The otherwise silent majority are suddenly finding their voice. Tea Party protests, town hall meetings, letters and phone calls to Congress. This is all new territory and the left has no idea what to do about it other than resort to the strategy they have traditionally used with their opponents on Capitol Hill and talk radio. They’ve made the mistake of denigrating individual citizens that were speaking out for their rights which only serves to infuriate them even more. More subtle Presidents would have pretended to listen and offer gentle platitudes to calm the unsettled nerves of a fearful electorate but this President is far too elitist for that. Only Obama, his radical advisors and his left wing, progressive friends in the democratically controlled Congress know what is best for you and they intend to drag you along, by your hair if need be.
Democrats have no frame of reference for this because Republican and conservative voters were never protestors before. That is a tactic and trait of the left and there was never a need to quiet their dissent; in fact, it was encouraged because it was always directed at “the enemy”; i.e. the Republican Party. Independents, for the most part, were exempt from direct assaults by the Democrats because independents usually draw votes away from Republican and Conservative candidates, broadening the lead of Democrats in a three-way race. But this time is different; the attacks are citizens fighting against big government, socialist policies and the Democrats that proposed them. So in a Pavlovian response, the “party of the people” turned on the people as though they were an adversarial political party.
Tea Party protestors and those that passionately voiced their concerns at the town hall meetings were called “Astroturf” and “tea-baggers” by the Congressional leadership. The White House Senior Advisor and long time Democratic strategist, David Axelrod, refused to address protestor’s concerns in recent interviews saying only that “they are wrong”. Nancy Pelosi equated otherwise peaceful Tea Party protests with the violent acts of the radical left; her radical left; that occurred during the anti-war movement of the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, saying they made her fearful. They struggled to make their case through their allies in the media that this was only manufactured anger bought and paid for by big business and the Republican Party, then organized counter-protests bought and paid for by unions and the Democratic Party.
Unfortunately for the strategists, the people they were trying to sway through the media were the same people they were attacking. The “Tea-Partiers” and “9-12ers” watched in disbelief. They know who they are. They know that these are the “grass-roots” and not some phony effort organized by business, pharmaceuticals or a political party. They know they aren’t violent; in fact, the only violence they encountered had been launched against them by the supporters of healthcare reform organized by the Democrats using Move On, SEIU and Organizing for America as their foot soldiers.
This culminated in a surge in Tea Party membership. By September 12th, these groups had gained so much momentum that nearly a million people converged on Washington D.C. in a massive demonstration against healthcare reform, cap and trade, the unchecked growth of the Federal Government and the continued bloating of regulatory bureaucracies.
The main stream media continued to misrepresent the protestors and the protests. They understated the attendance and created stories of violence and bigotry where none existed. The September 12th protest in Washington was reported to have had anywhere from thirty-thousand to sixty-thousand in attendance. It is widely known today that this figure was under-reported sixteen fold, as nearly one million people marched on the Capitol. For the one million that attended, there were no altercations, no arrests and for the first time since organized marches began on the Capitol, there was no garbage to clean up when they left. Not even the environmental movement can claim that!
The protests will continue as long as it is apparent that our elected officials are ignoring the message. In fact, as the public becomes more irate over being ignored and misrepresented, the latest round of protests were directed at the media headquarters and local offices of ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and their print equivalents. People are finally seeing the bias of these so-called “news” organizations through the overt whitewashing and lack of accurate coverage given to the nefarious actions of Congress and of the President. Shouts of “Can you hear us now” and “We’re the angry mob; have a nice day” echoed through the streets in front of, and around CNN headquarters in Atlanta Georgia. Similar protests took place in every major city and at every network and newspaper accused of playing “lapdog” for the Obama administration.
With all of this going on, one would think the message would have gotten through loud and clear by now. For some, it is. There are Democrats running for re-election in states that overwhelmingly voted for McCain that are seriously reconsidering support for any legislation that is this divisive. After all, the town hall meetings showed a massive lack of support for these initiatives and those that came to speak against healthcare reform outnumbered the supporters ten to one. Congressional approval is at its lowest point in decades with only a twenty-five percent favorable rating. Both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s approval have also halved since Obama began his grand push for a socialized America this past January.
