Right Wing Tea Bag Protests - Will Liberals Will Be Caught Flat Footed And Out-Organized ala Prop 8?

[Median Democrat]

We have read about Fox News helping to organize and publicize next weeks' Tea Bag protests, which will be portrayed as an indictment of President Obama's "socialist" policies, and a rejection of his agenda on health care, taxes and spending.

The question is whether liberals will be out-organized and caught by surprised due to the superior financial backing and corporate organization being provided by News Corp? This "grass roots" protest is essentially being back and promoted by Rupert Murdoch i a manner similar to the way the Moromon Church and wealthy conservatives secretly bankrolled the Proposition 8 campaign.

My take is that the progressive elements of Obama's agenda will be lost due to this "popular" uprising the way Proposition 8 was passed by popular vote in California. Liberals do not generally watch Fox News or CNBC, thus they probably will not be aware of the efforts by these propaganda channels to promote this pro-corporate grass roots movement.

Of course, given the violent rage of Glen Beck's rants, perhaps it is not safe for liberals to confront the right wing types who will be attending such rallies.

[bunkerbuster1]

1. I too am concerned about the lack of being teabagged!

Seriously, I think most of the nation will regard the teabaggees as a joke.

[backwoodsbob]

4. dont bet on that

take this shit they are doing serious.

They have LOTS of people doing this and it WILL get airtime.

We need to counter this shit

[Median Democrat]

5. I Admit. I Thought That The Pro-Prop 8 Demostrators Were A Joke

Afterall, who would seriously think that Californians would adopt a proposition banning gay marriage?

[bunkerbuster1]

21. Let's do remember that the teabaggers are protesting something that's already happened.

Stimulus has been passed. Budget is passed.

This is a whine-a-thon; Prop 8 was about something to be determined.

[Thrill]

2. Its only popular in the minds of RW nuts

.

[zulchzulu]

3. I haven't seen any... and Republicans are generally too lazy to actually do grassroots efforts

Aside from the anti-abortion folks that ride buses to DC and fill the coffers of priest wallets (and haven't gotten jackshit done about abortion from conservative "leaders"), I have found that most Republicans are just too lazy or dim-witted to actually do any kind of successful grassroots efforts.

Sure, they go to gun shows. Hopefully, they'll all use the guns on themselves.

[backwoodsbob]

6. excuse me folks...wake the fuck up

they are doing concerts and festivals and shit and people WILL be there.

We have to counter this shit.

[walldude]

8. Why? It's not like they can do anything but bitch...

I hope they come out in huge numbers so they can see what it's like have a 100 thousand people march and still be totally marginalized.

[backwoodsbob]

9. like we were marginalized 7 years ago?

yep yep

[walldude]

24. Exactly... 100-300 thousand show up and the MSM reports

"tens" of thousands for 3 seconds then show the 15 freepers who showed up to counter protest for 5 minutes. Not that I believe this little tea party will draw anything near a thousand people.

[LanternWaste]

25. And the way they are marginalizedbeing now...

And the way they are currently being marginalized...

[Median Democrat]

10. Its A Grass Roots Movement With Corporate Sponsorship - The Best Kind!

I also expect the media to cover-up who is actually funding these "grassroots" protests such as Fox News:

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/steve_katz/2009/04/has-fox-news-gone-one-tea-bag.php?ref=reccafe

/snip

Of course Fox is careful to maintain their obligatory .0006 degrees of journalistic separation:

TaxDayTeaParty.com lists Fox News contributors Michelle Malkin and Tammy Bruce as "Tea Party Sponsors." The sponsors section also lists American Solutions for Winning the Future, whose general chairman is Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich. Gingrich filmed a video "invitation" to attend the April 15 protests. According to TaxDayTeaParty.com, "Gingrich will be a featured speaker" at the April 15 protest in New York City.

/snip

[zulchzulu]

16. Concerts and festivals where it's a friggin' Potbellied Mullet Party is not grassroots...

They are further and further becoming the New Whigs. They can have their little shows and vote for Palin. They are shrinking as a party.

