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HOUSTON TEA PARTY!

Disastro

By Disastro
in State Politics

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TheNiche

TheNiche

Posted
Posted
The only reason people got out to protest yesterday on a "notable scale" is because it was a nationwide organized effort spearheaded by Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, and corporate & billionaire-funded interest groups that was heavily promoted by Fox News. Web sites for this were being registered last year, after Obama was elected but before he'd entered office. Astroturfing.

Can you provide evidence to support your allegations? My understanding was that the first TEA Party was the consequence of a goofball rant by a CNBC reporter...and the way that that event was handled, it clearly didn't have big money backing it and had a dearth of media coverage of any sort. It was lame and amateurish.

The second iteration was much more organized, however it just doesn't seem especially likely that the whole concept was planned so far in advance.

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Geoff8201

Geoff8201

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Wow, there's nothing else I can say really... John Stewart of all people spelled it out perfectly. Point made.

FNC, fair and balanced Republicans say... hmmm

Protest if you feel the need, it's every American's right... but could they have come up with a more original name for the event? TEA = Taxed Enough Already. God I'm getting tired of everything being an acronym. The main problem I see with that name is the Boston Tea Party is remembered as an American event with lots of Patriotism in the New World to so openly protest taxation imposed by the British. I feel as if they are associating these Tea parties with being a Patriot just by how they've named it. Anyone else agree? (Dems probably, Republicans, I'm sure not... round and round we go!)

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ihop

ihop

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Posted
Can you provide evidence to support your allegations? My understanding was that the first TEA Party was the consequence of a goofball rant by a CNBC reporter...and the way that that event was handled, it clearly didn't have big money backing it and had a dearth of media coverage of any sort. It was lame and amateurish.

The second iteration was much more organized, however it just doesn't seem especially likely that the whole concept was planned so far in advance.

The rant was by Rick Santelli in Chicago on Feb 19, 2009. chicagoteaparty.com was registered in August 2008 (before the election, a mistake on my part, but still possibly in anticipation of Obama being elected http://whois.domaintools.com/chicagoteaparty.com ) People did some investigation into this and didn't turn up much concrete evidence of a link, but the fact that the site that later served the sole purpose of hosting a video of a rant that hadn't yet been made and signing people up for a mailing list is suspicious.

Searching for the dates on that, the first hit touches on some of the information that points to astroturfing:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson...p_b_186979.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyi...ing-teaparties/

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HtownWxBoy

HtownWxBoy

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For me, this whole tea bag deal reached the height ridiculousness when our governor threw the word "secession" into the mix.

Yea... and cry-baby Glenn Beck on Fox News called that patriotic!

Glenn Beck

Can someone please explain to me how threatening to secede from the United States of America makes you a good American???? :unsure:

I don't recall anyone on Fox News calling those who wanted to move to Canada when Bush was reelected "patriots".... anyone else? :unsure:

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HtownWxBoy

HtownWxBoy

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Protest if you feel the need, it's every American's right... but could they have come up with a more original name for the event? TEA = Taxed Enough Already.

"Taxed Enough Already"... someone tell the teabaggers that President Obama is on their side... he's giving 95% of them tax cuts. Somehow they missed that. :wacko:

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Marksmu

Marksmu

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Wow, there's nothing else I can say really... John Stewart of all people spelled it out perfectly. Point made.

FNC, fair and balanced Republicans say... hmmm

Protest if you feel the need, it's every American's right... but could they have come up with a more original name for the event? TEA = Taxed Enough Already. God I'm getting tired of everything being an acronym. The main problem I see with that name is the Boston Tea Party is remembered as an American event with lots of Patriotism in the New World to so openly protest taxation imposed by the British. I feel as if they are associating these Tea parties with being a Patriot just by how they've named it. Anyone else agree? (Dems probably, Republicans, I'm sure not... round and round we go!)

Ah yes - CNN reporting fairly? Or so the Democrats say.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3fvNhdoc0

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Jax

Jax

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Posted

That Daily Show clip was funny.

I didn't realize they actually called it the "FNC Tax Day Tea Party" (where FNC stands for Fox News Channel). And the Fox News Channel actually broadcasted that title on their programming. And then they claimed they were just giving equal coverage to all protests.

Did MSNBC ever call the Iraq War protests with 500,000 people the "MSNBC Iraq War Protests"?

Did Fox News call the Iraq War protests the "FNC Iraq War Protests"? Did they cover them at all?

It just seems unusual to stick a network's name into the title of an event and then claim no sponsorship.

It also seems to me that FNC only covers protests that won't offend their viewers (Republicans). Maybe the MSNBC coverage of "Tea Bag Day" was less than Fox's but at least they had reporters on the scene and live images, that's more than you can say about Fox's coverage of other protests.

Watching MSNBC, it seemed to get about as much coverage as any protest. In general, protests don't get much coverage unless there is a lot of violence. When I saw Fox's coverage, it seemed like they were making this thing into the story of the year even though there were less people overall than many other protests in the past that they ignored..

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sarahiki

sarahiki

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I think something that is being completely overlooked here is that the news outlets are intentionally marginalizing the entire event - not just locally, but nationwide. I did not goto the event but the people who I talked to who did go said there were way more than 3500 people there in Jones Plaza - they think the number was more along the 5000-7000. But, where did this size of a protest show up in the Chronicle? Hidden down in the city state section - not the front page of any kind. Also - watched 45 minutes of FOX26 News this morning, and there was not a single mention of the tea party protests at all.

