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The [[Appellation (disambiguation)|appellation]] emerged after protesters displayed placards using the words "tea bag" as a verb.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://washingtonindependent.com/31868/scenes-from-the-new-american-tea-party|title=Scenes from the New American Tea Party|last=Weigel|first=David|date=February 27, 2009|publisher=Washington Independent|accessdate=22 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://mobile.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/14/teabagging_guide/index.html|title=Your guide to teabagging|last=Koppelman|first=Alex|publisher=Salon.com|accessdate=22 February 2010}}</ref>
The [[Appellation (disambiguation)|appellation]] emerged after protesters displayed placards using the words "tea bag" as a verb.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://washingtonindependent.com/31868/scenes-from-the-new-american-tea-party|title=Scenes from the New American Tea Party|last=Weigel|first=David|date=February 27, 2009|publisher=Washington Independent|accessdate=22 February 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://mobile.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/14/teabagging_guide/index.html|title=Your guide to teabagging|last=Koppelman|first=Alex|publisher=Salon.com|accessdate=22 February 2010}}</ref>
The label has prompted [[pun]]s by both commentators and protesters<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2009/12/18/what-are-you-doing-for-jesus-today|title=What are YOU doing for Jesus today? |publisher=The Portland Mercury|accessdate=2010-02-16}}</ref><!-- See also image file above, April 15 Hartford, Connecticut --> based on pre-existing use of the word to denote [[teabagging|oral–scrotal contact as a sex act or prank]]. This labeling has been deplored by Tea Party activists as dismissive, insulting, and elitist.<ref name="foxfrat"/>
The label has prompted [[pun]]s by both commentators and protesters<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2009/12/18/what-are-you-doing-for-jesus-today|title=What are YOU doing for Jesus today? |publisher=The Portland Mercury|accessdate=2010-02-16}}</ref><!-- See also image file above, April 15 Hartford, Connecticut --> based on pre-existing use of the word to denote [[teabagging|oral–scrotal contact as a sex act or prank]]. Though a number of Tea Party activists have used this term themselves, others find it to be dismissive, insulting, and elitist.<ref name="foxfrat"/>


==Controversy==
==Controversy==

Revision as of 03:45, 3 March 2010

The Taxpayer March on Washington, the largest Tea Party protest to date, in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 2009.

The Tea Party movement is a fiscally conservative and populist protest movement in the United States. It emerged in early 2009 partially in response to the federal government's stimulus package, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The movement originated in anti-tax protests, and arose in response to the increase in the national debt as a result of the stimulus package,[1][2] as well as the revelations about bonuses paid to AIG executives in March 2009[3][4] and has been most visible through the Tea Party protests of 2009. Protesters have also utilized the social networking outlets Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, as well as blogs, in promoting Tea Party events.[5]

The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, whose principal aim was to protest taxation without representation in the British Parliament[6] rather than protesting taxes in general. Tea Party protests have nevertheless sought to evoke similar images, slogans, and themes to this period in American history.[7][8][9]

Positions and goals

Demonstrators opposed federal support for the ailing automobile industry as well.[10] Support for the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 is also an issue raised in the Tea Parties.[citation needed]

Protest organizer and co-creator of dontGo Eric Odom has argued that "This is a protest that has been in government the last few years...Bush himself was guilty of socialist policies." He also said of the Republican Party that "It’s obvious they’re trying to ride on the brand that we created... It’s somewhat insulting."[11][12] His group has turned down a request from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to speak at its Chicago protest.[12] After the denial, the Republican National Committee released a statement saying that "They're just having a little fun."[13]

Dan Gerstein, a former Democratic Party political advisor, argued in Forbes that the protests could have tapped into real feelings of disillusionment by American moderates but the protesters had too many incoherent messages being put forth.[14] Bridgett Wagner of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has compared the protests to the tax revolts of the 1970s and 1980s, which included the successful Proposition 13 in California that capped property taxes.[15] Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, viewed them as "not dissimilar from what we had in 2003 with the anti-war protests, where a lot of people were uncomfortable with the war, but also uncomfortable with the anti-war position, recognizing there are terrorists out there."[16]

An article by Thomas B. Edsall in The New Republic concludes that the findings of Robert D. Putnam that diversity has resulted in a withdrawal of many from varied community life provides valuable insight into the Tea Party movement's "explosive growth".[17]

History

Background

A Tea Party protester holds a sign saying "Remember: Dissent is Patriotic" at a Nashville Tea Party on February 27, 2009.

