Watch 'Em Spin

I still have the book that was required reading in my journalism class so long ago, "How To Lie With Statistics", still it is interesting to note a couple of surveys out today:

Tea Party 48% Obama 44%
On major issues, 48% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than President Barack Obama. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own. (Rasmussen)

Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics

 Tea Party supporters skew right politically; but demographically, they are generally representative of the public at large. That's the finding of a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted March 26-28, in which 28% of U.S. adults call themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement. (Gallup)

According to Moderate Voice:

A new poll suggest what I have thought was true about the Maryland’s brew of tea party activists – a good segment of them are Democratic voters who are blue collar people that tend to lean conservative in the way they want government to work. Some of these Democratic voters voted for Ronald Reagan, Bush in 2000, and Ehrlich in 2002. However, the political landscape has changed and Ehrlich has got be careful how he aligns himself with this brand of Maryland Tea.(more)

Taken together I think it points to what many have been predicting for some time i.e. a dark November for members of Congress, especially but not exclusively, democrats

Newsbusters points to the some other salient points from the poll:

Survey: Four in 10 Tea Party members are Democrats or independents

The group also vehemently dislikes President Barack Obama – even more so than those who called themselves Republicans in the survey. Over 80 percent of Tea Party members disapprove of the job he’s doing as president, whereas 77 percent of Republican respondents said they disapprove of Obama. The Tea Party members are also strongly opposed to the Democrats’ healthcare plan, with 82 percent saying they oppose it --  only 48 percent of respondents overall were opposed. [...]

Almost half the members of the group reported getting their news about national issues from Fox News, 10 percent of respondents said that talk radio is one of their top two sources, which is seven-points higher than average voter. 


And then asks: How will the press report it? 

Usually, the press is willing to take things at face value without an intelligent question to spare (e.g. the "gay" gene, global warming, etc.)  but I bet this will be different...

see....

 NOT EXACTLY A 'MAINSTREAM' FORCE.. at the Washington Monthly for an example of things to come.

What the protests are all about

Hot Air reminds us what the protests are really all about:

The anger comes from the blatant disregard of even the pretense of legitimate governance. Elected representatives from Congress openly admit they’re not reading the bills, while leadership in both chambers try to ram through complicated bills without giving anyone a real chance to learn what they say and what they do. It doesn’t help that the bills in question — health care reform and cap-and-trade — are both elitist policies that essentially puts Washington in charge of decisions that people should make on their own. Put all that together, and the only surprise should be that the anger took this long to develop.
Poor Harry Reid doesn't even have the guts to face his constituents. He'll be holding Town Hall meetings by phone from now on...

Instead, he will only do what's called "telephone town halls" where he and his staff have complete control over the questions being asked and who's asking them.

Should have been big news, right?

Well, according to LexisNexis and Google news searches, not one major media outlet felt it was important enough to share with the citizenry.

Not one. (Newsbusters)

Just Who Is HCAN?

Just who are the Health Care for America Now thugs that were arrested in St Louis for attacking protestors? Turns out they, like many of the the left wing radicals, are all George Soros shills....

From FrontPage Magazine:

A rising chorus of discontent – more a citizens uprising – shows Middle America’s deep suspicion of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. Average citizens have voiced their disapproval at townhall meetings hosted by Sen. Arlen Specter and HHS Director Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Rep. Tim Bishop, and staffers of Sen. Claire McCaskill. In a burst of passion-envy, Chris Matthews asked on Monday night’s Hardball, “Where the Hell are the people who want health care, the poor people out there…the union people? Where are they? I haven’t seen one placard, let alone one protest demonstration, for health care.”

In fact, tens of thousands of people have rallied in the nation’s capital supporting the president’s health care reform plan, including the controversial public option. However, national momentum is not with them, because they are, to use Nancy Pelosi’s phrase, “Astroturf.” These demonstrations were organized by Health Care for America Now! (HCAN), a new “national grassroots campaign of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care.” Most of its component organizations have two things in common: they have no experience or expertise in health care, and virtually all received large, tax-exempt grants from far-Left billionaires like George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry. Like the “grassroots” movement for campaign finance reform a decade ago, the public demonstrations for health care reform are largely a Soros-financed operation.

Former Governor Howard Dean announced HCAN’s mission on the first night of the annual “America’s Future Now!” conference (formerly the “Take Back America” conference), hosted by the Campaign for America's Future in June. Dean pledged to spend up to $82 million to advance socialized medicine. HCAN rallied 15,000 people in D.C. in April, 10,000 more in June, and with state affiliates like the Maine People’s Alliance, hundreds more in state capitals in July. A searchable database of upcoming spontaneous demonstrations can be found here.

