Tea parties rooted in astroturf

Krugman's column today reminds us that the Republicans have always been this crazy and all that has changed are the memes. For instance, socialist is the new liberal now that the majority of Americans decided last November that liberals weren't so bad after all. But we're talking tea parties here and Krugman also notices the so called spontaneous 'grass roots' uprising is not really organic, but rather decidedly synthetic.

He notes that Freedom Works, funded by the usual right-wing billionaires, has a big hand in promoting the events and of course Fox *News* has become the official sponsor. In fact, Fox is listed as a sponsor on the tea party websites and Glen Beck is headlining a $500 a plate dinner to help fund the events.

Meanwhile, Insty pops up on the NYPost this morning, (sorry I'm not going to link to it), to assure the rubes it is too a grass roots effort, unlike the "astroturf of anti-war protests." Oh, and by the way, his very own PJTV will be covering the events they've been relentessly promoting in an effort to try to build some relevancy with the base before they run of VC money to keep their operation going.

Maybe PJMedia should be cashing in the tshirt concession instead of trying to sell subscriptions to their videos. That's where the big money is, with reported sales of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of the organizers/vendors are claiming to be putting the profits back into organizing the events, paying for venues and covering transportation costs. Eagerly awaiting for them to produce their balance sheets to prove it. I'm betting Eric Odom's expense report will be riveting reading.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]