Instant 'Tea': Faux Protest Tactics Revealed

It appears that some of the
'tea party' protests springing up across the US are less a product of raw
populist indignation than a coordinated smokescreen operation.

An
organization calling itself the “Tea Party Patriots” recently launched a
campaign urging its members to misrepresent themselves in calls to U.S. Senate
offices. “When you write or call, please make sure you are armed with a city
name and zip code in the home state of the Senator you are calling,” a recent action alert urged members. The
email then admitted, “They may not want to hear from you without this
information.”

Adam Kolton, the National Wildlife Federation’s director of Congressional and
federal affairs, said of the effort:

“This email just confirms what we’ve suspected for some time about the opposition
to the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act– it’s Astroturfing in the
phoniest possible sense, not a real grassroots movement. Now we know they’re
are going so far as to urge people to lie to Congressional staffers, hoping to
create an illusion and look like more than what they really are – a small group
of hardcore obstructionists."