It's odd, then, that Fox News would be quite this brazen about its support for right-wing rallies in opposition to Obama.

Are you kidding me? Have you ever watched Fox News?

So let me get this straight....Fox News teabagged the American Flag and Constitution?

Yeah, but FOX is so bad at pretending, that their dropping of their pretenses doesn't seem like that big a change, at least to me. They've just gone from obvious and lying about it, to obvious and lying about other things.

Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do for ratings among your ilk.

I've seen the names of the individuals doing publicity for my hometown event, and it looks as if Republican Party apparatchiks have co-opted the movement.

So why is this any different?
1. The Rethuglicans are doing it.
2. They are patriots.
Haven't you learned anything in the last 8 years?

Frankly, Fox is scared that the shifting demographics and party identifications will utterly undermine their business model. The last I looked support for Obama was pretty high. Support for the Republicans not so much and dropping. It is a big gamble for Fox. If the Tea Parties aren't completely successful they might sink into ratings oblivion. Fox, it would seem, has decided that it has to foment a second American Revolution just to remain competitive.

"Klan Rallies: A Great Part of American History -- And America's Future."

Ron says"
If the Tea Parties aren't completely successful

I'm really curious as to what the definition of "completely successful" is for these people? They are not going to change public policy, so is the only measure of success going to be how many minutes they get on the "Liberal Media"?

Or is this all just a big Rave for wingnuts?

Why is this different? Duh: IOKIYAR.

I suspect, given those circumstances, Republicans would not only denounce the network as biased, but the GOP would probably stop allowing Republican officials to appear on MSNBC. And they'd have a point.

No longer having Republican hacks vomiting talking points would make MSNBC much more appealing to watch. How soon can we have these MSNBC rallies?

"...the political world follows along with the game -- [Fox News] gets to ask questions at White House press conferences, travel with presidential campaigns, hosts debates, etc."

Excellent point. Why is an arm of the Republican propaganda machine allowed in the White House press room?

So why is this any different?

Because fully 1/3 or more of the Democrats are in full agreement with FOX and their ilk, and are essentially nothing more than greedy, corporate-controlled conservative whores who only give the people the illusion that what they want matters, so realistically there could never be a counter example.

Real Americans drink coffee.

Everyone knows full well it's pretend journalism, but the establishment just winks and nods about it.

It's odd, then, that Fox News would be quite this brazen about its support for right-wing rallies in opposition to Obama.

Uh, wait. Your thesis is that Fox News is openly partisan in content and actions except for a thin pretense of neutrality and journalistic ethics by its on-air talent when on the air, and Fox gets away with doing so and being treated as if they were a legitimate news outlet rather than a advocacy group, and this makes it surprising that their online outlet would act in a nakedly partisan manner promoting political rallies?

Seems to me that this is completely unsurprising. As long as they make empty, token, ritualistic gestures of neutrality on the air, they get away with any kind of overt political activism they want and get treated as a news rather than advocacy group. So, consequently, they engage in as much political activism as they can while continuing the empty, token, ritualistic gestures of neutrality on the air. Where is the part of this that would be surprising? They observe that something works, and they do more of it.

I wonder if there is any truth to my suspicion that FOX didn't even deign to cover as an important news item the many anti-war rallies both before and after the war, as well as at the national conventions of the major parties (even for the purposes of discrediting the left), let alone minor parties.

The network's on-air talent (I use the word loosely) operates from the assumption that Fox News is a legitimate news source, and the political world follows along with the game... Everyone knows full well it's pretend journalism, but the establishment just winks and nods about it.

And that's the problem. Why does the legitimate media, to say nothing of the White House, continue to treat this modern-day Pravda with even a shred of seriousness? Dropping this charade and treating Fox as the gutter-level circus it is would go a long way towards helping repair the media's image.

I don't understand why the administration doesn't yank all of Fox's press credentials -- no admittance to briefings, press conferences, gaggles -- legitimate news organizations only.

