel Park and as Left Coast Rebel discovers:
According to the article, the founder is Annabel Park. Of course it took only five minutes of google searching to expose the Astroturfhere. According to a youtube account, Park is also associated with Asian Americans for Obama. Below is a video of Parks interviewing Kal Penn, an actor who left the TV show House to work for Obama.
Dig a little further and you find that Left Coast Rebel is correct. I went to The Coffee Party’s website and sure enough it is a snappy looking social network site, but the thing that immediately caught my eye was a poll they have there. The poll asks “in your opinion what is the most urgent issue”. What do you think the majority of them picked? Health care, of course!
The poll isn’t the only place where you find them pushing hard for health care reform. A look at the comments on their Facebook page and you find heath care all over the place. Even this polished video by their LA chapter has all these folks talking about health care
How is it that all the major polls show the vast majority of Americans are concerned about jobs, the economy and the deficit, yet this so-called grassroots movement has health care as its number one concern? It is also very convenient that health care is also Obama’s number one concern.
If I had to guess, The Coffee Party is nothing more than another Astroturf effort designed to cultivate a new breed of Hope Dopes for 2012.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Washington Post
Via: Left Coast Rebel
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13 comments:
I went over to the FB page. Wow. Just read through some of the comments and notes there. It is clear that this is a completely pro-Obama group even though they claim loudly not to be hyper partisan. They even talk about being proudly progressive. It is interesting to see how many of the commenters there talk so condesendingly about the average american. About how they are misinformed or misled or ignorant. It is so far from the Tea Part movement it's cazy. The Tea party groups celebrate the wisdom of the average american and their ability to ferret out the truth and whats best. And they are far from being fans of "Corporations". Actually what they want is MORE COMPETITION!
They're not blame oriented, but... corporate interests are misleading people.
A couple statements jump out at me as justification to determine they are unfit to vote:
"Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift --Democracy-- and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation."
Our Founding Fathers did NOT give us a democracy. They gave us a REPUBLIC. Maybe they should try reading the Constitution for once in their lives. Then they would understand the basis of the second reason they should never be allowed access to a ballot:
"We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices..."
The reason we have a Republic is to protect INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, not to bow and scrape to the majority. That is tyranny, and exactly the reason this nation was NOT founded as a democracy.
Freaks. And they wonder why our country is in such piss-poor shape?
They are jealous of our success.
Poor Barry. Super majorities are not enough to pass his destructive agenda.
This is such a ridiculously stupid attempt at grabbing middle American votes. It is so obviously contrived that if I didn't know the facts, I would have guessed it was an attempt by the out of touch Republicans of years past.
Too bad the media will play this up, while it does whatever it can to destroy the legitimate Tea Party movement.
I don't know what the full intention of this phony movement is, but I suspect it will be given a voice within the administration if it is truly astroturf, and it will be used to provide cover for health care nationalization. Obama can claim that he has heard and is listening to the people, and try to claim that there is just as much sentiment supporting his agenda. He can then follow through and claim it was a judgement call that demanded he act in the best interest of all the people, "for their own good".
Idea Guy:
Their Facebook page is very revealing. It is almost like they swing back and forth from populism to flat out progressivism. Very schizophrenic if you ask me.
They seem to want bipartisanship (capitulation to leftist) and progress over the actual substance of what is being debated.
I often wondered how Obama was going to have any chance of reelection now that so many Hope Dopes have seen the light. This is the answer, they are cultivating a new batch by dazzling them with new BS.
Angie Lee:
Yes! I saw all that democracy stuff! They do not want or understand how a republic works. Their cry for democracy dovetails nicely with the use of reconciliation, doesn't it?
Opus #6:
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery!
Ozzie:
"but I suspect it will be given a voice within the administration if it is truly astroturf..."
Excellent observation! I agree, something tells me we will be seeing a lot of Ms. Park very soon.
It bothers me also that they claim the Founders gave us a Democracy. The Founders gave us a Representative Republic. I think it was Ben Franklin who said,"a democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for lunch." They think they want a democracy majority rule but I don't think even that would pass Obamacare.
Angie Lee:
""We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices..."
The reason we have a Republic is to protect INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, not to bow and scrape to the majority. That is tyranny, and exactly the reason this nation was NOT founded as a democracy."
Great point- I often get so distracted with the issue du jour that I forget that basic principle. Class warfare seems like a tactic made to directly obscure that tenet of American civilization.
Your posting makes no sense. Asian Ameircans for Obama was a grassroots group. You just proved the exact opposite of what you are trying to.
Co-founder of Coffee Party? Ellie Light, of course. :-)
It’s quite appreciable that such information is being shared through a huge network. Keep it up.
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