Clutching at straws

YOU ARE VISITING THE OLD MALKIN(S)WATCH. THAT'S FANTASTIC. PLEASE VISIT THE NEW MALKIN(S)WATCH WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE.

Mykeru, who by the way has another hilarious wingnut run-in posted, wants to know "why the fuck I haven't responded to this post. You're (I'm) such a pussy." (Well, no, he didn't say that, but you can imagine him saying it, right? Only with a little more creativity than I can muster?)

Editorial page editors, be on guard. MoveOn.org is calling on its left-wing troops to flood your offices with letters to the editor attacking Republicans over judicial appointments.

A-oo-gah. Of course, a look at MoveOn's dastardly plan reveals these actual details:

1. MoveOn provides talking points.
2. MoveOn provides names of newspapers.
3. MoveOn provides a handy form through which one can submit one's own letter.
4. MoveOn does not provide so much as a sample text in the letter-writing space, as thousands of other letter-writing efforts on both sides do.

More importantly, Michelle provides four examples of "astroturf...in full bloom!"

Are you ready for the punchline?

Not one of the letters she references come from one of the newspapers targeted by MoveOn's web form.

Additionally, one of the letters she holds up as an example of this terribly dishonest groundswell was published on April 1. Now, Michelle's post was published April 18, and MoveOn's article refers to the first letter campaign taking place "two weeks earlier." Even if it took Malkin four days to discover the letter-writing campaign, it's impressive that a letter got published the very same day it was sent.

Michelle:

Get the picture?

Yes. Yes, we certainly do. Nothing scares Malkin more than the idea that liberals might actually start getting organized about things like this.

Quoting Mykeru's e-mail with absolutely no permission whatsoever:

It's simply not astroturf in the fine right-wing echo chamber tradition. The Moveon form allows people to write their own damn letter, rather than just signing their name to some boilerplate as the wingnutty do. You will notice that even a cursory glance at the example she uses doesn't hit all the talking points. Why, it's almost as if the moveon form and the letters to the editor are discussing the same issue. Very suspicious.