A Tale Of Two Tea Parties

Posted by on April 16, 2009 at 3:24 pm. 1 Comments :

Now that Tax Day has come and gone, we can take an objective look at what all the excitement over the so-called “grassroots” Tea Party movement has wrought.

For an alleged phenomenon that was sweeping a nation of angry revolutionaries, it has left us with no more than a resounding thud. Nate Silver has produced what appears to be the only comprehensive estimate of national attendance, based on authoritative sources like law enforcement and local reporting. His figures conclude that about 262,000 people gathered in over 300 cities across the country to wave tea bags and denounce taxes. That is pretty close to the estimate by the conservative Pajamas Media (sources not disclosed), who place the figure slightly higher at 278,000. Considering the fact that twice as many people will attend a Major League Baseball game on a typical Saturday, every weekend, that doesn’t seem like much to brag about.

Unfortunately, they can’t even blame their failure on their favorite foes. While they fretted for weeks about the Soros-backed ACORN busing in scary community organizers to disrupt their tea bagging, there were no reports of such sabotage. So after failing to preemptively construct an excuse for their flop, they are now accusing the media of neglecting to provide coverage. In truth, the media assigned a fairly appropriate amount of coverage to something so insignificant. And since this was a project that was wholly owned by Fox News, why should the rest of the press go out of their way to give more exposure to their competitor’s programming?

What’s more, it may be unprecedented in the history of public protesting that a major TV network acted as the national coordinating committee and PR agency for a partisan movement. Fox News executed a wall-to-wall campaign promoting these events and their own participation in them. They shamelessly recruited viewers to take up the cause and sent their biggest stars out as enticements. They worked closely with the Astroturf event sponsors and the Republican Party, and provided them with valuable air time to market their “spontaneous” uprising. Advocates and organizers were frequent on-air guests in the days leading up to the 15th. The actual value of all of the accumulated advertising is difficult to estimate, but if a 30-second ad costs about $10,000, and the Fox promo ran once an hour for a week (a modest assumption), that would come to over $1.6 million of free promotion. And that doesn’t include interviews with the party planners conducted during their programming. You know…political product placement.

So what did they get for that investment? Here is a photo of a few dozen rather bored looking revolutionaries at a Tea Party held in Los Angeles, CA., the nation’s second most populous city.

Contrast that with the success of another demonstration in Los Angeles just two years prior, protesting the war in Iraq:

That anti-war rally drew over 6,000 people without the help of the #1 cable news network. More than a million participated nationwide. It was a bona fide grassroots operation populated by citizens with a sincere and deeply felt grievance against their government, not unlike those who attended the Tea Parties. Nevertheless, Fox News not only didn’t contribute to the event’s promotion, they barely covered it while it was in progress – except to disparage the participants as unpatriotic and shiftless. There was no Sean Hannity in Chicago interviewing Michael Moore. There was no Glenn Beck on stage with Neil Young in San Francisco. The Tea Partiers, however, received over four hours of live coverage of their comparatively inconsequential congregations. That’s a lot of broadcast real estate for something that has almost zero news value.

Throughout the build up to, and the coverage of, Tea Party Day, Fox News played the role of cheerleader. They portrayed the protesters as loyal citizens with a justifiable outrage at what they viewed as the government’s usurpation of authority. They praised their courage for denouncing the President and the Congress. That lies in stark contrast to the Fox News characterization of anti-war protesters and Bush opponents as dirty hippies and terrorist sympathizers. Fox routinely asserted that those examples of free speech were unpatriotic and that failure to support the President was akin to treason.

In one respect I have to give them credit. Some of those who used to holler at dissidents to “love it or leave it,” are now demonstrating a measure of consistency. The governor of Texas has broached the notion that his state may be interested in seceding from the union. The state senate in Georgia is following his lead. Sarah Palin’s Alaska has long had a thriving secessionist movement. The cries of “America First” during last year’s presidential campaign were apparently just a ruse. As soon as they are on the losing side of an election they can’t get out of the country fast enough. If that’s what they really want, they can go with my blessing. So long as they let California go as well.

