Definition: Astroturf Advertising; when people are paid to make appearances and act out a narrative for the purposes of conveying a false narrative. Example: when the Repubs paid actors to make a false appearance as union workers at a factory owned by a MAGA which Trump spoke at, to give him fake union cred.
Astroturf advertising is expensive, so it is not done all that often.
Prediction: knowing what Big Oil has on the line, after the Convention locks in Harris, you are going to see the CRAZIEST spends on Astroturf adverstising by Big Oil. It is on the line for them with promotion of renewable energy, which would cut back on their revenue streams, so they will spend like drunken sailors this Spetember to October…
Looks like the Repubs are done waiting for a formal lock-in with a roll call or at the Convention; scanning the headlines, they have started their advertising attacks today. They evidently realized they were allowing too much momentum to build…
Walz’s military record: the Dems need to compile a list of every Repub congress member who had served in their State’s Guard and was opting to serve in Congress instead while units were stationed in Iraq. Ask if by Vance’s definition, does that also make them cowards? Walz also needs to ask Vance what he thought of Sergeant Bonespurs’ illustrious record of service during the Vietnam War. <sarcasm>All that military school gone to waste!</sarcasm> It flipped me out when the Kerry campaign never addressed the Swift Boaters in 2004. He was subject to repeated machine gun fire, and the Boaters were quibbling over whether he had actually gone into Cambodia, while their Boi was dunk under a barstool in Arizona when he was in the Guard in a non-military stint. The stupidity of Kerry’s campaign not to address that (“we will not dignify those charges with an answer”?) was the second biggest reason he lost (the first reason being Rove’s doing a scare on Kerry having MUCH higher taxes on Americans’ newfound illusory mortgage wealth -ironic, when you consider that all came crashing down in 2008…)
Harris trying to speak back against Palestinian protesters: She has to say two things: her Israel+Gaza policy will not be the same as Biden’s, and she supports a 2 State solution (no matter what NUTanyahoo thinks about that!) She cannot hide on this issue. Telling people they have a shit-sandwich choice (continue to enable NUTanyahoo or get Stupid Hitler elected…) is NOT going to be getting you votes! Then point out how Stupid Hitler signed off on moving the Israeli seat of government to Jerusalem, which the Dems would never do knowing how much that would deteriorate the situation there. Given that most are not happy with Biden’s enablement policy to date, she has little to lose saying she will try something different…
Well i accidentally deleted my other post on this.
I agree, Kamala has to say something about Israel/ Palestine in a speech or interview. Just being nasty to the protestors, staring them down, and telling them to shut up or else they will give us Trump … and ignoring the issue is not a smart strategy.
I acknowledge she is in an almost impossible situation being the VP in the current admin and not being able to speak freely on this issue to challenge Biden’s position (assuming she might even disagree). But she has to know this is gonna happen. And it is not exactly a trivial issue!
But what infuriated me, was Lawrence ODonnell’s disgusting praise for how Kamala handled it. If this is how Kamala is gonna treat any future protestors at her events, and if this is the standard response by MSNBC, it will be MSNBC and Kamala, not the protestors, that could make it harder for Kamala to win this election.
And then I saw the part of her speech when she started gushing over Joe Biden and it cancelled out any excitement I was starting to feel. I gave her a grace period during the initial announcement of Biden stepping aside, but enough is enough. She needs to pretend like Biden doesn’t exist.
Yeah, as Cenk points out: MSNBC are apologists for all things Dem.
And I see just now that Pakman calls her saying to the protesters to eat their shit-sandwich is <sigh>“shutting them down”.</sigh>
That will just NOT cut it! Simple response: I won’t be doing the Definition of Insanity; my policy will be different from Biden’s, and I SUPPORT TWO STATE…
I think we have one of these. we have a nurse commercial where she blames Kamala for the increased costs of healthcare because of immigration/the border.
Why I wanted to see the most electorally strong candidate (and I have STRONG doubts it will be Harris after this assault, which we have not seen yet…)
All the presidential ads in the Milwaukee tv market are about Harris. Harris advocating for herself and then those attacking her on the immigration issue (which is why I was pushing Kelly as VP)
We also have a ton of attack ads in our Senate race between Incumbent Tammy Baldwin vs another super crazy Repub Eric Hovde. Hovde is from WI but has a mansion in Laguna Beach, CA. He makes crazy statements along the lines of Trump and JD Vance. Stuff like seniors in nursing homes shouldn’t be allowed to vote, and kids of single moms are destined for a life of poverty and drugs. I have no love for Tammy Baldwin but again the other side is an absolute nightmare.
Looks like he will double-down. I still say we will see some mind-boggling Astroturf advertising, given what Big Oil has at stake. But I think the issue with the “center of gravity” now is how Harris will treat the Israel clusterfuck.
Still haven’t heard “TWO STATE” coming from her lips. In my book, by not saying that she’s implicitly saying she will continue to enable the NUTanyahoo faction in Israel…
Kamala needs to get Biden to settle this shit now. Executive Order some shit. And pardon Hunter because fuck it.
If we have peace now she would save some headaches. She should give us a look at her cabinet and what it could look like. She should offer Dr. West Secretary of Education, and an expert in renewable energy as the Defense Secretary. We’re falling behind on the green energy race!
Make it about your team and talk about how his past cabinet almost all have said this guy isn’t fit for the office. she’s got Tim Walz i say she reach out to Al Franken , the party owes him an apology.
Her commercials should include someone popular in that state and saying, by the way, i got this person who will work for you inside of my administration.
Jessica Cisneros for AG! Because F Cuellar.
In my dreams where Dems represent the people and not their owner donors.
Nina Turner gets press secretary, and she is given independence so she can call it like she sees it!
I really think one of the best good faith olive branches Kamala could offer to progressives is to make Bernie the Senate Majority Leader. That would be huge! And he has earned it!
Yea, i think the media focuses on the wrong thing. The team that she would put together is what matters. Scarammuchi for press secretary again! the team she puts together will tell me everything.
she’s got Tim Walz i say she reach out to Al Franken , the party owes him an apology.
the team she puts together will tell me everything.