Tea Party

[purejuice]

The Tea Partiers are not, as I deduced from a previous NYT story, boomers out of work. There's a new NYT poll which explains who they are.

I am ready to consign them to the scrapheap of history I shall dub The Racist Backlash Against the 1965 Voting Rights Act That LBJ Said Would Last 50 Years. Five years to go. Buh-bye.

I must say, I think the blogosphere pundits' Gotcha, argue with every word uttered by every asshole on the planet, attitude, is counterproductive. Ignore them, deprive them of a venue, do not repeat or listen to what they say, and they will go away.

Comments

[villagecharm.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely too much coverage. Especially because they aren't actually doing anything - wave a sign, draw a crowd of 400, make a speech. Super. But where are their candidates? Where - to use the 60s example - is their willingness to directly confront the institutions they consider corrupt/tyrannical? Where are their building occupations/wildcat strikes/sit-ins/boycotts/marches? All they do, as far as I can tell, is whine.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

what drives the coverage (news judgment) in your shop? or do you think all demos/photo opportunity/soundbite politics of zero agency get the same coverage?

goebbels was all about the soundbite. i have to go back and read my fascist tomes. (and i wish i could confirm the internet rumor that mick jagger and david bowie have see Triumph of the Will 43 times.)

[villagecharm.livejournal.com]

In my shop, I think local factors determine coverage. My old chums in West Virginia handled their Tea Party story with a brief not exceeding 130 words, for example. We gave them a full-length story because we wanted to write about how they've become an arm of the state (and, in particular, the Wake County) GOP, despite constant claims of nonpartisanship. Of the dozen office-seekers who spoke, all were Republicans, and they were joined by apparatchiks from the Wake County party. It seemed like a good chance to point out how this movement supposedly formed in opposition to politics-as-usual is becoming, in North Carolina at least, a get-out-the-vote drive for one of the Big Two.

But in general, I think the press is attracted by the chance for pictures of people acting crazy and quotes from people saying stupid things.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

that's a good story, tp R us.