It is a disturbing reality of modern media that an entity like Fox News exists purely to package their partisan agenda in an attempt to influence society’s opinions and policies. But on the plus side, look at how miserably ineffective they turned out to be despite having the biggest megaphone in the cable news arena. If this is the best they can do with millions of dollars and weeks of preparation, maybe it isn’t all that disturbing after all.

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Some Tea Party Tidbits You May Have Missed

Posted by on April 15, 2009 at 4:43 pm. 8 Comments :

The Tea Baggers must be proud of their little parties. Even though attendance has fallen far short of their expectations, they were able to get their message out thanks to their media sponsor, Fox News. Media Matters has compiled a nice little montage of videos from various Tea Vee sources:

But there was so much more. For instance, Joe the (fake) Plumber had this to say at a Michigan TP:

“Let me give you another extremist view, ‘In God We Trust.’ Say that too loud in some parts of America and you will be shot. It’s terrible.”

Joey the P didn’t bother to specify what part of the country that would be. I can’t think of any place where militant atheists are knocking off folks who quote from currency. However, I can think of whole regions (I’m looking at you southerners) where fanatical gun enthusiasts revel in making violent threats directed at liberals, minorities, or anyone they view as different. Amongst those southerners is Texas governor Rick Perry, whose tea party address sounded more like a call for a new Confederacy:

“We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”

If Texas wants out of America, I say let them go – and take the rest of the south with them. I’m sure they’ll be very happy in their theocratic utopia, railing against imagined threats of Socialism – or worse, as Cody Willard from Fox Business News demonstrates by urging us to fight the Fascism that’s permeating the country:

Glenn Beck’s Acute Paranoia Revue took to the road to host the Alamo’s tea fest. The entire hour featured musical accompaniment from the Motor City Jackass, Ted Nugent, who famously taunted Hillary Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Barack Obama to “suck on” the end of his assault rifle.

Neil Cavuto attended a lame rally in Sacramento, CA, where he interviewed a girl who appeared to be about nine years old. He tried valiantly to put words in her mouth to the effect that she was there as a committed protester, not because her parents made her be there. But she defiantly refused and, at the end of the segment, she shouted at him that she was really there because she got to cut school. Nice try, Neil.

Cavuto and Beck devoted two full hours of live programming to the Tea Bagging. That’s a huge chunk of broadcast real estate. And it isn’t over. Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Greta Van Susteren have yet to air. Hannity and Van Susteren previously announced that their programs would be live with the TPers.

I’m sure there are going to be an untold bounty of both comical and disturbing episodes erupting in the hours and days to come. But these were a few that I didn’t want to let get away. Fox News will begin spinning the days events into a fantastical misrepresentation of reality this evening. At least the truth about Fox’s role as the PR agency for the Republican Party (and the Tea Party) is becoming better understood by more people. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has summoned the courage to honestly portray today’s events:

“[W]e call call it astroturf, it’s not really a grassroots movement. It’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.”

That’s it in a wingnut shell.


Fox News: Get Ready To Tea Party

Posted by on April 15, 2009 at 1:24 am. 4 Comments :

The astroturf-roots charades that Fox News has been reporting as “Tea Parties” are almost here. Tomorrow is the big day and Fox has been ramping up their promotions. It has been well documented that these shams were conceived and executed by major players in the Republican Party and affiliated partisan advocacy groups like FreedomWorks. But now Keith Olbermann has put together a brilliant montage that shows just how hard Fox has been working to make these events successful.

The giddy elation these people project is reminiscent of a six year old being told that tomorrow the family is going to Disneyland. This has to be the high point of the year for these pathetic souls. The anticipation with which they are dripping seems to fill them with ecstasy. They apparently have gotten over their fear that ACORN’s Soros-backed community organizers are lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce just as their festivities get under way.

The White House is reacting to the day of revolting right-wingers in a particularly appropriate way:

QUESTION: Thanks, Robert. Tomorrow is tax day and a number of conservative groups are organizing these so called “tea parties” across the country; there are going to be grassroots uprising revolts against the administration’s policies so far. Is the President aware that these are going on and do you have any reaction to this?

