UPDATE: 10:52 AM, & 11:14 & 11:38 AM & 1:38 PM ;Feb. 5, 2009
Is the Mainstream Media out to scuttle Obama's administration ?
Populist Movement financed by Multimillionaires and Billionaires
Phony Populism in the Media and on the Internet , bloggers, websites, Face Book, My Space & Twitter - homes for Far Right organizations & Conservative Trolls.
Anyway in most cases it is best to avoid anything that smacks of some sort of ludicrous Conspiracy Theory ie Alex Jones et al in which tenuous connections between facts are made to connect any prior event to a later event in which dots are then connected which are not really connected. But sometimes the dots can be connected and everything falls into place which point to a planned strategy and staged events which are supposed to have been spontaneous. And so Rick Santelli's Rant on TV was seen as the spontaneous rant of a conservative journalist which under normal circumstances would have been ignored or made light of as a conservative going over the edge who should be chastised or fired from the network he works for instead the Rant was described as reflecting the opinions of many average Americans if not a majority of Americans.
" Rick Santelli's Rant " and " Tea Parties " exposed as part of planned strategy. Any reporting on Santelli's Rant and the so called Grassroots " Tea Parties " can now be seen as suspect. For all the talk in the media the Tea Party protest get rather small turnout. According to journalists Ames and Levine websites referring to The Tea Parties such as " ChicagoTeaParty.com" were set up six months or so prior to Santelli's Rant in which he proclaims there will be protests happening in the form of "Tea Parties" alluding to the original Boston Tea Party.
As Mark Ames and Yasha Levine point out in their article exposing The Santelli Rant as part of an orchestrated planned right-wing strategy :
What we discovered is that Santelli's "rant" was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a "Chicago Tea Party" was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.
As you read this, Big Business is pouring tens of millions of dollars into their media machines in order to destroy just about every economic campaign promise Obama has made, as reported recently in the Wall Street Journal. At stake isn't the little guy's fight against big government, as Santelli and his bot-supporters claim, but rather the "upper 2 percent's war to protect their wealth from the Obama Adminstration's economic plans. When this Santelli "grassroots" campaign is peeled open, what's revealed is a glimpse of what is ahead and what is bound to be a hallmark of his presidency.
and connecting the dots:
" ...ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the "Sam Adams Alliance," whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots "tea party" protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money."
From: The Rick Santelli 'Tea Party' Controversy: Article Kicks Up a Media Dust Storm By Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, eXiled Online. March 3, 2009.
And: FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey added, “This taxpayer revolt has sprouted up from the grassroots and is just getting started. The taxpayers are angry at what they see in Washington, and they have decided to turn up the volume. This is just the beginning.”
Santelli's Rant & Tea Parties Exposed as part of planned strategy
Debate heats up: How much are Rick Santelli and the Tea Party protests he inspired part of a project orchestrated by right-wing groups?
Is Rush Limbaugh and others of the Far Right such as The Heritage Foundation connected to Santelli's Rant-
How spontaneous are the Tea parties are they really a grassroots response to Obama's Stimulus Bill or is big Money from the Far Right behind it ?
or just angry rich folks discovering a cause they can support using their wealth and influence ?
Note the date on the next two videos about Santelli's Rant are for Feb. 19. The Rant video went viral as they say but was this spontaneous or part of a far-right strategy.
So are they still getting their talking points memos from Karl Rove or whomever has taken over that job.
is this what conservatives call objective journalism note the other media personnel involved at the time of Santelli's Rant ( were they all in on it ?) let Santelli go a bit crazy without criticizing him or cutting him off. Then it is quickly picked up by other members of the Far Right Media such as Rush Limbaugh the De Facto leader of the Conservative Movement in America and the well financed Faux Think Tank " The Heritage Foundation ".
