Has anyone seen a fair analysis comparing the behavior at your average Tea Party rally with those going on now in Wisconsin and other states re public employee unions?
Related question… has anyone seen a fair analysis of the major media reporting related to those kinds of comparisons?
Comparing what? Behaviour of delegates, invited guests, featured speakers, rhetoric, actions on the floor of the hall, action in the hotel corridors after hours, what?
John Stewart on the Daily Show usually runs montages of the same commentator or channel on 2 different demonstrations. IIRC, he did one not long ago about the Tea Party screaming at town halls versus the Wisconsin brouhaha. Surprisingly, the commentators’ point of view seemed to be 180 degrees on one demo versus the other; one was “American democracy” and one was “mob rule”.
Noting, of course, that “Tea Party rallies” include, if said rallies are not prevalently defined by, the Town Hall meetings concerning Health Care reform. From my memory, there was an overabundance of screaming and a not insubstantial amount of physical confrontation there.
No.
All of the above… and more.
My mom, who watches nothing but Fox “News”, has been fearing for my safety. So I called and told her that this was the most decorous protest I’ve ever seen.
“But…what about the Union Thugs™?!?” she gasped.
“Do you mean the teachers? Or the nurses? Or the off-duty cops? Well, the firefighters playing ‘America the Beautiful’ on bagpipes have been a little loud, but that’s the worst I’ve seen.”
“Ooh, I do love bagpipes. I hope they played 'Battle Hymn of the Republic…”
Hell, even the grammar on the signs has been proper.
Bagpipes!!???!!
Won’t *somebody *think of the children???
Nothing to add – but excellent title and user name.
Obviously not. There’ve not only been bagpipes, but even banjos and … vuvuzelas.
So this is one Wisconsin teacher who suffered plenty… even before any bills were rammed/enema’ed/suppositoried through.