Fox News' 'Teabagging' Events Prove the Right Can't Do Grassroots

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/136278/fox_news%27_%27teabagging%27_events_prove_the_right_can%27t_do_grassroots/#more

Fox News' 'Teabagging' Events Prove the Right Can't Do Grassroots

Posted by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly at 11:01 AM on April 12, 2009.


Media Matters' Karl Frisch notes Glenn Beck's role in this week's Tea-bagging events. It points to a larger truth that often goes overlooked.

Beck isn't just helping with turnout. Discussing his participation in the upcoming protest at the Alamo in San Antonio on his syndicated radio program, Beck announced, "I'm going to do a fundraiser for them" to help defray costs. "So you can come and you can have lunch with me. ... I don't know any of the details, but I've heard it's like $500 a plate or something like that."

While the notion of someone paying $500 to have lunch near Glenn Beck is itself amusing, I think Oliver Willis captures the broader significance: "When people were protesting the Iraq War, they didn't have $500 a plate fundraisers. Then again, they didn't have sponsorship from Fox News, the backing of corporate lobbyists and the attendance of prominent conspiracy theorists like Alan Keyes."

Right. Even after all the teaching moments of the last decade or so, it seems the right still doesn't quite get the meaning of the word "grassroots." Conservatives still seem wedded to a top-down model.

We've seen this play out several times of late. Remember "Freedom's Watch"? Conservatives decided they needed their own version of MoveOn.org, so some loyal Bushies went to a right-wing billionaire for seed money, and the top-down game was in motion. The result, despite considerable hype, was a bust, and the far-right group has already folded.

There's some evidence to suggest the Tea Parties are following a similar trajectory. These right-wing events aren't just coming together naturally; they're the product of Fox News and corporate lobbyists. This is practically a textbook example of "astroturf." That Glenn Beck is charging $500 a plate to have lunch with him, to help subsidize the effort, only helps reinforce the larger dynamic.

Conservatives too often think, "We'll get some money together, deliver a right-wing message, and the grassroots will come together. It'll be awesome." Except, it never is.

This isn't to say turnout will necessarily be low on Wednesday; I wouldn't be surprised if far-right voters turned out in substantial numbers. The point is, corporate-sponsored events, thrown together with no clear purpose or specific aims, are not the foundation for a political movement or effective activism.

[canetoad]

1. Wedded to a 'top down' model?

They were forged from the cosmic dust of the oldest top down model. In a system created by 'me first', it's not possible to have grass roots.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. As someone brilliantly pointed out here earlier,

what they really need is a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER.

I'm still chortling over that one ..........

[Kali]

12. bwahahahahha

no shit!

[brettdale]

3. Kick

Kick

[patrice]

4. If they protest taxes going into bailouts that include bonuses, they support ending

Contract Law, the basis of ALL Business in the U.S.

[Hello_Kitty]

7. Except the contracts of auto workers, apparently. eom

[patrice]

16. That's the way it always is with them:

"This is the way that it is going to be for everyone, unless we say it isn't."

Democrats, on the other hand, start from the position that everything is relative and ALL of us need to work out the details.

I really can just barely understand what they think this tea bagging thing is:

Are they protesting not enough tax cuts for the wealthy?

Are they protesting that taxes will be spent to fulfill financial contracts that include bonuses? Have any of them thought what an end to Contract Law in the U.S. would be? How do you end ONLY the ones you don't like? It would be like throwing a switch, EVERYTHING Off!

Are they protesting that taxes may be spent on social programs that help those who have been robbed of their jobs and lives? Is it better for those people and their children to wander the conuntry suffering and causing trouble?

[FrenchieCat]

5. I filed a complaint on-line with the FCC against News Corporation and Fox News!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8335666&mesg_id=8335666

[Xipe Totec]

6. Astroturf has no roots n/t

[canetoad]

8. LOL

:rofl:

[Telly Savalas]

9. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are the Relgious Right not the foot soldiers of the GOP

in a lot of places?

That's kind of a big part of the reason red states are red, yeah?

They may organize and network in churches instead of holding big protests, but it's still largely a grassroots movement.

And in its heyday, the KKK was a grassroots organization which exercised a lot of power.

I'd agree that it's pretty tough to manufacture a grassroots movement from the top down like the teabaggers are trying to do, but it's naive to pretend that grassroots organizing the exclusive domain of the left.

[Hello_Kitty]

13. If anything, I'd argue that the Right has been better than the Left at grassroots organizing

Obama, of course, being a noteworthy exception.

[moobu2]

10. Newt Gingrich

I haven’t been following this story closely but for laughs we listen to AFA radio (rightwing christian - American Family Radio) at work and Newt Gingrich has been running radio ads for Teabagging crap there for weeks. Grass roots my ass.

[Richard Steele]

11. Nothing INSPIRING has come out of the Conservative mind since the age of John Adams.

It's a FACT!

[gratuitous]

14. Who pays the fiddler calls the tune

The list of deep-pocket sugar daddies who will bankroll a "grassroots" movement and then not insist on setting the agenda is extremely short. And the number of right wing funders of any sort is dwindling, thanks to their political "success" during the last decade.

The idea of an organic movement that coalesces around an idea and then develops a plan of action as the group comes to a consensus doesn't really click for the authoritarian mindset who foster these nutball ideas and certainly not for their followers who show up, waiting to be told what to do.

[mucifer]

15. we will have a better idea on the 15th.

[madamesilverspurs]

17. $500?

Ah, I can picture it now. Instead of soft music and candlelight there will be military anthems and fireworks. No dancing, just marching. And through it all (be still, my heart!) there will be dear, sweet Glenn making goo goo eyes at Ms. Coulter.


(flush)



Seriously, it wasn't that long ago that Anne was the 'star' at a booksigning that was supposed to be a fundraiser for a GOP gubernatorial candidate in Colorado. All the planning, all the prep work, all the advertising, all that money spent on the caterer. The sheer excitement of it all! And how many people showed up? Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Gigglesnort.

[azul]

18. Don't drink the astroturf tea!

You start marching to godforsaken martial rhythms, and you find that you have to wear special shoes.