Astroturf Warning: TPP Critics Call Out Fake 'Progressive' Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda

[IDemo]

This is a piece from April that appears to be relevant to the conversation this morning -

Critics of the corporate-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership are lining up against what they call an "astroturf" operation claiming to represent progressives in favor of Fast Tracking the sweeping and secretive trade deal.

No such progressives exist, they say.

Last month, a Democratic political consulting firm founded by former Obama administration staffers launched a website dubbed "Progressive Coalition for American Jobs," which claimed to prove the existence of progressives who support trade promotion authority, or Fast Track power.

<>

However, groups like Public Citizen, CREDO Action, and Democracy for America say no real progressives support handing over trade authority to the White House in this way.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/02/astroturf-warning-tpp-critics-call-out-fake-progressive-group-pushing-corporate

See also:

A Trade Campaign Built On Four Pinocchios
March 11, 2015
Dave Johnson

A newly launched public relations campaign in support of trade promotion authority, a.k.a. “fast track,” and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) calls itself “the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs.” At its foundation is a set of misleading (at best) claims that begin with a four-Pinocchio whopper.

It is unclear who is in the coalition, why they call themselves “progressive” when progressives are opposed to TPP and fast track, and flat-out wrong that the trade agreement is going to produce “American jobs.”

The “Progressive Coalition for American Jobs” sent out a press release earlier this week promising that the TPP will “support hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the United States.” This is the same promise that Clinton used to sell NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and we know how that turned out. (Hint: lost jobs, lost wages, lost factories, lost industries, devastated regions of the country, increased trade deficits and a few CEOs and Wall Street types made vastly richer.) (See also, Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton’s On NAFTA.)

The Washington Post’s Fact Checker looked at this “hundreds of thousands of new jobs” claim on January 30, in “The Obama administration’s illusionary job gains from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” The conclusion:

Our advice remains: be wary whenever a politician claims a policy will yield bountiful jobs. In this case, the correct number is zero (in the long run), not 650,000, according to the very study used to calculate this number. Administration officials earn Four Pinocchios for their fishy math.

http://ourfuture.org/20150311/a-trade-campaign-built-on-four-pinocchios

The astroturf org “Progressive Coalition for American Jobs” was pushing a poll which they claimed showed "Likely Democratic Voters Nationwide Finds Overwhelming Support for Trade Promotion Authority".

http://www.pcaj.org/news/2015/5/8/new-poll-shows-democrats-support-president-obama-on-trade

[rurallib]

1. for the life of me i can't figure out why Obama is pushing this so hard

[SusanCalvin]

13. The only theory I've seen that makes any kind of sense

Is payback to his *real* supporters.

[rurallib]

34. that is pretty much my conclusion

which is why he was my next -to-last choice at the Iowa caucuses (Hillary was last). He was just way too corporate.

[840high]

55. Most likely.

[elzenmahn]

73. I think that's certainly a part of it...

...not to mention all of the benefit$$$ he will likely accrue upon his departure from office.

But there's something else at work here, IMO. I hate to say it, but I think he's also a true believer in this free trade nonsense. I remember a photo of him, taken around the time of his first inauguration, in which he's walking over to a beach chair holding Tom Friedman's tome, "The World Is Flat". The minute I saw that, I knew we were going to have problems in this regard.

[SusanCalvin]

78. That's scary to hear. nt

[sabrina 1]

15. Bush pushed for it too at almost exactly the same point in his presidency, when he

safe from any electoral backlash. His attempt to fast track his trade bill, failed in 2007.

Maybe it IS, as some people have speculated, what is expected of anyone who makes it to the WH, before they leave office.

[PosterChild]

42. EZ, ...

... He's an American that wants what's best for Americans and is in a position to do something positive and progressive on our behalf

[rurallib]

49. you forgot this

[tennstar]

53. Lol

Really loud

[PosterChild]

65. Maybe you think . ..

.... he's a secret Muslim with a post colonial agenda bent on establishing sharia law!

HEY, that's what the Investor-State Dispute Settlement system is - sharia law! That's the ticket !

[SusanCalvin]

58. Oh dear god.

And I'm an atheist.

