“Astroturf” on the Left?

(UPDATED 8/15/09 – More “grassroots” supporters of government-run health care are showing up with professionally printed Obama-campaign style placards. Follow the gallery link below to view these images, as well as some screenshots of Craigslist ads paying as much as $16 an hour for people interested in “Working for Change”. That’s right, paying people to go SELL government-run health care. Unbelievable.)

Over the last couple of weeks, a common accusation coming from Democrats and the mainstream media has been that the citizens showing up at town hall meetings to protest the government takeover of health care are contrived, artificial, and pawns of “big insurance” and the GOP. Leftist news commentators like Bob Beckel have referred to these protesters as fake. Politicians like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have gone so far as to call these citizens “Astroturf” and accuse them of carrying swastikas.

Those who have witnessed these protests, either in person or via YouTube, have seen and heard the clearly heart-felt passion behind these protesters’ words. This grassroots swelling of populist resistance is evident all the way down to the manner by which they have crafted their signs, which are clearly of the “home made” variety. Following the April 15th Tea Party, some on the left even made disparaging remarks about the messages “scrawled on cardboard.”

However, it’s only fair to take a look at some of the signs that are popping up in the hands of government health care supporters. These are the same supporters who are mysteriously being let in back door entrances (as long as they have a special e-mail), or being seated ahead of time before the general public is allowed in. While watching a few videos of these events, I was struck by a couple of pro-government health care signs that appeared both in St. Louis, MO, and in Grafton, NH. These pre-fabricated signs were clearly printed out from an existing template so as to fit on a standard sheet of paper. Also, they display the exact same “Gotham” font type which was used extensively throughout the Obama presidential campaign.

Is it not hypocritical of the left to accuse their opponents of being “fake” and “Astroturf,” when there are documented, organized, and well-funded efforts by the sitting administration and their financial supporters to promote their agenda in such a contrived manner? At what point does “community organizing” become “state-sponsored propaganda”?

For being such proponents of “Change,” can’t these “grassroots” liberal progressives at least change the font type they use?