Today has been a very frustrating series of anger-inducing news articles and opinion pieces. As per the usual in Washington, you are either a redneck, gun-toting conservative or an effete latte-swilling liberal with no room in between. If you have something to say that does not fall into either of those broad stereotypes, just give up now. It makes the Patri Friedman criticism of politics and “folk activism” that much more attractive. How can you possibly ever make a difference in the current political structure and climate?
So what has frustrated me the most? How about this garbage by Paul Begala on CNN. It’s so enraging to me. Here are some quick points:
1. “The government asks so little.” In what world is 40-50% “so little?”
2. I don’t know who started this “tea party as fake activism” meme, but I’d like them to provide some proof. Are they asserting that these people are paid to be there? If not, what are they saying?
3. Begala’s implication is that people who don’t like paying taxes and say so are unpatriotic. STFU Paul. This is just as bad as the right-wing “questioning the war is unpatriotic” nonsense we had to endure for almost 8 years. You should know better, but clearly you don’t. And the veterans reference at the end is just shameless. If Begala wants to claim “turnabout is fair play” for the Bush years, I might give him a pass, but I would also claim the right to call him a hypocrite.
4. Does Paul Begala believe that every dime of taxes is worth spending? Why is he so offended by an expressed concern of the size and power of government?
5. These people at the Tax Protests are not law-breakers, Paul. There are expressing their opinion. I would wager that the great majority of them (98-99%) actually paid their taxes before hitting the street today.
But let’s turn it all around, now:
6. What little credibility FoxNews had with me is now gone. Sure, report on the protests. But don’t give me that “Fair and Balanced” nonsense and then turn your studio into a cheering section.
7. As with all enthusiastic protesters, I would coach them to stay on message, keep the inevitable crazies away from the microphone, and maintain some level of realism.
8. Spend less time talking about how much the “left” hates you.
9. Things like “end the income tax” and “back to the gold standard” are not realistic. Just stop it. Critique the policies, not the system.
10. As long as you keep applauding and giving the angry thumbs up to things like this, you are doomed:
April 15, 2009 at 9:08 pm
2- It’s phony because nobody is paying higher (federal income) taxes than they were last year, nor will they for years to come. If the basis on which they claim to be protesting is demonstrably false, it must be about something else.
Didn’t we learn that Santelli’s “spontaneous rant” was planned PR to provoke the masses into a populist outrage?
April 16, 2009 at 7:29 am
I disagree. Nobody is paying higher taxes …. yet. But they will. The level of spending guarantees that. You could argue that they are protesting taxes when they should be protesting spending. And I would be sympathetic to that. But I think calling their premise “false” is a bit much.
And no, I don’t think we learned that. I think a lot of people assumed/accused. And even if it was, it’s been going on for two months now. And further, what qualifies as “organic” these days?
April 16, 2009 at 10:35 am
1- Not if spending is cut commensurately, which is what the president said he’d do by the end of his term. If they are going to create and react to FUD, that has to be balanced out by what the administration says they are going to do.
2- But aren’t the majority of these “bailouts” really loans or equity purchases? So with any kind of oversight and reason, the treasury will start getting their money back?
3- Are people corn-fusing (or am I?) Treasury spending with Fed spending?
4- When Fox News Channel exhorts their followers to show up at these things, that they called “FNC TEA Parties”, it isn’t organic. The motivations of the individuals might be genuine concern for macroeconomic issues, but that concern was at least amplified if not created outright by the actions of a politically motivated media outlet. Note: they weren’t just covering the story, they were telling people to go to events that were named after them.
5- I don’t know what qualifies as organic, but this ain’t it. Would these people be there if Bush was still in the White House? I kinda don’t think so. If that’s true, then it really isn’t about taxes or spending, and then you have to ask what it is really about. Getting into mindreading here, but I suspect I’m right.
6- Organic is “I am f-ing pissed and I have to go out into the street and scream about it right now.” It is not “I just got an email from my right wing mailing list with a free ticket to a staged event”. If it’s organic, nobody would have known it was going to happen. (I’m conflating spontaneous with organic a little here.) Grassroots and organic events are grown from the participants.
April 16, 2009 at 6:27 pm
PS- I agree Begala and HWJ should tone it down a little.
April 16, 2009 at 7:48 pm
1- Sure. But when has that ever happened? The spending is there, in the law. The cuts haven’t happened yet.
2- It is surely possible. We can have a whole separate discussion on why the government seems to be annoyed that Goldman-Sachs is returning their TARP money.
3- Yes, I think most people don’t make a distinction. Hell, I have trouble separating the two.
4- And I agree that Fox’s cheerleading is awful. Be a news outlet or be the “700 Club”, not both.
5 and 6 – Oh, I don’t know. What protest is organic, then? All the MoveOn / ANSWER anti-war protests? Certainly not. By your argument, MLK’s Washington March wasn’t “organic”. It was certainly organized by same-thinking local organizations and a national umbrella org. There has to be some organization.
And I urge you to go back to the news-reports from when the bailout first passed during the waning days of the Bush Administration. Plenty of people were against it and angry … they didn’t hit the streets true, but these things take time.
And yes, most of these people are GOP stalwarts. And it drives me crazy, because I agree with the stated purpose of the protests. And then the rest of the people show up with their anti-gay, anti-immigration, tasteless anti-Obama posters and ruin the whole damn thing.
In the end, it comes down to politics being non-nuanced and imprecise.