# Are the "99" percent protestors getting too much press coverage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 18, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008 "2011-10-18T04:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/41 "2011-10-19T00:43:12Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > OK, two thoughts: > > MediaMatters is well known as a Dem mouthpiece and propaganda organization, run by by Clinton’s buddies. :dubious: How about [SourceWatch?](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/42 "2011-10-19T01:01:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :dubious: How about [SourceWatch?](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party) I am begging you, think critically. Your Sourcewatch cite in fact relies upon Media Matters, a lefty propaganda organization by any reasonable definition. As for the right wing support to the Tea Party… who are supporting the Occupy Wall Street children? The [Nazis and Communists](http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/figures-nazi-party-throws-support-behind-occupy-wall-street-movement/). Do I say that those [latte-swilling children of privledge](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/occupy-dc-protest-in-mcpherson-square-woodstock-meets-washington/2011/10/11/gIQAWZb6fL_story.html) are all Nazis and Commies? No. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/43 "2011-10-19T01:06:30Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > OK, two thoughts: > > MediaMatters is well known as a Dem mouthpiece and propaganda organization, run by by Clinton’s buddies. > > Secondly, just because Fox is reporting on events their people want to attend, does that mean that they ginned up the whole concept (which was **Voyager’s** contention)? That it wasn’t grass roots? > > Every time MSDNC reports on Occupy Wall Street, are they ‘sponsoring’ that event? > > Can you cite proof of a timeline showing Fox News started the Tea Party movement? If not, you might want to retract the comment, if only for your own credibility. FOX news did not start it, but they helped make it bigger, the organizations that started and organized whatever small original protesters wanted are not easy to spot, but it is not impossible to figure out were the funding comes from. > **[The Koch Brothers’ Covert Ops](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations?currentPage=all)** > > What sets the billionaire brothers apart is the sheer size of their donations to Tea Party issues. > [@](#): > > In a statement, Koch Industries said that the Greenpeace report “distorts the environmental record of our companies.” And David Koch, in a recent, admiring article about him in New York, protested that the “radical press” had turned his family into “whipping boys,” and had exaggerated its influence on American politics. But Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.” > > A few weeks after the Lincoln Center gala, the advocacy wing of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation—an organization that David Koch started, in 2004—held a different kind of gathering. Over the July 4th weekend, a summit called Texas Defending the American Dream took place in a chilly hotel ballroom in Austin. Though Koch freely promotes his philanthropic ventures, he did not attend the summit, and his name was not in evidence. And on this occasion the audience was roused not by a dance performance but by a series of speakers denouncing President Barack Obama. Peggy Venable, the organizer of the summit, warned that Administration officials “have a socialist vision for this country.” > > Five hundred people attended the summit, which served, in part, as a training session for Tea Party activists in Texas. An advertisement cast the event as a populist uprising against vested corporate power. “Today, the voices of average Americans are being drowned out by lobbyists and special interests,” it said. “But you can do something about it.” The pitch made no mention of its corporate funders. The White House has expressed frustration that such sponsors have largely eluded public notice. David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, said, “What they don’t say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens’ movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.” Of course it is not just them, but it was telling to read reports of people that originally protested about taxes only to find that they were props to push climate change denialism, clear evidence that the ones funding the movement got what they wanted, and whatever the original intentions the tea party movement was in the end turned into an AstroTurf movement. [http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/01/02/207274/what-were-up-against-tea-party-afp-climate-zombie-astroturfing-cancun/](http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/01/02/207274/what-were-up-against-tea-party-afp-climate-zombie-astroturfing-cancun/) > [@](#): > > She looked around the relaxation room. “I like this place,” she said to Nita Thomas, her friend and