Dems Get a Clue That 'Astroturfing' Label Isn't Enough

Taylor Marsh is really at pains to hang on to the meme that the anti-ObamaCare protesters are mob hooligans. But she still has to admit, even between fluff about how the media will only show the town hall shout-downs, that the outrage is grassroots and organic:

The thing that’s alarming is that when I analyze this down I come to the uncomfortable conclusion that it really doesn’t matter whether the right has well financed, well organized mobs, including insurance shills, showing up for Democratic town halls. It’s still a whole lot of angry partisans who believe what they’re shouting getting the attention, while Democrats look positively lame when responding.

Marsh runs back to the safety of the "mob" label after that, but it's clear she knows that you simply can't manufacture the genuine anger we've been seeing in recent weeks. Also, Allahpundit shares this video of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs arguing lamely that that's a right-wing command center directing the anger:

When you see Gibbs hesitating his answer, and then going through the motions about how there's a single entity "manufacturing" these protests, it obvious that the Democrats are really in pain and struggling with the realization that their jig is up.

I've participated in four tea party events directly now, and I've written about each of them (listed chronologically):

* "Orange County Tax Day Tea Party."

* "Pasadena "May Day! May Day!" Anti-Socialism Rally."

* "Nationwide Protests Against Obamacare! Democrats Harrass Tea Partyers as Healthcare Monstrosity Stalls in Congress."

* "'Gravediggers for ObamaCare': Dozens Protest Democrat Loretta Sanchez at O.C.'s Balboa Bay Club."

I've also written two essays at Pajamas Media:

* "Suburban Warriors Rally at Orange County Tea Party."

* "ObamaCare and the Tea Party Effect."

There's really only one time I can recall any real connection to a centralized tea party bureaucracy - and that was a conference call, one week after the April 15th nationwide rallies, with some of the Freedom Works-sponsored conservative groups. I rarely hear about folks like that now, and in fact internal strife drove most of the original tea party organizers apart. It's true, of course, that Fox News has been a huge cheerleader for the rallies, with many of the on-air personalities directly involved. Chalk it up to the new post-objective media model. As Allahpundit points out, the press describes angry protests among Democratic contituencies as "rowdy," while grassroots conservatives are smeared as racist "tea-bagging" extremist mobs "shutting down" debate. And that's right after President Obama has insisted the "time for talk is over."

I've said it a couple of times, but the tea parties and the town hall protests are what's kept me sane this last few months (and I know some of my enemies don't think I'm sane, but I'm not going there).

Anyway, what I've seen and what I know to be true - based on my reporting and on my interactions with hundreds of concerned citizens throughout the year - is no match for the willful blindness that leftists attach to the "Astroturfing" meme. Jane Hamsher's one of the biggest proponents, seen here just today, for example, "How Come CBS Journalists Can’t Recognize Paid Lobbyists When They See Them?" Check also, Greg Sargent, "Is Obama’s Vaunted Political Operation Getting Outworked By Tea-Baggers?"

The bottom line will come in due time. The Dems may indeed get their big-government universal healthcare bill passed. That outcome will only make grassroots conservatives even more angry, and hence even more determined to win back power in 2010 and 2012.