Thursday, October 6, 2011

Definitely grassroots and popular

Essayist Terrence Heath ponders the current state of the Tea Party. First he notes the Tea Party is portrayed in the media as a "grassroots" movement when it has corporate origins, corporate backing, and a corporate agenda. Then he notes it is portrayed as "popular" movement but it and its agenda are more unpopular than atheists. That takes some work. (Perhaps those using that term mean "populist," but then we're back to the first problem).

Heath notes the drop in favorability ratings coincides with the Tea Party's control of the GOP in the House. It is hard to sell what people won't buy. The GOP focus on everything but jobs and pursuing a cut-and-gut agenda isn't selling to most citizens. Finally, Obama is talking about jobs. And if Obama keeps talking about jobs and the GOP keeps talking about everything but, the Tea Party may be over.



The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, now that they are spreading across the country, have finally gotten the attention of mainstream media this week. Many of the talking heads are unfavorably comparing these protesters with the Tea Party. Really, now. The most concise view of the issue is from, of course, Jon Stewart. Now that they have the nations attention the conservative talking heads are, naturally, raining down abuse. Which Stewart highlights most effectively.

A participant in Occupy Wall Street is interviewed by Fox. It is quickly obvious why Fox never showed it. This video was not by a Fox cameraman (which is why the frame wanders). The comments suggest this guy is a well known part of the progressive website Daily Kos with the byline Ministry of Truth.

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