Fox News now giving publicity to Republican Governors' "Tea Party 2.0"
SUMMARY: Following Fox News' aggressive promotion of the April 15 "tea party" protests, Greta Van Susteren did a segment on the forthcoming "Tea Party 2.0," and stated, "If you wanted to go to a tea party on April 15 but could not make it ... tomorrow's your big chance."
During the May 13 edition of her Fox News' program, Greta Van Susteren hosted Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) to promote the forthcoming "Tea Party 2.0," a May 14 public tele-conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association (RGA). Van Susteren stated, "If you wanted to go to a tea party on April 15 but could not make it or there was none in your hometown, tomorrow's your big chance." She later asked Sanford, "What do they do, do they log on a particular place? And will they be able to interact with you? I mean, how's this gonna work?" and later, "[W]hen is this tea party? When does it begin? Is there a Web address or a phone number?" As Media Matters for America noted, Fox News aggressively promoted and covered the April 15 tea party protests, in some cases calling them "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties," and Van Susteren reported from a tea party in Washington, D.C.
During the interview, footage from the April 15 protests was aired and the on-screen text read, "To sign up for Tea Party 2.0 go to: www.thegopcomeback.com."
That is the RGA's website for the May 14 telephone call, which states:
At TEA Parties across the country, hundreds of thousands of citizens declared that our taxes are too high, our federal government is too big, and our states' rights are being trampled upon. Out of respect for that great movement, we want to be sure to do our part. Join a free telephone call with Governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas to collaborate on our plan to fight for freedom and win America back.
The site also allows users to sign up to be called on May 14 at 8:30 p.m.
The Fox Nation, a Fox News website, is also featuring the video of Van Susteren's interview with Sanford with the headline, "Inside Tea Party 2.0":
From the May 13 edition of Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren:
VAN SUSTEREN: Another tea party day, it's tomorrow -- it is called Tea Party 2.0. If you wanted to go to a tea party on April 15 but could not make it or there was none in your hometown, tomorrow's your big chance. But tomorrow's tea party is very different from the April 15 tea parties. How different? South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is one of the hosts of the tea party, joins us live. Good evening, Governor, and what is your tea party tomorrow? And how is it different from those tea parties on the 15th of April?
SANFORD: Let me give a disclaimer up front, which is it won't be as good as the first round of tea parties, but I suspect there will be a Tea Party 2.0, and 3.0, and 4.0, and 5.0, and go down the list because what I saw at the original tea party was a level of political energy that I've not seen in the last 15 years that I've been involved in the political process. And I think it's important that that energy gets harnessed toward creating change for the conservative side. I think that there is a genuine blowback across this country in reaction to what much of Obama and the administration and the Congress has laid out and I think that whether it's in this 2.0 version that we're gonna have or some other version, there's gonna be a movement that's created. And our 2.0 version, to give you a long sentence made a little bit shorter is simply via the Internet, inviting about 50,000 people to join us and having a conversation.
VAN SUSTEREN: What do they do? Do they log on a particular place? And will they be able to interact with you? I mean, how's this gonna work?
SANFORD: It'll be somewhat awkward, I'm not a technology guy and so it's been explained to me. Myself and Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, will be on it and we will basically -- there'll be questions submitted and we can answer them. So there'll be, at least in the awkward framework that you can have with a very large audience and two governors, something of a conversation. The idea's to learn more of what's happening at a grassroots level so that we can take those ideas and try and plug them into places in our respective states and through the Republican Governors Association.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, when is this tea party? When does it begin? And is there a Web address or a phone number?
SANFORD: The Web address is gopcomeback. I suspect on that website there's a phone number. That's how computer un-savvy I am. As to --
VAN SUSTEREN: Time.
SANFORD: You can't really call in. It is via the internet and it takes place tomorrow night from about 8:30 to 9:30. So it's a shorter version. You know, I went to three of the original tea parties across our state of South Carolina, and they were much longer and it was amazing the number of people who turned out trying to make their voice heard and if not their voice heard, then their presence known.
Before of after Texas secedes?
And I'm very happy that my gravatar seems to be showing up now, teabag and all.
Could it be that that they realize their lame defense of torture could unravel at any time? Could it be that the economy is showing tentative signs of improvement?
Barring a terrorist attack or an economic relapse that they can blame on Obama, the Republicans are toast in the next two elections... and they know it.
They have to raise money somehow, and Douchebagging... I mean Teabagging... works pretty well for them.
Mix metaphors much? Or is there a "Sims 1776" upgrade that I've missed?
Doesn't seem to link. Check out Crooks and Liars.
So...anyone wanna explain to me why you all seem to think that protesting higher taxes is a bad thing!?
BTW, it was President Bush who said "I wouldn't mind a dictatorship as long as I am the dictator."
How is that for tyranny....wait hold on, that must have been "The crazy liberal media elites who are communists, socialists, facist and whatever other scary word you know."
