HCAN’s Plan: Ground War for Control of the Media
John on August 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
TPM published an HCAN strategy document for dealing with “right-wing extremists”. The message of the memo is that this is war. Here’s a sample from page 2:
Bring more people than the other side has…You must bring enough people to drown them out and to cover all our bases so as to marginalize their disruptive tactics.
Arrive earlier than the other side does. We need to stack our folks in the front…and we need to stake out the best spots for visibility and signs. Reconnaissance on the venue and understanding of the staging will be important here.
Be more visible than the other side…Make sure you have people holding signs in every place where a TV camera is likely to be…
Have a real plan for the media...Assign 3-5 people to speak with the reporters who attend and make sure the reporters understand the scope and message of the event. If you let the reporters focus on what they see, they will invariable focus on the mayhem…Don’t wait for the reporter to approach you. You must approach the reporters and be assertive in shaping the narrative that they write.
So it’s good to know that the calm, rational folks on the left will be doing recon on venues, trying to out-flank the opponent and charging media hill to shape the narrative of what reporters write. I’m glad they’re not militant like those folks on the right.
Here a bit more from the next page:
Do not debate on their “policy” points. Remember they are seeking a platform to distort the truth about reform by making health care about abortion, rationing, euthanasia, etc.
Interrupt them when they get disruptive and refocus the meeting. Line up a number of people who feel comfortable interrupting and prepare them with statements like:
[...]
Don’t get into a shouting match with them. Instead, prep people on our side to keep raising the questions that we want answered. Repetition is the key. We need to arm our side with questions that play to the strengths of our message and make sure we keep bringing them up over and over so that the press recognizes those central themes.
Again, it’s good to know that the left wants a rational debate of the issues. Of course they won’t actually debate you. They’ll interrupt if you get off message and they’ll plant questions for the media’s benefit. But other than that, it’s completely about having an open and honest debate.
Okay, there’s one more page of goodies under the heading Organizing Your Own Events with a Member of Congress:
One advantage of organizing your own townhall or public event with Members of Congress is that you will have much more control over the event and limit the other side’s opportunities for disruption…
Choose a venue that is difficult for the opposition to access without being noticed…make sure you set up the venue in a way that ensures that the attendees you want are at the front and that any protesters who come are sequestered as far as possible from the stage.
Lay out goals for the meeting and establish ground rules for conduct in the meeting at the beginning of the event…One way to do this is to ask people to submit questions ahead of time on cards, to permit only one question at a time, and to limit the topic of questions.
Collect signs or leaflets that are not provided by you or your organization…You can distribute your own signs in the event and offer them one as they enter if you choose to allow them to enter.
But they saved the best for last:
Assign people to greet the media and to stay close to reporters both as they enter and leave the event. It is important that you take away right-wingers opportunities to talk to reporters by making sure that your staff or leaders are in constant contact with the media who attend.
Again, does anyone else see the irony here? The left likes to throw the words “fascist” and “extremist” at the right, but they’ve actually got a plan in writing to insure that North Korean-style minders are with the press at all times during their public events.
Unbelievable.
Category: Politics |
Of course the left has actually eaten up and been fooled by their own education propaganda. Fascism is a leftist movement.
Now if you just read that and had a massive stroke, and are spluttering for the right words of how mixed up that is, let me walk you through a simple excercise:
Are communists left or right?
Are socialists left or right?
If you said left, you’re doing well.
Now, think of a fascist group. What’s the first thing that came to mind? Four letter word, right?
Go look up the anachronym that made up that word. See one of the above terms in there?
You’re welcome.
August 5, 2009 @ 11:15 am[...] does “joining” an event mean? Verum Serum offers a few highlights from the townhall playbook developed by lefty outfit Health Care for America Now. Sample: “It is important that you take [...]
August 5, 2009 @ 1:37 pm[...] again – “this is our moment!”. Sort of like astroturfing or umm..attempting to manufacture support. Allahpundit notes the hypocrisy/creepiness [...]
August 5, 2009 @ 1:48 pmStill seems to be that the lefty playbook is less disruptive than the righty. They are waging a ground war to control the agenda, but not trying to prevent the meeting from taking place or turning it into total mayhem, which seems to be the goal of some of the righty types.
