Anyone who has watched Fox News of late has seen them talking about the April 15 "tea party" demonstrations, which they take pains to characterize as a spontaneous grassroots uprising against government spending that they are simply "covering."
We are are going to be in the middle of these protests because at Fox, we do not pick and choose these rallies and protests. We were there for the Million Man March, even though, as I pointed out, it turned out to be well shy of a million men.
The Million Man March happened in 1995. Fox News didn't go on the air until 1996.
Why all the effort to distance themselves from the teabaggers? It's obvious they are integrally involved -- Fox has given them millions in free publicity, despite the fact that there's no evidence of "ratings gold" here. Four of their biggest stars will be appearing at the rallies, Fox Nation will be hosting a "virtual tea party," Glenn Beck is holding a $500 a plate fundraiser for them and Fox has been officially promoting the entire affair as the FNC Tax Day Tea Parties:
Maybe they're afraid that if people knew that those behind the demonstrations were the very same lobbyists and influence peddlers the teabaggers claim to decry, the whole thing would be revealed to be what it is -- a hollow excercise in extremist right-wing hypocrisy.
A report by Lee Fang at Think Progress documents the involvement of corporate lobbyists FreedomWorks in organizing the teabaggers. FreedomWorks is run by ladies' man (and registered lobbyist) Dick Armey, and if they're not "organizing" the Tea parties, it's news to him. From a letter he wrote on March 10:
FreedomWorks has been organizing many of these "tea parties" and we are listing the details on our website IamWithRick.com
If you visit the website, you can rsvp for an event near you, and you can download guidelines to organizing a tea party in your home town if there isn't one being planned already.
The "donation" for the Tea Parties page goes to -- you guessed it -- the FreedomWorks Foundation. The "thank you" letter is signed by Matt Kibbe, President & CEO, who cut his teeth working for Lee Atwater. He was behind the attempt to get Ralph Nader put on the ballot in Oregon in 2004, prompting a complaint to the FEC of illegal collusion with the GOP.
FreedomWorks was launched a GOP version of MoveOn. "We believe that hard work beats daddy's money," said Dick Armey at the time. Armey seems to be a bit irony challenged -- Steve Forbes is on the FreedomWorks board. As Krugman notes, their money comes from the Koch, Scaife, Bradley, Olin and other reliable funders of right wing infrastructure including Exxon Mobil.
This fact that none of this would be possible without the open checkbooks of right wing billionaires and the lobbyists who love them is beyond the grasp of Glenn Reynolds:
These aren't the usual semiprofessional protesters who attend antiwar and pro-union marches. These are people with real jobs; most have never attended a protest march before. They represent a kind of energy that our politics hasn't seen lately, and an influx of new activists.In 2004, a woman who identified herself as a "single mother" in Iowa, Sandra Jacques, appeared at a George Bush town hall and gushed about his plan to privatize Social Security. She left out the part about being an employee of Freedomworks, who were lobbying on the issue at the time.
Before any media covering these events accept the idea that this is just a grass roots outpouring of populist sentiment, they ought to take a look behind the curtain -- where Dick Armey is laughing and counting his cash.
Jane Hamsher blogs at firedoglake.com
I saw this day coming in 2007 when gas prices started rising practically one cents per day.
Maybe this reply will never make it to post. Maybe I will be kicked out of the Huffington Post for not being like minded. Maybe I will be put the DHS list as a person to be watched. Maybe I'll be call an Uncle Tom. Whatever you choose to do with this post it is your right as American to do it. God Bless you all; Jesus loves you more.
"Loony left" this and "right-wingnuts" that.
Look: both Obama and Bush have embraced a radical expansion of executive power, diminishing our civil liberties in the process. Both are more interested in securing Wall Street's profits than making sure Main Street is okay. Both want to maintain American Empire abroad and neither wants to cut military spending.
Bush practiced deficit spending, cutting taxes during wartime and initiating the flawed TARP program. Obama is proposing deficit spending and the continuation of the TARP program.
The important difference here is that some of the benefits of Obama's deficit spending may actually benefit ordinary people, as opposed to CEOs of giant multinationals and the financial industry.
The outrage from right wing media outlets about this would be so much more convincing if it weren't so selective.
The disturbing part about this is the divergence of "conservative" and "liberal" realities. If perception is reality, then we really are living in different worlds, despite the fact that we have so much more in common with each other than with Beck or Olbermann or Pelosi or Cantor. This can't be good. We need to find common ground. We need to come to some sort of agreement about what's really going on; what's worth freaking out about and what's not. It's not easy but it's necessary if we want to keep our republic.
You need to get you facts right. This IS a grassroots effort and I am going because it is my God given right to protest under our Constitution - just like is is your God given right to write your article.
Just because those of the conservative persuasion are protesting does not make them all extremist or even right wing. That is called generalizing and when one does that, it is always an untruth because not everyone fits the statement.
There are independents and democrats who are also protesting because they are fed up with the direction Mr. Obama and his cabinet are taking.
I allow you the right to express whatever you like and I would appreciate the same courtesy in return!
And for those of you who don't know, Republicans and Democrats are practically the same. I don't think President Obama is going to do anything essentially different from Bush even though he says he is. 1) run huge deficits for foreign wars (Afganistan) and defense budget 2) no single payer healthcare system or medicare plus(I really doubt he will get it off the ground) 3) inflate the dollar (thats really the Fed not Obama, but he agrees with it), but of course its debatable whether this matters 4) failing economy
It is nice that we have a better image though :D
LAME
Freedomworks is helping coordinate and help with expenses of SOME of the tea parties, but they didn't start it. There are several HUNDRED happening on Wed, and many have already taken place, and they aren't all funded by "billionaires". We had to raise $91,000 on our own to fund the tea party expenses in my town. I contributed to that myself.
Most of the parties aren't allowing any politicians of any party to speak; a handful are. In fact, a lot of Republicans are worried about this movement, because our ire isn't just aimed at the Dems. Many of us think DC needs a good flushing out of incumbents.
it's not "funded" by billionaires, they "help with expenses"
I guess down your rabbit hole, words mean what you want them to mean. Lewis Carroll would be proud - not to mention George Orwell.
Have you looked up teabagging on google?You should, have fun and get your 15 minutes of fame;so have your little tea-party and say hi to rush and sean, and glenn.We liberals will be laughing at you and your old ways. good luck in the next(mid-term) elections and try to get some help(mental). Have a good day, john Portland Oregon
Chris Dodd, im sure we'll see him in office again in 2010. Nomatter what these guys do to screw America Dems would vote them in again in a heartbeat.
Nancy Pelosi has a 13% approval rating and guess what, she will be voted in again.
My point is dems vote party and not policy. Nomatter how bad the canidate is. Republicans proved that there not nearly as partisan by voting in the current President.
People on here should be ashamed of belittleing others for speaking out for what they believe in.
Damn republicans, I dare you question anything the govt. does!
That pretty much says it all.
Anything else must be because you are racist, rich, white + Christian.
NOT!
MoveOn.org went to Sorros AFTER they had an authentic grass roots following.
Every time you mention Sorros you might as well mention Mellon-Scaife.
Check and
Check mate.