Thanks to the sharp pixels at Mudville Gazette, I've learned a great new word today: "astroturfing."  Apparently CBS News, the Washington Post and 199 other newspapers are involved with some activists in an astroturfing campaign. Astroturfing is a term used in public relations and advertising to describe a campaign to create a false impression of widespread public support for an issue or product. Evidently, it's a takeoff on the word grassroots. Several weeks ago the left wing P.R. agency Fenton Communications, in conjunction with Washington Post, road tested a story about dissension in the ranks. They profiled two Navy Men that supposedly set up http://www.appealforredress.org/. This Web site ostensibly facilitates active-duty, reserve and National Guard troops to appeal directly to Congress to withdraw military personnel from Iraq. This story covered the a news conference announcing that supposedly a 1,000 people...(Read Full Post)