ROBERT GIBBS: I don’t know if the President is aware of the events. I think the President will use tomorrow as a day to have an event here at the White House to signal the important steps in the economic recovery and reinvestment plan that cut taxes for 95 percent of working families in America, just as the President proposed doing; cuts in taxes and tax credits for the creation of clean energy jobs.

We’ll use tomorrow to highlight individual and instances in families that have seen their taxes cut and I think America can be — Americans will see more money in their pockets as a direct result of the Making Work Pay tax cut that the President both campaigned on and passed through Congress.

First of all, the reporter who asked the question needs to be schooled on what constitutes a “grassroots uprising revolt.” When the organizing principals are political insiders like Dick Armey and Ari Fleischer, and the PR is run by Fox News, it is beyond absurd to describe it as grassroots. More to the point, though, it’s nice to see that President Obama is not devoting much attention to this. The Tea Baggers can throw their pity party in the vast wasteland of their imaginations.

For those of you contemplating joining in on the Tea Bagging, I have this word of advice: Be careful out there. The crazy is extra thick.

Update: President Obama: For too long, we’ve seen taxes used as a wedge to scare people into supporting policies that actually increased the burden on working people instead of helping them live their dreams. That has to change, and that’s the work that we’ve begun.


Right Wing Radicals Resist Recognition

Posted by on April 14, 2009 at 6:42 pm. NO Comments :

The Department of Homeland Security has issued an interesting report titled, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” An excerpt:

“The consequences of a prolonged economic downturn-including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit-could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities.”

Despite the fact that the DHS has previously published a report on left-wing extremists, rightists are outraged, and convinced that they are being targeted for harassment by government spooks. Michele Malkin got so fired up that she let loose this tirade:

“…the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives. And the intent is clear.”

She then seemed to suggest that the intent was to sabotage her precious tea bagging parties. Really? Does she honestly believe that the DHS is so fearful of Fox News viewers congregating to wave tea bags and whine about Socialism that they produced this report to protect themselves? It is also notable that nowhere in the report were “conservatives” even mentioned. The report went into some detail describing the potential risks associated with groups that traffic in hate, racism, and antisemitism (maybe it did mention conservatives after all – implicitly). It warned of violent militias that oppose immigrants, abortion, and any manner of regulation of guns. To anyone with a fourth-grade comprehension it is clear that the report refers exclusively to extremists and militants that pose a threat to other law-abiding citizens.

So why is Malkin, and the rest of the conservative cabal, defending these dangerous malcontents? Is it because they support criminality in pursuit of a radical conservative agenda? Or is it because they see themselves in the descriptions in the report? Either way it is clear that that they are acting as advocates for these repugnant cranks. They are apparently offended that the government would seek to protect citizens from domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph.

If anything, the complaints about this report demonstrate that the likes of Malkin, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, etc., are indeed aligned with the radical extremists the report warns of. They just really don’t like having that spotlight shone on them.


Glenn Beck Gives Guest The Vapors

Posted by on April 13, 2009 at 4:48 pm. NO Comments :

On today’s Glenn Beck show, a guest was stricken and, after warning Beck three times that he was about to pass out, he fell to the ground. The alert director made sure to take a wide camera shot so that the audience could see the poor man prostrate on the studio floor. David Buckner, professor of organizational leadership at Columbia University, was discussing the economy with Beck when he wobbled and fell.

Shortly after the incident, Beck announced that Buckner was OK. But, not one to waste a catastrophe, Beck made a point of cheerfully describing how this was a good thing for his show:

“Everybody thought it was part of the show because this show, you never know what to expect. [Buckner] apologizes, and I’m like ‘are you kidding me, the ratings will be through the roof!'”

