I agree [that the MSNBC report on tea parties] isn’t funny, but what about it isn’t true?
The report repeats the Krugman line that the tea parties have been orchestrated, fake grassroots events, which is simply not true. For example, here’s the story of the genesis of the Cincinnati Tea Party in March, which drew thousands:
Fox, Gingrich, Armey … they have jumped on the bandwagon of a grassroots movement, but they didn’t, as Billy Joel might say, “start the fire.” Yes, it’s bad for Fox to support these rallies; real journalists would just cover the rallies. It’s just as bad for MSNBC to oppose these rallies, and even worse that MSNBC lies about them.
Biased journalism is bad; false journalism is worse. Especially when delivered with innuendo and a smirk.
I am absolutely ecstatic about tomorrow’s Tea Party. This is a grassroots movement in its truest form. Just last night Kellen Giuda, organizer of the NYC Tea Party, sent out a message on Facebook in which he informed about the need to raise $4k by noon. The message was spread via Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc and the money was raised in full earlier today. These claims about corporate backing and the Tea Party movement not being genuine are just lame attempts to demean a group of people who happen to have opposing views.
It’s sad that our friends on the left, who so often practice their right to protest, have been so vicious and vitriolic in their attacks to these protests. The attacks from MSNBC have been pretty bad and crude, but the attacks from leftist blogs have been downright hateful. Unfortunately, there are many who plan to crash tomorrow’s protests in an attempt to persecute and ridicule those who attend.
Government grew under Bush, and it’s growing even bigger under Obama. This is what the Tea Party movement is all about.