August 5, 2009 @ 1:58 pmI don’t know how the people of this country can stand by and watch this. It’s really REALLY scary. I feel like we’re watching Germany in the 1930s again. God help us all.
August 5, 2009 @ 2:26 pmThat’s only permissible for those wearing pink t-shirts.
August 5, 2009 @ 2:37 pmJim,
I’m going to hijack my own thread to say, that Batman post you did today (or yesterday) was hysterical.
August 5, 2009 @ 2:49 pmSo if Congressman Tom jones goes to a MoveOn.org event where normal people aren’t allowed in, you make sure to show up with signs that say things like:
Congressman Jones, why won’t you meet with your constituents?
Congressman Tom Jones, a wholly owned subsidiary of MoveOn?
And be sure to take lots of pictures. Because some of them will be quite useful in campaign ads against dear old Congressman Jones.
August 5, 2009 @ 3:19 pm[...] how the Tea-Party protesters have an e-mail telling them how to behave in Town Halls, well so does HCAN. Here’s how their members are supposed to behave: Do not debate on their “policy” points. [...]
August 6, 2009 @ 2:57 amTed, when our legislators engage in the practice of intellectual dishonesty — i.e. throwing around the debunked “47 million uninsured” talking point to justify installing a public option they say “promotes competition” (in an already-quite-competitive market) … a public option that is promoted without mentioning the significant risk of it gravitating into being the ONLY option for all 300 million of us — that needs to be disrupted, from the town hall to the Captiol.
But no one’s trying to prevent these meetings from being held, from what I see. In fact, we Tea Partiers encourage our legislators to meet with us.
But we expect them to be intellectually honest — and to truly listen to us, instead of acting as nobles addressing the rabble.
August 6, 2009 @ 3:38 amForget all of this hollering, screaming and yelling……..its time to eradicate this cancer in this nation….
My peace sign comes from the end of my barrel….
August 6, 2009 @ 3:40 amWow,,,look at this organized attempt at suppressing dissent brought by the followers of the man who preached ‘unity’ and ‘unifying the country.’ I think the organization tips are brilliant! What makes anyone here think they are unique, original or in any way not being noted by all parties with an interest in this cause? Seems to me there are plenty of haters to go around. This site promotes Americans thinking of other Americans as the enemy. Look at the rhetoric. This group has no problem slicing and dividing Americans up. Some unity!! What happened to Hillary’s “It’s patriotic to dissent” attitude? Oh,, I guess that just a one-way street.
This site should be called Thugs United!
August 6, 2009 @ 7:57 amI looked up a Dem health-care event in my city.
I found one. It’s located in the middle of urban Jacksonville, FL, near a Greyhound bus station, a city bus station and at least one homeless shelter.
It’s bad enough that I wouldn’t walk through there in the daytime.
The event is scheduled from 11 pm to 2 am.
Any ‘Brooks Brothers right-winger’ would be nuts to go to an event located and timed in such a way by Democrats.
PS: Do the Dems need to bring their own torches or will they be supplied?
August 6, 2009 @ 8:43 amIts Socialism! Its Marxism! Its the end of the free enterprise system!!
Right wingers said the same things about Social Security and Medicare and if you go back far enough Child Labor laws.
We know the real agenda here.
They have referred to Obama as pro terrorist, Marxist, Socialist, hating whites, foreign born, and on and on and on and have made it clear that, healthcare problems be damned, they want to bring down the President and this is the way to do it.
They were too cowardly to allow even those suspected of being anti Bush into pro Bush rallies ( you know Bush the one that started that war for WMDs not there?) and now they seek to shut down town hall meetings with disruptions because open and free debate is what they really fear. Might just make Obamas ideas look good. Cant let that happen!!
Wondering which way to turn? Its easy. Just look at the record of lies and deceit and economic ruin and social wreckage they have brought us over the last eight years and ask yourself why anyone could ever believe a word they say. Bible says “By their fruits yee shall know them” Good advice.