CNBC's Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party Rant from Heritage Foundation Feb. 19, 2009
Rush Limbaugh - Obama Slammed by CNBC Rick Santelli Feb. 19, 2009
World's Worst - Santelli, Limbaugh, Limbaugh-Feb. 20, 2009
CNBC keeps claiming that Santelli's rant represented the majority of Americans
They claim that the Obaama stimuus bill wrong and everybody knows it
Robert Gibbs Calls Out Rick Santelli for His Floor Rant-Feb. 20, 2009
Freedom Works.org
The Rick Santelli 'Tea Party' Controversy: Article Kicks Up a Media Dust Storm By Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, eXiled Online. Posted March 3, 2009.
Debate heats up: How much are Rick Santelli and the Tea Party protests he inspired part of a project orchestrated by right-wing groups?
Editor's Note: "I hope that the president and the final stimulus plan succeed." So writes CNBC pundit Rick Santelli in a recent public statement, one that's very much at odds with his on-screen persona as an instigator of a right-wing protest movement against Barack Obama's economic recovery plans. This is the man whose outraged rant against Obama's plan for distressed homeowners was viewed millions of times on CNBC.com and YouTube and sparked a backlash in the form of "Tea Parties" across the United States.
Santelli's reversal resulted from the controversy surrounding a Playboy article by journalists Mark Ames and Yasha Levine. The article, which was later taken down from Playboy's site after possible libel claims, exposed the connection between the right-wing group FreedomWorks and the online Tea Party organizers, and suggested that Santelli's tirade was a "carefully planned trigger" for the Tea Parties.
In addition to his public statement on CNBC, Santelli suffered the ignominy of canceling an appearance on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show this week, and further revelations and accusations are flying between Ames and Levine's ExiledOnline Web magazine and the New York Times and Atlantic Monthly blog, among others.
In a statement on the controversy, sent to me in the afternoon on March 3, Ames and Levine write:
"There has been a lot of speculation as to why Playboy removed our original article from its site. Let us put it this way: When you look at the fallout from our article
-- FreedomWorks admits its role in the teaparty, Santelli issues a giant lawyer-penned opus about how he loves Obama, and CNBC (whose parent company is the megaconglomerate General Electric) frightens a bunch of Astroturfing Web sites into dropping Santelli's name and into revealing their own PAC sponsors -- then it's clear we hit the bull's-eye and stirred up the wrath of a very scary monster.
"Given all of this, it would not be unreasonable for one to consider the possibility (as many have) that the multigazilliondollar megabeast GE threatened the much smaller independent media company Playboy with a terrifying and expensive lawsuit, which, given the current financial crisis, is not something anyone but another GE-sized megabeast could cope with. 'Nuf said on that."
Ames and Levine summarize the controversy on their site:
"We publish an investigation into the fake-grassroots "Tea Party" protest campaign underwritten by rich Republican right-wing interests, exposing Rick Santelli's role as the launch event MC, and three days later, Santelli is bitch-slapped down by his bosses, he's canceled from the Daily Show, forced to issue a Bukharin-like confession, FreedomWorks confesses that it was behind it from the start, as we wrote, and every media outlet in the country from the New York Times on down is writing up the scandal.
"Yes, it's a victory for us and for the forces of independent journalism. Sure, we're doing a dirty chicken dance in the end zone now. But the truth is, it's a bitter victory, because we've also been forced to confront the awfully familiar face of America's own version of the Soviet Union at work: Giant scary corporations threatening and scaring smaller fish into censorship, while their bought-off minions in the media do their dirty work to try to protect the megaconglomerate's brand."
and:
...ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the "Sam Adams Alliance," whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots "tea party" protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money.
as for the creation and funding of fraudulent Populists Movement websites and organizations which are actually well-funded sites created by previously existing Conservative organizations:
If you log into FreedomWorks.org today, its home page features a large photo of Rick Santelli pointing at the viewer like Uncle Sam, with the words: "Are you with Rick? We Are. Click here to learn more."