fellow Cincinnati activist. “I would love to have a party here.” > > ``` > Bell’s pique grew when Phillips shot another video belittling an exhibit that showed what an energy-efficient home might look like in the future: a small refrigerator, a low-flow shower heads and a clothes-washing basin that directed used water into a garden. > > Phillips made fun of the model home’s five-gallon water heater. “Good luck with that – I’ve got three teenagers!” he said to the camera. > > “I’m not on board with this,” Bell told Thomas. “Ed and I looked into that when we were looking at moving to Colorado.” > > ``` > > I believe that cranial reconstruction is covered by Obamacare, at least until the Tea Party defunds it. > > So the Tea Party activist who believes in renewable energy and energy efficiency is bristling a tiny bit at the polluter-crats pulling her strings. > > It is good to see that the Washington Post has uncovered the dark underbelly of the AFP agenda. It isn’t enough for them to push climate destruction. They actually have to go out of their way to try to indoctrinate their subjects puppets partners in the evils of energy efficiency. > > > [@](#): > > > > By lunchtime, the activists were on their way back to the CasaMagna resort. Their work for the day was done. Bell wouldn’t have a chance to talk to any U.N. delegates, listen to any proceedings or even get within shouting distance of the conference. She felt like a prop for Americans for Prosperity. > > > > ``` > > That’s not how Phillips sees it. He said his organization and activists such as Bell need and feed off one another. > > > > “You can argue about motives,” he said. “But I view this as a partnership. What AFP can provide is logistical expertise and help, staff in 25 states, professionals in the political arena. We can provide some funding.” > > > > ``` > > OK, let’s argue about motives. AFP is a corporate polluter funded effort to promote the interests of corporate polluters — and the super-rich “AFP came calling to ask for her help on a local effort to end Ohio’s estate tax.” Not much to argue about, really. > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > On their second and final evening in Cancun, Bell and her activist friend Nita Thomas led an Internet video chat with a group of tea partiers assembled at a chicken wing joint in Cincinnati. Bell fretted that she didn’t have much to say, because she had seen so much less than she had hoped. > > > > “Security is incredibly intense down here,” she told her viewers. She scoured her notes in vain for something substantive she had learned. “We’ve got two Navy warships that are posted off the coast, which you can see from our hotel window. And we passed tanks with the machine guns aimed at us, which was quite alarming.” > > > > Bell was embarrassed by her performance. > > > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/44 "2011-10-19T01:19:23Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > I am begging you, think critically. Your Sourcewatch cite in fact relies upon Media Matters, a lefty propaganda organization by any reasonable definition. Thinking critically requires to also be skeptical of what the ones pulling strings are telling the tea partiers to do. After looking at their sources I have to tell you that on this issue, people like \*\*BrainGlutton \*\*are are more on the money on this. > [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > As for the right wing support to the Tea Party… who are supporting the Occupy Wall Street children? The [Nazis and Communists](http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/10/figures-nazi-party-throws-support-behind-occupy-wall-street-movement/). Do I say that those [latte-swilling children of privledge](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/occupy-dc-protest-in-mcpherson-square-woodstock-meets-washington/2011/10/11/gIQAWZb6fL_story.html) are all Nazis and Commies? No. Jerks that agree with the movement are still jerks. And as you also acknowledge that this was not started or made up by Nazis and Commies, let the swill cites remain uncited, otherwise you are indeed attempting to smear others and claiming that you are not doing it is pushing credulity. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/45 "2011-10-19T01:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Are the “99” percent protectors getting too much press coverage? Well, you’d need to define exactly what ‘too much press coverage’ means or is. How do you measure ‘too much’? But I’d say that the answer is ‘no’, depending on how you are defining ‘too much’. It’s getting a lot of coverage because people ARE frustrated, angry and scared, and the movement, as dippy as I personally think it is, resonates with a lot of people…and, basically, the press are in the business of selling such coverage. If it didn’t resonate with people, if people didn’t care and didn’t want to watch the coverage (either to bitch about it or to praise it) then it wouldn’t be covered. > [@](#): > > Per the title, is the US and world media giving too much air time to what appears