WSJ - "Mortgage Bailout Infuriates Tenants (And Steve Forbes)" - Astroturfing Back In 2008!

[TomCADem]

Before President Obama and health care reform, Freedom Works was out and about organizing opposition to efforts to aid homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure. Some folks criticize and attack the strategy and organizing efforts of Democrats, liberals and President Obama, and fault them for failing to respond to attacks by Tea Party organizers. However, maybe the elephant in the room (literally) is that we lack the corporate backing to financially compete with these professional astroturfing organizations that can deliver grass roots support for a price.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121090164137297527.html

WASHINGTON -- AngryRenter.com looks a bit like a digital ransom note, with irregular fonts, exclamation points and big red arrows -- all emphasizing prudent renters' outrage over a proposed government bailout for irresponsible homeowners.

"It seems like America's renters may NEVER be able to afford a home," AngryRenter.com laments. The Web site urges like-minded tenants to let Congress feel their fury by signing an online petition. "We are millions of renters standing up for our rights!"

Angry they may be, but the people behind AngryRenter.com are certainly not renters. Though it purports to be a spontaneous uprising, AngryRenter.com is actually a product of an inside-the-Beltway conservative advocacy organization led by Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, and publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a fellow Republican. It's a fake grass-roots effort -- what politicos call an AstroTurf campaign -- that provides a window into the sleight-of-hand ways of Washington.

The housing crisis has sparked broad financial and economic distress. The House of Representatives responded last week by passing a bill that would provide up to $300 billion in federal insurance to help refinance troubled mortgages. President Bush has threatened to veto it, calling the measure a reward for speculators. On Thursday, key Senate Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement in principle on a compromise housing-rescue bill.

This week, officials from FreedomWorks, the organization behind the site, delivered to Senate leaders antibailout petitions signed by 44,500 people who clicked their agreement on AngryRenter.com, at least some of whom thought its grass was real.

* * *

FreedomWorks and its affiliated foundation took in $10.5 million in revenue in 2006, the last year for which filing data are available. Much of the income came from large donors the group declines to identify. A spokesman described the secrecy as "standard D.C. practice."

FreedomWorks President Matthew Kibbe, a former top aide to a Republican lawmaker, says the site is an effort to "reach out" to renters who share the free-market views of Messrs. Armey, Forbes and others. Mr. Kibbe owns his own home on Capitol Hill in Washington, valued by local tax authorities at $1.17 million. "I'm an angry homeowner who pays his mortgage," Mr. Kibbe says.