As fringe as this movement is (and it definitely appears that way) it sure is getting a lot of media coverage ... I think the media needed some fresh conflict because there was so little dissent this early in the Obama Administration. They probably should have just been patient instead of lending undo significance to a relatively minor movement ... but they needed those advertiser dollars, and conflict sells. Much, much, MUCH larger protests than this have received only a percentage of the coverage that the Tea Parties are getting ... I suspect it's because those protests were inherently anti-capitalist hegemony, and the media is made up of fundamentally pro-capital entities.
I've got to go, but very quickly -- the ineffectual bailouts without any accounting of how the money was spent brought the anger to a boil. It has been simmering for a long time, but all the economic collapse and the reporting about it brought the problem to a head, hence the rise of the tea parties. Depending on the news outlet you read or to which you listen, the tea parties are patriotic (Fox) or frivolous (MSNBC).
Except people are more optimistic than they've been in a while, and are more satisfied with the tax situation than they've been in decades, and trust Obama more than any other group to manage the economy. Doesn't sound like boiling anger over the way things are headed.
Fox News is hilarious, while being the only major "news" outlet covering these events, I just flipped to their business channel and they're whinning how everyone is saying they helped organize these things. why do these people feel the need to claim these are totally spontaneous?
I would give 50% to Bush and 50% to the congress who put it through with such speed and so little oversight. Only one of those entities is still in power and accountable.
a simple point readily ignored. Excessive govt spending and intervention is what most have a problem with, imo. I find it funny when i hear "temporary" govt programs...not much is more permanent than a temporary govt program
Also the media is generally liberal (as individuals, not coverage) except for fiscal issues. Since most members of the media make much more than the median salary, it is understandable that they give this more attention.
Yeah. Class usually trumps partisanship in determining what does and does not receive media coverage. I'd say the motive force doesn't come strictly from individuals in a higher tax bracket, but from the fact that the entire enterprise is based on generating profit and to question the system that allow the accumulation of those profits is counterproductive for media corporations. The institutional bias is a stronger determinant on what is/isn't covered by the media than any individual bias, although individual biases obviously exist. That's why I always find it amusing when people accuse the media of being partisan ... they're not partisan, they're capitalist entities. Their ultimate interest is not in some particular camp, but in turning a profit. FOX News is only conservative because it's a niche market on cable news that is profitable. MSNBC likewise, from the other angle (at least I think it's MSNBC that's the other-side-of-the-coin to FOX news ... not sure, might be some other cable news network that I don't watch much).
Well it is interesting that you are right in general but when you look at it on a micro-scale they get very partisan. Not for partisan reasons though. In 2000 they killed Gore. "Invented the internet", "James Lee Whitt" were run into the ground. Turns out his "lies" were true, but who cares bashing him got more ratings. In 2004 Kerry was to big of an easy target to make fun of and they gave their audience what it wanted. But then for 2008 they killed Hillary but supported Obama. I think the reason was Hillary was the old story. Old story does not sell well. I think they are capitalist, but that leads to obvious bias.
Oh my god. So hilarious. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8i-OWDjOQfI&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8i-OWDjOQfI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Saw a great line this morning… Republicans aren’t protesting higher taxes; no, they are protesting being out of power.
I want to see the Daily show response to that, something along the lines of Jon Stewart being upset that they are stealing his shtick, admonishing his writers for not competing, or maybe trying to go even more overboard with the innuendo. BTW, I found a great site for keeping up with this Teabagging incase you can't swallow the coverage from Faux news. http://teablogging.net/ Non partisan pic:
http://www.teapartyday.com/Map.aspx Aaaahh nothing like a good grass roots movement to get the communists all riled up....
These terrorists are pretty stupid to publish a map of their whereabouts. Time for a preemptive strike.
