Last week under mounting pressure from protesters, the Iranian Government promised a new and deadly crackdown. “From now on, we will show no mercy” to protesters or their families, the government’s chief prosecutor, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said Tuesday. It is par for the course in a totalitarian regime to not only threaten protesters, but to also target their families for punishment. This acts as a cruel yet effective means of intimidation in silencing dissent.
Which brings me to Hollywood Producer Jane Hamsher.
‘Hollywood Jane’ Hamsher
After cutting her teeth in the business by producing what many feel is the most offensive and degrading main-stream film of the past twenty years (and, some would say, screwing Quentin Tarantino in the process) Hamsher seems to have finally found her calling as a more abrasive, and dangerous version of Arianna Huffington. With her oddly named blog FireDogLake (named after her three favorite things, sitting by the fire with her dog watching Lakers games) she has created a left-wing haven for bloggers not merely content with attacking their opponents with words, but with some serious action.
Hamsher’s latest foray into the realm of on-line coercion is her latest call to arms is against Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I, CT). Mrs. Lieberman’s crime? She is the wife of a Senator who has proclaimed his opposition to Obama Care. Hamsher is targeting Susan G. Komen for the cure, a breast cancer charity that Mrs. Lieberman serves as Global Ambassador for.
Donations to find a cure for cancer should not be used to pay the salary of former insurance and drug lobbyist Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who is pledging to kill health care reform while millions go untreated. We’re calling on Susan G. Komen for the cure and celebrity donors like Ellen DeGeneres and Christie Brinkley to be mindful of where their money is going.
This attack by association is a common tactic used many in the totalitarian left and is reason #1 why so many conservatives in the entertainment business choose to conceal any non-conformity in their political thinking. Often, we are not the only targets, but our spouses, our children and our friends are attacked for “associating with the enemy.”
Ms. Hamsher’s days in Hollywood clearly influenced her tactics.
This is hardly Ms. Hamsher’s first attack against Sen. Lieberman. In fact, the two go way back. It was Hamsher who was at the forefront of Ned Lamont’s successful bid to wrestle the Democratic nomination from Lieberman back in 2006. That triumph turned to a humiliating defeat when she took her personal vendetta against the Senator a step too far (as so many undisciplined Internet writers often do) and posted a photo of Lieberman in full minstrel-era black face. This uproar actually ended up helping the Lieberman campaign in the long run and showed Lamont’s supporters to be the extremists that they were.
Meanwhile, Hamsher’s activities on the Internet are not just confined to brazen race-baiting from the comfort of FDL or the Huffington Post. She has mobilized her corner of the left-o-sphere into a whole network of activist (and capitalist) opportunities.
Embedded directly within her FDL website is a political action committee called FDL Action. There you can learn more about specific issues (mostly health care) and you can take action by signing petitions, anbnoying your friends with canned e-mail alerts, oh, and you can also donate money… up to $2,400 (or, “If you prefer, you can make a recurring contribution.”… MC and Visa only)
And then there’s Public Option Please. A web site dedicated to raising a ruckus (and a lot of money) for pushing the Public Option through the congressional Health Care bills. Jane Hamsher is listed as one of the three members of the Board of Directors (must meet at a booth at Denny’s). There is also a really cool “Contribute” button on that site and depending on how much you give you will get some awesome art work designed by either Shephard Fairey, or Justin Kemerling. (By the way, Kemerling was on the NEA Conference Call exposed by Patrick Courrielche here at Big Hollywood. I wonder if he created this artwork before or after the Obama Administration asked him to)
But, Hamsher is kept busy jousting with other windmills too. She also runs Blue America (dedicated to a single-payer health care system) and Accountability NOW (Dedicated to primaries for selecting candidates) and yes, those sites also have really snazzy donation pages. (There’s a lot of money in all of this charity).
Finally to round out Hamsher’s little empire she runs a service called Common Sense Media. According to their homepage:
Our stable of trusted blogs and news sites attracts a combined audience of more than 22 million loyal readers each month -making CommonSense Media a highly-effective and efficient means of reaching progressive thought-leaders, journalists, educators, activists, politicos, and others hungry for news and opinion written from a progressive point-of-view. Whether you’re launching a new campaign, marketing a new book or film, fundraising, or building your mailing list, let CommonSense Media help you connect with an audience that’s not afraid to take action. And definitely not afraid to share their opinions.
In other words, through her blog and her tangled web of PACs and non-profits she foments rage and builds momentum and loyalty from extremists who read her pages and then targets those readers on behalf of candidates and authors/film makers who are looking to sell to that demographic.
Wow, for a “Progressive” she really has figured out multiple ways to collect money from her readers. And the more outrageous her stories, the more traffic she commands. So this whole “Get attention by targeting the wife of a Senator so thousands of articles will mention it because it is so beyond the pale” strategy makes a whole lot of sense now.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.