Well, the White House and Congressional leadership are still trying to insulate Democratic Representatives and Senators from the voice of the people. Reid and Pelosi are pushing hard to get the healthcare bill through Congress before the Thanksgiving break in order to avoid another round of damaging town hall meetings and local protests. The mass media has “stacked the deck” in recent polls to show favoritism for the healthcare bill, that is until it was disclosed that the poll data contained thirteen percent more Democrats than Republicans, slanting the results in favor of reform. Curiously, the poll didn’t show a spread of thirteen percent in favor, indicating that even Democratic voters are finding this bill a “hard pill to swallow”. Since Fox continues to be the only network that is willing to provide unfiltered coverage of the news, they have been singled out for attack by the White House in a strategy that is proving to be less than effective.
Fox News has been continually gaining viewers and network ratings show that their most controversial shows now possess as many viewers as all of the opposing network news shows combined. Even competing news outlets have become extremely uneasy about the White Houses attempts to silence Fox. On Thursday, October 22nd, White House launched its most blatant attack when “Pay Czar” Feinstein called a press conference of all the news networks except Fox. To their credit, the White House Press Corp replied with a refusal to attend if the ban on Fox was not lifted. Perhaps they are finally seeing that this President intends to shape news, not make news. After all, if I were part of the man stream media I would be incensed at Anita Dunn’s revelation this week, that the press was intentionally manipulated all through the campaign, being spoon-fed glorious and glowing stories about Candidate Obama while direct access and interviews were severely limited. To add insult to injury, newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor also revealed that her appearances were carefully crafted right down to administration personnel choosing what clothes she would wear.
The American people continue to be shocked by the relentless, almost daily stream of new and more ridiculous actions in Washington. The difference is that now, Washington and the press are finally getting their own dose of daily assaults through the efforts of the grass-roots opposition. I know how hard it is to keep this pressure up. It’s tiring and we don’t have a staff of people to do this for us. We have jobs and families that rely on us but remember, there is nothing more important for their well being than the future of a free and prosperous United States.
Now that the efforts are beginning to show dividends, it is time to redouble our efforts. Attend your Tea Party meetings, join the rallies, call and write your congressmen; most importantly, remain awake, aware and vigilant. There are efforts under way to sneak these bills through in the dead of night as attachments to existing legislation and we must never allow that to happen. You know, instead of making fun of us Congress should be happy it was only a Tea Party in Boston and not an “Anvil” Party! If it were, Nancy would really have something to cry about.
Paul
Democrats have no frame of reference for this because Republican and conservative voters were never protestors before. That is a tactic and trait of the left and there was never a need to quiet their dissent; in fact, it was encouraged because it was always directed at “the enemy”; i.e. the Republican Party. Independents, for the most part, were exempt from direct assaults by the Democrats because independents usually draw votes away from Republican and Conservative candidates, broadening the lead of Democrats in a three-way race. But this time is different; the attacks are citizens fighting against big government, socialist policies and the Democrats that proposed them. So in a Pavlovian response, the “party of the people” turned on the people as though they were an adversarial political party.
Tea Party protestors and those that passionately voiced their concerns at the town hall meetings were called “Astroturf” and “tea-baggers” by the Congressional leadership. The White House Senior Advisor and long time Democratic strategist, David Axelrod, refused to address protestor’s concerns in recent interviews saying only that “they are wrong”. Nancy Pelosi equated otherwise peaceful Tea Party protests with the violent acts of the radical left; her radical left; that occurred during the anti-war movement of the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, saying they made her fearful. They struggled to make their case through their allies in the media that this was only manufactured anger bought and paid for by big business and the Republican Party, then organized counter-protests bought and paid for by unions and the Democratic Party.
Unfortunately for the strategists, the people they were trying to sway through the media were the same people they were attacking. The “Tea-Partiers” and “9-12ers” watched in disbelief. They know who they are. They know that these are the “grass-roots” and not some phony effort organized by business, pharmaceuticals or a political party. They know they aren’t violent; in fact, the only violence they encountered had been launched against them by the supporters of healthcare reform organized by the Democrats using Move On, SEIU and Organizing for America as their foot soldiers.
This culminated in a surge in Tea Party membership. By September 12th, these groups had gained so much momentum that nearly a million people converged on Washington D.C. in a massive demonstration against healthcare reform, cap and trade, the unchecked growth of the Federal Government and the continued bloating of regulatory bureaucracies.