The theme of the Boston Tea Party, an iconic event of American history, has long been used by anti-tax protesters with libertarian and conservative viewpoints.[18][19][20] It was part of Tax Day protests held throughout the 1990s and earlier.[21][22][23][24] The libertarian theme of the "tea party" protest was previously used by Republican Congressman Ron Paul and his supporters as a fundraising event during the primaries of the 2008 presidential campaign to emphasize Paul's fiscal conservatism, which they later claimed laid the groundwork for the modern-day Tea Party movement.[25][26][27]

As home mortgage foreclosures rapidly increased, and details of the 2009 stimulus bill became known, including the provision for the AIG executive bonuses, organized protests began to emerge.[28][29] [30]

February 1st, 2009 "tea bag campaign"

On January 19, 2009, Graham Makohoniuk, a portfolio manager for an investment firm[31] posted a casual invitation on the market-ticker.org forums to "Mail a tea bag to congress and to senate".[32] The idea quickly caught on with others on the forum, some of whom reported being attracted to the inexpensive, easy way to reach "everyone that voted for the bailout." [33]

Forum moderator, Stephanie Jasky helped organize the group and "get it to go viral."[34] Jasky is also the founder and director of FedUpUSA - a fiscally conservative, non-partisan activist group that describes themselves as "a group of investors" who sprung out of the market-ticker.org forums.[35] The group had previously held DC protests in 2008.[36][37] On January 19th, 2009, Jasky had posted a formal invitation "to a commemorative tea party."[38] She suggested they all send tea bags on the same day (February 1st, 2009) in a coordinated effort.[39]

The founder of market-ticker.org, Karl Denninger (stock trader and former CEO),[40] prominently posted his own write-up on the proposed protest, titled "Tea Party February 1st?," which railed against the bailouts, the US national debt and "the fraud and abuse in our banking and financial system" which included the predatory lending practices currently at the center of the home mortgage foreclosure crisis.[41] Karl Denninger, who helped form FedUpUSA in the wake of the March 2008 Federal Reserve bail out of Bear Sterns, had been a guest on both Glenn Beck and CNBC Reports.[42][43] By February 1st, the idea had spread among conservative and libertarian-oriented blogs, forums, websites and through a viral email campaign.[44]

On February 11th, talk radio host and Fox Business Network personality Dave Ramsey appeared on Fox and Friends, waving tea bags and saying "It's time for a Tea Party." [45][when?] He was on the show criticizing the newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, who that morning had outlined his plan to use the $300 billion or so dollars remaining in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. He intended to use $50 billion for foreclosure mitigation and use the rest to help fund private investors to buy toxic assets from banks.[46]

"Porkulus" protests and "First Tea Party" claims

The term "porkulus" was coined by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh on his January 27th, 2009, broadcast[47] in reference to both the 2009 "stimulus" bill, which was just introduced to the House of Representatives the day before, as well as to pork barrel spending and earmarks[48]. This proved very popular with conservative politicians and commentators[49], who began to unify in opposition against stimulus spending after the 2008 General Election.

Competing claims have emerged over which protest was actually the first to organize. According to FreedomWorks state and federal campaigns director Brendan Steinhauser[50][51], activist Mary Rakovich[52] was the organizer of a February 10, 2009 protest in Fort Myers, Florida, calling it the "first protest of President Obama's administration that we know of. It was the first protest of what became the tea party movement."[53] Rakovich, along with six to 10 others, protested outside a townhall meeting featuring President Barack Obama and Florida governor Charlie Crist [54]. Interviewed by a local reporter, Rakovich explained that she "thinks the government is wasting way too much money helping people receive high definition TV signals" and that "Obama promotes socialism, although 'he doesn't call it that'"[54]. She was invited to appear in front of a national audience on Neil Cavuto's Fox News Channel program Your World[55].