[PosterChild]

62. Oh ye of little faith. /nt/

[SusanCalvin]

64. No faith whatsoever.

[JDPriestly]

44. It's part of his post-White-House job search.

He will be relatively young and have two daughters to put through college when he leaves the White House. Plus he will want to keep up with the Joneses, have a nice house, be able to entertain, etc. He will get lots of lucrative speaking engagements if he pushes this trade bill over on the American people. The international corporations especially in Hollywood will love him for it.

That's my guess.

[rurallib]

50. I fear I must agree with you

wish he would take the path of Harry Truman or Jimmy Carter

[Joe Turner]

51. It's because he really wants this

Unlike universal health care, social security protection, medicare protection, wall street / banking reform. IMO the president likes to hang around the big shot CEOs, and elite political power brokers. I really think that is why he is pushing so hard for the TPP unlike the issues he ran on. He's like the guy who brings a girl to a dance and ditches her for someone else. There's a good word for somebody like that.

[840high]

56. ....x10

[Segami]

2. Meet '270 Solutions'...

It’s become routine to expose some of the supposedly organic proposals that come out of the Tea Party as actually sponsored by the Koch Brothers and other big corporate interests. We didn’t want to leave Democrats out in the cold in the astroturfing game. Gaius Publius discusses one ecosystem: a consulting firm, “270 Strategies” and one of its phony creations, the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs.

By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, Americablog, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook.A version of this piece first appeared at digby’s Hullabaloo. GP article archive here.

I recently did a piece looking at the Democratic consulting shop “270 Strategies” — a group that’s been characterized as involved in “astroturfing” by the Daily Kos diarist Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees. Her (or his) headline was:

Obama Campaign Alumni Form New Astroturf Group to Promote TPP

That’s accurate, but a little confusing. There are actually two groups involved. Obama campaign alumnae (or alumni) — Lynda Tran, Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird — are founding partners of the PR and digital consulting shop “270 Strategies.” And the “astroturf” group is their client (or brainchild), the “Progressive Coalition for American Jobs.”

Let’s continue our look at 270 Strategies, since their efforts on behalf of TPP have already borne fruit. From a news piece around the time 270 Strategies was created:

[Lynda Tran, the] communications director at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is leaving to join a new political firm founded by Obama campaign officials.

In an email to NHTSA staff on Friday, Administrator David Strickland announced spokeswoman Lynda Tran’s departure.

“For the past couple of years, I have had the pleasure and honor to have been befriended by, advised by and protected by one of the best professionals in government service,” Strickland said.

Tran said in a separate email to NHTSA staff that she will be a partner at 270 Strategies in Washington – a grassroots campaign firm named after the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

The new firm is led by two former Obama for America officials, Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird, and describes itself as “helping clients build people-centered, data-driven and digitally sophisticated grassroots campaigns that achieve their strategic goals and change the world.”

Their press release for this event and that news article are from January 2013, so Tran, Stewart and Bird et al have been at this a while. 270 Strategies is a digital campaign shop (as in, they do political campaigns) and media placement outfit (as in, they place stories in the media to drive a client’s narrative). For a successful example of the latter, read on.

270 Strategies Says It’s “Progressive” To Be Pro-TPP; Politico Agrees

We got onto this story originally because 270 Strategies is part of a new campaign to get TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership, the next NAFTA-style trade agreement) passed. Obama wants it (badly), Pelosi is iffy at best about it, and all of the corporate-bought (through campaign “contributions”) members of Congress are ready to vote for it.

But there’s opposition as well. Against TPP are real progressives, most or all labor unions, most citizens who know anything about it or about NAFTA (a surprisingly large group), and many Republicans who don’t want to cede more power to the “Kenyan” in the White House. (Why’s that an issue? Because to pass TPP, Congress first has to pass “Fast Track” legislation, which neuters Congress’s role in the process. That mean the “Kenyan” wins in the minds of Tea Party legislators.)

So it’s going to be a struggle, either to pass or defeat TPP. Which is where 270 Strategies comes in. These ex-Obama campaign staffers have been hired to paint the TPP deal as “progressive” as a way to divide the left-leaning opposition. As we wrote earlier (emphasis mine):

The TPP wars are heating up, and the lobbyist money is flowing. The latest effort attempts to brand TPP as “progressive” instead of “neoliberal” — “neoliberal” being an obvious-by-now offshoot of the kind of pre-FDR “liberalism” that meant “privatized and controlled by the owners of wealth.”

