The Angry Renter
April 10th, 2008 by Peter SudermanTell me again: Why is the federal government bailing out banks and irresponsible borrowers?
Take action AngryRenter.com.
Tell me again: Why is the federal government bailing out banks and irresponsible borrowers?
Take action AngryRenter.com.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I signed the petition!
April 10th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Hi Sickle, we obviously aren’t trying to hide FreedomWorks’ involvement with this project since its on the site in a couple places. Its in soft launch at the moment.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
No, you’re not trying to hide it, but you’re not exactly being forthright about this, either. You make it sound like this is some spontaneous grassroots movement (”quite simply, we are just angry renters” and “renters aren’t as good at politics…”) when in fact it’s the brainchild of a well-funded think-tank run by a former member of Congress who are, in fact, quite good at politics.
Again, I ask: why not just do this on the FW main page? Why create a new website at all?
One thing that’s clear: you’re going to take these people’s email addresses and put ‘em in your system, and then spam them. (The privacy page, which isn’t really clear at all, implies that FW is the one collecting signatures, not the angryrenters.com group.) You’ve done it before. You probably also count them as FreedomWorks “members,” too.
(You’re obviously very creative about how you count “members” too. I seriously doubt you have almost half a million as you claim. You have half a million email addresses maybe, but not half a million “members.” Look at the photographs of your rallies and your talks. I think you probably have only about 1000-5000 real “members”—the rest are just people who signed up for your mailing list, and I’m willing to bet a hell of lot of those are people like me, who ended up getting those dear member emails and having no recollection whatsoever of joining you.)
Give you three guesses how I found out about FreedomWorks (actually CSE) at all. It wasn’t ’cause I came looking for you. It’s because I signed up for what I thought was something else, but was actually run by you guys. And here ya go again.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
BTW I love what you’re trying to do and support your effort in this regard (except I still favor some relief for ARM folks who weren’t speculators and simply followed Greenspan’s advice). But I believe in doing so in an honest and forthright manner. I have a real problem with these kinds of viral marketing tactics being used on such important issues (and to pad your membership rolls).
Which is why I won’t sign your petition, even though I actually want to. I don’t trust how you’re present the signatures or where you’ll say they came from. I don’t trust what you’re going to do with our personal information, since it’s not clear who AngryRenter is and I think FW is just going to keep it and use it for themselves.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
I also like how there are only 32 individual entries on the petition page but it has “sixty signatories” because the so-called “signers” also put in all their family members. On the sign page you can put in up to six family members “in your household.”
Chris, you took advantage of that, too, adding Bob and Mike and Sue to the list, who I assume are family members in your household. (Who pays the rent?) You even signed twice, on April 8 and April 9, saying the first time “Thanks for this site” to the website owners without revealing that you’re, well, the one who registered the damn thing.
Tell me, who is “Angry Renters” really?
April 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
LOL…busted! Nice job again Sickle.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Whats the point of Sickle coming to this website? He rails against membership tactics and “underhanded marketing” from FW to what avail? Not only that but he talks about these things as if FW is the only organization or PAC that uses these techniques to boost membership. I don’t understand the criticism of the separate website for the “Angry Renters” as it simply consolidates a specific issue for anyone interested. They wrote a press release telling you they created the damn website, what more do you want? Its odd to see a man who clearly has way too much time on his hands and such a blatant prejudice towards this organization, regardless of their ideals or actions. In fact, its rather sad…
April 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
The point is that it’s NOT a “separate website”…wake up! When you are devoid of any new arguments, then it’s time to shoot the messenger eh?
April 14th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Heh. Hardly. If that were true, policy and politics would be a lot cleaner.
I think Mister Guy said it best:
April 15th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Sickle,
I am confused, are they wrong for policy reasons or because you don’t like that you have to click around to find out who runs the site?
What are your issues with their policies?
April 15th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I’m in favor of a lot of their policies, Jeff. I’m not a true free-market believer like these guys are, but in general we share the same values on fiscal responsibility and share a libertarian streak. Our differences are in the flavor of libertarianism (I come from an individual perspective, they come from a corporate perspective).
The problems have with them are pretty straightforward. I don’t think they’re honest about what they do:
* They’re a partisan group; several of their state directors are Republican activists, at least one is an executive of his state’s Republican Party, one was a regional coordinator for Guiliani’s campaign, etc. Which would be fine, if they disclosed that, which they don’t. Kinnan bragged to the media in 2004 about how FW was working to get Nader on the ballot in swing states in order to help George W. Bush’s chances in those states.
* They’re not funded by the grassroots and are not a grassroots organization. They’re funded by donations from major corporations, many of whom have a huge stake in the legislation they’re pushing. The Washington Post covered this, observing that FW took on certain issues (an everglades project and net neutrality, in particular) immediately after receiving large money donations from interested parties. They have also used ruses to sign up “members” without their consent, also covered by the Washington Post. FW will not release names of its donors.
* They don’t practice what they preach. FW’s Oregon director pushed a ballot measure there which would have regulated the attorney market, despite FW’s stated goal to end market regulation. It is unclear how much FW money, if any, went to fund that project, but they did pay Kevin Mannix (another Oregonian, Republican party activist, and advocate of the ballot measure) over six figures for consulting services around this time.
There’s more, but you get the gist. I want them to be honest about what they do and how they do it. I discovered these guys because I was one of the people signed up as a CSE (now FW) “member” against my will. Didn’t take long to figure who they were and what they do.
Oh, and finally:
* for a site all about fiscal responsibility, they have never said anything about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Pretty conspicuous silence, there. Which leads me to believe that, one way or the other, they are too cowardly to broach that issue, currently costing Americans at least $200 million per day. So I have a hard time respecting, let alone comprehending, such a lack of courage to write about it.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I am curious about these AngryRenters folks. If what Sickle says is true, they should disclose it more prominently on their site. I emailed the admin to inquire about their funding source and other issues.
Stop the Housing Bailout
(www.stopthehousingbailout.com)
April 30th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
how do i sign peition