Wag-the-Dog Tea Parties
As Fox News, the Wall Street Journal et al are heavy-breathing about Tea Party protests on Tax Day, Gallup discloses that Americans’ “Views of Income Taxes Among Most Positive Since 1956.”
But reality is no more a deterrent for Rupert Murdoch than it was for William Randolph Hearst when he was stirring up the Spanish-American War in 1898 with a drumbeat of scare headlines. To a message from artist Frederick Remington reporting “There is no war,” Hearst famously replied, “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.” And he did.
In a 24/7 news world, however, Murdoch’s efforts seem less like Hearst’s than those of the mental case who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt in “Arsenic and Old Lace,” blowing a bugle and rushing up the stairs with a sword, yelling “Charge!”
One reason the Tea Parties won’t work as a Wag-the-Dog move lies in Gallup’s report that Americans who say taxes are too high has fallen from 68 percent in 2001 to 46 today:
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11 Responses to “Wag-the-Dog Tea Parties”
I know several people involved and going to a local Tea party. Guess what not one is doing it because of Fox News. For the most part it is not the taxes that we are paying either. They and I am concerned with the current and future spending of our government. I can conceive of no way the Govt can continue to spend without raising taxes but regardless it's still our money. If a portion of the population, however small, feels like their money is being waisted then I think it's a good thing that they are heard.
Just curious as to where all the “We The People” tea-drinkers have been for the last 8 years? Seems they are coming a little late to the “party”.
Very good question Christoofar. Also, would these “parties” be going on if McCain/Palin won in November? McCain and Obama were not too far apart on this issue.
I am viewing all these teapot tempests with benign bemusement more than anything else. It all seems kinda silly to me – sort of along the same lines as the Ron Paul nuts from last year, or the trumped-up demonstrations over illegal immigration back in 2007.
Eh, let them blow off their steam, wave around a few signs, bow down to Glenn Beck (who is leading the parade here in town this afternoon), buy their pretzels and sodas and have a jolly time expressing their righteous indignation. Then they can pile into their SUVs, head back to the suburbs so they can watch cable TV in their air-conditioned homes. It'll all blow over before long. Then we can put this silly distraction behinds us, and get back to working on real solutions for real people.
Hopefully they will walk their talk and not use the tax funded
roads to travel on
parks to assemble in
sewers to p in
police to help them
fire dept to save their home or loved one
libraries to learn in
medicare when they retire
social security when they retire or become disabled
clean municipal drinking water
send their kids to a public school
should we go on…?
Judging from the content of the previous comments, I would guess that none of these people have any Federal income tax liability whatsoever.
lurxst
simple, concise, to the point.
if you use socialist produced services, does that make you one too?
I figure I just paid enough in taxes today to cover myself and 6 of the libs here who are suggesting there is no reason to complain about taxes……..I guess I just answered my own question.
The only consolation was still getting to multiply by 35%.
lurxst — But (grumble, grumble) …something about bootstraps…I never had any help…grumble grumble…john galt…
casualobserver — wow, you sure are clever. Smart AND rich. The 6 of us libs whose taxes you just paid sure would love to pat you on the back.
So, in all earnest, I'm not getting the whole “tea-bagging” thing. How can two people be standing next to each other, one holding a sign that says “No Taxation Without Representation” and the other holding a sign complaining about Congress? If it's not *really* about taxes, what's the significance of the tea? (Am I the only one who passed 2nd grade history??) I'm convinced at this point that an insider saboteur fought hard for the tea reference in order to make all of us with a 12-year-old boy's sense of humor giggle uncontrollably for a few days. My favorite coverage from CNN so far:
Gergen: “They still haven’t found their voice, Anderson. This happens to a minority party after it’s lost a couple of bad elections, but they’re searching for their voice.”
Cooper: “It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging.”
roro80: It sure is, Anderson, it sure is.
There's a rumor that the whole thing was started by Lipton. Now THAT would be clever. Still milking the colonies. (Well, except Unilever is Dutch)
CO, where would you cut? Let's say everyone in the 35% bracket gets to drop that to 25%. What do you cut to get there?
Give me a break please, our tax burden is low compared to other Western nations. Canada and Norway are near the top in Forbes tax 'Misery Index'. Yet, Hertitage says their 'market freedom' is nearly equal to the USA.
http://www.forbes.com/global/2008/0407/060_3.html
http://www.heritage.org/Index/Ranking.aspx
And neither wastes their repressive taxes on useless stealth destoyers…