This morning, Morning Joe, through their Politico segment aired a commercial blasting Obama for taking a vacation during the "healthcare debate". Taking a tip from our own Rachel Maddow I immediately googled CPR, the "grassroots" organization responsible for the commercial, and lo and behold, within seconds I had the down and dirty from Sourcewatch.org
In a nutshell, surprise surprise, yes it's Astroturf... promulgated by Richard Scott of swiftboat fame. Click on the link and check out the whole thing for yourself.
This is my e-mail that I immediately fired off and was subsequently superseded by a California e-mail admiring Mika's white dress... Joe devoted a full 3 seconds in rebuttal later in the broadcast saying that he felt the commercial was 'low'. I'm sure it will air at least three more times this morning...
Regarding the "CPR" Obama Vacation Ad buy.... Why do you guys, and Politico for that matter, not mention that "Conservatives for Patient's Rights" is merely a front group funded by $20 million from Richard Scott of Swiftboat fame. CPR works hand in hand with CRC Public relations, again of Swiftboat fame, who have been contributing to the astro-turf tea bagger movement. Scott himself was ousted from Columbia/HCA after an FBI investigation led to 14 felony convictions and $1.7 billion in criminal and civil fines for Medicare fraud. This is beyond irony.
It took longer to type this email than to find the truth through Google... can't your people do their homework before just airing something so disingenuous and absurd? Simply walking it back by describing the commercial as 'low' later in the broadcast is not good enough. This is news that we all CAN use.
Not that I advocate giving this trash any clicks, but here is the Youtube version of the AD:
Well, it's off to work, and I hope that this diary entry will serve as a heads up for Keith or Rachel to expose this latest Astroturf scheduled to air in Boston, and Martha's Vineyard over the holiday weekend. I know, I know... why do I watch Morning Joe in the first place? Truthfully, they are the best source for previewing the right wing talking points for the day for the heads up on the absurdity.