Most people get that NAFTA was, to put it bluntly, a screw job for workers, that all the promises of new American jobs were lies, or at best, tales told by willing and well-rewarded dupes. That jury came in years ago. (If you don’t believe me, test it. Ask anyone you know, of any flavor of left or right, what they think of NAFTA.) It’s proponents needed a new angle, a new way to increase support and divide opposition. This, apparently, is that angle — “TPP, progressives support it too.”

TPP, 270 Strategies & Politico

Selling TPP as “progressive” is a stretch, but it’s an interesting move. It creates and leverages confusion on the left, and by dividing the left, attempts to finesse support for Fast Track, to sneak it past the finish line. Say “job killer” and the left is united against. Say “progressive” and “groundbreaking” and some on the left may be intrigued, may even be interested, may even be flattered enough to be tempted to agree.

This strategy may not work, but regardless, that’s the plan. 270 Strategies was hired to execute it — to put the confusion-sowing message bolded above, that TPP is a progressive treaty, into the mainstream press, to get that message mainsteam-blessed and make it part of “what everyone already knows.” As I said, a stretch, but that’s the job.

And just like magic, we suddenly see this in Politico (again, my emphasis):

RIFT AMONG PROGRESSIVES EMERGES ON TPP — Mitch Stewart, the battleground states director for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, and Lydia [actually Lynda] Tran, the former national press secretary for Organizing for America, launched a campaign to encourage giving the president fast-track authority over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Daily Kos reports. In a press release announcing the launch of the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs, Stewart said the campaign, which will start in Oregon and Washington state, was “about ensuring America is competitive in the global economy, about expanding the market for ‘Made in America’ goods, [and] about leveling the playing field to protect American workers and jobs.”

Politico goes on to say that the AFL doesn’t agree, but note their headline at the top of the larger article:

“Progressives Split on TPP”

Nice — and excellent message placement by the newly formed “Coalition” and their helpmates, 270 Strategies. Was this Politico paragraph the result of a nice “catch” by Politico, whose writers naturally read the same Daily Kos non-front-page diaries we do? Or did someone at the media-connected “270 Strategies” whisper into Politico’s ear on behalf of the “Coalition” and get them to put their — as I said, confusion-sowing — frame and message in the headline and then to bury the criticism (“astroturf” operation) behind a link that few will click? If I had to put money on it, I’d say the latter.

Notice that the “Coalition”-friendly framing is threaded throughout the paragraph. And notice that the only goal of this piece — of this whole operation, in fact — is to brand TPP as “progressive” and the disagreement as a disagreement “among progressives.” They don’t care, at this point, if the disagreement is covered, so long as it’s framed as a left-on-left discussion.

Mission accomplished. If 270 Strategies tried to be successful, they succeeded. If they didn’t try to succeed, they got very very lucky. Your call on which way this went down.



cont

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/gaius-publius-astroturf-progressive-support-tpp-meet-270-solutions.html

[hootinholler]

20. Where did they get their startup funding? n/t

[Segami]

29. Not sure

about their initial startup ' seed-funding'....but they were eventually hired on as "the super PAC’s (Ready for Hillary) chief consultant" that "ultimately raised $15 million, according to a spokesman".....

A South Dakotan who served as field director for Senator Tom Daschle’s 2004 reelection, in which the minority leader was deposed by John Thune, Stewart became a linchpin of the Obama political apparatus: field director for the 2008 Iowa caucuses; battleground states director for the 2012 reelection. In between, Stewart served as founding director of Organizing for America, the Obama campaign-in-exile at the Democratic National Committee. In 2013, along with fellow Obama field hands Jeremy Bird and Marlon Marshall, Stewart launched 270 Strategies. Arguably the first of the truly new-wave political firms, 270 markets itself to clients inside and outside of electoral politics as a general consultancy equally versed in collecting petition signatures and targeting digital ads.

