GLENN: From RedState.com, Astroturf and the act of professional interest groups designing campaigns that appear to be grassroots efforts but are not. It is what the left has accused the tea parties of doing, only more and more it looks like an anti tea party movement is truly Astroturfing. Writing on January 15th, 2010: Glenn Greenwald at Salon noted that Barack Obama's new head of office of information and regulatory affairs listen to that. The office of information and regulatory affairs, Cass Sunstein who I maintain is the most dangerous man in America because you never see this guy coming. According to Red State, Cass Sunstein had championed creating fake websites and using outside 501(c)(3) interest groups to act as alleged independent champions of government policy and to, quote, cognitively infiltrate, end quote, opposition websites.

Is this abuse of power yet? In other words, Cass Sunstein has favored the government using outside parties as government propaganda agents to paint their opposition as fringe and undermine their credibility, kind of like what's been happening with the tea party movement. Lots of SEIU members pretending to be tea party activists, causing violence in front of TV cameras.

Sunstein advocates that government stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into chat rooms, quoting, into chat rooms, online social networks or even real space groups, end quote. He also proposes that the government make secret payments to so called, quote, independent credible voices to bolster the government's message.

Is it abuse of power yet?

Considering Sunstein's recommendations, it is not far removed to speculate that the Obama administration is behind a new anti tea party website called The Other 25, which defends the government from tea party criticisms and attacks the tea party movement as a fringe. The website purports to be authentically grassroots, though one must wonder when the last time any grassroots activists took the time to defend the government. The designer is affiliated with moveon.org and other leftwing websites. But the most notable is the donation page. You can make donations to Democracy in Action. Democracy in Action is not for individual activists to use. It is for small and medium size 501(c)(3) organizations and others on the left. Democracy in action? Its clients include ACORN, true majority, and the NAACP. Let's also remember that Center For American Progress led by Obama's transition team director John Podesta has a regular 8:00 a.m. phone call to coordinate activity on the left. It's a play out of Lenin's handbook. Forget Alinsky. To call authentic inauthentic and then create something inauthentic, demanding it be called authentic. From Red State.

Absolutely believe that. That is what Cass Sunstein this is what Cass Sunstein does. He nudges. He moves. He slides into position.

Some honest reporting for once from the Washington Post comes from Robert McCartney, yesterday: I went to the tea party rally at the Washington Monument on Thursday to check out just how reactionary and potentially violent the movement truly was. Answer? Not very. Based on what I saw and heard, tea party members are not seething. They are not ready to explode racists, as some liberal commentators have caricatured them. Some are extremists and bigots, sure. The crowd was almost entirely white. I differ strenuously with the protests on about 95% of them. So in other words, this writer doesn't agree. Nonetheless, on the whole they struck me as a passionate conservative voice dedicated to working within the system rather than the dangerous militia types or a revival of the KKK. Although shrinking government is their primary goal, many conceded the that the country should keep Medicare and even Social Security. None were clamoring for civil disobedience, much less armed revolt. Someone in the Revolutionary War fired bullets. This time we're firing politicians, said Clinton Lee, a wedding photographer from Tampa.

PAT: Subversive, clearly. Wedding photographer?

GLENN: You can't trust them.

PAT: Can't.

GLENN: Cass Sunstein, the information and regulatory guy? Yeah, you can trust him.

PAT: He's in the government. He's in the government.

GLENN: Not the wedding photographer.

PAT: No.

GLENN: Clinton Lee from Tampa. The rally estimated in the tens of thousands also displayed a wacky irreverent spirit that I found endearing. I can't help but smile when paunchy small business owners age 50 and older don three cornered hats and Don rattlesnake flags in exercising their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. The mix of kookiness and mistrust of authority reminded me of anti Vietnam War demonstrations

PAT: How about that.

GLENN: in which I participated over four decades ago in the same spot.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Participants of the tea party were appalled when I made that comparison. They hastened to say they weren't modern day hippies. I found I heartily agreed with the tea partiers on what is perhaps America's biggest concern, that America's swelling debt seriously threatens our long term prosperity. I part ways with the tea party on how to solve the problem. They want to slash the government. I'd be willing to raise taxes as part of the deal, but those are conventional disagreements that citizens can have in a civil way. Judging by what some portrayals of the tea party, one would think they posed a threat to the community. I think this is unbelievable. I think this is the first honest reporter that I have seen that has said I disagree with these guys vehemently, but I wanted to go see them myself.

PAT: And his name is Robert McCartney.

GLENN: Write Robert McCartney from the Washington Post. It was in yesterday's Post. Find it online.

PAT: Appreciate some good, honest reporting.

GLENN: Thank you.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: You don't agree, but thank you.