Watching The Astroturf Grow: Money Changes Everything

In the past week or so, the news got out that “ProtectMN” – the astroturf group almost entirely funded by Joyce Foundation – is getting some big-name help.

Richard Carlbom, the PR whiz behind the “Vote No” movement re the Marriage Amendment, has started his own consulting operation. 

And as all consulting operations do in every industry, Carlbom and his consultancy are going where the money is. 

Michael Bloomberg is going to spend a metric ton of money on attacking the Second Amendment.  And the Joyce Foundation is picking up the pace in its campaign to fund grassroots astroturf anti-gun groups, buy friendly media and media coverage, and gin up junk-academia to attack gun violence gun ownership.

And Carlbom is bellying up to the fiscal bar; he’ll be working with “ProtectMN”, Rep. Heather Martens’ astroturf gun-grabber group – a relationship made possible by the Joyce Foundation’s grant, reportedly, of $100,000 to “ProtectMN” (via an intermediary cut-out group). 

This is on top of Joyce’s purchase of $50,000 worth of the MinnPost’s “Journalism” on the subject (to say nothing of their sponsorship of Minnesota Public Radio coverage of the issue), and sponsorship of a network of other liberal “community organizer” groups like “Take Action MN”, who share resources with the gun-grabbers. 

Nobody knows if Carlbom has any actual passion for the gun issue.  He could well be just an ideological Hessian.  But if so, he’s a Hessian that “ProtectMN” desperately needs; Heather Martens may be the most inept community organizer in Minnesota political history.  It’s bad enough (for the orcs) that every single substantive thing Martens have ever said is a lie; it’s worse (for them) that pretty much everyone with a right to an opinion knows it.  So Carlbom getting into the issue may or may not be a game-changer – but it’s a line-up change that the orcs have needed to make for over a decade. 

Here’s The Important Part:  Liberals with deep pockets will always fund gun-grabber groups.  They’ll try to put different shades of lipstick on the pig that is suppressing our human right to self defense; they’ll change their spokespeople and their tactics, trying to create something – popular support for gun-grabbing – from nothing. 

There are very few conservatives with deep pockets supporting our human right to self-defense.  And much as the Good Guys would welcome their involvement (and money), it’s not what the issue will turn on.

But with the addition of Carlbom, the gun-grabbers now have several people working full-time to try to sway not just legislators, but your neighbors. 

Against that, the good guys have a bunch of plucky volunteers. 

If every single Minnesotan with a carry permit, all 160,000 of them, would donate $1 a year to the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance – the group that organized the entire grass-roots “Shall Issue” movement in Minnesota – the group could not only fund itself, but have at least one, probably two people working the issue full-time.  Lobbying, building infrastructure, investigating the orc groups, and above all making sure the grass roots – you and me, the Real Americans – can focus our efforts as effectively as possible.

Working together as volunteers, we Real Americans are more than a match for Michael Bloomberg, Representatives Martens and Hausman and Paymar, Senator Latz, Jane Kay and all the rest of the orcs. 

With the aid of a couple of people working the issue for a living?

We could stomp them flat and keep them flat. 

A buck a permit a year. 

We gotta make this happen.

22 thoughts on “Watching The Astroturf Grow: Money Changes Everything

  1. Liberals with deep pockets will always fund gun-grabber groups.
    But remember, it is conservatives who are stupidly wasting time trying to defund Obamacare. It’s the law of the land! The Supreme Court says so!

  2. That doesn’t make Mitch’s point any less valid Powhatan.

    What exactly is the law of the land? The supreme court affirmed that the 2nd amendment is an individual right. Has that solved all infringements?

  3. “Nobody knows if Carlbom has any actual passion for the gun issue.”

    Is he a big Brokeback Mountain fan?

  4. Oh, for Pete sake, more hysteria, more propaganda.

    Carlborn did a solid job of changing public opinion on the No votes. Those crappy attempts to amend the Minnesota constitution deserved to fail. That grass roots change in support of marriage equality is continuing, if it was astroturfed, it would decline. You know — like the tea party.

    It’s not like any of the money promoting sensible gun control isn’t a mere fraction of the NRA and ALEC money. It is more of the same with what Carlborn did before with marriage equality. He’s promoting what most people already support, according to polls.

    No one is assaulting the 2A. But if the only way you can present an argument is to lie, you’re not off to a great start.

  5. Dog Gone, you are a terrorist hostage taker. Why do you keep trying to repeal the Second Amendment? It is better than the law of the land – it is the constitution of the land and has been ratified by the Supreme Court! Stop trying to subvert the will of the people!

    By the way – your last statement is hypothetical. Since Mitch isn’t lying he is off to a great start.

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  7. That’s not nice, whoever you are, hijacking our beloved pet’s name for that lame attempt at humor.

    Dog Gone never would have written anything so insipid. Or short.

    Lame.

