Want to send a pre-written letter to your local newspaper that says the Bush administration is doing a really swell job? Just go here and click on one or more of the green check marks, then fill in a few of the other fields and you're good to go.

I'll say it again -- why aren't the reporters who are writing stories about identical soldiers' letters bothering to mention that this is a favorite technique of the GOP?

(UPDATE: I see from Hesiod at Counterspin Central that Joshua Micah Marshall was discussing the nature of "Astroturf" letter-writing campaigns on CNN Newsnight last night -- scroll down to "ADDENDUM" for a partial transcript. But it's discussed in an "everybody does it" way. Also, Bush's "regional media" strategy and the letter-writing campaign are mentioned in the same paragraph in this Washington Post story, but that's just an arched eyebrow, if that. I think the fact that the political wing of the GOP was caught doing this, recently, is highly relevant to the GI Astroturf story. Somebody needs to say so outright.)