Also, who is getting the money from these festivals? It ain't going to get out the vote.

[stillcool]

20. who cares?

what are you 'countering'? You can't argue with ignorance. Let them have their party.

[Indiana_Dem]

7. There are a couple of people on my FB account who keep subtly mentioning tea party

in their statuses. One of them posted a link to an event down in our capital. I *don't* watch those news sources so I don't ever hear what's going on on that side totally.

[Aloha Spirit]

11. Isn't the protest going to be like on a Wednesday afternoon or something?

On tax day?

Huffington Post is organizing their activists to report on the Tea Party, so at least we'll have some idea of the results.

[Median Democrat]

13. Taxdayteaparty is Sponsored by By ...(drumroll)...Corporate America...

Including Fox personalities Tammy Bruce and Michelle Malkin. Of course, CNBC's Rick Santelli started the idea on his CNBC soapbox, and Fox News is now actively promoting it. The revolution has corporate sponsors:

http://mediamatters.org

/snip

While discussing the April 15 protests on his April 6 program, Glenn Beck suggested that viewers could "elebrate with Fox News" by either attending a protest or watching it on Fox News. Beck stated that in addition to himself, hosts Neil Cavuto, Greta Van Susteren, and Sean Hannity would be "live" at different protests. While Beck spoke, on-screen text labeled those protests as "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties."

/snip

http://taxdayteaparty.com/

<>

[tishaLA]

12. I've been saying that if there are tea parties, they should be in mostly blue states

Like CA, NY, and NJ, which get back significantly less of the federal tax dollars the states pay than welfare states like AK, AL, MS, LA, etc. The real uprisings should be in places like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston, because the welfare states are on the dole at our expense and have no problems taking a yearly stimulus package on our dime.

[Aloha Spirit]

15. I'll try to stop be the State House on the 15th and check out the vibe.

One guy said he ordered a colonial wig just for the occasion... haha I can't wait
These stooges are going to look so whiny with their lack of protest experience and their ill-fitting wigs.

[Drunken Irishman]

14. I'm not worried.

Seriously, these people are idiots and when Sean Hannity is your spokesperson, who outside of the right-wing will take them seriously?

[Arkana]

17. I think we need to be more concerned about them wanting to teabag us.

Don't you?

[npk]

18. The best thing progressives can do IMO

Is let these ring wing nuts have their little concert, tea bag party. We don't need to crash the party or try and divert attention with some protest. These people that show up will be seen as either hypocrites, and far more likely, loons. They are basically going to be sending a message to the people watching on television, all 50 of them, that they would rather give tax cuts to big business, tax cuts to the wealthy and oppose health care reform that could help cover middle and lower class families who are currently without it. As the old saying goes, "Good luck with that."

[Median Democrat]

19. True, If We Demonstrate, We Should So On Our Terms...And We Should Demonstrate

I do think we should organize our own demonstration in support of education, health care, energy, and those elements of Obama's platform that we do support.

[Cha]

23. Like their own worst enemy? Yeah, they

are. The refuks never have any plans..only bitching, pissing, and lying.

[AtomicKitten]

22. I view this as Joe the Plumber 2.0.

It appears their own stupidity will extinguish the flames of their faux outrage, and the likelihood of that outcome increases exponentially commensurate with the uptick in crazy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/glenn-beck-imitates-obama_n_185578.html

[rvablue]

26. Why bother confronting small groups of idiots who would've mounted "protests"

regardless of what Obama had decided to do.

It is a well-known fact, discovered by another DUer I believe, that this tea-bag BS was started even before Obama won the election, by the purchase of a URL prior to Nov. 4th.

And BTW, these looney-tune cry babies want to be confronted or else their little gatherings won't be receiving too much press. Nope, I'll be at home making fun of them on the Internet, thanks.

And yeah, liberals don't watch Fox or listen to Beck. And neither do 75% of the rest of the electorate.

Being worried about this is like hand-wringing and losing sleep about how the dead-enders and bigots of the nation are going to vote in the midterms. Who cares?