You might try quoting the Bible to them but dont try to reason with them. You cant. They will just insist you hate America
August 6, 2009 @ 11:12 amMany of the conservative critics of these programs were exactly right about where they would lead. Social Security and Medicare are broke according to no less a person that Barack Obama. Medicare in particular is going to bankrupt the nation in the next decade if something pretty dramatic isn’t done. We’re supposed to thank you for that?
The real agenda is to stop the creation of another giant federal bureaucracy/money pit which the taxpayers will have to pay for and which they will regret as they realize what it does to health care service in the US.
People on your side have been caricaturing Bush and busing people to rallies and talking about shooting the President and depicting people in black face and heckling speakers and hacking websites and vandalizing recruiting stations and tossing pies in people’s faces for the last eight years. Suddenly now it’s a problem?! Now you’re concerned about civility? Too late, pal. You have zero credibility on that one.
Why don’t you go back to Think Progress and digest the links I left there. Come back when you can tell me which of my three arguments are wrong using facts instead of disjointed outrage and name-calling.
August 6, 2009 @ 12:34 pmSomebody smarter than me, please answer or have fun pretending you are the president answering my questions.
If the “public option” is designed to compete with private insurance, and the public option is what most citizens will consider “free,” then how can private insurance survive as an option for anyone who is not wealthy enough to afford the comparitively expensive private insurance?
Next question. “Mr. Obama, given America’s long successful tradition of both free markets over government planning and our democratic approach to debating public policy, what is in your opinion the best option that is NOT public, and is in keeping with American tradition?”
August 6, 2009 @ 1:43 pmAnd it’s still true. Add in there the interstate roadway system, the federal reserve, libraries, and the fire departments. Little socialisms all leading to more and more socialisms which (if you’ve read Marx) is the road toward communism. This country has been flirting with socialism for decades and it’s gotten us in the mess we are in today.
August 6, 2009 @ 1:49 pm[...] Care for America Now (HCAN) has published a memo on how to combat “right-wing extremists.” It advises: It is important that you take [...]
August 6, 2009 @ 2:27 pmTo all those here who are supporting this health care bill: have you read it? I don’t understand. I don’t know about you but I have elderly people that I love and adore. My Mom died Feb. 26th after 3 yrs. of dialysis. That’s 3 very positive yrs., vacations had, pictures taken, wisdom passed – all which wouldn’t have happened under Obama’s plan. You see, she wouldn’t have received dialysis once they did their “Comparative Effectiveness Research”. She would have been ordered to attend “end of life” counseling, where she would have been schooled on how to accept the fact that she should end her life early by denying nutrition, hydration and perhaps opting for assisted suicide. Of course that’s not legal YET, but mark my words…
To quote: 53 yr. old Randy Stroup of Dexter, Oregon, has been in a fight for his life. Uninsured & unable to pay for expensive chemotherapy, he applied to Oregon’s state-run health plan for help. Lane Individual Practice Assoc., which administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County, responded to Stroup’s request with a letter saying the state would not cover Stroup’s pricey treatment, BUT WOULD PAY FOR THE COST OF PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE.”
Don’t you people have Mom’s, Dad’s, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters & Brothers that you want here as long as they want to be here? Are you blind, or do you just not care? At the risk of being labeled a right-wing extremist, I simply don’t think it is government’s place to make those decisions. If you do, I guess I can be considered stupid, because I just don’t understand how people can be so uncaring. And if you bother to read the bill, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you don’t read it, you are just as neglectful as Congress in making decisions for or against it.
August 7, 2009 @ 3:01 pmWhat is with the sudden concern about making sure the citizenry have their facts straight before criticizing legislation or domestic policy? I cannot believe that the counter-reaction of the Obama administration towards those who speak ill of the healthcare proposal is to set up a page by which people can submit addresses or websites that sound dubious. As far as the “factual” side of things, I highly doubt that every criticism levelled at the Bush administration was 100% correct. What if George W. Bush had set up a website at which the names of those who said “questionable” statements about the Iraq War could be submitted? “Fishy”? Whose idea of “fishy” are we talking about here, Mrs. WH Communications Director? Oh well, when you want to dragnet the whole the citizenry for dissenters all at once, I guess you can’t be too concerned with the details.
August 8, 2009 @ 1:45 am