to be a very small group? In Chicago the protestors by the Chicago Boatd of Trade number less than a hundred and even their biggest rally in Chicago only attracted 2,000 or so people. Compare it with the media coverage that say the immigration rallies received and it seems disproportional. Even if there were ‘only’ 2000 people, that’s still news. And the fact that it’s in a bunch of cities in the US AND even in cities in other countries makes it interesting enough to warrant news. It’s also a bit slow, atm, news wise…nothing major is really happening outside of the continued misery of a world wide economic downturn. > [@](#): > > (darn iPad, title should read protestors). Yeah…that happens to me all the time, since I post almost exclusively from my iPad when I’m on the road (which is pretty much all the time lately). You have to check and double check that the damn iPad spell checker doesn’t change the entire word you are trying to post. I’ve had some rather hilarious transpositions in the past…and some ghastly ones that, thankfully I was able to catch and edit before the timer ran out. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/46 "2011-10-19T01:50:00Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Thinking critically requires to also be skeptical of what the ones pulling strings are telling the tea partiers to do. > > After looking at their sources I have to tell you that on this issue, people like \*\*BrainGlutton \*\*are are more on the money on this. > Jerks that agree with the movement are still jerks. > > And as you also acknowledge that this was not started or made up by Nazis and Commies, let the swill cites remain uncited, otherwise you are indeed attempting to smear others and claiming that you are not doing it is pushing credulity. ThinkProgress is your source for your comments? That’s your objective source, right? Just trying to get clarity. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/47 "2011-10-19T01:51:31Z")
As for thinking critically, what one has to do is to look at the links at check for oneself to see if MediaMatters is not telling the truth, as it turns out, as it is usually the case with Media Matters they do link and post the evidence and do let others judge for themselves. From the SourceWatch cite one of the MediaMatters links shows the evidence on how FOX pushed the TeaParty movement. [http://mediamatters.org/reports/200904080025](http://mediamatters.org/reports/200904080025) As a test, one should be able to easily find on mainstream “liberal” media sites links to the upcoming OWS events or locations and enthusiastic reports telling viewers where to go, as it turns out, most places like ABC news are typical on reporting how some group’s take on the protesters, but no links about members of the network supporting the protesters or where to go. > **[Writers Take Up Occupy Wall Street Movement](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2011/10/writers-take-up-occupy-wall-street-movement/)** > > Lemony Snicket, Jennifer Egan are among those backing protests. MSNBC (that has been mentioned as being more to the left nowadays) currently had no headlines on the main site regarding this. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/) MediaMatters currently is touching on this subject, but not to point readers and viewers to the protests or where to join, but to concentrate on the smear campaign FOX and others are doing with the protesters. [http://mediamatters.org/](http://mediamatters.org/) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/48 "2011-10-19T01:54:57Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > ThinkProgress is your source for your comments? That’s your objective source, right? Just trying to get clarity. The point was clear but you refuse to deal with it, one has to check the cites to see if they are truthful, as it turns out, they are so far. And one of the precious sources was the New Yorker, what I get so clear from you is just wishful thinking that nothing being reported by them is true. No such luck. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/49 "2011-10-19T01:54:59Z")
By the way, **Voyager** says the Tea Party was ‘sponsored by Fox’. Sponsored. Not reported on, not Fox opinion/commentators, who have their own opinions (like the Daily Show and Rachel Maddow and etc etc etc)…but Fox News. Really. His cite (in post #30) was ‘anyone with a memory’. I’m waiting for some intellectual honestly among the lefties here. If you don’t have any, then please don’t respond. I have no desire to listen to your emotional claptrap. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/50 "2011-10-19T01:57:18Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > The point was clear but you refuse to deal with it, one has to check the cites to see if they are truthful, as it turns out, they are so far. > > And one of the precious sources was the New Yorker, what I get so clear from, you is just wishful thinking that nothing being reported is true. No such luck for you. No offense, but I don’t see New Yorker citing anything that proves your point. It quotes Axelrod, noted Obamabot, saying as much. Keep trying though, you’re doing well (for a liberal). ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/51 "2011-10-19T01:58:39Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > By the way, **Voyager** says the Tea Party was ‘sponsored by Fox’. Sponsored. Not reported on, not Fox opinion/commentators, who have their own opinions (like the Daily Show and Rachel Maddow and etc etc etc)…but Fox News. BTW I’m not Voyager > [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > Really. Quite Really 🙂 > [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > His cite (in post #30) was ‘anyone with a memory’. > > I’m waiting for some intellectual honestly among the lefties here. If you don’t have any, then please don’t respond. I have no desire to listen to your emotional claptrap. Dully reported. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/52 "2011-10-19T02:04:14Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > BTW I’m not Voyager That’s the point, son. Either spend just as much time hammering lefties like him, or pipe down and admit you’re a partisan hack with no desire for honest debate, just here to spout lefty tripe and defending kids like **Voyager** who are on the same side of the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/53 "2011-10-19T02:05:15Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > No offense, but I don’t see New Yorker citing anything that proves your point. It quotes Axelrod, noted Obamabot, saying as much. > > Keep trying though, you’re doing well (for a liberal). What everyone can see is that you did not bother to check the rest of the report from the New Yorker: > [@](#): > > The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus. > > In a statement, Koch Industries said that the Greenpeace report “distorts the environmental record of our companies.” And David Koch, in a recent, admiring article about him in New York, protested that the “radical press” had turned his family into “whipping boys,” and had exaggerated its influence on American politics. **But Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”** So quit your condescending act, you are not fooling anyone, you are resorting to insults when others show that you are only willing to follow the points from right wing sources. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/54 "2011-10-19T02:10:34Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > That’s the point, son. Either spend just as much time hammering lefties like him, or pipe down and admit you’re a partisan hack with no desire for honest debate, just here to spout lefty tripe and defending kids like **Voyager** who are on the same side of the aisle. I’ll let others judge is that is supposed to be part of an honest debate. In the meantime, I think you will not have luck looking for an equivalent in the mainstream media like FOX did pushing and telling viewers where to go to protest on their coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Smashy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mr\_Smashy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Smashy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/55 "2011-10-19T02:29:37Z")
Whatever. One more thought, before signing off: From [The Hill](http://thehill.com/polls/187837-the-hill-poll-voters-say-dc-worse-than-wall-street), it appears that most normal people (ie, not Wall Street Occupiers) think that DC is way more to blame than Wall Street for this country being f\*cked. > [@](#): > > The Hill poll found that only one in three likely voters blames Wall Street for the country’s financial troubles, whereas more than half — 56 percent — blame Washington. > > Moreover, when it comes to the political consequences of the protest, voters tend to believe that there are more perils than positives for Obama and the Democrats. Plus a [USA Today/Gallup](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-17/poll-wall-street-protests/50804978/1) poll confirms this. > [@](#): > > When asked whom they blame more for the poor economy, 64% of Americans name the federal government and 30% say big financial institutions. This bodes very poorly for President Hopey McDowngrade and his current efforts to align himself with the downtrodden Starbucks crowd currently stinking up the city squares. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/56 "2011-10-19T02:37:05Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > That’s the point, son. Either spend just as much time hammering lefties like him, or pipe down and admit you’re a partisan hack with no desire for honest debate, just here to spout lefty tripe and defending kids like **Voyager** who are on the same side of the aisle. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > So quit your condescending act, you are not fooling anyone, you are resorting to insults when others show that you are only willing to follow the points from right wing sources. Both of you need to knock it off or take this dispute to the Pit. This attitude doesn’t belong in GD. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/57 "2011-10-19T02:46:05Z")