  8. Carlborn [sic] (pffft) ran a campaign that relied on convincing people an amendment was not needed; was “piling on” because there was already a law on the books banning gay wedding dress-up day. That sounded logical and reasonable to common sense people.

    Unfortunately, they didn’t realize that it was Alynski talking; Lies and the Lying Liars that tell them.

    Same deal Obama has going.

  9. “It’s not like any of the money promoting sensible gun control isn’t a mere fraction of the NRA and ALEC money.”

    FACTCHECK on aisle 3!

    “Based on the latest campaign disclosure reports, Morse/Giron enjoyed an 8:1 spending advantage over recall advocates, in terms of direct contributions to campaigns. Michael Bloomberg contributed $350,000 to fight the recalls, about equal to the $361,000 contributed by the NRA, which is probably about $3 per NRA member in the state. Another wealthy contributor gave $250,000 to oppose the recalls.”

    http://www.volokh.com/2013/09/11/colorado-recalls-explained/

    Morse/Giron enjoyed an 8:1 spending advantage

    Mongrel Cur’s mangy pelt is on fire.

  10. Oh, for Pete sake, more hysteria, more propaganda.

    And yet we keep letting you post here.

  11. Carlborn did a solid job of changing public opinion on the No votes. Those crappy attempts to amend the Minnesota constitution deserved to fail.

    Um, DG? Have you ever noticed that you continually carry on arguments that nobody else is having?

    I NOTED THAT CARLBOM WAS A PR WHIZ.

    Do you actually read anything before commenting?

  12. That grass roots change in support of marriage equality is continuing, if it was astroturfed, it would decline.

    Who cares? That’s not the subject of this post.

    You know — like the tea party.

    FACT CHECK: Tea Party is as popular as Obama himself.

  13. It’s not like any of the money promoting sensible gun control isn’t a mere fraction of the NRA and ALEC money.

    DG, as usual, you’re parroting chanting points that I bet you don’t even understand yourself.

    Swiftee showed you how much Bloomberg outspent the Real Americans in Colorado. The ratio was lower in Minnesota – so far. That’ll change next session.

  14. It is more of the same with what Carlborn did before with marriage equality. He’s promoting what most people already support, according to polls.

    Really?

    What “polls?”

    Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly.

    Seriously, DG – answer the question.

    (Har di har)

  15. No one is assaulting the 2A. But if the only way you can present an argument is to lie, you’re not off to a great start.

    DG – you aren’t qualified to call me a liar. Unlike you, I have actual fact on my side.

    I’d drop it pronto if I were you.

    And that is not a good natured bit of hyperbole. Take the hint.

  16. Penigma’s Chihuahua said: ” But if the only way you can present an argument is to lie, you’re not off to a great start.”

    Question: Do you have a mirror that works?

    Joe Doakes: There are no limits to insipidness where the Chihuahua is concerned.

  17. It’s not like any of the money promoting sensible gun control isn’t a mere fraction of the NRA and ALEC money. It is more of the same with what Carlborn did before with marriage equality.

    I’m pretty sure I read that the “Vote No Twice! It’s Minnesota Nice” side outspent the protect marriage and voter ID side by 3:1 or 6:1 or something like that.

    He’s promoting what most people already support, according to polls.

    I also seem to remember that polling in MN was slightly in favor of the marriage amendment, prior to the windfall of cash for the PR blitz of 2012. Just remember, MN was the first state in the nation where gay marriage was instituted by the ballot box, and not by judicial activism.

  18. Bill C hits on the real danger with Mr. Carlbom. Whatever his skills in PR–and I didn’t watch much commercials, so I can’t speak to that–he benefited from a huge advantage in cash. So is his presence a hint that the Bloombergs and Joyces of the world are going to mount a huge infusion of cash for the Martens crowd? I’m guessing we may find out soon.

    And regarding Doggone’s claim that nobody is infringing on the 2nd Amendment; um, do the names “Chicago”, “New York City”, and “The District of Columbia” ring a bell? Because those ARE places where the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms clearly is infringed, and it’s worth noting that the Joyce Foundation is based in Chicago, and Michael Bloomberg is from New York City. Do.The.Math.

    On the bright side, I don’t know that even a genius PR guy can rescue the gun grabbers from 40 years of outright lies. Yes, it feels like being in the movie “Groundhog Day”, but at least when someone cites the Kellerman study as a reason not to have a gun, you don’t have to look up the answer.

  19. Dog Gone has the mentality of someone who watches MSNBC for hours each day. I know people like that.
    Or maybe it’s the local lefty blogs. They occasionally hire one-time “mainstream” reporters. I wonder what these reporters think when they find that they have allied themselves with what is, essentially, a party organ?

  20. No one is assaulting the 2A. But if the only way you can present an argument is to lie, you’re not off to a great start.

    Wow. Assuming the SITD rules & regulations are the same as in 2007, this would mean “hasta la vista, Dog Bone.”

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