How thoughtful. It appears Beck has gone the full Howard Beale. Either that, or this is a preview of his just announced Comedy Tour:

This makes perfect sense. What’s funnier than a guy who goes on TV everyday crying like a baby about the impending end of western civilization? He’s a natural. Here’s a sample joke from Beck’s show:

A priest, a minister and a rabbi go into a bar – and they are all killed by Soros-backed ACORN protesters bused in from FEMA camps where they were re-educated by the mainstream media to worship Obama and Islam.

Funny stuff. I can’t wait.


Fox News Tea Baggers Consumed With Fear

Posted by on April 9, 2009 at 10:14 am. 6 Comments :

The upcoming Tax Day Tea Parties are shaping up to be a source of unending hilarity. A week before the event, supporters are already fretting over their self-invented fears of being infiltrated by the liberal, Soros-sponsored, ACORN hordes, who apparently have nothing better to do than disrupt the Foxbots’ Mad Hatter Fests.


[Isn’t it a little disrespectful to place a used tea bag on the American flag, staining it?]

The right-wing blogosphere is all atwitter with anxiety at the thought of lefties crashing their lame parties. Take a look at some of these examples:

Michele Malkin: And on the ground, the tax-subsidized and Soros-subsidized troops are going to try and wreak havoc every way they can. Many readers and fellow bloggers have seen signs that ACORN may send in ringers and saboteurs to usurp the anti-tax, anti-reckless spending, anti-bailout message.

Neil Cavuto: Only eight days before a nationwide tea party, some over-caffeinated crashers aiming to lay waste to it. Reports of very well-organized infiltrators trying to mix in and rain on this parade. Talk about taxing.

Townhall: The latest attack from the left is not aimed at the Republican party or Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh, but at Democrat, Republican and Independent Americans across the country who have dared to organize “tea parties” to oppose rising taxes, more government control over private enterprise and less individual liberty.

I’m still having trouble grasping how the right can view liberals as weak, tottering, appeasers of Socialism, yet still fear their foreboding presence at a political rally. It parallels their thoroughly illogical perception of President Obama as lacking the courage or strength to be an effective leader, yet he is also a tyrannical despot plotting to enslave America and bend the world to his will.

The truth about these astroturf-roots charades is that they are nothing more than promotions for Fox News. They are pitched on the air and on Fox Nation. At least four Fox “personalities” are hosting the events (Glenn Beck, Neil Cavuto, Sean Hannity, and Greta Van Susteren). Fox even describes them as “FNC TAX DAY TEA PARTIES.”

Any other news enterprise that covers these shams is acting as Fox’s PR agency. Would Fox hype NBC’s Today show concerts outside their Manhattan studio? Of course not. The press should ignore these staged commercial publicity traps and cease to be bullied into providing free advertising for their competition. The only coverage these jokers deserve is on The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live.

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Who’s Afraid Of Fox News? The Rest Of The Media!

Posted by on April 6, 2009 at 4:26 pm. 8 Comments :

Fox News has long established itself as the biggest bully on the block. We already know that they have no journalistic standards. They will lie, proselytize, demean, and censor, all in pursuit of an ultra-rightist ideological agenda.

But it is not enough for them to spread disinformation on public policy, they are also engaged in a fierce campaign to discredit every outlet for news with whom they disagree. This campaign has the double-barreled benefit of advancing their political goals, while simultaneously tarnishing the reputations of their competitors.

This is not a new development. Fox has been shoving around the other kids on the press playground for quite some time. In October of 2007, Chief Bully, Bill O’Reilly, took a wild swing at the media with an overtly hostile tone:

“[T]here is a huge problem in this country and I’m going to attack that problem. I’m going to attack it. These people aren’t getting away with this. I’m going to go right where they live. Every corrupt media person in this country is on notice, right now. I’m coming after you…I’m going to hunt you down […] if I could strangle these people and not go to hell and get executed…I would.”

Even then, the broader media community refused to fend off these assaults. They seemed to take the beatings like emotionally defenseless battered spouses who just kept coming back for more abuse. In response to O’Reilly’s tantrum I wrote:

“It is a little surprising that, in the aftermath of these threats, his targets haven’t bothered to stand up for themselves. Media organizations and individuals in broadcast, cable, and newspapers, are all being hammered by this seriously disturbed shill-miester and they don’t seem to have the slightest desire to defend their reputation or professional honor. How can they when they are so busy trying to emulate him?”

