Waiting For The Daily Blast Fax So The President Can Tell Me What To Write

Phillip Klein of the far-right American Spectator has an amusing blog post out apparently accusing me of taking marching orders from the White House.

...those bloggers who get their marching orders from the White House and DNC have become part of the effort to attack ordinary Americans expressing their beliefs about an issue of great importance.

David Dayen of the blog D-Day was on the call. Yesterday, he wrote a post titled, "Top-Level Democrats Assault The Extremist Astroturfers." It began, "The White House took the lead on this, publicly calling the teabagger disruptions an example of astroturfing and citing conservative industry-backed groups taking credit for activating the rioters. Now other elements of the Democratic Party are taking up the baton. Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer blasted the clown show today..." [...]

So just to sum up, Obama enlists the aid of a small group of liberal bloggers in the health care fight, and then those same bloggers write posts echoing White House and DNC talking points -- and in the very process of doing that, accuse their political opponents of astroturfing!

I seem to remember the call going like this: I asked a fairly pointed question about the negative consequences of those deals with industry groups, and Obama gave an answer based in his conception of realism that I called "deeply unsatisfying." Weeks later, I identify in multiple posts over a series of days an organized effort by corporate lobbying groups to bus around, distribute instructions to and in some cases fund so-called "ordinary Americans" who are hanging Congressmembers in effigy and wishing death upon them. The White House comes to the party a few days late, and I notice that as well.

Who's taking marching orders from whom?

I think the right wing is just a bit upset because their code has been cracked and pretty much every element of the Democratic side of the aisle has managed to notice.



Those aren't "marching orders," it's "recognizing what's plainly visible in front of your face." Which admittedly isn't always a simple task for a conservative.

By the way, when the insurance company lobby is trying to distance themselves from these tactics, you know the worm is starting to turn. The teabaggers are hurting nobody but themselves.