Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?
Now that things are starting to slow down a bit, I feel I can finally address the laughable charge and confront it head on. For those of you who do not know the back story, you can read Mary Katherine Ham’s piece in the Washington Examiner to catch up on the #dontgo movement story.
While the Washington Examiner story explains the #dontgo Movement from the GOP side of the story, I would like to take you into the much larger, much more privately organized “outside the beltway” part of the movement.
Indeed, far left groups and blogs are frothing at the mouths to proclaim this grassroots movement an “astroturf” campaign with strings being pulled by Republicans and Big Oil Companies.
The mistake the left uses, however, is the ignorant assumption that this “movement” exists solely in the beltway. Note to OpenLeft… the folks protesting in your pictures are people who LIVE and WORK in Washington. Are you that dense that you would completely overlook the fact that people in D.C. represent a very small portion of the #dontgo movement? Or is this just your way of spinning the story to fit your anti-free market agenda?
I won’t hold my breath waiting for an answer…
Even more important with regards to this “astroturf” allegation, is the fact that not one single “D.C. Insider” or operative from within the beltway had anything to do with the beginning of the online part of this movement. Not one!
In fact, this entire thing was started by myself and good friend Allen Fuller. The Twitter #dontgo Twitter hashtag, now the brand of the entire movement, was the idea of Allen. After he instant messaged me the tag, I went straight to Twitter with it and starting using it to follow the House revolt.
A few minutes later Allen informed me that he purchased the domain name, dontgo.us. We decided to install Wordpress, I created some graphics and wrote some petition language, we took the site live, and we began sending the link out to folks we know.
THAT is how the grassroots side of this got going. The GOP in Congress acted, and we moved to promote it. We didn’t get a call on some oil rig shaped secret phone, we didn’t get a check in the mail, we didn’t get a call from the President. No, we just decided to act, and we acted.
On Saturday, good folks like Media Lizzy helped push this to the next level. Media Lizzy, joined by an army of Twitter users, along with the dontgo.us website were able to keep the thing alive and well throughout the weekend.
By Monday morning the online messaging machine was in place and we found ourselves at the reigns. I’m still not sure exactly how it happened, but it did.
On Tuesday morning I decided to launch www.dontgomovement.com to help create a hub for the online excitement that was swelling. It wasn’t more than a few hours after throwing up a splash page that I was contacted by reporters from several major media outlets, including CNN.
The CNN story went live just after the site was opened up, and the story was followed by The Next Right, Red State, Politico, Michelle Malkin, HotAir, Washington Examiner, and scores of bloggers. This wave of attention sent more than 60,000 unique visits to our site within 24 hours.
Yesterday I spent hours and hours trying to answer email all day long, and the support we have received has been nothing short of encouraging in every way possible.
Now we have an e-mail list that is well over 10,000 strong, our e-mail RSS subscriber list is about 1,200 strong, and we have a Twitter army that simply has yet to be matched in size.
I’m proud to be a part of this movement, and I’m proud to say that we have had ZERO influence from anyone outside of our homes.
THAT is something very few on the left can claim.
Gail Spurlock Says:
Go Eric! Well done and I hope that Big Oil does try to buy you out. And, I hope it’s a good enough offer to accept
Best regards,
Gail
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Robert Stevens (ganeshpuri89) Says:
Eric, glad you are finally pushing back this spurious and ridiculous meme. Rock on.
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
#dontgo Is Officially a Movement : #dontgo Movement Says:
[...] And unlike most organizations on the left, this one is genuine. [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement? · Says:
[...] News » News Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?2008-08-07 17:34:21An over 10000 strong, our e-mail list is well over 10000 strong, and I’m proud [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Progress Illinois Responds « Prairie State 2.0 Says:
[...] you can see from Eric Odom’s blog post here, the #dontgo movement is, in fact, a grassroots movement that was not contrived by “Big [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Eric Odom » Progress Illinois falsey accuses me of being controlled Says:
[...] 2.0, it has come to my attention that Progress Illinois took the Open Left talking points that I debunked earlier today and ran it as fact without doing some checking of their own. Let’s be clear. This is a [...]
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
BackyardConservative Says:
Go Eric, Go!!!
BackyardConservative’s last blog post..Through the Trees
Posted on August 7th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Nicky Cheese Says:
The ‘big oil’ assertion? Again?? Seriously, I don’t think you can get much more unoriginal…
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 8:14 am
This Is Why Republicans Lose « Blog Entry « Dr. Melissa Clouthier Says:
[...] wonder Republican grassroots can’t get anything going. They’re undone by the “visionaries” at the [...]
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Leah Atwater Says:
What a bunch of lame dumbasses you Twitter people are.
Ooh, a Twitter Army. Sort of like the Kiss Army only less cool.
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 10:52 am
DC in VA Says:
You have fail all over you:
http://openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B55F9F7DCB7E778756D12D0014EB9CC7?diaryId=7398
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
arthur stoddart Says:
Hmm upon reflection I seem to recall that the republicans have had at least 15 years to fix this problem, but didn’t, now they want us to pay attention? They can just go jump in huge lake of burning oil.
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Eric Odom Says:
Why just Republicans? This is non-partisan to me… I want EVERY politician to get back to Washington and find a solution.
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
arthur stoddart Says:
Sorry, that bird doesn’t fly, the republicans have been ruling over this country since 1994, and they have done absolutely nothing to fix this situation that has been 30 years in the making. I think you are just blinded by partisan politics to see the damage that has been done to this country. Please look beyond your party and see that it has not been liberals and/or the democrats that have brought this country to it’s knees. We are a country ruled by big business since Reagan.
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Eric Odom Says:
“my party”?
Have you not noticed the Bob Barr banner I have in my sidebar? Have you even bothered to read any other posts on my blog?
I’m actually a registered Libertarian.
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
What kind of world do you want? · Says:
[...] News » News Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?2008-08-09 22:10:16An over 10000 strong, our e-mail list is well over 10000 strong, and I’m proud [...]
Posted on August 9th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
E!! True Conservative Story™ » Blog Archive » #dontgo: The Sequel Says:
[...] Happy Ending, Progress Illinois took the Open Left talking points about #dontgo that Eric had debunked on his blog earlier and ran it as fact without doing any checking. From the Progress Illinois site: Let’s be [...]
Posted on August 11th, 2008 at 10:56 am
» And the left attacks…Eric Odom: Politics and web stuffs… Says:
[...] Open Left and ilk like it started a campaign to try and paint #dontgo as astroturf. Even a local blog here in Illinois, one that is, by the way, on the payroll of unions, jumped on [...]
Posted on August 17th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Liminal states » Reflections: what I learned during my summer vacation Says:
[...] Follow the Hashtag, Mary Katherine Ham’s Just Go to Don’t Go, Eric Odom’s Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?, and Myrna the Mynx’ Political Activism on Twitter: The Story of #dontgo describe the [...]
Posted on October 16th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Baby Blue Waves Says:
[...] Comment on Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement? by Liminal states » Reflections: wha…(16 October 2008) Follow the Hashtag, Mary Katherine Ham8217s Just Go to Don8217t Go, Eric Odom8217s Is dontgo an Astroturf Movement, and Myrna the Mynx8217 Political … [...]
Posted on October 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Big Boy Says:
[...] Comment on Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement? by Baby Blue Waves(16 October 2008) Comment on Is dontgo an 8220Astroturf8221 Movement by Liminal states 187 Reflections wha16 October 2008 Follow the Hashtag, Mary Katherine Ham8217s J… [...]
Posted on October 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm