CNN posts "Stop Hating Teabaggers" article as top story - send them your love!

I hope everyone will send CNN.com a little email love this morning for their article (which comes up in the #2 headline spot on CNN mobile, by the by) titled "Tea Party Protests Are A Good Thing."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/19/martin.tea.party/index.html

Aside from the fact that CNN would never post an opinion or straight news story supporting anti-war, anti-RNC, pro-choice, etc. rallies or speak kindly of any organized left-wing group engaged on the street, this article contains a number of statements that should not be read 20 minutes after eating:

"First, let's deal with the Tea Party haters. Please, shut up."

Ok, CNN.

"How can any liberal, progressive, moderate or conservative be mad about a group of Americans taking to the streets to protest the actions of the country? What they are engaged in is constitutional. The freedom to assemble, march, walk, scream and yell is right there in the document we all abide by."

Nice statement, but coming from CNN? That's intellectual dishonesty at its best, given their history of covering any left-wing protest.

"Do I object to idiots holding up clearly racist signs, as well as the stupidity of images of President Obama as Hitler? Of course. That ignorance detracts from whatever commentary they are trying to make on the status of the nation."

Yeah, nice... but too bad you're basically minimizing the racism permeating the movement and covering that with "Oh, every movement has a few whackos! Just ignore them, nothing to see here, move along..."

"They are no different in 2010 than what MoveOn.org was in 1998: a group of disgruntled Americans operating outside of the traditional two-party apparatus and expressing their own self-interests."

No, that would be a political movement. It's not all about "self-interest."

Basically, as you get to the end of the article, he tries to play the "Oh, right or left, protest is a great thing," card. But given CNN's editorial decisions for the past 20 years, that's just a load of hot air. This article, while making a few gentle nods at why some of those nice teabaggers are wrong and ruefully acknowledging that the group contains a few loons, is specifically a defense of the Tea Party, period. Nice propaganda in sheep's clothing.

:wow: Has he become a wingnut?

I wouldn't say he's a wingnut, but he has always been rather slow to catch the bus.

talking about not being that bright.

Someone on DU posts a partial opinion piece, leaving out some seriously important context, and DU'ers fun around flapping their gums with no idea what they're really reacting to.

So I don't really give a fuck what you think.

any more than I hate the Village Idiot. I pity them and don't quite know how to interact with them.

Protest is good--unless you need to shut up. Sorry, I'll continue to protest the "protestors", whose only message seems to be "I hate taxes" and "I want my country back from the black guy".

He keeps saying that protest is good, and that if people don't like what the teabaggers have to say they should protest in response and fight them on the facts. Ok, that's exactly what people are doing. That is the polar opposite of "shut up." He can't have it both ways.

Why doesn't he tell the Obama haters to please, shut up? Can't have it both ways.

In a locked down facility of course to keep them from hurtin themselves and others, with appropriate medication.

Paranoid schizophrenics who don't believe they need medicine to function ARE dangerous, and no, meth and moonshine just makes all that crap worse. It doesn't count as medicine.

I guess the media knows that answer and for whatever reason persists in portraying the teabaggers as just decent folk upset with runaway spending.

criticized and attacked. How do you hate someone who should be pitied for their vulnerability?

some where there has to be a KKK nut among the people in charge there. Otherwise they would have the sense of a peanut to understand what these people are doing. but then since they are at the bottom of the barrel and slipping even further down the tubes the bunch of managers there are stupid enough to believe if they support hate and violence it might improve their ratings.

Apparently she read one bit of Martin's Opinion Piece and decided to pounce.

Here's a bit more:

"Do I object to idiots holding up clearly racist signs, as well as the stupidity of images of President Obama as Hitler? Of course. That ignorance detracts from whatever commentary they are trying to make on the status of the nation.

When I debated Tea Party leader Mark Williams on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 show a few months ago, I was appalled when he was unwilling to say that if someone came to one of his rallies with a racist sign, he would tell them to take it down."

He can use all the pretty words he wants later in the article about how protest is wonderful in our democratic society. However, glorifying himself ("*I* debated Mark Williams... and was appalled...") while minimizing the core racist messages of the movement beyond just the few posters he's willing to sigh over, just proves he's an apologist of a different style.

The whole article minimizes what's going on with the teabaggers while praising their movement (but not other movements), pretends to support free and open discourse in the streets, but yet tells the teabag haters to "shut up." Nope - that's intellectual dishonesty right there. Talking them down in person, in the media, on the internet, in the streets, etc. are ALL part of that wonderful democratic communication he's pretending to support. If he wasn't talking out his ass, he'd have invited the haters to keep right on hating and doing so loudly, just like the teabaggers are doing to Obama and the left.

Don't apologize for someone who just proved he's an asshat.

How does he know that? Every indication is that they are. If you read the comments on that page, every indication is that they are racist. Martin should not ignore that and make excuses for them. But you feel free to do so, m'kay. :eyes:

This Article is navel gazing garbage.

He doesn't seem to hold a coherent thought. He says in one sentence that the teabaggers don't know what they are talking about then in the next calls them opposed to the presidents policy completely negating the fact that they are uninformed of what the presidents policies are or outright ignore what they are all the while screaming thats exactly what they want them to be. The fact they are screaming about lower taxes while they get them is enough to mark these people as fools easily led by something much more than grass roots.

This guy is either woefully uninformed of what the teabagger movement is or less than bright.

This movement was manufactured specifically to kill health care reform and now that that battle is over you are seeing how quickly fox is ready to abandon them. They have created a monster and the higher ups in the puke party are quickly realizing they have trouble on their hands as the tea baggers are going to do exactly to them what nader did to us in 2000.

The recent moves by murdock should be a clear signal that they have realized their mistake in creating this monster and are now going to do everything in their power to try to squelch it. It remains to be seen if they still have the power to do it or if the tea baggers have now gained to much inertia to be stopped before the damage is done this election.

I don't hate the teabaggers at the moment I think they are the best thing we have going to ensure that the republicans power is further discredited. I am repelled that so many in our country are so easily led but then one only need look at the posts here on a daily basis to see that its not very hard to manipulate our public.

Ah that's much better.