The tea party's exaggerated importance
JONATHAN MARTIN & BEN SMITH | 4/22/10 5:05 AM EDT
POLITICO 44
2009 was the year when many journalists concluded they were slow to recognize the anti-government, anti-Obama rage that gave birth to the tea party movement.
2010 is the year when news organizations have decided to prove they get it.
And get it. And get it some more.
Part of the reason is the timeless truth in media that nothing succeeds like excess. But part of the reason is a convergence of incentives for journalists and activists on left and right alike to exaggerate both the influence and exotic traits of the tea-party movement. In fact, there is a word for what poll after poll depicts as a group of largely white, middle-class, middle-aged voters who are aggrieved: Republicans.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36185.html
POLITICO 44
2009 was the year when many journalists concluded they were slow to recognize the anti-government, anti-Obama rage that gave birth to the tea party movement.
2010 is the year when news organizations have decided to prove they get it.
And get it. And get it some more.
Part of the reason is the timeless truth in media that nothing succeeds like excess. But part of the reason is a convergence of incentives for journalists and activists on left and right alike to exaggerate both the influence and exotic traits of the tea-party movement. In fact, there is a word for what poll after poll depicts as a group of largely white, middle-class, middle-aged voters who are aggrieved: Republicans.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36185.html
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1 Comments:
As a card carrying (and gun carrying) member of the Tea Party movement, this is yet another piece that does not understand what the Tea Party movement is about. The history of the Tea Party movement began in 2006 when conservatives - fed up with Big Government Republicanism under Bush/DeLay/Frist - stayed home in droves ushering in the Democrats in 2006. We conservatives looked at the Bush record and the Republican subsidies and debt runup, threw up our collective hands and said 'fuck it. we're not voting for these sell outs'. To be sure, I voted for Amy Klobuchar in 2006 for Senate over Mark Kennedy. Our collective apathy continued in 2008 when the Republican Party nominated another member of the Big Government club John McCain for President. I voted for Ron Paul in 2008. But, after Obama became president and the shenanigans right out of the box with the so-called Stimulus Bill - passed without having been read by most of Congress - we took our collective anger towards our government to the streets and, later, to the public forums over our outrage at Ca$s For Clunker$, and the Health Care takeover and Obama's trillion dollar budgets with the trillion dollar deficits. If this is the kind of 'fundamental change' Obama was campaigning about, we will reject it forthwith as loudly as possible.
Now, the Tea Party movement doesn't commit acts of violence like, say, the environmental movement or the anti-war movement or union goon squads. These protestors are held up as saints by the legacy media for their philosophies and actions. Yet, those of us who peacably assemble and petition our government for a redress of grievances are called 'racist', 'homophobic', 'teabaggers' and our importance 'exaggerated'. But, we don't care. For the tea Party movement it's not about media exposure - it's about standing up to Big Government and trying as we might to force the Federal Government back in to the Constitutional limits it is supposed to have. In the final analysis, we in the Tea Party movement pay attention and we vote. Hopefully, either the Democrats or the Republicans understand who we are and decide that our out-of-control federal government needs to be reined in once and for all. Our importance will be determined in November.
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