FreedomWorks, along with scores of shady front organizations which don't have to disclose their sponsors thanks to their 501 (c)(3) status, has been at the heart of today's supposed grassroots, nonpartisan "tea party" protests across the country, supposedly fueled by scores of websites which masquerade as amateur/spontaneous projects, but are suspiciously well-crafted and surprisingly well-written. One slick site pushing the tea parties, Right.org claims, "Right.org is a grassroots online community created by a few friends who were outraged by the bailouts. So we gathered some talent and money and built this site. Please tell your friends, and if you have suggestions for improving it, please let us know. Respectfully, Evan and Duncan." But funny enough, these regular guys are offering a $27,000 prize for an "anti-bailout video competition." Who are Evan and Duncan? Do they even really exist?
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also see: The Sam Adams Project by Kate Philips, Caucus.blogs, NY Times July 19, 2008
AUSTIN — The Sam Adams Alliance, a nonprofit conservative organization, has started an ambitious project this year to encourage right-leaning activists and bloggers to get online and focus on local and state issues.
..The alliance’s teaching sessions have a decidedly libertarian, taxpayer mission for conservative watchdogs of state and local governments. And the Samsphere model borrows heavily from activist groups on the left like MoveOn.org and blogging sites like DailyKos.com because of the networks they have built to mobilize voters online.
...Emily Zanotti, one of the alliance trainers, peppered her talk with conservative bloggers on Friday with quotes from Samuel Adams (think tea party and taxes) and stories of the Founding Fathers as she tried to persuade them to build communities. “Without community there would have been no 1776. So we’re moving you, one state at a time, one blogger at a time,” she said.
and conservatives are encouraged to use the Media and the Internet to advance their cause including Conservative./ Libertarian ideology and talking points:
Be the tireless minority online, she said, borrowing several times from that Sam Adams quote: “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds. ”
Those brush fires also translate into a host of new Web sites and tools that the alliance hopes will gain hold. It now boasts three “pedias:” Judgepedia.org for vetting judges at the state level; Ballotpedia.org for initiatives and elections; and SunshineReview.org for transparency in government.
SEE: Sam Adams Alliance
The Sam Adams Alliance inspires, trains, and links allies to advance economic and individual liberty through a strategic combination of new media tools and traditional communications.
And as for the Mainstreams treatment of Obama and his policies:
Robert Parry argues that Obama in trying to pass his program does not just have to fight the Right but also much of the mainstream media who are busy attacking Obama while representing erroneously the Bush Regime as some sort of success story.
"Obama's War with the Right (& Media) " by robert Parry Consortium News at Truthout.org Feb. 28 2009
In a startling ambitious budget message, President Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet to the American Right not only by tying the current economic crisis to the recklessness of the past eight years under George W. Bush but by tracing it back further to the anti-regulatory, anti-labor and anti-government policies of Ronald Reagan.
...To the American Right, those are fighting words, and leading right-wingers have already trotted out their curious charge of "class warfare," an ironic message given the fact that the growing disparity in American wealth reveals that "class warfare" has long been at the heart of Reagan-Bush policies - and the rich are winning.
Yet, while it may be audacious for the young President to take on the well-entrenched forces of reaction in Washington, there is another reason for Obama and his supporters to worry. The national news media remains largely enthralled by the pro-Republican rules of the past three decades.
In both right-wing and mainstream news organizations, stories continue to be structured as faulting Obama and largely absolving Bush (not to mention the iconic Reagan).
...The newspapers could have explained how Bush's policy prescriptions - such as large tax cuts for the wealthy, a neglect of regulation and the declining living standards of the middle class - had pushed the United States to the brink of economic catastrophe. There might have been at least one reference to how Bush contributed to "the grim realities of everyday American life."
Or some of the commentators who have been criticizing Obama's dire warnings about the state of the U.S. economy - accusing him of "talking down" the economy - might have extended an apology, admitting that the President was more correct than they were. They might even have noted that Bush actually had "taken down" the economy.
But that would require a break from the media paradigm of the past few decades - and there is no sign that the powerful right-wing news media has any intention of changing its ideological ways, nor that the mainstream news media will stop its endless attempts to prove it's not "liberal."
The only times Bush gets mentioned these days, it seems to be in the most favorable light.
One of the issues raised is that when some one on the right in the media makes false claims or outright lies it gets accepted in the media as a fact and when a retraction is made explaning that the person misspoke or was caught lying this retraction doesn't get the same media coverage as the original lie received. Is this just Media oversight or the Media's love of the attention getting outrageous statements or accusations which help with ratings whereas the retraction is not as exiting and is too dull to deserve much attention?
also see on Santelli's claim that Gibbs was threatening him and his family :
Matt Lauer Calls Out Rick Santelli For Claiming The White House Threatened Him (VIDEO) at Huffington Post by Katharine Zaleski Feb. 26, 2009
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Suddenly Freedom Works.org was abuzz with talk of the Tea Parties as was The Heritage Foundation and Rush Limbaugh etc.
"Taxpayer ‘Tea Party’ Outside White House to Oppose Bailouts/Grassroots activists across nation frustrated at ‘bailout nation’ and head to the streets. at Freedom Works Feb. 26
Washington, DC - Taxpayers from around the country are gathering Friday at noon outside the White House to protest the bailouts and debt coming out of Washington. The protest is being organized by a coalition of free market groups concerned about the direction of our country’s fiscal policy.
The Washington, DC protest is part of a national movement of “tea parties” around the country on Friday on main streets across the country. The protesters are gathering in the spirit of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, who in 1773 protested the British government by dumping tons of tea into the harbor.
This modern “tea party” movement began on February 10, 2009 in Fort Myers, Florida when FreedomWorks members were joined by concerned taxpayers outside President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting. Soon after, protests were held in Kansas, Seattle, Phoenix and Indianapolis. Hundreds showed up, and now events are being planned in dozens of cities across the country, including Sacramento, Saint Louis, Tulsa, San Diego, Atlanta, Tampa, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.
The “Washington, DC Taxpayer Tea Party” will include citizens from across the country who made the trip this week to send a message to all elected officials of both parties: It’s time to end the wasteful spending, pork projects, and bailouts.
FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey added, “This taxpayer revolt has sprouted up from the grassroots and is just getting started. The taxpayers are angry at what they see in Washington, and they have decided to turn up the volume. This is just the beginning.”
Website America's Tea Party announces the start of a New American Revolution to stop the Obama administration from implementing the Stimulus Bill and other related economic policies.
America's Tea Party Main Page of the Website
The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct protest by American Colonists demanding representation in the British Government. They became known as the original patriots.
The Chicago Tea Party of 2009 will reinvigorate that American and Patriotic spirit; one that demands respect for individual rights and property. As the bailouts spiral out of control, we are forced to fund failed banks. With foreclosures on the rise, we are made the collateral of reckless spending. And, when the bills come due, the IRS knocks on the door of “self-responsibility”.
ENOUGH!
America is the land of opportunity. To succeed AND to Fail. Without consequences, what is our incentive to learn? What is our incentive to produce? On July 4, 2009, those that ask nothing from the government but the protection of our inalienable right to succeed, will gather in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston , and everywhere in between across the country in an historic act of direct protest.
Use the Map to find a Tea Party in your local area, the Forum to organize and share ideas with other patriots, and the Podcast to get the most updated information on all reTeaParty activities
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism. - Thomas Paine
also check out :
Heritage Foundation: A think tank devoted to the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. Washington, DC.
Website: The Heritage Foundation
HeritageFoundation at YouTube
They proclaim "The Left is on the march Heritage has the answers "
Heritage Blog The Foundry
and so it goes,
GORD.
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