Musings on Tea Party

I had considered stopping by Donner park yesterday to check out the Tea Party event there, but ended up working late (Never thought I'd be thrilled to be working late, but boy was I ever!)

So when I did wrap up in the evening, I drove by just to see what was happening. It looked like the crowd was breaking up, with lots of folks walking to their cars. I couldn't tell much about turnout, but noticed cars parked in unusual places, so it seemed there were enough to strain available parking.

I watched some of the Fox News coverage, and noticed several things.

The crowds seemed substantially white, middle-class, and clean-cut. These folks aren't your typical protesters. They aren't into chanting slogans that much. They listen to the speakers and cheer a lot, but if a speaker gets partisan they might boo him.

The events apparently weren't covered by anybody other than Fox News, except maybe for local press and media. There's a clip from CNN with one of their reporters starting to interview a Tea Party attendee then rudely cutting him off and insulting him when he tried to answer her condescending question (Why are you here protesting taxes, when Obama's plan actually gives you a tax cut?)

The local newspaper did a front-page photo but a fairly small and dismissive article. Obviously the reporter wasn't a fan. The photo seemed designed to project a negative image - it showed an angry-looking unattractive woman holding a sign and yelling something.

Either the press doesn't understand or chooses not to understand the driving force behind this movement. They echo the Obama talking points, that everybody except the "rich" are getting a break, so what's the problem?

Then there's the vulgar stuff, that I was very surprised showed up on CNN as well. Imagine if Fox News used a vulgar sexual reference to describe a leftist protest.

The important questions are whether this is a one-time thing, or the start of a movement that will bring government back to reality; and will this gain enough momentum to actually reconfigure the membership of congress?

It would be nice, but the country's still pretty much polarized around 50-50. We shall see next year.