Barack Obama is more than just denouncing those who disagree with him on health insurance reform. He has the White House website targeting individuals. He has asked that fellow Americans turn on fellow Americans and report to a White House email address the names of those who disagree with him. He has not made clear what repercussions await those who get reported.
The rhetoric by the White House and Democrats on the Hill has become visceral, not just with the usual hollow claims of hate, fear and greed, etc., but also Senator Barbara Boxer's weird insult that the protestors aren't sincere because Americans don't wear nice clothes.
Politics is rough and tumble, but a President collecting the names of people who disagree with him is downright scary.
The main objection posited by the President and Congressional Democrats is that people showing up to protest at town hall congressional meetings are not "real people" but shills for lobbyists and other organizations. They coined the cutesy term "astroturf," meaning not real grass-roots, but fake. That claim is denied by protestors who attend the town hall meetings.
Mainstream media is supposed to journal events, not shape them. They shouldn't pick a side. Is that what the media is doing on the issue of Obama v. the protestors? Far from it. Mainstream media has sided with Obama's against the American people who disagree with him.
Let's take a look at a roundup of mainstream media lingo about those who are protesting President Obama's changes to health insurance.
NBC holds back nothing in their support for Obama's position. In an article under the header "News/Politics" they ran this column, which calls the folks speaking at town hall meetings "fake" "angry" and "comical." That was just the first paragraph. The column later calls them "infamous" "yokels" and "astro-turfing wing-nuts." Again, this is under the heading "news."
MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell has in interesting way of supporting Obama. While not directly questioning the sincerity of protesting Americans as does the President, Mitchell claims they "just don't know what's good for them." Not that Andrea's an elitist or anything.
Here is ABC's Charlie Gibson's lead-in to a story about the protests at town hall meetings: Members of the House of Representatives are already back in their districts on summer recess, most holding town hall meetings to find out what's on the voters' minds, and what they're hearing is criticism over health care reform. And some of that criticism appears to be orchestrated, causing the White House to push back.
Note Gibson does not report that the White House thinks the protests are orchestrated. He takes the White House position himself and says it appears so.
CBS news ran an investigative piece seeking to prove that the website "Operation Embarrass Your Congressman" is secretly a lobbyist website. After receiving 2 emails from the editor confirming he is one lone citizen, CBS reporter Montopoli concluded-that he can't conclude anything. Had the email come from a lobbyist, would he hold back his conclusion?
CBS slipped in a little "organized protest" argument in a column about the town hall protests: "The protests have echoes not just of the Tea Parties held around tax day this year, but also of protests during the Florida election recount in 2000..." Echoes of Florida? Funny, that's the same talking point used by Barbara Boxer in the clip linked above.
CNN's Anderson Cooper is a bit sneakier. Here are 1,000 words from him on the topic. It contains interviews with Democrat congressman and party officials and also a Democrat video, combining to call the Protestors "desperate""hostile""mob-type""orchestrated""manufactured" "angry" and "disruptive." How many interviews does Cooper present with people who actually attended a town hall meeting? Zero. Sure, Anderson - that seems fair. "This...is CNN."
The only linked column on the home page of the New York Times was Paul Krugman calling the protestors racists. Number of racist quotes from protestors Krugman used to support that claim? Zero.
The Washington Post took the CNN route: 1200 words, lots of statements from Democrats about how awful the "organized" protestors are, but not one single interview with a protestor who was there to deny the "organized" allegation.
Obama v The People is a fair fight. Double-teaming The People by Obama and the media isn't.
Read more Tommy De Seno at www.JustifiedRight.com
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