] It looks like the Bush Administration is astroturfing, ] trying to artificially create the appearance of a ] grassroots movement supporting their policies. A Google ] search on the phrase "demonstrating genuine leadership" ] returns a number of nearly identical letters sent to the ] editors of various newspapers and publications this ] month, each one with the name of a different individual ] attached. Now, its possible that the names are real and they are sending in a form letter that came from a central group. Political groups do that sort of thing all the time (although usually directed at Congress). Of course, if that was the case, then these papers would have received hundreds of copies of the same letter. Would they have printed them in that case? Is that the reason that so many papers decided to print this letter? Looks like the "letters to the editor" section is a lot more interesting then I thought. |