The media wants it to appear that thousands of folks did not show up to protest Obama and his policies, despite the fact that they did. They want you to believe that the only people who went there were crazy gun toting right wing crazies. Its really sickening incredibly biased hack reporting. If 10 people show up for a Quannel X protest it draws cameras from everywhere and plays not only front page but on the news in every slot. 5-7000 people show up in downtown to protest the medias love child. Lets not show that, instead lets put "counters taking toll of dead trees in Galveston from Ike" on the Front page - WHAT A JOKE.

And for those of you who really think that CNN is more balanced - enjoy this clip of hack reporting. My favorite part is where she says its not "family viewing" What a joke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3fvNhdoc0...player_embedded

Organized or not, agree with the protesters points, or not - this is the media not reporting on a news worthy event becuase it is not in line with their political agenda.

This is always true of media coverage of protests. Protesters are always portrayed as crackpots. The media will focus on one strange or violent episode in an otherwise peaceful protest, while neglecting to discuss the issues at all. It doesn't really matter whether it's a so-called "liberal" or "conservative" protest; the American media (with the exception perhaps of "Democracy Now") never provides good coverage.

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HtownWxBoy

HtownWxBoy

Posted
Posted

"It's hard to talk when you're teabagging"

--Anderson Cooper, CNN

Yet another reason to LOVE Anderson Cooper! The best part was he kept a straight face when he said it. :lol:

I saw foxnews.com was having a hissy fit over this... they are the ones holding up signs saying they were teabagging people.

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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Posted
The rant was by Rick Santelli in Chicago on Feb 19, 2009. chicagoteaparty.com was registered in August 2008 (before the election, a mistake on my part, but still possibly in anticipation of Obama being elected http://whois.domaintools.com/chicagoteaparty.com ) People did some investigation into this and didn't turn up much concrete evidence of a link, but the fact that the site that later served the sole purpose of hosting a video of a rant that hadn't yet been made and signing people up for a mailing list is suspicious.

Searching for the dates on that, the first hit touches on some of the information that points to astroturfing:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson...p_b_186979.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyi...ing-teaparties/

This evidence seems very speculative. The timing could just as easily indicate that people were already getting pissed off about government intervention in the financial system during Bush's term as it would that anybody was anticipating the outcome of the election in Obama's favor.

It'd be ironic if this accusatory speculation was itself a kind of astroturfing (or counter-astroturfing if both Parties are doing it).

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Jax

Jax

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Posted
please don't call it tea bagging day

The reason people call it "tea bagging day" is because of signs like this. It seems a lot of people are talking about tea bagging others before they tea bag you. I have no idea why they keep talking about "tea bagging" people but it's pretty funny and the name has caught on even with conservatives.

teabagging.jpg

Please, somebody drive Rick Perry up to Quebec so he can see how well secession works out.

:D

Haha! I lived in Quebec for 5 years, and I think think that comment is really funny. The secessionists in Quebec had a province wide referendum and lost, and then blamed it on the immigrants who voted to stay with Canada. The native people and english speakers also don't want to have anything to do with a sovereign Quebec.

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crunchtastic

crunchtastic

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I have no idea why they keep talking about "tea bagging" people but it's pretty funny and the name has caught on even with conservatives.

teabagging.jpg

It's because 'tea-bagging' refers to a very, um, specific sexual act and that's why certain people think it's funny that conservatives have adopted the term. Don't google it at work!

Speaking of, the Anderson Cooper thing is priceless.

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Fringe

Fringe

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Posted
It's because 'tea-bagging' refers to a very, um, specific sexual act and that's why certain people think it's funny that conservatives have adopted the term. Don't google it at work!

Speaking of, the Anderson Cooper thing is priceless.

I'm going to get in trouble for this.

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Jax

Jax

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Posted
I have no idea why they keep talking about "tea bagging" people but it's pretty funny and the name has caught on even with conservatives.
It's because 'tea-bagging' refers to a very, um, specific sexual act and that's why certain people think it's funny that conservatives have adopted the term. Don't google it at work!

My point was I don't think the conservatives know what it means. There's even a photo of some lady who made a sign for her kid to hold about tea bagging people.

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crunchtastic

crunchtastic

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Posted
My point was I don't think the conservatives know what it means. There's even a photo of some lady who made a sign for her kid to hold about tea bagging people.

oh, my misunderstanding then. At any rate, at least we have this cleared up for others. :D

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RedScare

RedScare

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Posted

Millions turned out for protests not to go to war, but they went anyway. I'm not sure that 100,000 or so protesting a vague notion of big government will stop anything. The bigger problem for the teabaggers is that the lawmakers are convinced that they HAVE to do these things to help stimulate the economy and keep the banks solvent. I am quite sure that the debates in Congress revolve around, "what happens if we do nothing?" If these bailouts bring the economy back by 2010, no one will remember yesterday. If it does not, everyone will certainly have a chance to run them all out of town.

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Geoff8201

Geoff8201

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Posted
Ah yes - CNN reporting fairly? Or so the Democrats say.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3fvNhdoc0

I never claimed CNN was fair and balanced either, but at least it's not their slogan. It very well known that CNN leans far to the left, but they make no attempt to hide it. Fox News however trys to act as if they are right in the center and they are not, therefore why the slogan fair and balanced doesn't hold water.

And for those of us who know the term Tea Bagging as a sexual term, I'm sure the majority of people using as their slogan have no idea it has a sexual connotation nor do they intend to put it forth as that.

I'm sure to them they envision throwing used hot and wet (clean thoughts people!) tea bags at the liberals when they use the term :lol:

EDIT: And as for that Youtube video Marksmu, I lol'ed at this whole situation... that reporter was interjecting facts into that man's statement... although I do agree as a reporter she should just let him talk, and left her contribution to simply asking simple questions and reporting.

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