Nothing FOX did is inconsistent with the image FOX intentionally presents to the public. They believe that all of the other TV networks have long been slanted toward the Left, an opinion supported by numerous studies that they reference from time to time. FOX has cornered the market in providing TV news and opinion to Conservatives and people looking for a more balanced content in these because the other networks were so biased toward the Left. They capitalize on that market share by loading their opinion shows disproportionately with conservatives or those willing to present conservative news and views.
FOX does live up to the "fair and balanced" claim, at least to a greater degree than any of their competition. Often the "but doesn't tell that" headlines MMFA prints are themselves deceptions. In order to book experts from both sides of an issue FOX frequently airs them at different times, though usually during the same day. Whether or not the representatives of the Left coose to introduce the information that MMFA identifies as missing is their choice. They probably ommit much of it because the facts MMFA judges as pertinent are often poorly vetted and poorly reasoned. Their current article on an Obama medical issues advisor's statement on the healthcare proposal provide a good example. MMFA's billing of the piece is not justified by its content. FOX, unlike the other networks does make a sincere effort to provide balance in their news reporting. In their opinion sections they make it a policy to present the opposing view, a practice their competitors either ignored, or fudged by promoting marginal and pre-discredited "spokes-people" like Pat Buchanon, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Admittedly, since the success of FOX, the other networks have started to introduce more conservative opinion in their presentations.
MMFA and similar sites function under the presumption that the Left is good and the Right is bad. A fault that can be found in reverse in many Right-wing media as well. They both attract an audience that seeks reassurance and reenforcement in their existing opinions rather than an expansion of their understanding of the issues. The truth is that both the Right and the Left are comprised of human beings with all of their faults and foibles. Both sides lie, fudge, omit, etc. Both contain people that are brilliant and that are less than average. There is no significant difference in the intellectual, moral, educational or experintial components of either side. There are basic differences in the assumptions about the nature of human beings, about the lessons of history and about the nature of existence, but none of those differences are wholly the provence of either side. Existence is so vast and complex that none of us knows its thruths with certainty. It is possible that the Left's ideas about how best to organize and operate a society are superior. But it is also possible that the Right's ideas are the superior ones. The best we can do is try to base our decisions on what seems to us to make sense and employ reliable information. But none of us will ever know whether our selected sides are reliable unless we are open to subjecting them to criticism.
If you dismiss the opposition as; "idiots" "contemptable" "ignorami" "lame" or any of the many other dismissive derogatories that appear regularly in this site's commentary, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to increase your understanding and ability to view issues objectively.
That's not the case they're building. The case is simply that Fox promotes them, and given the mountain of evidence, it's not an allegation, it's a plain fact.
Liberals being allowed to get cable shows and reporters reporting facts conservative want hidden is not slanting left.
When they went on air, he report 10,000.
Also, Iraq had WMDs, Obama is a terrorist, communists, or insert scary word here. Bill Clinton or sometimes Jimmy Carter is to blame for the recession. Oh and they even reported taht Obama is to blame for the recession and that the tea party helped improve it.
So those are the few lies from Fox I can think of. Also, it is run by a Republican Operative and George Bush's cousin John Ellis.
Cavuto was caught on tape asking if they had 5000 people there, yet. The answer he got was "almost"
About 5 minutes later, he goes on-air to say that they were expecting 5000, but it looks like twice, or even triple that prediction!
Roger Ailles (GHW Bush's "Rove") runs both Fox News & Fox broadcast. John Moody sends out the TPMs and slant/spin instructions to the whole of Fox "News."
Ellis was running the election desk during the 2000 election. He was the first to call Florida - and therefore the election - for Bush. Other networks picked it up from there - making the recount even more of an uphill climb for Gore.
Oh, and to add one more: Hannity has claimed, on many occasions, that he had over 20,000 at his Atlanta Teabagging. Nate Silver (538.com) did a calculation - based on the size of the site and crowd density - coming up with about 1,700
Also, in a previous ABC Democrats' debate - immediately after the GOP debate, where they served up the softballs - Gibson took the opportunity of the Dems' answer that they'd all start pulling out of Iraq, upon inauguration, to show a little INFOMERCIAL for The Surge, and tried to talk them out of it! He also came under much fire for claiming that the professors at the college/University hosting the debate made top 1% salaries (while trying to talk them into extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 1%) and attacked Obama on cap-gains taxes...
I LMAO when the RW all attacked Gibson as some kind of liberal, or FAR-LEFT, after his Palin interview. The truth is that ABC News is the product of Marc Halperin - who promised BillO, ON AIR, that he'd move ABC to the right, and make it a broadcast version of Fox News, at least the news division, which he was running at the time!
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I still hear Fox and the gas bags on the radio referring to us as traitors, cowards, Nazi's, communists and socialists.
So if you're feelings are hurt and you're asking for us to be understanding, grow the f_ck up.
We've already been robbed of our good name by idiots from your side.
However, some of the points and criticisms, particularly from libertarians and liberal-libertarians (such as myself) have particular swing in times where people like these wish to "protest" government size increases. These same people had absolutely no problem with President Bushs' first stimulus, which gave $300 to $600 on single persons return, while doing nothing to actually stimulate the economy (economic numbers will show that the months after this stimulus there was almost no change in the economy), while not saying much of anything about the expansion of government (A whole new branch of government? Was the department of defense not enough?) and, for lack of a better term, the rampant immaturity of those in power (Remember Terry Schaivo? Remember the lack of concern for Katrina?)