> [@Mr\_Smashy](#): > > Whatever. > > One more thought, before signing off: > > From [The Hill](http://thehill.com/polls/187837-the-hill-poll-voters-say-dc-worse-than-wall-street), it appears that most normal people (ie, not Wall Street Occupiers) think that DC is way more to blame than Wall Street for this country being f\*cked. > > Plus a [USA Today/Gallup](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-17/poll-wall-street-protests/50804978/1) poll confirms this. > > This bodes very poorly for President Hopey McDowngrade and his current efforts to align himself with the downtrodden Starbucks crowd currently stinking up the city squares. What I see when looking at that and other polls is that the blame is shared. > [@](#): > > •78% say Wall Street bears a great deal or a fair amount of blame for the economy; 87% say the same about Washington. Of course when one notices that most politicians are in the pockets of corporations, this attempt at separating blame does look to me as a smoke screen. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/58 "2011-10-19T02:50:35Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I’m starting to think that they are getting too much attention. > [@Lochdale](#): > > As for what they stand for, honestly I don’t know. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/59 "2011-10-19T04:50:17Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > :smack: Er…they seem to have an internal disconnect as to what they are actually protesting. It’s all very vague and simplistic in my mind. However, you seem to be confusing coverage and quality coverage. Where there more in-depth coverage I think they would come across much worse than they have so wide but shallow coverage suits them ( as it does most demagogues). ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008/60 "2011-10-19T05:47:58Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Er…they seem to have an internal disconnect as to what they are actually protesting. It’s all very vague and simplistic in my mind. > > However, you seem to be confusing coverage and quality coverage. Where there more in-depth coverage I think they would come across much worse than they have so wide but shallow coverage suits them ( as it does most demagogues). > **[Some Say Occupy Wall Street Protesters Aimless; Facts Say Otherwise](https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2011/10/07/some-say-occupy-wall-street-protesters-aimless-facts-say-otherwise/)** > >   This post was written by David Maris, a writer and well-known health care equity research analyst. He has been ranked #1 six consecutive years by Institutional Investor Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at @davidmaris. There has... > [@](#): > > Here is what our survey of the Occupy Wall Street protesters found: > > ``` > 80% of those polled said that the rich should pay higher taxes and that it’s fair that approximately the top 10% of tax payers pay more than 70% of the taxes in the US and about 40% of employed people pay no income tax. > 93% say that student loan debt should be forgiven > 98% believe that health care should be free > 98% believe that Insurance companies make too much money and some of their profits should be taken to pay for more healthcare for others > 95% believe that drug prices should be controlled > 32.5% think the government will do a bad job managing healthcare > 44% believe that instead of spending money on ObamaCare, we should spend it on jobs today, while 30% believe that we should do both, and 27% say ObamaCare was fine use of money > 88% agree with the statement that “The government should put some controls on CEO pay – like limited to 20x or 30x the lowest paid employee.” > 93% believe that communications like cell phone and internet access be a right and not just reserved for the rich and we should have free internet and cell phone service as a national goal. > 54% do not believe that the Obama stimulus program was a good idea. > 84% said they think that if a bank decides to implement a $5 debit card fee, the government should not allow it, while 16% said let them do what they want – customers can move. > > ``` > [@](#): > > So after a day spent surveying a fair-sized group of the Occupy Wall Street Protesters, did I come away convinced to pick up the cause? No, but it is clear that although many might seek to marginalize their ideas and concerns, or disagree with the solutions such as taxing the rich or forgiving student loans or free cell phones for everyone, the protester’s over-arching concerns of corporate greed, the poor jobs picture, and health care costs mirror that of many others people across the country. Well, I have found that Forbes does fall for demagogues like climate change denier contributors, but this report was surprising coming from the capitalist tool. (Hey, “capitalist tool” \*\*was \*\*their slogan a few years back) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-99-percent-protestors-getting-too-much-press-coverage/600008.md?page=4)