Tea Party Protests: Organizers Threatened By Fringe Elements, Politicians

Back in March, NewsBusters complained that the New York Times gave favorable coverage to an activist bus tour of AIG executives' swank Connecticut estates but ignored the populist groundswell that is the anti-tax, anti-spending tea party movement. Apparently, the Times heard the complaint, and on April 6 covered a 300-person tea party protest in New York. Covered it in ridicule, that is.

The Times op-ed got to the root of the matter: "[T]he green lawn was rumbling with grass-roots anger. Actually, its grass-rootiness was highly debatable. What were the citizens angry about? The stimulus? Not really, said one organizer. He had problems with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Laws impeding capital formation. 'Indict Charlie Rangel,' said a sign. 'Lowlife Obama!' roared a man in the crowd, causing giggles."

If the news stories popping up every ten minutes from local outlets across the country are any indication -- stories about tea parties planned in places like Palm Beach and Allentown and Reno and Missoula -- there are going to be a hell of a lot of tea parties on tax day, with tens of thousands of people participating. But just as Rick Santelli seemed not to have thought out his impassioned rant against government bailouts -- the rant that got the whole movement started -- there seems to be a bit of a struggle within the tea party movement to control its message.

Anti-immigration activists have reportedly been rebuffed by one of the groups helping coordinate tea parties nationwide. The tea party in Burleson, Texas might wind up sodden with Texas secessionists. Newt Gingrich has thrown his support behind the tea party movement, saying in a press release that the "American people are fed up with Washington's irresponsible spending spree." Nevermind that Gingrich supported the financial industry bailout.

Organizers of the event in Washington, D.C. told the Huffington Post that several Republican officeholders had asked to speak at the event, only to be turned down in favor of Alan Keyes. The Washington Independent reports that the choice of Keyes, a plaintiff in the insane Obama birth certificate lawsuit, was announced in a meeting room to "a chorus of groans."

The effort to prevent current GOP leaders from hijacking the grassroots message is seen elsewhere. In a brutally embarrassing smackdown for Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, tea party coordinator Eric Odom publicly denied the party leader the privilege of stage time.

They're not giving speaking slots to elected politicians, Odom wrote. Instead, Steele should attend the event as a non-speaker, because it will "present a fantastic time for Chairman Steele to LISTEN to what we have to say and perhaps gather some thoughts on what the RNC needs to be doing moving forward."

Republican politicians will not be discouraged, however. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, for one, wants legislation to make tax day National Tea Party Day.

One element has had success commandeering the tea party movement: Fox News. The network is aggressively promoting the protests and plans to cover them live from multiple cities in an all-day televised teafest. Fox is firing up its conservative audience by reporting that nefarious liberals from ACORN and the Huffington Post plan to sabotage tax day events. Michelle Malkin is fired up indeed.

The Huffington Post has been asking readers to provide us with a ground-level perspective of tax day events, not to "infiltrate" them. Click here to sign up!

UPDATE: The Chicago Young Republicans have invited Michael Steele to their tea party on tax day.

Comments

[guyInTx]

Hi arthur, just wanted to say this is an excellent article. I really enjoyed reading it. It has a nice balanced side, toughing on both Fox news hijacking the parties, and NY Times refusing to cover them.

I have always heard this site was "extreme liberal", but this is the only thing I have found to read on the subject I find credible.

I wish the rest of the media could present such an approach. Maybe us common folks would be able to figure out what is going on.

[iluvamericanidol]

Check out the astro-trolling right here on this message board from "terra33", who informs us "The Tea Parties are Nonpartisan and are supported by a number of groups and organizations from all parties."

[JazzHands]

Yes, new best word ever: astro-trolling.

[ebanks84]

These rallies are nothing but bull droppings incited by the rightwing elements and FOX noise. Only weak minded people are going to be involved in these shenanigans and Obama haters anyway. There is absolutely no other need for these tea parties other than disloyalty to the present government and hate for Obama.

Where were all these so-called patriotic citizens during the past 8 years when all our rights and privileges were being taken away and abused by the Bush administration?