One of its highest-profile clients has been Ready for Hillary, a super PAC founded in early 2013 as a vessel to nudge Clinton into another presidential race. The group was initially viewed suspiciously by Clinton allies, uncertain what purpose a grassroots freelance effort could serve three-and-a-half years before election day in 2016. But the hiring later that year of Stewart’s 270 Strategies as the super PAC’s chief consultant was a purposeful signal to donors that the group’s aims and methods were serious, and that it was worth an investment. (It ultimately raised $15 million, according to a spokesman.) Stewart’s job assignment was simple: Help build a list of supporters that Clinton’s staff could inherit for their use whenever she became a candidate.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2015-04-15/meet-the-21st-century-political-alchemist-who-s-been-data-mining-for-hillary-for-the-past-two-years

[zeemike]

52. That name 270 solutions is an interesting one.

A 180 is a turn in the opposite direction but 270 is a 90 degree farther move...kind of like triangulation.

[Vattel]

3. I am still agnostic about TPP, but the dishonesty of the Obama administration

concerning TPP makes Obama's pleas to trust him on this one really obnoxious.

[sabrina 1]

17. I'm completely opposed to signing contracts I am not allowed to read. It is that simple, really.

It is far from Progressive to push someone into signing their name on a document that they are not allowed to read until it is too late.

I'm sure there is a name for that. Like shoving papers in front of an elderly person for their signature knowing full well they have no idea what they are signing away.

The bullying that is going on here sends up huge red flags.

You claim that if we 'sign this contract blindly' we will be amazed at what it will do for us?

Then show it to us.

[Vattel]

23. I agree, but it is even worse to be dishonest about a contract and then

push someone to sign it without even allowing them to read it.

[sabrina 1]

28. Yes, of course it is. The problem is we don't know what is in this deal. And that is just not

acceptable.

[JDPriestly]

47. We are pretty sure that, as with NAFTA, corporations which are artificial bodies created by

law to protect investors' from having more liability for a company they invest in than the money they invest, will have the ability to sue countries for democratically enacted laws if the company feels the law costs it money.

We can be pretty sure that employees who lose money because a corporation moves their job to another country will have no right to sue the country to which the job has been moved and will also have no right to sue his/her employer for moving the job.

Which one is created by law, by government? The corporation.

Which one is created by a natural act that makes him/her human and therefore according to American traditions and values the possessor of inherent rights? The human.

Which one is being given the greater rights by these trade agreements? The corporation.

It's simply wrong. It makes no sense. We humans are supposed to enact our laws to please and promote the interests of the corporations under these trade deals. It should be the other way around.

[sabrina 1]

70. I'm beginning to think that someone is being held hostage somewhere until this is signed.

Because the whole thing is just so insane it's no wonder they kept it secret for so long. There is no explanation that is logical to explain why any elected official with any decency would push this insane garbage on the people they are supposed to be representing.

And everyone who does, should be ousted from office as soon as possible.

[JDPriestly]

71. It makes no sense, not even politically.

There is a video on here of Elizabeth Warren speaking before the California State Democratic Convention in Anaheim, Ca. It's a huge crowd. When Warren speaks about the TPP and how she opposes it, that crowd went wild. It's worth watching the video if only for that moment.

Democrats do not want the TPP. We are unified in our opposition to it. I don't see how Obama can sponsor it. It makes no sense.

[Art_from_Ark]

82. It makes sense

when you consider this push is coming from a "moderate '80s Republican", you know, the same kind of politician who supported Voodoo Economics v. 1.0

[SusanCalvin]

60. Amen. nt

[magical thyme]

74. I don't understand how somebody can be "agnostic" about it

The ISDS chapter is very clear:

Corporations can sue governments, down to the local level, for possible lost profits. The corporation bringing suit does not have to actually even have already invested in the region. It can simply claim that it could make a profit if region didn't have some law or regulation that may interfere with its imaginary, potential investment.

The case is decided by a tribunal of corporate lawyers from other countries. The lawyers may be working for the tribunal in one case and representing plaintiffs in other, similar cases.

The tribunal can impose unlimited fines and can seize public assets as compensation.

The sued governments have no appeal.

With ISDS, multinational corporations can override through intimidation: labor law, environmental protection, financial regulation, patents, zoning laws, essentially everything.

So you either favor handing the government of participating countries over to multinational corporations. Or you don't. It really is that simple.

[KG]

4. 'Progressive Coalition for American Jobs'

[Scuba]

5. So the oligarchs who want this deal have fake support groups, blog posters, etc. Who knew?

Well, those of us who post on DU knew, for sure.

[woo me with science]

6. TO THE GREATEST PAGE. Lies and propaganda are standard MO for corrupt, corporate government.

We live in a vile, dishonest, magnificently funded propaganda state.