However, a closer look at its members shows it is less a “grassroots” organization than a series of interconnected left-wing pressure groups united by a collectivist ideology and, for most, a common donor.

Among the 21 members of its steering committee are ACORN, MoveOn.org, and the Center for American Progress. CAP, headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, was created with Soros’ money as a counterweight to the Heritage Foundation. In 2007 alone, Soros’ charity, the Open Society Institute (OSI), gave CAP $1.75 million in 2007 and approved additional grants totaling $1.25 million. Soros personally gave millions to MoveOn.org before the 2004 elections, and he has funded ACORN, the most notorious practitioner of election fraud in the nation. (read more here)

Unreal: CNN reporter openly contemptuous of tea parties

Wow...I am speechless. Where does she think she is, MSNBC?

A tour de force of bias via TV Newser, from her sarcasm to her Fox-bashing to her badgering a guy who’ll be paying off Obama’s monstrous deficits for decades about why he isn’t satisfied with a $400 tax break this year. The title of the clip is “CNN Reporter Roughed Up at Chicago Tea-Party,” which, as you’ll see, is a transparent lie...

From HotAir

Tax Day tea parties expected to number more than 1,000

Updates on nation wide TEA parties from WND:

While WND has been tracking 170 individual tea parties across the nation, one group has announced it is planning rallies in 1,000 cities and towns on April 15.

The

American Family Association, or AFA, is coordinating 1,000 Taxed Enough Already, or TEA, parties to be held at 12 p.m. in front of city halls across the nation.

The organization launched a Tea Party Day website just days ago so volunteer organizers may register their protests with AFA. The website also provides a list of other protests across the nation that are not organized by AFA.

Pick Your Protest- Or Make Your Own

Tea Parties, We Surround Them/9.12 Project and Red Envelope Day.
Americans are fed up and doing something about it. Pick one or all three or start your own but do something..


First some news on the nation wide tea parties From WND:

'Bailing out' reckless businesses and individuals is neither the burden of responsible, hard-working American taxpayers nor the role of government

A revolution is brewing as American patriots and free-market advocates unite in protest against out-of-control government spending – with a wildfire movement of more than 150 nationwide tea parties.

The New American Tea Party website states, "This isn't a conservative or liberal thing. This is about government forking over billions of dollars, our money, to businesses that should have failed. This is about taking money from responsible people and handing it over to CEOs who squandered their own."
Another organization, the Political Exploration and Awareness Committee, or PEACPAC, formed a website known as ReTeaParty and accepts tea party registrations from across the nation. It also provides detailed information on how to organize tea parties and posts photos of the events.
Tax Day Tea Party, a national collaborative grassroots effort organized by Smart Girl Politics, Top Conservatives on Twitter, the DontGo Movement and many other online groups, is also promoting the events.
WND has also launched its own tea party forum so citizens may exchange ideas, information and announcements about the "revolution." After reviewing various website protest listings, WND found more than 150 tea parties scheduled for upcoming months and compiled one of the most complete lists on the Internet. Here are some scheduled tea parties: ...

go here to see the list


Glenn Beck is starting his own protest movement- We Surround Them and the 9/12 Project h/t to Pearl Diver.
and Beetle Blogger has the Fox videos

Today Glenn asks, “Which kind of American are you?”

Are you a 9/10 American with your head stuffed into the sand?

Are you a 9/11 American, fearful and immobilized?

Or are you a 9/12 American, strong, united, and plenty intelligent enough to know what you want for your country and to know that we’re headed in the wrong direction to preserve our Constitution and the freedoms sanctified therein?...

...Says Glenn, “Our government told us to go shopping [to save the economy]. . . . but what we need is to reconnect with these nine principles and 12 values.”


The Nine Principles

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.


12 Values

Honesty

Reverence

Hope

Thrift

Humility

Charity

Sincerity

Moderation

Hard Work

Courage

Personal Responsibility

Gratitude

During the report, Glenn also announced a new website, powered by the largest server Fox News could find, which after one commercial break had been completely overloaded. :0) I believe it is actually still inaccessible due to the large volumes of beleaguered Americans desperate for a glimmer of hope.

www.the912project.com

More here



And last but not least, Beetle Blogger also has a great idea:
Red Envelope Day

Barack Obama spoke at a Planned Parenthood Action Fund event, uttering the now infamous line, "Well, the first thing I’d do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. [Applause.] That’s the first thing that I’d do."

No matter how you feel about Obama, consider how you feel about abortion. The FOCA will eliminate all state restrictions on abortion (ie. what people in their own states decided about the issue).

What you can do:

Get a red envelope. You can buy them at Kinkos, or any party supply store, or here. On the front, address it to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington , D.C. 20500

On the back, write the following message:
This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world. (more)