New York Times reporter Kate Zernike[56], however, credits Seattle blogger and conservative activist Keri Carender with organizing the first Tea Party on February 16, 2009. Another article, written by Chris Good of The Atlantic, credits Carender as "one of the first" Tea Party organizers.

Carendar organized what she called A "Porkulus Protest" on President’s Day, before, as she says, "Rick Santelli’s rant!" referring to the CNBC reporter who called for protests after the announcement of the AIG executive bonuses in the face of increasing home mortgage foreclosures. Carender said, "Without any support from a national movement, without any support from any official in my city, I just got fed up and planned it." Carender said 120 people participated. "Which is amazing for the bluest of blue cities I live in, and on only four days notice!! This was due to me spending the entire four days calling and emailing every person, think tank, policy center, university professors (that were sympathetic), etc. in town, and not stopping until the day came." Carender held a second protest on February 27, 2009 which she claims was the first Tea Party. "We more than doubled our attendance at this one, and that is very much due to the fact that I had collected email addresses at the first one and was able to tell a couple hundred people at once about the second rally."[57] [58]

Carender contacted conservative author and Fox News contributor, Michelle Malkin in order to gain her support and publicize her event. Malkin promoted the protest in several posts on her blog, saying that "There should be one of these in every town in America," and that she would be supplying the crowd with a meal of pulled pork. The protest was held in Seattle on Presidents Day, February 16th, the day before President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law[59]. Malkin encouraged her readers to stage similar events in Denver on February 17th where President Obama planned to sign the stimulus bill into law.

A protest at the Denver Capitol Building was already in the works, which Michelle Malkin reports was organized by the conservative advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, and spearheaded by conservative activist group, Independence Institute as well as former Republican Representative and presidential candidate, Tom Tancredo.[60][61][62] Another protest, organized by a local conservative talk radio station KFYI was held in suburban Pheonix, Arizona, on February 18th, and brought 500 protesters[63]. KFYI organized the protest in reaction to Obama's visit to the local high school to hold his first public talk on elements of the stimulus bill.[64] By February 20th, Michelle Malkin was using her nationally-syndicated column to attempt to present these three protests as a movement to her fellow conservatives, and continued to call for more.[65] "There's something in the air," she wrote, "It's the smell of roasted pork."

First national Tea Party protests

On February 19, 2009,[49] in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CNBC Business News Network editor Rick Santelli loudly criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages, which had just been announced the day before, as "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages" and raised the possibility of putting together a "Chicago Tea Party in July"[66][67]. A number of the stock brokers around him cheered on his proposal, to the apparent amusement of the hosts in the studio. It was called "the rant heard round the world"[68] and quickly went viral after it received a big "red siren headline" on the popular conservative blog, drudgereport.com.[69] According to The New Yorker writer Ben McGrath[70] and New York Times reporter Kate Zernike[71], this is where the movement was first inspired to coalesce under the collective banner of "Tea Party."

In response to Santelli, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, were live within twelve hours.[8] About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for July 4, and as of March 4, was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.[8]

According to the Huffington Post, on February 20th a Facebook page went up calling for Tea Party protests accross the country.[72] Group administrators included Eric Odom of the conservative activist group FreedomWorks, and the group was created by Phil Kerpen from the conservative advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity -- the same group credited for the Denver "porkulus" protest as well as Mary Rakovich's early February 10th protest. Soon, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" protest was coordinated across over 40 different cities for February 27, 2009, thus establishing the first national modern Tea Party protest.[73][74]

Composition of the movement

According to political correspondent Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press, the tea party movement "... is pure people-driven politics facilitated by the Internet. This is an ideological mix of libertarianism and conservatism with the common denominator being lower spending and smaller government."[75] "Government is too big. Spending is out of control. Individual freedom is at risk. And President Barack Obama's policies are making it all worse. But that's where the consensus ends among the diverse groups of frustrated Americans who count themselves part of this fledgling coalition."[75]

The tea party movement also includes several more formal entities[76], with slightly different approaches to their advocacy:

Responses

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaking at the April 15, 2009, New York City Tea Party.

Politics

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's political activist group American Solutions supports the protests, saying on its website that they are "our chance to communicate our anger and opposition to the irresponsible policies of politicians in Washington who have failed to solve problems." Gingrich spoke at the New York City protest on April 15.[90]

Texas governor Rick Perry attended a Tea Party rally in Austin, Texas. He has also discussed the protests on YouTube.[91] Perry fielded a question at the rally about Texas secession, answering: "There's a lot of different scenarios. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."[92]

The Tea Parties also drew the praise of other elected officials. Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) said the protests showed that "this land is still owned by the people." Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) called the Tea Party movement "helpful" and "genuine."[93]

Talk show host Leslie Marshall has remarked, in reference to the original Boston Tea Party, that "You have to look at our history. The reason these people revolted is they didn't want to pay taxes that were not presented by elected officials... Last time I checked, Obama's not taxing you to death — he is spending to stimulate the economy and he is an elected official."[94] Political commentator Bob Cesca commented that "your neighbor's mortgage is your problem. Just watch your property values plummet as soon as there's just one foreclosure on your block." Historian Bruce Bartlett, a former U.S. Treasury Department official in the Bush administration, argued in Forbes magazine that higher taxes may not be as bad as they seem, writing that "Higher taxes may pay for services that people value and thus are not as burdensome as they might appear at first glance."[95]

Protesters at the Philadelphia Tea Party on April 18, 2009.

Many political candidates who are outside of "establishment" politics are gaining traction in their campaigns due to support from the Tea Party movement. US Senator Scott Brown's support from the Tea Party movement made him a contender in what turned out to be an upset election.[96] Many politicians in the 2010 election cycle are riding on grassroots support from the Tea Party movement, including Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial contender Sam Rohrer, Texas gubernatorial contender Debra Medina and US Senate candidate Rand Paul.[97][98] [99]

Organized labor

The leaders of labor union centers such as the AFL-CIO and Change to Win Federation have labelled the Tea Party protests as corporately-funded astroturfing operations and have advocated for nonviolent counter-protests against Tea Party protest events, particularly during the string of townhall events at which many of the protests took place[100]; some of the union-backed counter-protests resulted in violent altercations between union members and Tea Party activists, with conflicting accounts concerning the initiators of such incidences.

Media

The protests have been derided by commentators such as Rachel Maddow,[101] Keith Olbermann, [101] David Shuster,[101] talk show host Leslie Marshall,[94] New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman,[102] conservative author Andrew Sullivan,[103] liberal public policy advocacy group MoveOn.org, [15] political satirist Jon Stewart,[104] and Thomas Frank.[105] Conversely, the protests attracted support from and been promoted by conservative commentators such as Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck,[106] and Glenn Reynolds,[107] former House Majority Leader Dick Armey,[108] rock guitarist and political activist Ted Nugent,[109] country musician John Rich,[110] and conservative radio host Neal Boortz.[111]

CNBC news editor Rick Santelli said "I think that this Tea Party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in American notion to get involved with what’s going on with our government. I haven’t organized. I’m going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I’m not going to be able to get away today. But, I have to tell you — I’m pretty proud of this."[112] Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said that the events were "mostly an honest spontaneous effort...to express their outrage at government hubris".[113]

In January 2010, New York Times columnist David Brooks, after reciting a number of recent opinion polls and other sources, suggested that the coming decade of 2010-2019 has the potential to become "The Tea Party Teens" in U.S. political history.[114]

Following the election of Scott Brown in the January 19, 2010 Massachusetts Senate Race, the British magazine The Economist said "America’s most vibrant political force at the moment is the anti-tax tea-party movement."[115]