We have come to accept the flat-out lies and propaganda assaults of corporate government as business as usual. We shouldn't.

A highly publicized Kabuki Theater sham vote to allow Democrats to pretend to oppose the predatory TPP.....followed predictably and immediately by a cynical reversal to vote in favor of Fast Track.

Insincere, massively publicized speeches about reining in military power, followed immediately by huge escalations in military power, a new war in Syria, a new war in Iraq, carpet bombing of captive populations in Gaza, a continuation of the unconscionable droning of civilians in multiple countries with which we are not at war, and a new TRILLION DOLLAR ramp-up of nuclear weapons...That's not acceptable.

Lying, manipulative claims to care about the environment, while selling off expanses of the Gulf of Mexico for drilling, opening the Atlantic Coast for drilling, relentless support for fracking, and defense of the most environmentally predatory "free trade" agreements in this nation's history.....That's not acceptable.

Shameless, lying speeches extolling the government's transparency and protection of whistleblowers and respect for journalism, when we have all seen the treatment of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden by this administration, and when we have all witnessed the outrageous targeting of investigative journalists through abuse of the Espionage Act....That's not acceptable.

Disgusting claims to represent the interests of the 99 percent, while stuffing the cabinet with predatory corporatists, signing cuts in aid for the poor and disabled repeatedly, putting SS on the table as a "greater evil" to justify the imposition of austerity greater even that that Paul Ryan initially requested, giving nauseating speeches about the need to eat our peas while repeating Republican LIES tying SS to the defiicit, personally lobbying to gain settlements for criminal bankers, and then unconscionably lobbying for the criminal CRONYBUS to even further deregulate banks and allow the looting of America to happen again.....That's not acceptable.

We are fed on slick PR and orchestrated lies as standard MO of our government now. This administration has legalized propaganda aimed at Americans that was considered unacceptable in previous decades. We are constantly assaulted with vapid pretty words and pictures that lie to our faces about what this administration cares about and is actually doing. And now we cannot even have discussion on the internet without the weird, creepy voices of corporatism infesting every single conversation through relentless disinformation and propaganda campaigns revealed by Edward Snowden and others. Look at the lying absurdity in our political campaigns. Hillary, author of the predatory TPP and enthusiastic supporter of expansing H1B visas, is pretending to our faces that she cares about income inequality. We are treated like blithering idiots.

This nation has sunk to the level of a corrupt, totalitarian state in its contempt for its own citizens, all because corporate money now drives everything it does. This is the difference between a representative government and a corporate government. By definition, corporations exist to grow their own profit and power. They don't represent anyone but themselves. They manipulate to grow profit, just like our government constantly manipulates us to sell the profitable, predatory corporate agenda it has already decided to implement against our interests.


Yes, the White House is lying to us. Hillary is lying to us. Wall Street and Madison Avenue are lying to us.

Time to reject the lies.


Huge K&R.

States that build surveillance machines also build propaganda machines. Propaganda is standard MO of our government and our political party machines now.


The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097

U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111

Snowden: ‘Training Guide’ for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/

Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796

Editor of major German newspaper says he planted stories for CIA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026163872

Salon: Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/

The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801

The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454

Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741

Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351

[haikugal]

16. Thank YOU for this information!

Not news to me but we'll put together...

[sabrina 1]

18. Some day all these deceptive propaganda groups will become illegal I hope. Isn't it illegal to

propagandize the American people, for the Govt I mean?

No wonder the people have so little faith in their government. Lies and deceptions to the point where nothing is believable anymore.

[delrem]

48. No. It's now legal.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/07/15/propoganda-ban-repealed-as-government-made-news-floods-u-s/

[sabrina 1]

77. Unbelievable! I remembered that it was illegal to use propaganda on the American people, but had no

idea they had gone out of their way to make it legal!

No wonder we see smear campaigns against good journalists

Once Fox won the right to lie to the American people about news, I guess that paved the way.

Then we just have to do what people in the Soviet Union used to do, assume all official stories are propaganda and go from there.

[delrem]

81. Yes. But you'd better believe it.

It's a brave new world out there that didn't stop with George W. Bush, that's for sure.

eta: this isn't only about official stories, which always happened. It's about unattributed stories, too, *I think*.
I'll be honest, I'm too cynical to even bother questioning the limits of this. It sounds like a get out of jail free card, as so much of 21st c. US law does.