[Swordfishtrombone]

But this is 100% propaganda spreading by a news channel, by every definition of the word!
Is it even permitted for a news channel in the U.S. to do this? Are there no laws or journalistic ethics standards that apply?

[julia23]

Are they officially a news channel? Comedy Central is allowed to say anything they want. Limbaugh and Beck are officially 'entertainer's so they don't have to uphold any journalistic ethics either.

[BlueRoseofTexas]

Uh. Ever heard of something called the First Amendment? These wingnuts have every right to say or report whatever they like regardless of inanity or irrationality. I personally love it as when these Neanderthals come out of their basements blinking in the bright light of day, they look like the completely irrelevant, clueless bozos they are for all to see.

[terra33]

The Tea Parties are Nonpartisan and are supported by a number of groups and organizations from all parties.

[julia23]

Like the lady who wants all college books burned. And the man who wants us to BEWARE because the government is installing brainwashing devices in our homes and fooling us into believing they are new TV converters for some new digital age. Watch the videos. They are hillarious.

Everyone is invited. But you should bring your tin foil hat.

[unite4change]

The parties are only nonpartisan if you don't know any better. No informed person would every take part in this fiasco. I though the GOP loved Bush now you are complaining about his tax policy, you do realize it's Bush's policy you're complaining about, right.

[terra33]

It is a fallacy to believe the Government gets it money from outside sources. It gets its money from taxes. So when the Government spends money like for bailouts, stimulus and huge budgets.
Taxing the top 2% won't even put a dent in this debt . Taxes ,and not just income taxes will have to go up. If you put the tax on businesses (who create 90% of the jobs) then that slows their growth. Plus they add those taxes into their cost of doing business so they then raise the cost of their product or service to the consumer. So who pays in the end? The consumer and economy.
This debt is so huge that taxes are already being raised on the poor people who, drink or smoke that is just a start for all entertainment excise taxes. Next is the cap and trade tax that will end up costing the average consumer $3,000 extra a year in energy and fuel cost. Then the other excise taxes like phone, tires and a range of goods and services will increase. They will have to raise income tax on the poor and middle class. Then sales tax increases to more then 12% like Europe or 25% like the Nortic Nations.
This is what the TEA PARTIES are about. They are a NON-PARTISAN gathering of AMERICANS to protest fiscally irresponsible, inflationary Government Spending and the lack of adherence to the Constitution by Congress and The Executive Branch.

[julia23]

I wish my taxes would stop going to WAR. I hope there is a lot of people at the tea parties complaining about all the money we spend on WAR and propping up countries like Israel. Why do we pay for their wars?

[rdobbs]

These rallies are going to end up being anti Obama rallies decrying Obama for the fiscal mishaps of the Bush Administration. Obama hasnt even passed a budget or implimented a new tax policy. I think the underlying theme of these rallies is "sour grapes".

[hellostats]

I would suggest the following as the relevant policy questions.

What (if anything) should be done about the economic crisis? What kind of tax structure do we want in the future?

An ineffective government response to our economic crisis raises the risk of a prolonged global depression---which would negatively impact everyone. Therefore, the critical dimension here is not the size of government outlays, but rather whether they can keep the economy on its wheels.

Will the government stimulus necessitate tax hikes in the future? Yes and no. The budget deficits at their current levels are unsustainable. However, if frugality on the part of the government results in a large output gap, deficits would worsen because tax revenue falls with downturns more than government spending, also creating the need for tax hikes.

continued...

[hellostats]

(continued)

In the long-term, the United States may need to and most likely will alter its tax structure. There is very little data which would indicate that the level of taxes as a percentage of output matters much. What matters is whether specific taxes are fair and efficient. Currently the tax structure favors large firms over small firms. This is troubling because small firms drive long-term growth and could be fixed without even changing average tax rates. Poor people face the highest marginal tax rates because of benefit thresholds. This could be fixed by a negative income tax in the spirit of Milton Friedman. Cap-and-trade or carbon taxes can be made budget neutral. These taxes are desirable because they help the environment, can insure us against oil price shocks and will stimulate research into green technology. Europe may have higher taxes now, but their taxes pay for health care. If health care costs in the United States continue to rise at their current rate, we will be paying more for health care and taxes than Europeans could ever imagine.

The "tea party" movements are wrongheaded because they do address the real issues and seem to represent little more than the narrow interests of their sponsors.

[unite4change]

Terra33, you do realize that for the last eight years business have be receiving tax cuts and they still shipped job abroad. And for the record the American people are the government. You should take you a good Civics course to understand how our government works.

You apparently are not a business owner because if you were, you would know businesses expense all of their cost. They receive tax credit and can use their tax credit over a period of time and can deduct their losses.

Check out the IRS link to corporate tax forms:

http://search.irs.gov/web/query.html?col=allirs&charset=utf-8&qp=&qs=-Wct%3A%22Internal+Revenue+Manual%22&qc=&qm=0&rf=0&oq=&qt=corporate+tax+forms&search.x=7&search.y=11

I have provide a link to the US Constitution for your use:

http://plus.aol.com/aol/reference/Constituus/Constitution_of_the_United_States?flv=1

Here's a link for a Civics Course:

http://www.generationjoshua.org/dnn/Default.aspx?tabid=125

Sometimes one must go out of their way to enlighten someone armed with talking points. It's your lucky day, so, get armed with the facts.

[Reighben Labilles]

How much of a threat do these Tea Parties and other related illiberal, ultra-conservative movements pose to the rest of American Society? I am quite concerned. A lot of my relatives live in the US (legal migrants of course).

[RZoroaster]

I'm actually growing pretty concerned as well. With Glenn Beck spewing fire and brimstone every day, who knows where this will end up? I don't want to start getting apocalyptic myself but I fear the country is becoming divided in a way that will take a very long time to undo.

[mitsie]

These tea party people are littering and not having to pay fines. Furthermore, how about the dolphins, fish, birds think the bags are food and try to eat them. The string on the bag may cause them to not be able to eat, or get caught in their insides.

People should email the wildlife groups and get them involved to try to get law enforcement to stop these. I saw a tea party on tv and they were actually were throwing plastic bags in the water.

Who wants to try to help and protect our wildlife.

[jayevans20]

I dare they march any where on the far south side. I dare them wear the "We hate Obama" shirts there and see if they come out alive. LOL

[elizlucinda]

Oh boy...this will be fun....Fox news will be covering tea bagging from all over the Country.....

[mmaza]

I see that Chicago's party is on a boat in the middle of the lake.How come no marches down State St?Is this all anonymous?What a bunch of little girls.

[julia23]

Please don't insult little girls like that. Many of them are a lot braver than these cowards.

[BARRISTER]

Mmmmmm, lets see..., buy stocks in Tea companies now...., and sell on Tea Party day???
Maybe Cramer ( or is it Kramer?) should do a show about the Tea stocks..?? Mmmmmm

[just4shiggles]

I wonder if they will all have a cigarette after the teabagging...

[Renee27]

More –

The Tea Party is a FAKE grassroots movement (aka an AstroTurf) organized by CORPORATE LOBBYISTS. This is a corporate PR scam, but Fox News is making it obvious.

FreedomWorks is one of the sponsors -

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1497377

http://sobeale.blogspot.com/2009/03/theres-astroturf-at-tea-party.html

About Corporate Astroturfing –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

http://www.sourcewatch.com/index.php?title=Astroturf

Other Corporate Funded Imitation Grassroots Orgs –

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=2129273

[AdamND]

thanks for the info.

[Renee27]

More -

The Tea Party is a FAKE grassroots movement (aka an AstroTurf) organized by CORPORATE LOBBYISTS. This is a corporate PR scam, but Fox News is making it obvious.

FreedomWorks is one of the sponsors -

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1497377

http://sobeale.blogspot.com/2009/03/theres-astroturf-at-tea-party.html

About Corporate Astroturfing -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

http://www.sourcewatch.com/index.php?title=Astroturf

Other Corporate Funded Imitation Grassroots Orgs -

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=2129273