In the nearly two years that has elapsed, not much has changed. O’Reilly still harangues everyone from NBC to the New York Times; from Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to multiple Peabody honoree Bill Moyers. And of course, it isn’t just O’Reilly. The rest of the Rupert Murdoch stable is eagerly joining the attack. It’s even spilling out into the marketing of Fox News and its affiliates. Here are some of the ads they have run on air and in print:



So what does the allegedly responsible faction of the journalistic community do in response? Absolutely nothing. I have yet to see a single ad by any other network that addresses the biases of Fox News. Never mind that Fox is so much more corrupt than anything on America’s airwaves – and independent documentation proves it. But CNN, NBC, and the rest, seem to be hiding under their mattresses.

Given the brazen nature of Fox’s aggression, it would be understandable for the targets of their wrath to respond. It would be justifiable to expose Fox as a haven for hacks who are more committed to corporatist advocacy than to journalism, or even democracy. It would, in fact, be their responsibility to simply report the truth about Fox’s deliberately deceptive programming.

What’s wrong with these losers? They are neglecting their duties to inform the public. They are validating the allegations against them by surrendering to them. They have the truth on their side to fight back with, so why don’t they use it? On top of all of that, they are trailing Fox in the ratings which impacts their fiscal well being. Can’t they see that it would be in their interest to fire back at Fox?

A concerted effort on the part of Fox’s victims could turn the TV landscape around. If the other networks were to serve the audience by disclosing Fox’s suspect motives and reportorial failings, they could dampen the public perception of the Republican network. They need to deal honestly with Fox as a propaganda machine. They need to do more than take opposing positions in their programs. They need to take the battle to Fox with at least the same intensity as Fox takes it to them. They need to use documentation and mockery to illuminate to the world what is obvious to those of us who are paying attention: That Fox is a fraud and a joke.

They need to do these things as an act self defense. They need to do them to restore confidence in their product. They need to do them to compete with a pseudo-news enterprise that has no qualms about destroying reputations with insults and falsehoods. They need to do these things in the interests of both professional journalism and their own bottom lines.

In the end, the targets of Fox’s animus have to stand up for themselves. They can’t rely on gadflies like me to come to their aid. They have to bring their case to the people in their advertising, their on air promotions, and in their reporting. They have to demonstrate that they have pride in their work and faith in the truth. And by doing so they can revitalize broadcast journalism. They can prevail over Fox’s ratings domination. And they can help to diminish the crazed voices that are haunting the paranoid conspiracy brigades who watch Fox News.


How To Get Fired At Fox News

Posted by on April 6, 2009 at 2:07 am. NO Comments :

Roger Friedman, the entertainment columnist at FoxNews.com has reportedly been fired for an unforgivable breach of Fox’s ethical standards. He disclosed in his column (since deleted) that he had acquired and viewed a bootleg copy of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” A statement from Fox said:

“This behavior is reprehensible and we condemn this act categorically.”

Friedman chose the wrong ox to gore. He ought to have known that Fox would view dimly any action that might impact their bottom line. There would have been no problem if he had joked about assassinating Barack Obama (as Fox contributor Liz Trotta did), or read Republican Party press releases on the air as if they were actually news (as anchor Jon Scott did). He would still have a job today if he had only expressed a desire to strangle competing reporters (as Bill O’Reilly did), or to choke Michael Moore to death (as Glenn Beck did). The problem with Friedman’s transgression was that it put future corporate profits at risk, not mere human lives. So, obviously he had to go.

As it turns out, Friedman has been asking for it for years. In previous reviews of the aforementioned Michael Moore, Friedman praised both “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko”:

On Fahrenheit 9/11: “It turns out to be a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.” He continued, “…a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty – and at the same time a indictment of stupidity and avarice.”

On Sicko: “Filmmaker Michael Moore’s brilliant and uplifting new documentary, ‘Sicko,’ deals with the failings of the U.S. healthcare system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity.”

