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April 15, 2009

Tea Parties are Grassroots? My Sweet Backside!

When we hear about the teabag parties, we are regaled almost to death about how they are grassroots and of the people.

Yeah, maybe. And then again, maybe not.

I went on a search today to find out what names tend to attach themselves to this meme. Over and over I found the organization chaired by former conservative Republican Congressman and author of the Contract on America, Dick Armey's organization "FreedomWorks".

Whenever neocons use the word "Freedom" to describe what they're doing, that sets off a red flag for me. But nevermind that now. On we go.

This from this article on TPMDC:

John Hendricks turns out to be John Hendrix, who by phone earlier today described the events as completely spontaneous. "These are independent groups, not coordinated," he says, "and most of the people, including myself, have never done anything like this." He even said that two distinct groups in Tampa emerged simultaneously--both called the "Tampa Tea Party," each unbeknown to the other.

I asked him where the idea came from. "Tom Gaithens," Hendrix said. "He's with FreedomWorks."

"Oh really?"

"He sent an email out with his network of contacts to see who could help."

Well, if they were "spontaneously organized", FreedomWorks sure didn't turn down the chance to add momentum to it.

But that's not all. FOX News, desperate get their hands on this post-Reagan era hook, were all to eager to jump on this bandwagon. Think Progress:

The network has also been pushing the movement’s talking points, saying that people are “angry,” “upset,” and “feeling disenfranchised,” which is why they’re organizing this “nationwide grassroots movement.” Promising “fair and balanced” coverage, hosts such as Glenn Beck, Neil Cavuto, and Sean Hannity are all planning to broadcast live from the events. The Fox broadcasts are in turn being used by the tea party organizers to promote their protests.

And if you go down the article ... there's FreedomWorks again:

Fox News isn’t the only right-wing organization involved in building up these so-called “grassroots” events. The tea parties have been heavily backed by corporate lobbyists. The principle organizers of many of the local events are actually the lobbyist-run think tanks Americans for Prosperity, Freedom Works, and Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions. The groups are heavily staffed and well funded, and are providing all the logistical and public relations work necessary for planning coast-to-coast protests.

Now, that's what I call grassroots!

Sure, few of the organizers had little experience. No experience was necessary.

But what if they're right and I'm wrong? What if there really is a searing wave of Obama-stimulus-hating sentiment out there and I'm just too liberal to see it? What if the country is full of unjust taxation without representation, as the people see it?

Come down from the rare air of punditry with me and check in with the folks at Gallup, via US News and World Report:

According to Gallup, for only the second time in more than half a century, a plurality of Americans (48-46 percent) think that they're paying the proper amount of taxes. The only other time that that has been true since 1956 was in 2003 when 50 percent of Americans felt they were paying the right amount in taxes. Drilling down a bit deeper, the slim plurality comes entirely from Democrats, who 55-40 think we're paying the right amount of taxes (up sharply from 2008 when they thought so 47-45). Independents narrowly disagree, with 48 percent saying taxes are too high and 46 percent saying they're just right--though that figure too has narrowed sharply, as it was 54-40 in 2008. And Republicans are not surprisingly opposite Democrats, with 53 percent saying taxes are too high and 43 percent saying they're about right. (Really? Forty-three percent of Republicans think taxes are correct? I thought it was an article of GOP faith that taxes are by their nature too high.)

These things are always a little complicated when reality intrudes. Bad Reality! No cookie for you!

There's a saying that two kinds of people are in the Republican Party: Millionaires and chumps.

I don't see any millionaires at the teabag parties.

Posted by The Chinuk at April 15, 2009 07:06 PM