Not about "parties or politics"? Fox News promotes anti-Dem "Tea Party Express"
On July 28, The Fox Nation promoted Our Country Deserves Better PAC's "Tea Party Express," which is dedicated to opposing Democratic officeholders. The promotion of the PAC belies Fox Nation's claim to being unbiased and undermines the claim by Glenn Beck that the tea parties, which Fox and Beck relentlessly promoted, aren't "about parties or politics or the president.
From TheFoxNation.com, accessed on July 28:
"Tea Party Express" targets Democrats
Tea Party Express' purpose is to "highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress." Our Country Deserves Better PAC's (OCDB) website states that the Tea Party Express "will host a series of tea party rallies all across the nation. ... At each stop the tour will highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses." [TeaPartyExpress.org, accessed 7/28/09]
Tea Party Express' "Target[s]" are all Democrats. In its "Target Races" section, OCDB's website states that in "order for the Tea Party movement to truly have an impact, we must vote out of office those politicians who have betrayed their constituents by pushing through massive deficits, higher taxes and government intervention into the private sector and private lives of American families." All 30 targets listed as of July 28 are Democrats. [TeaPartyExpress.org, accessed 7/28/09]
OCDB funded and organized by Republicans to oppose Democrats
OCDB formed by Republicans. OCDB PAC "was formed in August [2008] by California political consultant Sal Russo and former California Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian." [Associated Press, 10/16/08] As their OCDB biographies note, Russo is a veteran Republican consultant and Kaloogian served as a Republican.
OCDB's mission is to oppose Obama and "Democratic Congress." On its "About Us" page, OCDB states that "we must stand up to Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress." The PAC also solicits contributions by stating, "Help us fight the Democratic Congress!"
In 2008, OCDB's sole objective was Obama's defeat. National Public Radio reported on September 26, 2008, that OCDB's website then said "it has one objective: to defeat Obama." During the 2008 campaign, the PAC hosted "patriotic, pro-McCain/Palin rallies" to "Stop Obama."
OCDB campaigned for Republican Tedisco. OCDB "campaign[ed]" "on behalf of" Republican New York congressional candidate Jim Tedisco in March by "broadcasting television and radio advertisements. ... Total ad buy is expected to reach well into the hundreds of thousands by Election Day."
OCDB's current campaigns are anti-Democratic Party. The PAC's website currently lists numerous campaigns aimed at Democrats, such as asking for White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's resignation and an effort proposing to "spend in excess of $1 million" to defeat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010. The PAC's website also lists campaigns opposing "ObamaCare" and the cap-and-trade bill.
OCDB's history of smears against Democrats
OCDB vice chairman a birther. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, at an October 2008 rally, Vice Chairman Mark Williams:
[I]nvoked a long-discredited smear against Obama that seems designed to play on fears of his "otherness": that he's not really a U.S. citizen. "We all know that Barack Obama is not qualified to be president of the United States, beyond being above the age of 35 and probably an American citizen," said Williams, emphasizing the word 'probably.' He laughed and then repeated: "Probably. Even money."
On his blog, Williams has repeatedly raised doubts about Obama's citizenship. Williams wrote that Obama's "actual birth certificate has never been produced however and is now the subject of a lawsuit to demand that it be produced" and that "our choice this November" is between Sen. John McCain and "the former Barry Soetoro, Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug turned anointed." Williams has a history of smearing and baselessly attacking progressives and Democrats.
In 2008, OCDB produced numerous ads and videos smearing Obama. For instance, OCDB produced ads and videos with such titles as "Obama's Wrong Values," "Obama: Not Faithful to Our Military," and "Obama's Patriotism Problem." The AP wrote of OCDB's ads: "The images and allegations are provocative and, in some cases, unfounded. ... Clips from a controversial sermon delivered by Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright are used in two ads to charge that Obama doesn't share average Americans' values. Another ad questions Obama's patriotism with a video clip in which he does not hold his hand to his heart during the national anthem. A third accuses Obama of sympathizing with Islamic militants. The ad does not support the statement."
OCDB's most recent ad compares Obama to Ahmadinejad. In an ad posted online on July 7, OCDB aired images of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and footage of fighting in the streets following the recent Iranian elections while a narrator reads a series of news clips, then states, "But wait. These press reports aren't about Iran. They're about Barack Obama's administration right here in the U.S."
Fox Nation purports not to be "bias[ed]"
To promote the launch of The Fox Nation, Fox News aired advertisements telling viewers, "[i]t's time to say 'no' to biased media and 'yes' to fair play and free speech."
Fox News' Beck: Don't make tea parties about politics, "Republican rallies"
Beck: Don't let April 15 tea parties become "just Republican rallies." Beck: "I fear that these tea parties, if they become just Republican rallies or anti-Obama rallies, they have completely missed the point, because the Republicans sold America out just as much as the Democrats have. They have violated a sacred honor and trust with our money and everything else." [Glenn Beck, 3/31/09]
Beck: April 15 tea parties aren't "about parties or politics or the president." Beck: "Also, we're getting ready for next week's Tax Day tea parties across the party. People that come together to let the politicians know, 'OK. enough spending.' We're taking the show on the road next Wednesday. We will be live from the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. This isn't about parties or politics or the president; just standing together for principles." [Glenn Beck, 4/7/09]
But Fox News disagrees. As Media Matters noted, despite Beck's claims, Fox News itself and tea-party organizers have characterized the April 15 protests primarily as a response to the administration's fiscal policies.