I don't proclaim them ignorami because of their political stances. Several members of my extended family are conservative and most likely led to my libertarian bent (whereas I grew up in a strong, Union Democrat household). It's the fact that they parade around proclaiming to be fighting government waste and "freedoms" after several years where government waste (no-bid contacts), rampant increases in government powers (no-question wiretaps), and misappropriations of governmental power (spending huge amounts of money and time to arrest...Tommy Chong? Seriously?) It's the hypocrisy, not the message, that makes them stink.
ewl, this is a common complaint and misperception from conservatives at this site.Nobody is dismissing anybody simply for being the opposition (or "hating anybody with a different opinion" as the cry often goes).
If you open your eyes, you'll see that most of these descriptions are accompanied by some reasons why the person in question is an idiot, or that person/organization has been clearly shown to be an idiot in the MMFA item.
I realize it's easier on the self-esteem to explain any criticism on some sort of blind prejudice, but it doesn't do anything to help those afflicted by idiocy to progress to non-idiot status.Some accountability and personal responsibility would come in handy for the right wingers who conveniently only see name-calling and insults that are contained in the comments.
If I see a chap drinking rotten water from a gutter right next to a drinking fountain, i might call him a moron.I'm not "dismissing" him simply because he's got different taste than I do,or "name-calling" just to be mean,I'm making an observation.
This, in no way, robs me of the ability to understand, nor does it hurt my ability to view things objectively. IN fact,it does the opposite, because i'm practicing both of those things, understanding and objectivity.
I only mention this because you included "ignorami" in your list, a word I used even though I'm not sure it's a word. I was referring to people who were suckered into going out and protesting the exact opposite of what they wanted to protest. They are ignorant.
I was going to also suggest you do a little editing of your posts, but mine has turned out pretty long too, so I won't do that.
No, the liberal bias in the media has NOT been in any way credibly shown by studies or anything else it is a delusion purposefully pushed by the right and dutifully swallowed by the gullible. The media is NOT liberally biased and never has been. I am a liberal my agenda has NEVER been pushed by the media that LED the runup to a war us liberals opposed and burried the Downing street memo when it was the biggest story in the world outside the US. Forbade calling Bush a liar while he was pushing an almost constant torrent of lies. It is frankly ludicrous.
Fox isnt anywhere CLOSE to objective or balanced only pure delusion would lead anyone not completely brainwashed to say they are more balanced or AS balanced as other networks. Show the memos that OTHER networks sent to thier anchors telling THEM how to spin the news. The FOX memos doing EXACTLY that have been widely disseminated. You guys really think if you just MAKE these ludicrous baseless assertions they will magically become true but this is the REALITY based universe and HERE as opposed to Planet Wingnut it just doesnt work that way
You write THIS
MMFA and similar sites function under the presumption that the Left is good and the Right is bad.
I challenge you to support this accusation. Of course if you see the world in the simplistic Manichean everything is ALL good or ALL evil then criticism CAN be presented this way but I have NEVER seen MMFA make any such claim. I would also ask if you make the same criticism of MRC or AIM that cover ONLY liberal media? No showing the ways ONE side is bad is NOT saying thatthe left is good and the right is bad. They are showing what they are showing that there IS conservative media misinformation and spin. Nothing more and nothing less. It is up to someone else to cover the big picture. This really isnt that complicated
Well no wonder he doesn’t like taxes very much. According to documents obtained by Teablogging by running a goddamned simple Nexis search on the internets, national Tea Party organizer, Top Conservatives on Twitter cofounder and TCOTReport.com publisher Michael P. Leahy has, over the past 16 years, amassed nearly $150,000 in state and federal tax liens, small claims court judgments and civil suits.
If their viewers really keep buying into these clearly corporate sponsored events, FOX will be able to increase their ad rates. People dumb enough to believe FOX on their teabagging "protests", to the clear detriment of their own viewers, are also likely to be dumb enough to purchase whatever is being advertised in between the "news" coverage.
Sham-wow's and Male enhancement products anyone????
He was booed because it didn't click with what Fox and Rush had been saying.
A friend of mine told me a story about 25 or so years ago that he wanted to have a party. He went out and bought all the usual stuff for a party that you have when you are in college (not that these Republican'ts ever went to a party). He set his apartment up and sat down and waited...at 9 no one was there. Nor at 10, 11, 12. At 1 a.m. a friend showed up. He asked why no one was there and this goof said he forgot to invite anyone ... he just thought he was so popular that "EVERYONE" would just show up. I don't have to clarify that he was stoned out of his head as well during this, which is what the repressed neo-GONES are right now.
Boys and Girls, NO ONE wants to come to your party except people you don't really want there. Tape up your glasses and go back to mommy's house for eight years....WE have work to do.
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! All you Republican'ts, please, keep doing this stuff. It makes my job SOOOOOOOOO much easier to make you the incoherent imbeciles that you are.
Congratulations.