The Boston Globe was got lots of publicity for blasting Republican efforts to disguise press releases as “letters” from local readers. But the Globe was not the only one to complain.
- The Times Herald-Record called them “phony letters … an insult to readers”.
- The Press of Atlantic City called them ” canned letters from partisan Web sites.”
- The Christian Science Monitor warned of “the danger…when powerful interests overwhelm ordinary citizens’ voices.”
Maia Cowan’s Astroturf page lists even more angry newspapers, with links.
Now, as David Weinberger points out, GOPTeamleader.com is urging its fans to write angry letters to the Boston Globe–and thoughtfully offers that now-discredited “genuine leadership” form letter as a starting point.
Coupling negative ads with calls to action lets spin-mongers recruit angry people to do their dirty work for them. Irate callers and letter-writers harass your enemy’s staff, and if those staff members try to present their own side of the story, it’s at your enemy’s expense. There are a lot of angry people in the world who are willing to do work like this for free. But working for GOPTeamLeader.com has an added benefit–you get “GOPoints” if you write to abuse the Globe.