Tax Day TEA Party - The Aftermath

Many have tried to summarize what the Tax Day TEA Parties were all about, but I think Laura Ingraham, who attended the TEA Party in Washington DC, said it best in an interview about 5 minutes into this video:

"What I think what these these people all are saying is that neither political party is representing their interests. They're tired of Republicans who act like Democrats, and they're tired of Democrats who don't care about mortgaging their future. . . The common sentiment here is that at some point, this bill is going to come due. . . [These are people] who are dismissed by most of the media, who are flicked off as fleas by so many in the so-called objective media, and they're tired of it. . . This is not about politics. This is about America."

When the Tea Parties erupted on February 27, we tried to provide a fairly complete list of links to coverage of the events in various cities. There was precious little media coverage of that hastily organized event. But on April 15, there were hundreds of TEA ('Taxed Enough, Already') Parties attended by hundreds of thousands of taxpayers - estimates range from 450,000 to 1 million - an event too big for the old media to dismiss and old-guard politicians to ignore without comment. Unfortunately, they didn't listen to Laura.



Evidently, Susan Roesgen isn't happy about ordinary folks expressing opinions she doesn't personally agree with, but CNN is still happy to call her a "reporter". (This guy wants her job.)

In case you don't remember what real journalism looks like, compare the above to a surprisingly even-handed report from ABC 7 Chicago:



The old media absurdities didn't stop with that ridiculous excuse for a report by Roesgen. Many have already commented on the the frat-boy sexual terminology they used to describe their fellow Americans' attempt to (finally) be heard. Other than this mention, I won't elaborate on the gutter humor used on MSNBC, CNN, and others. It is the puerile, juvenile commentary of a sick and dying media.

Since TEA Party participants will never be a political flavor-of-the-month, old guard politicians didn't like the protests much either. Rep. Jan Schakowsky described it as "despicable", and a "shameful political stunt". To Axelrod, evidently it was 'disaffection mutated into something unhealthy'. Other commentary: "They don't know what they're protesting." (A variant of stupid-bumpkin in flyover-country political theory.) "It's racism." It was "astroturfing" by the RNC, or by Fox News, or by the Heartland Institute, or by a bewildering list of individual Republicans. And of course, the old standby: "It's Bush's fault."

Translation: Shut up and pay your taxes.

So, once again, responsible working Americans are both denigrated and "flicked off as fleas" by the "so-called objective media", dismissed and insulted by Democrats "who don't care about mortgaging their future", and I'm going to guess that didn't make them less angry. What do these awful protesters look like? Just click an epithet to see videos and photos of your fellow despicable, shameful, selfish, mutant, disaffected, astroturfed, stupid Americans, and you'll see for yourself what denigrating Democrats and a disintegrating media simply cannot understand. This really is not about politics. It's about America.