In February 2010, Marvel Comics caused a controversy when a sign, based on a photo[116] taken by journalist David Weigel, was added proclaiming "Tea Bag the Libs before they tea bag you!" in an issue of Captain America.[117][118] The comic drew criticism from Tea Party leaders, and Marvel Comics editor Joe Quesada later apologized for specifically identifying characters as associated with the Tea Party movement. Quesada said the edition will be corrected in further printings and the trade paperback.[119][120]

Public opinion polls

A December 7, 2009 poll made by Rasmussen found, in a three-way generic ballot test featuring a hypothetical "Tea Party" candidate, Democrats attracted 36% of the vote, the Tea Party candidate picked up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Among independent voters, the Tea Party bested both Democrat and Republican candidates, with 33% of all independent voters preferring the Tea Party candidate.[121] In a December 16, 2009 Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, the Tea Party movement fared better than both the Republican and Democratic parties, with 41% of respondents saying they had a "favorable" or "somewhat favorable" view of it.[122]

A late-January 2010 poll made by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation found that "one-third of Americans have a favorable view of the Tea Party movement," while "26 percent of the public has an unfavorable view." 40 percent either "have not heard of the movement or don't know enough to form an opinion."[123] An early-February 2010 Fox News poll of 900 registered voters showed that 35 percent of voters view the Tea Party movement favorably, 22 percent view it unfavorably, and 42 percent don't know or have never heard of the movement.[124]

A poll by CBS News/New York Times taken Feb 5-10, 2010, found that only 2% of Tea Party supporters were aware that President Obama had cut taxes.[125]

A CNN poll[126] of 1023 adult Americans (with a sampling error of +/- 3%), conducted on February 12-15, 2010, found that:

  • 35% of the sample either stongly or moderately supported the Tea Party
  • 16% would vote for a Tea Party candidate for Congress
  • 2 to 7% participated in or gave money to the Tea Party movement

In surveying only those who had participated in Tea Party activities (with a sampling error of +/- 9%), the CNN poll found that:

  • 80% were white[127], compared to 71% of all respondents
  • 60% were men, compared to 50% of all respondents
  • 40% were college gradutates, compared to 28% of all respondents
  • 4% described themselves as Democrat, compared to 32% of all respondents.

President Obama

On April 29, 2009, Obama commented on the Tea Party protests publicly during a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri, saying: "(When) you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security ... But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that's just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts, but we're going to have to do it in an intelligent way. And we've got to make sure that the people who are helped are working American families, and we're not suddenly saying that the way to do this is to eliminate programs that help ordinary people and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. We tried that formula for eight years, and it did not work, and I don't intend to go back to it."[128]

On April 19, 2009, Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod, asked about the Tea Party protests on CBS News, said "I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that’s unhealthy." and "The thing that bewilders me is this President just cut taxes for ninety five percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere, because he certainly understands the burden that people face."[129]

Humor

A protester's sign at the April 15, 2009, Hartford, Connecticut Tea Party reads: "Teabag Washington? They have way too many NUTS Already!"

The label "teabagging" has been applied to Tea Party protests in general [130] and to the specific protest gesture of mailing a tea bag to the White House.[131][132] The appellation emerged after protesters displayed placards using the words "tea bag" as a verb.[133][134] The label has prompted puns by both commentators and protesters[135] based on pre-existing use of the word to denote oral–scrotal contact as a sex act or prank. Though a number of Tea Party activists have used this term themselves, others find it to be dismissive, insulting, and elitist.[130]

Controversy

Astroturfing allegations

Allegations of "astroturfing" appeared in a Playboy article by Mark Ames and Yasha Levine in February 2009. The article was removed after libel claims, but no legal action materialized. The authors repeated and elaborated their allegations elsewhere—that the tea party protests were a "carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign . . . for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced," including the Koch family, Dick Armey and FreedomWorks.[136][137] On October 3, 2009, David H. Koch said the tea party protests fulfilled "the vision" of the board of directors of the conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity when it was founded in 2004.[138]

