Letters to the editor are a long-standing tradition for the American newspaper. The voice of the common man is shaped as citizens wishing to air their own views write in, giving the newspaper a community feel and ensuring the voice of the people is heard. The value of those letters has declined as the growth of talk radio and blogs gave new avenues of expression to the public, but in smaller communities, and to some extent even in the city newspapers, a letter to the editor is considered more authentic and more powerful.
For that reason, the Progressive Left, doing the bidding of Claire McCaskill, has decided to poison the well of public opinion with propaganda. Unable to muster actual passion from the community, the Left has decided to use violent imagery from fake letter writing campaigns to sway newspaper readers. In a meeting sponsored by MOPAG, Senator McCaskill:
...pretty much begged us to get letters in the papers in the collar counties, the counties that ring K.C. and St. Louis. She wanted that because those counties have such large numbers of swing voters and because people actually read those small local papers
McCaskill is asking MOPAG to write letters to the editor on behalf of her campaign. Note she isn’t doing anything to lead the public to spontaneously write these letters. She’s simply asking her minions to do the work. That makes sense, as Bob Burns, the (former?) McCaskill staffer who called the Tea Party Nazi Brownshirts is a leader of MOPAG (Missouri Progressive Action Group). And like the good lemmings they are, the fine members of MOPAG, led by Willy Kessler (Willy K), have created a zombie army of letter writers to get their names in the paper. The link above continues:
The committee now has eight writers. They need at least ten, but think what they could do with twenty. If you have a knack for letter writing, consider joining them. You'll get the talking points to make the process easier. And you'll know that you're helping convince persuadable voters that our side has the values they agree with.
Care to know what those talking points are for September?
- GOP are “thugs” working for the wealthy; “enforcers” for the mega-rich, lots of mafia comparisons are possible.
- GOP as terrorists; hostage metaphors are good since they are already prevalent; we should always reinforce the image.
- The Republican downgrade or Tea Party downgrade.
- GOP as tricksters – Tea Party dupes is a related image.
That is some striking language. Letter writers are supposed to reinforce an image of the GOP as thugs working for the wealthy. They are terrorists, and should be called hostage-takers, because the image links the Tea Party to violent mobs. We’re not surprised that Bob Burns is still out there trying to telling Missouri progressives that the Tea Party and Republicans are fascist thugs. We are a little concerned that Claire McCaskill continues to use his services when he so clearly meant what he said. If you remember, McCaskill suspended Bob Burns over his remarks and publicly apologized to this blog and the Tea Party for his words. That she would apologize, but then have him lead the letter writing campaign using similar violent language is not only disturbing, but also disingenuous.
These are her words*:
"I'm embarrassed. I apologize. The words used by a member of my staff were wrong and do not reflect my opinion. I respect the right of every Missourian to express their opinion, and calling them names for using their First Amendment rights is flat wrong. The staff member who made this mistake will be disciplined," McCaskill said.
If McCaskill was embarrassed by Burns’ remarks in June of 2010, why is she recruiting him to write letters using the same violent rhetoric in 2011?
* Snapshot of McCaskill email:
