Anti-Ryan Town Hall Rage Suffers From A Hype Deficit

As noted earlier, House Republicans have lately had to contend with a taste of the town hall rage and bitterness that roiled throughout the summer of 2009 when House Democrats were slowly pushing health care reform through the legislature. Over at the Plum Line, Greg Sargent has been wrestling over whether or not these current uprisings will manage to reach the heights of health care reform antipathy, and whether its even preferable for the left to try to outdo the Tea Party-types in that regard.

One broad conclusion that Sargent isn't shy about drawing is "the right tends to be far better than the left at organizing and manufacturing sustained expressions of public outrage." Today he goes into detail, noting that these "sustained expressions" came after a steady dose of accelerant from two sources, neither of which are likely to re-emerge in any constituent contretemps over Paul Ryan's plans for Medicare:

Right now, you're only seeing coverage of these angry confrontations with House GOPers on liberal blogs and Web sites. By contrast, in 2009, the Tea Partyers had a hugely important big media ally on their side. Fox aggressively promoted the earliest demonstrations -- some of which were organized by right wing groups -- airing nonstop footage of even the most paltry Tea Party town hall showings and tirelessly working to rebrand what originated as a series of disparate expressions of constituent anger as a national movement. That ultimately pushed other major news outlets into treating the town halls as a national story, a national phenomenon, which gave it more and more momentum.

Sargent then names the second cause of last summer's town hall spectacles:

It should not be forgotten that Democrats, too, were heavily complicit in enabling and hyping the Tea Party movement. The Dem strategy of elevating the craziest Tea Partyers in order to paint the GOP as scary and extreme only succeeded in reinforcing a sense of widespread public discontent with Obama and Dem policies.

Without a similar heaping helping of high-volume allied media assistance and a soupcon of oppositional fear-framing, the chances of these House GOP protests reaching an equal level of viral hype are plainly diminished.

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Comments

[IceStar]

04:19 AM on 04/26/2011

Wow a completely disconnected analysis by a disconnected radical leftist.

How can anyone misunderstand the Tea Party and its motivation?

The Radical Left has nothing comparable because they have to manufacture and organize their followers.

The TP was not organized it came about because the "silent majority" has decided to no longer be silent.

Obamacare was rammed through Congress over the protests of the majority of the American people. It was done quickly and without being read.

[TAMPA M]

02:42 AM on 04/26/2011

The Republicans only like socialism for the wealthy and corporations. They've been doing it for 12 years. You are not important

[ProudMilVet]

02:38 AM on 04/26/2011

What's he doing in that picture ? It looks like he's in some type of pleasure mode, thinking about cutting services for the Poor, the Unemployed & Seniors.

[ThankGodhesgone]

12:59 AM on 04/26/2011

"Without a similar heaping helping of high-volume allied media assistance and a soupcon of oppositional fear-framing, the chances of these House GOP protests reaching an equal level of viral hype are plainly diminished."

Not anymore, as Maddow pointed out tonight.

[aznurse]

10:18 PM on 04/25/2011

His picture creeps me out!

[smurrayesq]

08:38 PM on 04/25/2011

The Tea Party movement had corporate sponsorship and cheerleaders on cable whipping the TP'ers up into a frenzy. The Democrats and Progressives just aren't as good at fear based frenzy.

[gwilder]

07:34 PM on 04/25/2011

Majority of the things the republicans are doing to this Country and its people, they did not campaign on. They did not campaign on busting unions, they did not campaign on denying seniors, and they did not campaign on taking from the poor and giving to the rich. However, they are hell bent on seeing those things through.

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:00 AM on 04/26/2011

Yep - All they campaigned on were Jobs, jobs, and more jobs.

Has anyone seen one, yet?

[ThankGodhesgone]

01:01 AM on 04/26/2011

Well then again, maybe they did create jobs. They just neglected to tell us that the jobs were in other countries.

[alguien]

07:14 PM on 04/25/2011

"It should not be forgotten that Democrats, too, were heavily complicit in enabling and hyping the Tea Party movement. The Dem strategy of elevating the craziest Tea Partyers in order to paint the GOP as scary and extreme only succeeded in reinforcing a sense of widespread public discontent with Obama and Dem policies."

gee, sounds like sargent's been reading the front page of HP on a regular basis since that's basically what you get around here.

[nuppup]

07:07 PM on 04/25/2011

You know when someone says something like; "he's not the sharpest tool in the shed"?


Well, Ryan is by far the sharpest tool in the shed.

[alguien]

07:13 PM on 04/25/2011

too bad he's not distinguishing that trait by being an honest person on top of it.

[nuppup]

11:09 PM on 04/25/2011

I realize it's not easy to for a doctor to tell a patient just how bad off he is. But until the patient knows the facts and takes action, he will never get better. Ryan takes on the task of being honest with the seriousness of the problem but the patient would rather deny the inevitability of the morbid outcome rather than to take the medicine.

Ryan is being honest. For some, too honest.

[chicagurl]

09:53 PM on 04/25/2011

Yep, Ryan is a bloody ax, and no one thinks that's attractive. In fact, the majority of folks would stay far, far away from that tool in the shed.

[kittkat]

06:49 PM on 04/25/2011

Healthcare vouchers = Republican death panels

[hang319]

05:13 PM on 04/25/2011

Policies aside, that picture of him on the Front Page conjures up all kinds of disgusting, vile, vulgar thoughts. HP needs to take that down.

[Izzymeister]

05:24 PM on 04/25/2011

Your mind is in the gutter.

[Athelstane]

05:48 PM on 04/25/2011

You'd better get used to seeing him.

[MontanaSouth]

02:48 PM on 04/25/2011

The problem is that the individuals questioning the reps at the GOP town hall meetings are not screaming and yelling. They are presenting well thought out objections to the Ryan budget. There is no hyperbole, no well organized (by corporate interests) talking points and instructions to disrupt, just thoughtful exchanges. I loved the comment at one meeting - "you did not campaign on these issues!" The republican take over of the house was based, as usual, on disinformation or out right lies (especially about medicare). Now, those that voted for them are seeing just who they elected. Look at WI. If all goes well, the recall elections will change the face of their state legislature.

[Athelstane]

03:53 PM on 04/25/2011

The Republicans ran on a platform of cutting spending and reducing the debt. That is what they are trying to do. Ryan's plan is a very rational way to do that, in many ways less draconian than Obama's commission, whose recommendation he first ignored but now embraces based on political expediency. Actually, the local reactions to Ryan's plan have not been very antagonistic at all. When Dems beg for a "hyping" of the story what they are asking is for their friends in the media to make up something that isn't there.

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

04:41 PM on 04/25/2011

Evasive in unethical ways.

[RUKidding0]

10:14 PM on 04/25/2011

F & F for bringing truth to leftist ideologues.

[g-moi]

02:28 PM on 04/25/2011

Tax Policies
• Allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, but extend marriage relief, credits, and
incentives for children, families, and education
• Immediately rescind the upper-income tax cuts in December’s tax deal
• Index the AMT for inflation for a decade (the AMT patch is fully paid for)
• Schakowsky millionaire tax rates proposal (adding 45%, 46%, 47%, 48%, and 49% top rates)
• Tax all capital gains and qualified dividends as ordinary income
• Progressive estate tax (Sanders’ estate tax, repeal of Kyl-Lincoln)
• Limit the rate at which itemized deductions can reduce tax liability to 28%for high earners
• Replace the tax exclusion for interest on state and local bonds with a subsidy for the issuer
Corporate Tax Reform
• Tax U.S. corporate foreign income as it is earned
• Eliminate corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies
• Enact a financial crisis responsibility fee
• Financial speculation tax (derivatives, foreign exchange)
• Reinstate Superfund taxes
Health Care
• Enact a public option
• Negotiate Rx payments with pharmaceutical companies
• CMS program integrity and other Medicare and Medicaid savings in the president’s budget
• Prevent a cut in Medicare physician payments for a decade (maintain doc fix)

[g-moi]

02:26 PM on 04/25/2011

http://gri­jalva.hous­e.gov/uplo­ads/The CPC FY2012 Budget.pdf
Here are the basic premises
Eliminates the Deficit by 2021
Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness
Creates a Fair Tax System
Brings Our Troops Home

[g-moi]

02:22 PM on 04/25/2011

Check out the People's Budget
http://grijalva.house.gov/uploads/The%20CPC%20FY2012%20Budget.pdf

[Athelstane]

03:45 PM on 04/25/2011

A recipe for economic disaster,pervasive socialism, and widespread dependency and misery.

[BannedFromCommenting]

04:05 PM on 04/25/2011

Oh yeah, cuz socialism is so bad yet you enjoy it EVERY SINGLE DAY100s of "social programs" you tool!

[97034Leftofcenter]

05:06 PM on 04/25/2011

Yeah, those Scandinavians look really miserable.