The main stream media continued to misrepresent the protestors and the protests. They understated the attendance and created stories of violence and bigotry where none existed. The September 12th protest in Washington was reported to have had anywhere from thirty-thousand to sixty-thousand in attendance. It is widely known today that this figure was under-reported sixteen fold, as nearly one million people marched on the Capitol. For the one million that attended, there were no altercations, no arrests and for the first time since organized marches began on the Capitol, there was no garbage to clean up when they left. Not even the environmental movement can claim that!
The protests will continue as long as it is apparent that our elected officials are ignoring the message. In fact, as the public becomes more irate over being ignored and misrepresented, the latest round of protests were directed at the media headquarters and local offices of ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and their print equivalents. People are finally seeing the bias of these so-called “news” organizations through the overt whitewashing and lack of accurate coverage given to the nefarious actions of Congress and of the President. Shouts of “Can you hear us now” and “We’re the angry mob; have a nice day” echoed through the streets in front of, and around CNN headquarters in Atlanta Georgia. Similar protests took place in every major city and at every network and newspaper accused of playing “lapdog” for the Obama administration.
With all of this going on, one would think the message would have gotten through loud and clear by now. For some, it is. There are Democrats running for re-election in states that overwhelmingly voted for McCain that are seriously reconsidering support for any legislation that is this divisive. After all, the town hall meetings showed a massive lack of support for these initiatives and those that came to speak against healthcare reform outnumbered the supporters ten to one. Congressional approval is at its lowest point in decades with only a twenty-five percent favorable rating. Both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s approval have also halved since Obama began his grand push for a socialized America this past January.
Well, the White House and Congressional leadership are still trying to insulate Democratic Representatives and Senators from the voice of the people. Reid and Pelosi are pushing hard to get the healthcare bill through Congress before the Thanksgiving break in order to avoid another round of damaging town hall meetings and local protests. The mass media has “stacked the deck” in recent polls to show favoritism for the healthcare bill, that is until it was disclosed that the poll data contained thirteen percent more Democrats than Republicans, slanting the results in favor of reform. Curiously, the poll didn’t show a spread of thirteen percent in favor, indicating that even Democratic voters are finding this bill a “hard pill to swallow”. Since Fox continues to be the only network that is willing to provide unfiltered coverage of the news, they have been singled out for attack by the White House in a strategy that is proving to be less than effective.
Fox News has been continually gaining viewers and network ratings show that their most controversial shows now possess as many viewers as all of the opposing network news shows combined. Even competing news outlets have become extremely uneasy about the White Houses attempts to silence Fox. On Thursday, October 22nd, White House launched its most blatant attack when “Pay Czar” Feinstein called a press conference of all the news networks except Fox. To their credit, the White House Press Corp replied with a refusal to attend if the ban on Fox was not lifted. Perhaps they are finally seeing that this President intends to shape news, not make news. After all, if I were part of the man stream media I would be incensed at Anita Dunn’s revelation this week, that the press was intentionally manipulated all through the campaign, being spoon-fed glorious and glowing stories about Candidate Obama while direct access and interviews were severely limited. To add insult to injury, newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor also revealed that her appearances were carefully crafted right down to administration personnel choosing what clothes she would wear.
The American people continue to be shocked by the relentless, almost daily stream of new and more ridiculous actions in Washington. The difference is that now, Washington and the press are finally getting their own dose of daily assaults through the efforts of the grass-roots opposition. I know how hard it is to keep this pressure up. It’s tiring and we don’t have a staff of people to do this for us. We have jobs and families that rely on us but remember, there is nothing more important for their well being than the future of a free and prosperous United States.
Now that the efforts are beginning to show dividends, it is time to redouble our efforts. Attend your Tea Party meetings, join the rallies, call and write your congressmen; most importantly, remain awake, aware and vigilant. There are efforts under way to sneak these bills through in the dead of night as attachments to existing legislation and we must never allow that to happen. You know, instead of making fun of us Congress should be happy it was only a Tea Party in Boston and not an “Anvil” Party! If it were, Nancy would really have something to cry about.
Paul
No comments:
Post a Comment