[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Astroturfing and the “Shadow Republican Party” Fact File Intro This fact file looks at the formation over the past few years of the “Shadow Republican Party,” to use the words of Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times.[i] Key is the term AstroTurfing.[ii] Essentially meaning “fake grassroots,” AstroTurfing refers to groups that appear to be grassroots-based citizen groups or coalitions, but have in fact been conceived, created, and funded solely by wealthy individuals, corporations, trade associations, political interests or public relations firms. Despite names that suggest a broad membership base, they often have little or no actual members, instead getting huge donations from special interests. The Shadow Republican Party refers to the network of AstroTurfed Political Action Committees, nonprofits, and “action tanks” that has filled the void left by the diminished Republican National Committee. Taking advantage of the possibilities in corporate donations opened up by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision in January 2010, these groups have received enormous amounts of money from the absolutely richest Americans. This list includes billionaires like Sheldon Adelson, who despite having lost $24 billion dollars in 2008, is today America’s 13th richest man. During the rundown to the 2010 elections, a flurry of donations came in from the financial sector, particularly hedge funds. Many of the hedge fund donors used to contribute to Democrats, and many in the sector still do in smaller amounts, but many have recently switched sides.[iii] It has been said that this is because of the tax and regulatory policies of Obama and congressional Democrats, combined with Obama’s “class-warfare rhetoric”, which deeply offended many in the sector.[iv] Many of them are relatively liberal on the social front, supporting things like gay marriage and stem cell research, but are heavily anti-regulation, labor, and taxes. Overall conservative donations were double liberal donations in the midterm elections.[v] This is all particularly important before the 2012 elections where commentators are expecting these rightwing groups to spend over $500 million to defeat Obama (in 2008 all outside spending totalled around $260 million[vi]).[vii] To take one example, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, affiliated with former Bush strategist Karl Rove, together spent more on the 2010-midterm elections than anyone other than the Democratic and Republican National Committees. Despite their collusion with the Tea Party movement on many fronts, these groups are often headed, advised, and funded by the very Washington and Wall Street elites the Tea Partiers constantly attack. What follows is a list of the organizations, Republican actors and billionaires behind these developments. Groups Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||