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All through the spring and summer of 2009, Tea Party media hands portrayed their anti-government - and anti-Obama - protests as the voice of a genuine grass roots movement. Now it's clear that any retelling of that story also must include a discussion of the Republican operatives who were whispering play calls behind the scenes. What with so many folks out and about for the holidays, this TPM Muckraker piece failed to garner wider attention.That would be the same TPM article I linked earlier, the one which asserted that because the Tea Party Express PAC paid $800,000 to the public relations firm which organized the tour, something foul was afoot. Anyway, Cooper linked my post, and it wasn't hard to discover that he was also the author of this August headline:
Teabaggers Shout Down Tampa Bay Town HallOK, it's free country, and Cooper is free to seek readers from the HuffPo/MSNBC axis. But I've covered the Tea Party movement pretty extensively and actually met Sal Russo, the former Reagan campaign aide who is accused by Cooper of "whispering play calls," whatever that means.
As a matter of fact, my good friend Barbara Espinosa interviewed Sal Russo in Orlando. Far from being a furtive, nefarious figure, he's a nice guy. I'm sure his skills -- organizing, fundraising, communication, management -- were very helpful to the Tea Party movement.
Why is Russo's involvement being used to insinuate that the protests are not "a genuine grass roots movement"? I've heard the same argument made about FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Campaign for Liberty and various other free-market organizations that have supported the Tea Party movement.
The Left and Democrats coordinate their activities through scores of individuals and organizations (George Soros, ACORN, SEIU, NARAL, GLSEN, etc.) and any conservative who sees a pattern there is denounced as a conspiracy-theory kook. But let mainstream political organizations on the Right become involved in . . . uh, mainstream politics, and liberals insist there must be something shady going on.
Anyway, thanks for the link, Charles Cooper. If CBS News ever decides to hire anyone who isn't a liberal, please send me a press release. That would be a huge story!
I just thought it was cool that CBS used a picture from the Boston Independence Day Tea Party that I organized.
ReplyDelete"But let mainstream political organizations on the Right become involved in . . . uh, mainstream politics, and liberals insist there must be something shady going on."
ReplyDeleteOh, but I thought the TeaBagging Party is a " grassroots" movement. Now I see that it is just another player in mainstream poltics.And all those protesters dressing in Halloween costumes for nothing?
It's cute how your interpretation of this story is that " the Left" is trying to insinuate something sleazy or illegal, when in fact the only thing the story reveals is the falsity of the "grassroots" claim.
This of course makes it easier to point out that Republican Party and Conservative Party are one in the same. The attempt by the GOP to rebrand itself by way of co-opting the TeaBagging movement, while simultaneously subverting the movement, is the real story here.
Nothing nefarious mind you, but entertaining nonetheless.
It's easy to pick apart the GOP when it has ties to the TeaBaggers, and it is easy to pick apart the TeaBaggers when it has ties to the GOP.
I mentioned before that the GOP is trying to swoop in and pick off the TeaBaggers, who they see as potential Republican voters. If the TeaBaggers only knew the big swindle at hand?
Oh boy, good luck in 2010. yer gonna need it.....
Y4E: Matthew, go peddle your nonsense at your own blog; nobody believes your bullshit here.
ReplyDeleteStacy's point is precisely that the Democrats don't actually do authentic grass-roots style activism like the Tea parties: they have a plethora of front groups to make it look like the masses are rising up and speaking truth to power, but without paid activism they'd have nothing. The Tea Parties, on the other hand, were not a partisan endeavor, as much as you and your pals in the lamestream media would like to pretend otherwise. There are Democrats and Independents partying along with Republicans and people who have never been active in any kind of politics before, which is something the LSM and the Democrats would like people to ignore. Yes, the GOP is trying to take advantage of this grass-roots rebellion; they'd be fools not to. For the same reason, the Democrats are trying to paint the TPM as a GOP front - because that's what they do themselves all the time. Projection, much?
