If you haven't been following already, there's a
great thread at
Facing South about right-wing "astroturf" editorials that have magically popped up in newspapers all over the country this week supporting Bush's repeal of wage laws in the Gulf Coast.
Even better, the original author has chimed in the discussion -- and it turns out he's a connected DC hack who just this month slammed MoveOn for having people send in "astroturf" letters to the editor!
Here's the story from Facing South:
What do
this newspaper editorial,
this one,
this one, and
this one all have in common?
All of them are unsigned editorials, which makes it look like they're original opinion pieces for each paper. (The Colorado Springs Gazette even says it's "our view.")
And they all happen to say exactly the same thing, beginning with this paragraph:
One of the smartest things President Bush did to reduce recovery costs in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita was to suspend Davis-Bacon Act rules in the hardest hit states. But Congress is frantically trying to overrule the president, which would add billions of dollars to the already staggering recovery costs.
Amazing that newspapers from California, Colorado, and North Carolina could be channeling, simultaneously and in complete harmony, the Bush administration line for
cutting wages for workers rebuilding the Gulf Coast.
UPDATE: As one commenter points out, all of most of (see Update II below) the papers involved are owned by Freedom Communications, Inc. (although, oddly enough, they all list different owners on their websites, with variations on the "Freedom" theme). It's still a no-no for papers to run these as if they're house editorials -- and therefore somehow the result of a spontaneous convergence of editorial opinion across the country, as opposed to just being reprints.
UPDATE II: This paper in Indiana also ran it, and they're not owned by Freedom Com (they're Knight Ridder). And they attribute it to "The Lima News, Ohio." Confusion (?) reigns.
UPDATE III: A belated welcome to Echatoners and Pandagonians -- feel free to look around and make yourself at home. More examples of papers running the unsigned Op Ed -- both Freedom Communications-owned and not -- are here and here.
UPDATE IV: Quick, check out the comments -- the author of the editorial is here! His name is Sean Paige, editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette and a man with a rich history in right-wing politics. On his resume: "Staff Assistant for Communications, White House," personal aid to John Sununu (Chief of Staff to Bush I), and "Press Secretary: Keyes for Senate" (ouch). More on his history here.
And here's the best part: just this month, none other than Sean Paige penned an editorial slamming MoveOn.org members for sending "astroturf" letters to newspapers. Here's a choice passage:
I began noticing patterns in the e-mails -- the same rote phrases or analogies that betray an orchestrated letter writing campaign, rather than a spontaneous outpouring of thoughts and feelings.
How
COULD they?!
NOTE: We'll keep updating this story as we learn more, both here and at
Facing South