Astroturf caller on the Stephanie Miller show

[LymphocyteLover]

Yesterday on the Stephanie Miller show, a guy called in who claimed he was a life-long Union member and Democratic organizer, said he was an old white guy, the type of guy who is the backbone of the Dem party, who went on to say how all his neighbors were turning away from the Democratic party because of social issues. When pressed on which social issues, he said transgenderism and slave reparations for black people. Stephanie got rid of him pretty quickly, assuming, probably correctly, that he was astroturf-- a fake paid caller for the GOP. I mean, there is no serious proposal for slave reparations anywhere. Like the transgender scare, it's clearly a GOP-promoted scare campaign.

Assuming he is fake, and being pushed to call liberal radio programs to spread this message about social issues, what do you think was the point? To scare Dems away from supporting these issues? Just to scare Dems that they are losing voters? Like that is going to chance anyone's mind? And in this vein, why do we regularly see stupid stories about Democrats changing to voting Republican en masse, which I just refuse to believe given the awfulness of the current GOP and all their scandals.

It's also so dumb (which yes of course it is dumb, but that is the conservative way) to blame issues like transgender and LGBTQ on the Dem party, when it's a broader social issue and the only people politicizing this are fucking Republicans. And of course we know it's all just about scaring the conservative base and to distract them from the massive rip-off the GOP conducts on the government on the behalf of corporations and the super-rich.

[gab13by13]

1. I listened to Stephanie yesterday

and heard the caller and it was easy to see early on that he was no Democrat. Stephanie actually didn't get rid of him that quickly she raked him over the coals and laughed at him for several minutes.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. Yes, I thought she did a great job handling him

got him to answer specific questions and it was fairly clear he was fake

[brush]

2. And it's been a while since white men were the backbone...

of the Democratic Party. It's pretty well known 2/3s Of white men are republican.

And that's no slight to loyal Democratic white males whether they be progressive, center left or moderate. It's just the way it is in American now.

That caller was obviously a paid, republican caller.

[spooky3]

8. +1

[TheRealNorth]

3. I don't know if they are just trolls or paid operatives

I know of someone around 8 years back that was affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute who would go on the discussion boards of several newspapers or news sources and would portray themselves as a "regular citizen". So I suspect there are more.

Hell, there was that case where some right-wing millionaire was grooming some young women to seduce and flirt with government officials to try to discredit the investigations into Trump.

[Eko]

4. The point is to scare

Anyone. Fear is what they use.

[GoCubsGo]

5. They also use this tactic to try to discourage Democratic voters.

It's the same playbook they have been using for decades. Viewers of C-SPAN call-in shows know them well. They have been calling in on the "Democratic" and "independent" lines, since the Clinton years, claiming to be disaffected Democrats for decades, in hopes that it encourages more disaffection by other Dems. I guess it works, since they haven't stopped doing it.

[LymphocyteLover]

7. It's hard to imagine it working, but I suppose there could be mushy middle people

who might get swayed somewhat.

I still just can't imagine, with all the important issues and problems going on, anyone seriously being moved to vote GOP by these fake social concerns.

[TheRealNorth]

9. As I have grown older, I have realized that a lot of people have not really grown beyond high school

They would rather laugh with the bully instead of taking a stand and risk becoming the next target.

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Somebody pays many, if not a majority, of these troll callers to

progressive shows. Some of them call every show during the day. Some of the shows have gotten tired of the BS and blocked a few of them. (Remember Billy from Texas?)

They actually are able to get on the air on most progressive shows as the hosts will at least try to debate them, whereas if a progressive caller tries to confront a RW radio show they probably don't have a chance to even get on the air.

A few years ago someone found an ad someplace recruiting people to become paid callers. I don't remember the details or where the ad was found, but it's all part of spreading the propaganda.

[BlackSkimmer]

11. I really doubt that.

Occasionally I’ll have my local talk station on, and I’ve heard the rightwing callers spewing their nonsense. Even the rw hosts cut them off sometimes.

No one is paying these people; they’re real, and they’re out there.

[LymphocyteLover]

12. so you're saying conservatives just pretend to be Dems like this for fun? Like just for trolling

purposes?

[Kingofalldems]

13. Quite a bit.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. I guess it wouldn't surprise me... they are so weird

[mcar]

15. Our local paper had an almost identical letter in the other day

Definitely an astroturf campaign.

[LymphocyteLover]

16. Interesting-- thanks

[mcar]

17. I heard Stephanie and the crew talking about it the day after the call

Opened my paper and there it was.

[LymphocyteLover]

18. LOL!