Sarah Palin speaks during the National Tea Party Convention at
Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee February 6, 2010.
REUTERS/Josh Anderson
Posted on 02/07/2010 11:45:03 AM PST by NormsRevenge
NASHVILLE — Distrust of the mainstream media has been among the strongest sentiments uniting philosophically diverse tea party activists, who almost universally believe the national media have purposefully underestimated their ranks, highlighted their extremes or portrayed them as racists, rednecks or worse — that is, when it wasn’t ignoring them completely.
What then, to make of the fact that an increasing number of media outlets appear to be devoting increasing resources to chronicling the movement, culminating in a massive media presence at this weekend’s self-proclaimed National Tea Party Convention?
Organizers initially moved to limit access to outlets deemed friendly to the cause, including Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal, Breitbart.com, Townhall.com and World Net Daily. But they later relented and now say they’ve issued 200 press credentials, including multiple passes each to many of the elite national media organizations regularly disparaged by conservative activists as Democratic shills — the hated liberal mainstream media, or MSM.
Both the organizers and convention participants have seemed to revel in the media spotlight and have used the attention to chastise the press for what they view as shoddy coverage, though some refused to talk to reporters at all.
“The mainstream media is the enemy,” declared Bob Bunting, a retiree from Hilton Head Island, S.C., attending the convention with his wife, Nancy Bunting. “You are for socialism and Barack Obama.”
Convention organizer Judson Phillips, who in the run-up to the convention was the subject of some tough stories examining his finances and those of the for-profit company he set up to run the convention, said he doesn’t think most mainstream journalists are deliberately mischaracterizing the movement but simply do not understand it.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
1) Obama's ratings have tanked, Fox's ratings have soared, and the MSM is using the old faux leadership trick of figuring out which way the people you hope to lead are going and getting out in front of them.
2) The MSM's initial attempts to ignore the tea parties or ridicule them have not stopped the movement.
~~SWAK, Andrew Breitbart~~
Sarah Palin speaks during the National Tea Party Convention at
Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee February 6, 2010.
REUTERS/Josh Anderson
Andrew is a feisty one.. ;-)
I’m very leery of this event. I hope I’m wrong, but it seems like some big-money folks are hijacking the tea party name in order to finance something other than that which we believe. I hope I’m wrong, but a $549/head event is not a “grass-roots” activity. The media is eating this up as if this event represents the majority of the people involved in the Tea Party movement. I don’t think that it does.
I am very cautious at this point.
If nothing else comes of it but the hoopla in the news and counternews .. it was worth it.
Keep in mind,, All politics is local in the end.
The Train has left the Station and the MSM and Liberals missed it.
The MSM went there hoping to "establish" Palin as the Tea Party leader, so they (the MSM) could undermine the Tea Party.
IMHO: The MSM will try to declare a TP leader so they can Personalize It [assign a "leader" or "leaders"] and Polarize It [Strongly identify it with specific "leaders" with their MSM power, then proceed to attack and undermine the "leaders", thereby undermining the Tea Party movement.]
Juan Williams clearly joined in the failed effort this morning on Fox News when he (who whould have no other interest in advancing her status) called her the "queen" and "the leader" of the movement.
"The Tea Party does not need a charismatic leader."
If this event had cost $100 would you then have these same concerns?
The MSM misunderestimated the Tea Party.
So does Obama.
The MSM is losing money, and Obama is losing like thinking Democrats.
And, And, the Tea Party convention is totally unlike a Democrat or Republican Conventions.
Of course we "universally believe" the MSM is allied with Obama against us. Our own eyes told us the MSM ignored a million people nationwide who protested last April 15. Then the MSM ignored nearly TWO million people who marched on Washington DC on September 12.
Maybe. $100 would be more inviting to the masses, and would more accurately reflect the cost of the event IMHO (granted, I haven't put together such an event, but I've seen plenty of other events that don't cost such a huge amount). Right now, it feels as though there's a large chunk of profit being drawn from this, and I am extremely suspicious as to who will be getting a financial bump. We need to follow the money here.
I am heavily involved with our tea party group, and we are in close contact with surrounding groups in North Georgia and Eastern Tennessee. As well, we have formed a Tennessee Tea Party Coalition. As far as I know, none of us has had any input or connection with this event in Nashville. That is why I'm suspicious - they are claiming to be the voice of the Tea Party movement, but don't seem to have any connection with any of the leaders of the Tea Party groups with which I am involved.
Time will tell, of course, but until we see where the trail of money leads, and until we see a connection between some local groups and this event, we will be suspicious.
The fact that the MSM is lapping this up and calling it THE Tea Party event tells me that somebody might be setting us up to fail. There are powerful people that have lots of money and influence, and those people have a vested interest in keeping this country heading down the road to fascism/socialism. Not all of them are democrat elites.
That was my original reaction as well, but then I thought maybe its a good opportunity for the like minded people with deeper pockets than mine to bring some money to this to get it underway...I just hope that getting it underway does not mean starting a third party but getting funds together for RINO challengers. I think if people like Brightbart (sp) are at the helm of this thing, it will go the way of funding RINO challengers.
The Tea Party movement will never die as long as people like you continue to work out side of the traditional party orders and let your voices be heard. The Tea Party movement is much too real and big for it to be stuffed under one tent, even though the media would like to do so. Continue to make your voice heard and it will not die.
I am heavily involved with our tea party group, and we are in close contact with surrounding groups in North Georgia
Well then you must not know the two ladies my wife and I had a drink with on Thurday (at the FAT CAT EVENT) from a small town in Northern Georgia. They started a Tea Party in a town of 1,000 and have 400 members.........a bunch of fat cats.
Somewhere around 16% of "middle America" is unemployed, and is probably spending their last $500 feeding their family, not supporting a convention. Most people don't have $500+ to spend on an event put on by a local lawyer, regardless of who is attending. I'm only 2 hours' drive from Nashville and I wouldn't even think of paying that kind of admission.
The 9/12 march on Washington was a LOT larger and costed participants nothing other than room and board for the 1 or 2 days that they stayed there.
Sarah said “slew”?
Have you never attended a business convention or a trade convention? Registration numbers are not out of line. All of a sudden you think being non-profit is more virtuous because it produces nothing?
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