[woo me with science]

83. It was done so quietly,

but the propaganda machine is very loud...

[raouldukelives]

75. Nope. I think so many of the viewers of it are themselves partial owners of the corporations

One could argue they have a fiduciary responsibility to lie to them. To protect them from themselves.
If they ever found out how ugly the reflection in the mirror was, they might scare themselves to death.

[bvar22]

37. Righteous Rant, woo.

DURec for your post.

[JEB]

80. Thanks for the links. Excellent info. Bookmark.

[bullwinkle428]

7. Ari Rabin-Havt did an interview with a spokes-hack from this PCAJ group

several weeks back. Listen to how flummoxed he gets when Ari asks him why the 600 corporate trade advisers have unfettered access to the details of the trade deal at the same time members of Congress have such restricted access. This, after using the word "transparency" over and over again!

https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/progressive-coalition-for-american-jobs-responds-to-tpp-transparency-issues

[sabrina 1]

19. Great link, thank you. That too should be an OP, the only way to combat these

propagandists to keep exposing them.

Anyone who participates in this kind of deception is to put it plainly, a reprehensible individual. To knowingly push lies on the American people should be against the law, especially if these groups are in any way connected to the Govt.

[Marr]

61. That was amazing.

What a ridiculous hack.

[Enthusiast]

8. I have no doubts about this.

[NuttyFluffers]

9. kick for exposure. follow the money. ;)

however, the newspeak is heavy with that one. all you have to do is wear your republican astroturf decoder ring and notice the similarities.

[fasttense]

10. To pull this off Obama is going to have to sound more like John McCain, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney

He needs to learn to be chief hypocrite in charge. He needs to keep telling bigger and bigger lies while looking oh so sincere. The lasting damage he does to his soul though will eventually eat away all ability to tell right from wrong. Just ask Mitt how to tie your favorite beloved pet dog on the roof of your car. Or ask McCain if abandoning your wife while she is battling cancer is appropriate. And never ask Palin if burning witches and letting your teenager daughters have sleepovers with boys is common sense.

Because that is the path Obama is going down. I hope Michele's and his daughters' souls aren't also eaten away .

[myrna minx]

11. LOL! Knock me over with a feather. Big K&R.

[Thespian2]

12. K & R !!!

Obama certainly seems to be just another money-grubbing presi...

[99Forever]

14. Neocons and neolibs.

Different names, same tactics.

Lie. Deceit. Obfuscate. Finger-point. Divert. Guilt by association. Character assignation.

[cascadiance]

21. DU noticed this group coming out of nowhere in March...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026387016#post7

And I noted there that they'd already try to hijack the term "progressive" to spread false propaganda with the "Progressive Policy Institute" think tank that third wayers had done earlier.

I think if we focus on populism now as a battle cry, it would be a lot harder for them to masquerade as such.

Third way will try to make it sound that the only "progressive" issues are social issues that the third wayers can accept to infiltrate the Democratic Party constituency, as those are the issues that the 1%ers don't care about so much as the fundamental financial and power issues that they want us not paying attention to and that they and their Republican denizens want to control and go their way to keep redistributing the wealth and power of the middle class to the top the way they've done for the last few decades.

[Wilms]

22. ^

[Aerows]

24. Astroturfing for another

"Screw the 99%" trade deal? Oh my, what a shock. I'm just stunned that there could be folks astroturfing for such a thing - falsely claiming to support it, poo-pooing those who oppose it as worry warts, and declaring that we should have faith in Obama because he's never let us down and we should trust him.

Here's a key point that should wake up anyone that is genuinely on the fence: George W. Bush made fast track a key point of his campaign. He failed narrowly, even in the midst of the "we must support the President" fervor following 9/11.

I don't know about you, but if George W. Bush was all for the TPP, that's a pretty clear indicator to me that it's a horrible, horrible deal for everybody that isn't politically and financially connected at the very top.

[Hoyt]

25. Actually, there are legitimate people in that organization, such as Deval Patrick, Chritien Gregorie

But, I'm sure they'll be labeled Third Wayers or some other derogatory term by self-styled "progressives."