On April 9, 2009, the liberal blog Think Progress claimed that most of the 2009 protests were conservative lobbyist-created "astroturf" projects and not spontaneous grassroots protests. They argued that the protests were nationally coordinated and organized by conservative lobbyist organizations Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks.[139] The story was picked up in a New York Times op-ed column by liberal economist Paul Krugman, writing 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."[102] On April 15, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi agreed, saying "it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."[140] On the same day, liberal MSNBC pundit Rachel Maddow commented, saying that "corporate-funded PR shops and lobbying groups have done a lot of the organizing and promotion for these events. That's controversial because it's astroturfing. It's disguising a formal top-down organized paid for things as if it's some spontaneous grassroots event."[141]

A December 28, 2009 article in the liberal Talking Points Memo detailed that Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB), the political action committee (PAC) behind the Tea Party Express, directed almost two thirds of all its funding to the Republican-affiliated political consulting firm that created the PAC in the first place. According to FEC filings, from July through November 2009, OCDB spent around $1.33 million, and of that sum, $857,122 went to a Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm named Russo, Marsh, and Associates, or people associated with it. The article went on to detail that Tea Party Patriots, a rival faction of conservative activists denounced Tea Party Express as a creature of Republican political professionals that lacks grassroots authenticity, with one TPP member, who had examined the FEC filings asking: "What would the true grassroots people think if they knew their money is being spent in this manner?"[81] The Los Angeles Times later confirmed the money paid to Russo, Marsh, and Associates went mostly to vendors and advertising, with about $100,000 going to the political consultants for fees and salary.[142]

Participants vehemently deny the astroturfing charge. According to Atlantic Monthly, the three main groups that provide guidance and organization for the protests FreedomWorks, dontGO, and Americans for Prosperity state that the demonstrations are an organic movement.[12] Law professor and conservative commentator Glenn Reynolds, best known as author of the Instapundit political blog, argued in The New York Post that: "These aren't the usual semiprofessional protesters who attend antiwar and pro-union marches. These are people with real jobs; most have never attended a protest march before. They represent a kind of energy that our politics hasn't seen lately, and an influx of new activists."[143] Conservative political strategist Tim Phillips, now head of Americans for Prosperity, has remarked that the Republican Party is "too disorganized and unsure of itself to pull this off."[7]

Fox News

Fox News gave widespread coverage to the tea party protests[citation needed]. Critics have suggested that Fox somehow played a supporting role in the Movement[citation needed]. But Fox News[clarification needed][not specific enough to verify] claims [144] it simply gave coverage while the other news outlets including the networks, ABC[failed verification], NBC[failed verification], and CBS[failed verification], and the cable news show MSNBC[failed verification], ignored[original research?] the protests[failed verification]. [145][146][147] US News and World Report agreed that the nature of the coverage of the protests has become part of the story.[148]

Prior to the Tax Day protests, Fox News ran 20 or more segments about the protests, over 100 commercial promotions of its coverage, directed viewers to a "virtual tea party" on FoxNation.com, and repeatedly described the protests as "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties" in their television coverage.[149] [150] On July 28, Fox Nation posted a promotional ad for the Tea Party Express using the headline, "Will You Join the Tea Party Express?"[151] At one point, Griff Jenkins, who was embedded by FOX on the Tea Party Express bus tour, literally acted as a cheerleader at Tea Party events[citation needed]. Greta Van Sustern had to clarify for viewers that Jenkins was not part of the bus tour.[152] Griff Jenkins was again on camera in a controversial video that was leaked showing a Fox News producer coaching the crowd at a Tea Party rally.[153] Host Glenn Beck actively instructed his viewers that "if you can't make the one in San Antonio, please go to the one with Neil [Cavuto] or with Sean [Hannity] in Atlanta, that's supposed to be great, Greta [Van Susteren] is in Washington, D.C. Just get out and let your face be seen."[citation needed]