@Wombat Rampant,
ReplyDeleteY4E is our Zampolit, our comic relief, our court jester.
Pick on this one gently; with nuance and style.
"Stacy's point is precisely that the Democrats don't actually do authentic grass-roots style activism like the Tea parties"
ReplyDeleteUh no. Stacy's point was to discredit the criticism that the TeaBagging movement is not "grassroots". But the evidence so far proves both you and Stacy wrong. BTW, Democrats don't pretend to do grassroots organizing the way you morons think.Obama never tried to run as a "grassroots" candidate. He ran as the Democrat nominee. He did not try to rebrand himself as something other than a Democrat. Unlike the TeaBaggers who try to pretend that they are not Republicans, Obama, although helped inlarge part by "grassroots" organizations, was clearly playing for the DNC. Stark difference to what the TeaBAggers pretend to be about.
"Yes, the GOP is trying to take advantage of this grass-roots rebellion; they'd be fools not to. For the same reason, the Democrats are trying to paint the TPM as a GOP front - because that's what they do themselves all the time. Projection, much?"
Nice try,buddy. But you're not making much sense.So the GOP would be fools not to take advantage of the " grass-roots rebellion? I'm sure all those Tea Party Patriots echo your sentiments. See here for what they really feel:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/tempest-tea-party
But hey, you guys will try any talking point to save face.
After all, according to a famous Republican strategist, Bush inherited 9-11.
Yeah.
Let's see how far that paper airplane flies....
"Pick on this one gently; with nuance and style."
No need, Smitty. The harder they come, the harder they fall....
Sayeth y4e: "But the evidence so far proves you and Stacy wrong." Oh, really? Since when are the unsupported blatherings of TPM evidence of anything? In any event, Stacy's 4:34 post seems to have put paid to that. As for how the Democrats and their "popular", "grassroots" movements work, I lived in Minneapolis for 25 years and got to see how the Democrats work at close range. I've forgotten more about how that party works at ground level than you could ever presume to tell me. Save your BS for the coeds, comrade.
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, I think your environment has poisoned your thinking. When I say "take advantage of", it doesn't mean "take all their money and screw them anyway", it means "find candidates who agree with the TPM's objectives". This is something the Republicans, who have always had a lot of economic conservatives in the base, can do more easily than the Democrats, who are generally beholden to the labor unions.
"Since when are the unsupported blatherings of TPM evidence of anything?"
ReplyDeleteUnsupported?
"The vast majority of that money was to reimburse Russo Marsh + Associates for the efforts where we fronted the money in our capacity as the organizers of the Tea Party Express"
So says Joe Wierzbicki. For fronting money to the Tea Party Express. A Republican front group posing as Tea Party reps.
No, nothing happening here...
"Republicans, who have always had a lot of economic conservatives in the base, can do more easily than the Democrats, who are generally beholden to the labor unions. "
Republicans and Conservatives beholden to Big Business interests. I see now that you've fallen for that con game.
Hey, keep voting against your best interest. Pro Health insurance types like yourself won't mind going into debt should, God forbid,
something happen to you.
Seriously dude, does your mommy still dress you?
Lobbying organizations are not the same as party blocs, and even a witling like you should be able to distinguish between labor union PACs on the one hand and lobbying firms on the other. As I said, quit trying to teach me about the Democrats. I know how they work and don't need you to educate me.
ReplyDeleteAccusing Republicans (and especially conservatives) of being beholden to Big Business is pretty weak, considering all the bailout money handed over to GM, Chrysler, most of the major national banks (including Wells Fargo, which didn't want the money and was forced to take it anyway), and a good chunk of Wall Street since 1/20 of this year by the Democrats' Congress (since 2006!) and this administration. As for the Democrats acting in my best interests, that hasn't been true since 1974 when they defunded the South Vietnamese. And since then they've just gotten worse.
As for my mother (who has been dead these last two years) you can leave her out of this, pendejo. That last crack tells me everything I need to know about your intelligence, or lack thereof.