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WSJ: Strange New Respect A drastic shift in the media stereotype of the tea-party movement
Wall St. Journal ^ | 4/5/2010 | James Taranto

Posted on 04/05/2010 4:35:06 PM PDT by GVnana

There was a time, oh, a week or two ago, when the mainstream media portrayed the tea-party movement as an assortment of crazed angry extremist redneck racist idiots. What changed?

The headline we've given this column is a phrase coined by the conservative writer Tom Bethell to refer to the media's attitude toward conservatives who veer leftward. What we're about to describe is a bit different: more an epiphany on the media's part than a change in the object of coverage. It seems unlikely that the tea-partiers have suddenly become mainstream.

Yet that's what you'd think from reading some of the recent coverage. The Christian Science Monitor, which a month ago baselessly labeled Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell a "right-wing extremist," begins a Saturday story by rehearsing the stereotypes but then cautions that "political experts say that many such criticisms are near-sighted, if not outright inappropriate--and ultimately may miss the point":

Indeed, polls suggest that tea party activists are not only more mainstream than many critics suggest, but that a majority of them are women (primarily mothers), not angry white men.

What's more, the release this week of the top three planks of the "crowd-sourced" Contract From America project, to some activists, shows a maturation from sign-wielding protesters to a political reform movement grounded in ideas.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: angrymob; liberalmedia; teaparty
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I think there are many reasons for this.

One, the gradual realization within the MSM that they could actually agree with some of the tea party positions.

Two, the fact that tea partiers behave themselves.

Three, the tea party made it plain for the world to see that Democrats in the house and senate are corrupt, belligerent asses.

And Andrew Breitbart will make the MSM eat their words.

But let's not get comfortable and forget about Trojan horses...

1 posted on 04/05/2010 4:35:06 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: GVnana

Oh yeah, never ever forget who the enemy of the people truly is, the msm and the snakes that feed them.


2 posted on 04/05/2010 4:37:50 PM PDT by Marty62 (marty60)
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To: GVnana

Look at the Pelosi timeline on the tea parties.

First she complained about the way we dress, they she cried because we were so dangerous, they she claimed to stand with us, then she walked through a crowd of us with that smug grin, now she’s afraid of us again. I give her another week before she decides that she’s one of us again.


3 posted on 04/05/2010 4:38:27 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: cripplecreek

The Obama administration has the “Coffee Party.” Remember?


4 posted on 04/05/2010 4:39:38 PM PDT by GVnana
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To: GVnana

The reason is that that are losing viewership because it is they who are out of the mainstream.


5 posted on 04/05/2010 4:40:01 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Some want to enslave your body others your soul.)
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To: GVnana
Too late MSM and “progressives”...you have labeled us racists, homophobes, bigots, terrorists, extremists, haters, teabaggers (why you want to use a homophobic term to describe those you're accusing to be homophobes is beyond me) and all those labels are before you got nasty. We will REMEMBER in NOVEMBER.
6 posted on 04/05/2010 4:40:29 PM PDT by highlander_UW (Remember in November...vote the bums out)
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To: GVnana

But let’s not get comfortable and forget about Trojan horses.

Yes a timely warning...False Flag operations...be mindful.


7 posted on 04/05/2010 4:43:36 PM PDT by spankalib
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To: spankalib

Look out.

As Rush says, a tiger is a tiger, a snake is a snake, and the MSM is the MSM.


8 posted on 04/05/2010 4:50:28 PM PDT by I still care (I believe in the universality of freedom -George Bush, asked if he regrets going to war.)
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To: GVnana

What changed? Obamacare passed. It is “safe” to be a little more honest for a while. They’ll tone down the rhetoric until the next election or major Obama initiative, then the propaganda machine goes back into full swing. (imo).


9 posted on 04/05/2010 4:55:01 PM PDT by Need4Truth (We can't afford the empire or the entitlements.)
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To: GVnana
But let's not get comfortable and forget about Trojan horses...

So true. If anybody starts throwing racial epithets from our crowd, it'll be one of them.
10 posted on 04/05/2010 4:56:19 PM PDT by wolfpat (Moderate=Clueless)
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To: GVnana

Strange new respect? When did that happen?

I just see them trotting out their standard leftist bilge of “racist, bigoted, homophobic”

It’s like the Kraken, it’s a monster that keeps from striking out at you for a brief time so it can get a better idea of where to strike next so it’s on target next time.


11 posted on 04/05/2010 4:56:23 PM PDT by Brett66 (Where government advances, and it advances relentlessly , freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: I still care
Agree. They're up to something.

Likely they figured that "respecting" the movement might pacify and quiet them, muting their effectiveness.

In their minds "respecting" may equate to giving the Movement a giant Paxil...they think.

12 posted on 04/05/2010 5:00:31 PM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up

What they are up to, imo, is they are going to start finding all kinds of “moderates” in the tea parties to interview.


13 posted on 04/05/2010 5:05:23 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: what's up

My wife and I are tea party supporters. We went to one and plan to go to the next in Tucson on 4/15. The media has, once again, made fools out of themselves. Polls show the folks consider tea party members more favorably than Obama. As a 67 yr old life long conservative who nearly had several strokes over the lies the media tells, it is great to see the folks recognize male bovine feces for what it is - bull(*&(*&.


14 posted on 04/05/2010 5:07:52 PM PDT by AZFolks (uet)
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To: what's up

What’s scaring them is only ~60% self-ID as Republicans.

That other 40 (27% Ind, 13% Rat) could easily turn on them in Nov.


15 posted on 04/05/2010 5:14:49 PM PDT by txhurl (The Ron Paul Crowd makes perfect senselessness.)
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To: GVnana

must be taking quite a circulation / listener / viewership hit :)


16 posted on 04/05/2010 5:17:37 PM PDT by NonValueAdded ("The real death threat is their legislation" Rush Limbaugh, 3/25/10)
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To: AZFolks

Bingo! That and the surveys about the membership and not least that the charges of racism and homophobia and spitting have no evidentiary base and the MSM realizes it has been “had” in a profoundly embarrassing way by the Democrats.


17 posted on 04/05/2010 5:18:25 PM PDT by the Real fifi
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To: spankalib

Nevada’s “false flag” is the most obvious current effort but we have one in Florida, too.I suspect most or all of the “Tea Parties” registered as political parties in the several states are “false flag” outfits.


18 posted on 04/05/2010 5:41:48 PM PDT by arthurus ("If you don't believe in shooting abortionists, don't shoot an abortionist." -Ann C.)
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To: GVnana

Personally, I vote for following the money.

The ratings or PMSNBC and Cnn are lower than whale shiite.


19 posted on 04/05/2010 5:45:33 PM PDT by HonestConservative (When Injustice becomes law, resistence becomes duty. Thomas Jefferson)
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To: arthurus

I just learned about a site for “Posers”. They are virtually everywhere.

http://www.meetup.com/Cape-Fear-Tea-Party-Patriots/messages/boards/thread/8848580/post/34892883/?hash=34892883#34892883


20 posted on 04/05/2010 5:47:04 PM PDT by HonestConservative (When Injustice becomes law, resistence becomes duty. Thomas Jefferson)
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