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April 15, 2009

Tea party protests 'crazy' to MSM pundits

Thomas Lifson
In the Soviet Union, opponents of the regime were often declared insane and locked up. The American media, perhaps frightened by political demonstrations they don't understand, resort to the same despicable tactic. Rather than analyze, they sneer and fabricate lies.

Marc Cooper, "director of Annenberg Digital News at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC" writes in the LA Times that "tea parties are steeped in insanity." Not a psychiatrist or psychologist, Cooper's diagnosis is based in nothing but his own sneering. He writes:

But are common folks actually going to dump Earl Grey into Santa Monica Bay because they are outraged, simply infuriated, by the marginal tax rate rising 3% for millionaires?

Claiming that the only tax increase is a 3% marginal hike on "millionaires" (a combined joint income of $250k apparently means millionaire to Cooper) is downright deceptive. The reduction in deductibility of charitable donations and adjustment to other deductions, the hike in sales taxes in California (where Cooper lives and works), and the huge amount of revenue planned to be realized from carbon emissions cap and trade, which will hurt everyone in their utility bills and in impact on the cost of everything affect many of us, including Cooper. Cooper occupies a position of trust at a  major university, but that doesn't stop him from writing an irresponsible piece.

Paul Krugman also diagnoses the entire GOP as "crazy" in the New York Times.

... it turns out that the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

This is nothing but projection (or else the Big Lie technique in action). Astroturfing is a technique pioneered and perfected by David Axelrod: the creation of a genuine-appearing grass roots movement. It was an outgrowth of the Saul Alinsky movement joined by young Barack Obama, who personally trained, wrote scripts for, rehearsed, and led "members of the community" to demonstrations in Chicago back in the day.

I am sure that commuting between Princeton and Manhattan, Krugman has little or no contact with the actual grass roots enthusiasm underlying today's demonstrations.

Both of these men, eager to call their opponents crazy, are delusional about the nature of the protests today.

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