The only political "tea party" I know of was the one in Boston where they dumped tea into the harbor to protest taxation without representation. Is that what they're going to be doing here? Who or what is being taxed without representation?
Or is it a bunch of rich white "victims" standing around drinking tea? Sounds elitist to me.
Last question--Why is Howard Kurtz considered some sort of neutral media analyst? He's not.

Tea Parties: A Great Part of American History

I think in addition to the ACORN infiltrators, they have a spy from the Onion writing their headlines :)

The realest part of this post is what you almost touch on at the end. Why do Democratic officials continue to go on FoxNews? What kind of advantage do they think they get from going on there. You know who benefits the most from Democrats going on FoxNews? FoxNews thats who. It gives them the legitimacy that they do not now and have never deserved. Brave New Films has done great work in showing just how ridiculous it is for any Democrat to ever want to go on any of their shows. Now they have a straight up wack job on every day calling for the over throw of a Democratically elected government. What needs to happen is that Democrats should simply cut off their appearances on FoxNews. Let them die on the vine and instead load up with appearances on MSNBC and CNN.

There really is no plausible explanation for continuing to give FoxNews the cover to say they are "fair and balanced"

Imagine this were 2005, and MSNBC decided it would support a series of national rallies in opposition to the Bush economic agenda.

Imagine it's 2003, and Clear Channel radio stations sponsor pro-war rallies, "promoted repeatedly by the company's widely syndicated radio personality, Glenn Beck."

http://www.fightingbob.com/article.cfm?articleID=149

"A Great Part of American History"

If I recall correctly, the Boston Tea Party was, among other things, a protest against taxation without representation. As Jon Stewart said the other night, Republicans aren't angry at tyranny, they're upset at losing.

I still find it funny that a bunch of people who, in reality, are among the 95% who have received a tax cut from Obama are rallying to decry increased taxes on the top 5% of income earners. I guess they just care more about helping rich people keep their money than they do about offering health care to kids.

There's also the amusing irony of a political movement that tells everyone not to have sex using a sexual term for it's crowning event.

That still cracks me up.

If you consider the FCC charter, and the rules under which licensed media outlets are supposed to operate, this should slam-dunk grounds for running these yahoos off the air.

Like all the other broadcast and cable networks, Fox News is in the business of selling audience eyeballs to their commercial sponsors. They know their audience, they know what their audience wants -- and what they have conditioned their audience to want -- and they'll keep on dishing it out as long as it keeps their audience watching the commercials.

MSNBC puts Maddow and Olberman on the air for the same reason.

It's obviously fair and balanced to report on the Tea Baggers. If Fox doesn't do it, who else will? These are very serious and patriotic people.

Where I get lost in all this is if I'm not mistaken we paid taxes under George W. Bush as well. And I believe the due date to file was April 15th then too. I know it's been so long since Bush was president it's hard for any of us to recall the policies then. But where were the Tea Baggers at in protesting taxes then? Why weren't they protesting the complete irresponsibility of taking the largest surplus in history and turning it into the largest deficit in history?

There's obviously something more to the protests than just taxes, of which 99% of people opposed being taxed. They are truly a fringe people scared to admit their real goals and vision for this country. It's like southerners trying to say the Civil War wasn't about slavery. Yeah right!

Howard Kurtz said the other day that the network isn't crossing any lines of propriety

Why, me oh my, that is just shocking.

And I am certain that if CNN had promoted rallies against Bush in the way that FOX is promoting these tea parties, Howie would have come to the exact same conclusion.

If we add up all the free air time Fox devotes to promoting far-right wing conservativism and bashing anything else, this has to be the largest loophole ever in a campaign finance law.

I love reading this blog, but there is one theme that I have become a little weary of. This is the theme of "imagine if a liberal did this, would they let them get away with it?" We know Fox News, conservative pundits, and blogs wouldn't, they never have. This is one of the many things that make not only liberals, but people better than those on the right.

Perhaps the real issue is that they are better at getting their issues out (regardless of the veracity of their issues). They do this by being sensational. It's an easy sell. It's their audience who are the real problem.

There is no equality in these arguments, because they are not arguments. It is sensation. It is all they have, and they will cling to it until the end. All we have to do is not take the bait, and they will lose. We should just stop trying to equate the right wing with anyone else. They are their own worse enemy.

Did they ask John Waters for hints on carrying out this Tea-Bagging Party? if not, too bad.

give them enough rope, it'll work sooner or later.

C'mon fellas! Why just stop at tea-bagging?? I wanna see you show some moxie!

Good people of Cleveland? I think it's about time you dump your "steamed" hot dogs in the Cuyahoga River to protest NAFTA beef!

Anti Immigration Crowd? Where's the caricatures of Senor Sanchez lookin' all "Dirty" and whatnot?

Frankly I'm disappointed with your effort here...let's see some vim and vigour!

"I suspect, given those circumstances, Republicans would not only denounce the network as biased, but the GOP would probably stop allowing Republican officials to appear on MSNBC. And they'd have a point.

So why is this any different?"

Because the Republicans very well house-trained the MSM?

Because there is no downside threat of real push back that might imperil thew bottom line?

Because guys like Howard Kurtz don't want to pre-clude the chance of a lucrative gig at a national TV channel?

Are these enough reasons?

Why does the legitimate media, to say nothing of the White House, continue to treat this modern-day Pravda with even a shred of seriousness?

The so-called "legitimate" media is run by corporate mega-entities whose own political involvement and perceived economic self-interest is largely aligned with the political positions espoused by Fox, even if most of them aren't quite so obvious about embracing those positions in their so-called "news" programming. Since to challenge Fox as illegitimate would be to undermine the leading propaganda outlet supporting those interests, they don't challenge Fox much on those grounds.

The political establishment, of course, relies on the media to communicate with the public, and therefore tends to challenge it only in the direction that where the challenge is most likely to be well-received by the owners of media outlets.

"Or is it a bunch of rich white "victims" standing around drinking tea? Sounds elitist to me."

And this probably why Michael Steele's invitation got lost in the mail...

*

The entire Fox propaganda team should be charged, tried, and convicted for SEDITION because that is exactly what they are doing ...

april glaspie: "...this should slam-dunk grounds for running these yahoos off the air."

As a cable network, FOX News is not subject to the same public interest mandate as FCC-licensed over-the-air broadcasters.

The Fox Nation, which Fox News claims does not traffic in "biased media," ...

Only the mainstream media is supposed to be able to get away with that claim!

Imagine this were 2005, and MSNBC decided it would support a series of national rallies in opposition to the Bush economic agenda. MNSBC would send out on-air figures to speak at the events, and the network would spend weeks not only endorsing the protests, but referring to the events as "MSNBC Rallies" on the air.

Why only imagine? If you go onto a rightwing website that has comments, and post something like:

"Why was it okay for MSNBC to promote those social security rallies in 2005 but it isn't okay for Fox to do this for us? That isn't fair, what they did was worse because they were trying to hurt the President while we were at war."

I guarantee you it will spread like wildfire through their side of the blogosphere that MSNBC really did do that. And that it really was evil while what Fox is doing is good for America.

I understand Obama makes Karl Rove incredibly hot under the hot collar. Maybe they should call these tea parties Hot Karl parties.

Put Howard Kurtz' sensitivity to ethics in a walnut shell and you'd have room left over for two peas and the heart of a banker.

The great thing (well, great in THIS context) is that racist organizations like Stormfront will have a presence in these tea parties. So look for the nazi salutes, the skinhead brigades, and the burning of Obama in effigy, probably while being strung up in a noose, in cutaways that say "Coverage of the 21st century tea parties brought to you by Fox News. Fair. Balanced."

Then look for the DNC using that footage for at least the next 3 and 3/4 years.

Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party's Facebook rallying point. I defy you to find a whiter group.