Perhaps Fox was looking for an opportunity to boot this Commie out the door. But since even threatening the lives of public figures doesn’t warrant termination, they were stuck with him. Until now, when he was caught watching a video that has been circulating on the Internet and was freely available to web surfing movie fans around the globe. It was that ethical infraction that cost him his job.

I suppose we should just be grateful that Fox is demonstrating any ethical standards at all. Now if they would just look into Beck’s fomenting of armed rebellion.


Fox News: Comfort Food For Fearful Fools

Posted by on April 3, 2009 at 3:59 pm. 4 Comments :

Last month I composed an analysis of the ratings success at Fox News this year. Amongst the reasons I posited was this:

“…by heating up the aggressive tone, Fox has fashioned a hearth around which despondent conservatives can huddle. In 2006 they suffered the loss of both houses of congress. Now they have lost the presidency as well – and to what they view as an unpatriotic, Muslim, elitist, intent on driving the nation to Socialism in a Toyota hybrid. So now they congregate in the warm red glow of the Fox News logo that provides them the comfort that comes from numbing propaganda and the righteous smiting of perceived enemies.”

Guess what? My theory has now been affirmed by none other than Fox News Senior VP Bill Shine:

“…one suggestion for FNC’s strong showing is that, to a degree, it serves as comfort food in troubled times for loyal viewers.

‘I think that is somewhat the case,’ said Bill Shine, the network’s senior vice president of programming. ‘There are people who want to check out or read or look at places where they feel comfortable.'”

Thank you, Bill. That validation will serve to lend credibility to my other observations regarding how Fox News repeatedly misrepresents their status in the media. You know, the Mainstream Media that they constantly castigate for being biased despite their prominent role in it.

As a recent example of their deceit, Bill O’Reilly has spent much of the last week parading around the dial in celebration of his 100th month as the top-rated show in cable news. He even went so far as to make comparisons of himself with groundbreaking historical TV programs:

“I don’t think it’s ever been done in any kind of TV milieu. We had our people research all programs going back to the 50s, like Gunsmoke and things like that. Nobody’s ever stayed on top this long.”

Keith Olbermann, however, revealed that O’Reilly isn’t even close to the record he claims. The Today Show has been #1 for 166 months, and Meet the Press for 131. Even worse, the comparison to network programs like Gunsmoke is deliberately dishonest. Gunsmoke was #1 against ALL network programming. O’Reilly never did that. The Factor was never even #1 against all cable programming. He has merely been #1 against cable “news” programming – a much smaller pond.

This is the sort of self-deception that losers have to exploit to maintain their self-esteem. So O’Reilly will continue to boast about feats he has not achieved, and Fox News will continue to provide a home for America’s orphaned conservatives. They will give each other solace as they strive to disseminate falsehoods about creeping Socialism and leftist monsters hiding under the bed.

Fox News is like chicken soup for socially stunted right-wingers.


Rush Limbaugh Leaving New York?

Posted by on April 2, 2009 at 11:44 am. 7 Comments :

When Rush Limbaugh says something, you can take it to the … well, the AIG subsidiary that manages credit default swaps.

On his radio program yesterday, Limbaugh went on an extended tirade over taxes in New York. Seeing as how hundreds of millions of dollars, and villas in New York, Florida, and probably more, aren’t enough to satisfy his thirst for opulence and Oxy-Contin, he is threatening to abandon the Big Apple and relocate elsewhere:

“I’m gonna look for an alternative studio somewhere outside New York. I’ll sell my apartment. I’ll sell my condominium. I’m gonna get out of there totally because this is just absurd, and it’s ridiculous.”

I’m going to go record now as being completely and utterly skeptical that Limbaugh will keep his word and flee the city. It is just another example of his boorish posturing that is more theatrical than truthful (which pretty well describes his whole act).

Although I don’t for a second believe that Limbaugh will bail, Jon Stewart (and millions of New Yorkers) are hoping that he will:

Go on Rush…we DARE you!