Obama Nation Raising Money Off Palin "Lies"
| Fri Nov. 20, 2009 7:07 AM PST
It probably had to happen. The Obama gang is raising money off Sarah Palin—and her "lies."
On Friday morning, Organizing for America, the offshoot of the Obama presidential campaign (which works within the Democratic National Committee), sent out an email to the millions of people on its mailing list, noting that Palin has lied about President Barack Obama's health care reform efforts—remember her accusation about "death panels"?—and has continued to attack Obama and his health care plan while on her book tour. According to the email, the Obama crew believes Palin has the power to affect the national debate on this issue: "Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform."
The letter, signed by Mitch Stewart, the director of OFA, warns that Palin will be peddling disinformation about the White House health care reform plan on Fox News (with Sean Hannity) and on other conservative outlets. It asks for five bucks, so OFA can amass a $500,000 warchest to be used to "push back against Sarah Palin and her allies."
Whether Palin is running for president or not in 2012, the Obama strategists clearly see her as a useful foil. With book sales indicating there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who are quite keen on her—and willing to shell out money to support her petty get-'em-back crusade—OFA is about to determine if there are similar numbers of Americans who want to pay a few dollars to join an anti-Palin campaign. It might have struck gold.
The full fundraising letter is after the jump.
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XXXXX --
Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.
It's dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term "Death Panels" -- and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.
Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.
As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can't afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything -- and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.
So we're setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 to help reach our goal.
Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be "dead on arrival." And since then, she's been working fiercely toward that goal.
On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh's radio show where she outrageously -- and falsely -- suggested that Americans could "face jail time as punishment" if they don't buy insurance.
Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.
We need to be prepared. And we're counting on you help. Can you chip in $5?
https://donate.barackobama.com/SarahPalin
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director, Organizing for America
You can follow David Corn's postings and media appearances via Twitter.
Comments
OFA...
Submitted by tulips4dolphins on Fri Nov. 20, 2009 6:32 PM PST.
I love my OFA...they do good work/sent in my 5 bucks!
peace out....
'an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.' ~~Gandhi
Effective opposition always
Submitted by christmas gift ideas (not verified) on Fri Nov. 20, 2009 7:44 PM PST.
Effective opposition always rallies the other side to some degree. Witness the endless SRM hatchet jobs on Palin.That said, she is bring far more to the table - just in terms of money raised and galvanizing the base - than the enemy left is capable of countering. That is not even counting the damage she is doing to the left’s ideology, and that is even if (God forbid) she never runs for office again.The alternative is what we have had for far too long: ineffective opposition to the national socialist democrats and statist RINOs...
'...enemy left ...'?
Submitted by ktward on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 1:21 PM PST.
@christmas gift ideas
Apparently I'm not up on my acronyms: what is SRM? (as in, 'SRM hatchet jobs ...')
Where Palin is concerned, the very least of your worries should be the Left's thoughts and activities.
I like to self-identify as a left-centrist, but since you derisively mentioned RINOs I suspect that'll have zero impact on our dialogue. So, as one of those nasty Leftists, I can assure you that Palin's done zero damage to the 'left's ideology'. Are you kidding? She's our poster child! More Palin can only increase our electoral numbers.
That said, you may wish to pay more attention to Republican and Conservative views on Palin. There's where you'll have number problems- along with convincing the Indie vote necessary to win a national election. No need to spoon-feed you the many 'Right' anti-Palin opinions during the '08 campaign, but I will provide you a few recent musings of your fellow 'Pubs:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120508053&utm_sourc...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR200907...
http://www.frumforum.com/palin-still-not-ready-for-the-spotlight
Uh, good luck galvanizing that solid minority 'base' of yours. And Go Palin!
p.s. I laughed heartily at the clever title alone, order it: Going Rouge: http://orbooks.com/
sadly, i no longer love my OFA
Submitted by south florida (not verified) on Sun Nov. 22, 2009 4:28 PM PST.
after our 2008 election OFA leader "failed" to pay back a volunteer for office space, and the next OFA guy hijacked a private nov. 4th 2009 event (and stuck it on the OFA website) it seems to me OFA is all about their numbers: money and stats.
Your accusations, south florida.
Submitted by ktward on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 1:32 PM PST.
You have substantiation? Got investigative links? Anything?
Btw, and completely off-topic, I grew up in Plantation. Left in my teens due to family relo, but I recall So FL/Keys like the back of my hand. What part of So FL do you hail from?
Palin and Obama
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun Nov. 22, 2009 9:35 PM PST.
The Democrats need something or someone to get them off their asses and stand up for the hard work Obama is doing. Instead you sit back and make intellectual disertations about the fools on Fox. That's all you do! While Democrats aren't even voting for Health Care, you do NOTHING. We are going to have Tea Party people in office soon, doesn't that matter to you SMUG SNOBS???
Democrats are USELESS WIMPS who can't even muster up a vote for Health Care!!! A 70 year-long struggle to save 40,000 lives a year, and you let your own party vote against it! O M G
palin/obama
Submitted by dipshitdems (not verified) on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 1:57 PM PST.
i like obamas heath plan and i cant understand anyone especially sara palin saying there are death panels for old folks, hey, those old people had there chance. we need tax monies from those wealthy capitalist jerks to pay the insurance bill for us. they think just cause they hire everyone and create all the wealth that the other 95% should have to contribute... thats bull. i work 25 hours a week at burger king to support my 5 kids and his health plan leaves me with more money in my pocket for cigarettes and weed. its not as easy as right wing nut jobs think it is to get a black market perscription for medical marijuana.
So clever!
Submitted by ktward on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 3:12 PM PST.
Totally! No one at all notices, dipshit, your neon ignorance and, sad but true, illiteracy.
Please tell me you're enrolled in college somewhere. Anywhere.
Your frustration is shared.
Submitted by ktward on Sun Nov. 29, 2009 3:32 PM PST.
Coalescing Dems is a way more challenging task than coalescing 'Pubs; in the main, we're not sheep eager to turn a blind eye to everything but a single cause (e.g. LGBT rights, or Choice). We are, unquestionably, as difficult to herd as cats.
You're right, though, and I do indeed share your frustration; we elected O and many other Dems to work through these social issues that most 'Pubs will never touch, if they can help it.
Keep the faith. *Stay involved*. Here are a few places of credible resource and where your voice will matter, on various levels:
http://www.ourfuture.org/
http://www.sojo.net/
http://newamerica.net/
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
http://thinkprogress.org/
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