[cali]

26. I don't know who Chritien Gregoire is, but are you going to deny that this

group fits the definition of astro turfing.

And third way has a very specific meaning, so i only use it when it's apt.

http://www.thirdway.org/

[IDemo]

27. You are what you Third Way

The Associated Press says the idea of adding these particular advisors is to “accelerate the effort to woo black lawmakers, a key target in the House.” Why would African Americans, whose unemployment rates (10.4 percent) are still running almost twice the national average and whose earnings are substantially below the national average, support a trade deal that is written to the specifications of multinational corporations, not for the benefit of struggling American communities, and would threaten more American jobs than would be created?

Answers would be appreciated. Progressives remain skeptical.

http://ourfuture.org/20150325/deval-patrick-others-to-advise-astroturf-pro-tppfast-track-group

[Hoyt]

30. The author at that link doesn't have much pertinent experience beyond computer game development.

I don't think Patrick and Christine Gregoire are in that organization to gain Black support, although Tbaggers -- who also are opposed to the TPP for obvious reasons -- would support the thought.

The fact is, lots of groups with the guts to come out against self-styled "progressives," see the value of the TPP long-term. Brookings being a good example.

[IDemo]

33. Lots of groups? Like environmentalists, for instance?

The White House has published a handful of comments from “environmental groups” implying widespread support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other corporate trade agreements. Yet these cherry-picked comments from some of the most conservative, corporate-funded environmental groups actually reveal the administration’s desperation to find any support for such deals.

Indeed, the reality is that scores of major environmental organizations including Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters, Defenders of Wildlife, Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, 350.org, and many others oppose fast-track for the TPP. Many recognize the TPP is a backward step for environmental protection that will help push the world over the tipping point for climate change.

https://www.popularresistance.org/white-house-reveals-desperate-lack-of-support-for-tpp/

[Hoyt]

35. Yeah, well some of those you name are just trying to increase membership/readership

and have no problem spreading junk and a lot of the "the TPP possibly, could result in" such and such, even when it's clearly an improvement over past, or no agreement.

[bvar22]

38. Are you Attacking the Messenger again,

..or do you have anything to add that has an actual factual basis?

[Hoyt]

39. Like you. LMAO.

[bvar22]

41. No. Not like me.

You made some Broad Brush slurs against the opposition to the TPP,
questioning their motives, accusing some of trying to increase readership.
I am asking for links to support your accusations.
.
.
.
.
I'll wait.

Yeah, well some of those you name are just trying to increase membership/readership

and have no problem spreading junk and a lot of the "the TPP possibly, could result in" such and such, even when it's clearly an improvement over past, or no agreement.

Making up stuff to post at DU that is based on nothing but imagination is NOT good for our community.

[BeanMusical]

46. +1 Well said.

[woo me with science]

54. [phone]

[tennstar]

57. Here we go again Gregoire is

The past gov. Of Washington is a third way dem from the get go,bought and owned by big biz.
She was also a crappy Gov. Who ran the most corrupt dept of ecology .
Terdway

[Hoyt]

59. You seem to be in the minority in your opinion.

[tennstar]

67. Coming from you

I find that laughable

[delrem]

63. Oh, it's you.

[djean111]

76. Deval Patrick has joined Bain Capital and says Romney is not such a bad guy.

Whatever he is, he is not a Progressive.

[colsohlibgal]

36. Deval Patrick?

He may be a hero but he's a Wall Street "democrat" all the way.

[SMC22307]

66. Deval "Bain Capital" Patrick. (n/t)

[Eleanors38]

40. Yes, I came across that serving of turd-drop soup a couple weeks ago. Sent back to kitchen.

[woo me with science]

43. kick to expose the cancer of slimy corporate propaganda

[BeanMusical]

45. Kick and R.

[TrollBuster9090]

68. I think it's a safe bet to assume that ANY progressive political action committee is a fake.

Because, frankly, if we progressives were actually CAPABLE of forming political action committees we wouldn't constitute about half the population while having practically none of the political clout.

Sort of reminds me of Will Rogers saying "I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat."

[SMC22307]

69. Hope you don't mind, but I"m linking brentspeak's OP from the 10th...

lots of good info in it, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6652502

[AzDar]

72. He sees how well fucking over the American Worker (via NAFTA) paid off for the Clintons...

[woo me with science]

79. kick CORRUPTION