These racist fools, including Fox News, have no credibility what-so-ever, and those who will listen to them are mentally challenged. No doubt about it.
“These people don’t have a clue about the Boston Tea Party; this is about hating on the black President” a famous comedian made this statement.
This is nothing more than partisan politics, America has degenerated to the point that we don't debate on the issues anymore, e.g. what is right/wrong or how to fix something or react to a situation.
Instead we have become a nation of groups that are fighting against each other. The teabaggers are just another example of this. They hate Obama, they hate Democrats in general. "Our Country Deserves Better" is very correct, too bad they don't understand that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Bush was their kind of guy.
A white guy.
I've heard family and friends make far too many comments. I've attended a show in which the performers,from Ireland, mentioned how glad they were that he was elected only to have the entire audience erupt in hateful jeering.
I will say that the hatefest directed towards the president was only slightly less vocal than the response to the mention of Dr. Martin Luther King a minute before Obama's name was mentioned.
So don't you tell me to stop playing a creaky old song. There's far too much hatred out there today.
I'd venture to say that there's more surface hatred today than when I was a kid in the fifties and sixties. Back then it wasn't so pronounced. It was hidden. Back then it wasn't fed daily by racists on the radio and TV.
"I've attended a show in which the performers,from Ireland, mentioned how glad they were that he was elected only to have the entire audience erupt in hateful jeering."
Gee, that didn't happen when Bush was president. Ever.
"So don't you tell me to stop playing a creaky old song. There's far too much hatred out there today."
What's your quantitative formula for measuring this, and do you mean only hatred against liberals who happen to be a minority race?
I never saw a crowd calling Bush a black bastard. I never saw a crowd snarling that he was nothing but an uppity n___er. No one called him an enemy of this country.
George W. Bush was criticized for his policies and for his complete and total lack of empathy.
You're way off base here. But, just keep digging.
BTW, I heard Bush called things like "baby killer" and a very famous person publicly stated that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." But since they're right, according to you, it's "ok". Proving Bilbo's point.
The perception that Bush didn't care about Black people after the Katrina disaster is one that Bush himself helped foment.
Are you implying that I'm making this up?
If you doubt what I'm saying you must live a very sheltered life or your in denial.
We know, Dex, there are no more racists out there. Oh, except for Sotomayor...and Gates, Henry Louis Gates...and Obama - Barack Obama is a racist. Well, there are no more white racists out there. Thank god we got past that part of our national history, now we can begin to spend our time on the real racists like Obama and Gates.
But they're PATRIOTS!
Now, if you'll excuse, I'm going to go vomit now.
They don't have the convictions of their beliefs, because if they did, they would have been out there the entire time Bush was in office doing these same things. This is all false outrage directed at the democratically controlled Congress, and White House, and, well, that's fine, but let's not pretend that these folks are somehow moral basitions in the darkness, since they just found out their opposition when Obama was elected.
You're absolutely right, they're lying about the reason they're protesting. They were silent about the sheer incompetence of Bush and his administration and are now complaining about how horrible Obama is after he's been here for six months. Wingnuts like the birfers are getting mainstream press coverage as if they were legitimate. Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Buchannan, Malkin, et. al. are spouting open racism -- Beck even claims that Obama doesn't like white people. This has absolutely nothing to do with Obama's policies; in order to protest what Obama's doing they have to lie about it. This is rabid, unreasoning, open hatred, and the Republican party is embracing it.
Anyway, these things, even though they get overblown by Fox, tend to end up being a handful of people (mostly white men, coincidence, I think not) marching around with a bunch of un-intelligent protest signs.
Hannity's people - one who sucks toes
Maybe seven or eight
have two-digit IQs
And optimize hate
Election wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
They're showing off their teabags on a crazy train
I'm trying to imagine to being read by Bill Shatner.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of train songs out there that lend themselves to "teabag express" editorial manipulation, and I don't easily recognize when to quit. For example, there's a version of "Wabash Cannonball" that - had I no taste nor fear of the censors - I would post. And it goes something like this:
Listen to the jingle
the rumble and the roar
as she glides along the woodland
ore the hills and by the shore
hear the rush of the mighty engine
hear the lonesome hobos call
teabaggin' through the country
but first we'll wash Gannons balls
now cajones taste like candies
so the teabag people say
on our knees we'll have a protest
of the taxes we must pay
from his metaphoric scrotum
where the fungi tend to grow
no chances to be taken
first we'll wash Jeff Gannons balls
Fortunately, I recognized immediately that it might exceed community standards for decency, and decided it would be better left un-posted...
Drink your tea but remember, thinking outside the teacup isn't very difficult. Try it.