Last week at RebootCongress, I wrote about efforts by progressive propagandists like MOPAG (Missouri Progressive Action Group) and Senator Claire McCaskill to seed their talking points in local newspapers with letters to the editor. The talking points that they’ve set out for this letter writing campaign are designed to smear conservatives:
- 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.
Now, we have an example of how the left plans to push this propaganda. It begins with Washington University staffer Adam Shriver, who tweeted a link Saturday about letters to the editor in the Post Dispatch:
In the tweet, Shriver claims that Andrew Breitbart is “slammed” by these private letters. Shriver, a far left progressive who SEIU once called “their blogger,” has challenged Breitbart to a debate about the Kenneth Gladney beating and the UMSL Labor Studies course. Breitbart accepted that challenge in mid-August. However, instead of planning that debate, instead of reserving a venue, instead of writing a press release, instead of inviting the media to see him “humiliate” Andrew Breitbart, Shriver is promoting propaganda in the form of MOPAG’s letters to the editor. Not to put to fine a point on it, but this is a strategy that one leftie blog, ShowMeProgress, claims Senator McCaskill begged for.
We know that Willy Kessler of ShowMeProgress has at least eight letter writers who, on command, will regurgitate progressive talking points written by former McCaskill staffer turned MOPAG leader Bob Burns. The first example of the letter writing campaign appeared just last week. MOPAG volunteer Susan Cunningham had her letter published in the Post Dispatch attacking Rick Perry for being the governor of a state with a death penalty.
Cunningham appears to have followed the talking points by painting Perry’s pro-death penalty policy choice as a sort of terrorist’s “record of executions”. Of course, it’s the state of Texas that executes prisoners–not the governor. That mischaracterization is inline with the second talking point from MOPAG.
In light of Jimmy Hoffa’s violent rhetoric while introducing President Obama in Detroit on Labor Day, Joe Biden’s charged comments to the AFL-CIO, and Michelle Malkin’s top ten union thug moments of 2011, Cunningham should spend less time manufacturing propaganda. Propaganda ultimately for a Senator (Claire McCaskill) who needs the support of local papers to the point that she is willing to “beg” for helpful coverage. The real question, though, is when will Cunningham submit a letter to the Post Dispatch condemning Hoffa, Biden, and the rest? Fundamentally, was her attack on Perry driven by heart-felt ideals or is Cunningham an ends-justify-the-means moral poser?
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