According to its website in February, 2009, "FreedomWorks is now working with other groups to plan a massive, nationwide tea party protest day for Tax Day on April 15th, 2009", the Tax Day Tea Party protests.
In 2008, FreedomWorks was behind the creation of a fake grassroots web site called Angryrenter.com which rallies opposition to "the Obama Housing Bailout."
The site urged people to oppose bailing out mortgage companies.
The site claimed to represent "Renters and responsible homeowners against a government mortgage bailout."
Michael M. Phillips, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal investigated AngryRenter.com and reported: "AngryRenter.com looks a bit like a digital ransom note, with irregular fonts, exclamation points and big red arrows -- all emphasizing prudent renters' outrage over a proposed government bailout for irresponsible homeowners."
"It seems like America's renters may NEVER be able to afford a home," AngryRenter.com laments.
The Web site urged like-minded tenants to let Congress feel their fury by signing an online petition. "We are millions of renters standing up for our rights!" Angry they may be, but the people behind AngryRenter.com are certainly not renters.
Though it purported to be a spontaneous uprising, AngryRenter.com was actually a product of an inside-the-Beltway conservative advocacy organization led by Dick Armey, the former House majority leader, and publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a fellow Republican.
It's a fake grass-roots effort -- what politicos call an AstroTurf campaign.