Glenn Beck specifically has been one of Fox News Channel's most vocal promoters of the Tea Party movement[citation needed]. He attracted some controversy by holding a $500 a plate fundraiser ahead of the Tax Day Tea Parties.[154] He also created the 9-12 Project as part of the "We Surround Them" campaign, a series of segments and specials on Beck's television program in early 2009 which claimed to aim to bring back government accountability.[155] The 912 Project served as a principal sponsor for the Taxpayer March on Washington on September 12, 2009.[156][157] The march was reported as the largest conservative protest ever held in Washington, D.C.[citation needed], as well as the largest demonstration against President Obama's administration to date.[2][158]

As the protests grew, other media outlets as well as media watchdog groups began calling attention to or criticizing Fox's role in the movement[citation needed]. Eric Burns, president of Media Matters for America, a self-described progressive media watchdog organization, wrote an open letter to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asking him to "publicly address recent actions by Fox News personalities that unambiguously cross the line separating news and legitimate commentary from political activism and demagoguery."[112] The Los Angeles Times noted that it was not just the Fox News hosts helping to hype the event, but the anchors as well.[159]

On April 12, Howard Kurtz said on CNN's Reliable Sources, "Fox News gets on board in a big way with this week's tea party protests" and "The folks at Fox News ... are firmly in favor of tea parties."[160] On April 15, he said, "I don't think I've ever seen a news network throw its weight behind a protest like we are seeing in the past few weeks with FOX and these tea parties."[160] Political commentator Rachel Maddow said, "The unofficial Republican Party media outlet, Fox News Channel, has explicitly endorsed these events."[161] Political commentator Keith Olbermann said, "Despite claiming neutrality on those policies and the teabag movement itself, FOX has whipped up excitement for the parties, recruiting viewers to come out, guaranteeing huge outdoor gatherings, spilling into the streets, choking off traffic with all their teabagging."[162] On April 14, ABC World News described the protests as "[c]heered on by Fox News and talk radio".[148]

On Tax Day, April 15, 2009, Susan Roesgen interviewed a number of people at a 2009 Tea Party protest in Chicago, including one protester calling Barack Obama a fascist and carrying sign depicting him as Adolf Hitler, and another protester that praised Abraham Lincoln. Sources close to the situation told TV Newser that Roesgen heard shouts as she was reporting, including "Damn CNN" and "Shut up, bitch," from the crowd.[163] Roesgen concluded her live shot with, "I think you get the general tenor of this. It's anti-government, anti-CNN, since this is highly promoted by the right wing conservative network, Fox. And since I can't really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing, I'll toss it back to you -- Kyra"[164][160][165] Mona Charen of the National Review said that the interview style was confrontational.[166][167][168] George Washington University professor of media Frank Sesno defended Roesgen for not letting statements go unchallenged.[169] A CNN spokesperson said, "She was doing her job, and called it like she saw it."[170]

In the aftermath of Fox's advocacy of the various Tea Party events, James Rainey of The Los Angeles Times also said MSNBC's hits on the tea parties may have paled compared to Fox's relentless support, but Olbermann, Maddow and Matthews were hardly subtle in disparaging the movement.[171] Howard Kurtz has said that, "These [FOX] hosts said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to tea. On the other hand, CNN and MSNBC may have dropped the ball by all but ignoring the protests."[160]

Following the 9/12 protests, Fox News created more controversy by taking out full-page ads in The Washington Post, the New York Post, and The Wall Street Journal with a prominent headline reading, "How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this story?" with pictures of the 9/12 Protests on the Capitol lawn[citation needed]. A still picture in the ad was in fact taken from a CNN broadcast covering the event. The veracity of this ad was called into question on the air by CNN commentator Rick Sanchez along with others pointing to various coverage of the event.[172][173][174] CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CBS Radio News provided various forms of live coverage of the rally in Washington throughout the day on Saturday, including the lead story on CBS Evening News.[172][174][175][176]

See also

References

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Media related to 2009 Tea Party protests at Wikimedia Commons