Hundreds of thousands of Americans protested Wednesday against big government, massive spending, and what they believe is irresponsible behavior by the feds. There is no question these protests were newsworthy, but they deeply offended the committed left-wing press, which is about 75 percent of all the American media.
Predictably, the uber-liberal New York Times buried the tea party story on page 16. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal ran the story on page 3. USA Today also on page 3.
On the network news side, here was the tone:
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CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS: The self-styled tea parties were aimed squarely at President Obama and the Democratic leaders in Congress and aimed at garnering media attention as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheered on by FOX News and talk radio, the hundreds of tea parties today were designed to protest the bailouts, the stimulus plan and President Obama's budget.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But from the White House perspective, not all of it was as homegrown as it may seem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the sentiment is about organizing anti-Obama rallies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fistful of rightward leaning Web sites and commentators…
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is big in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...embraced the cause.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
There is no question that FOX News recognized the tea parties as a major story, and we promoted our coverage of the protests heavily this week. Also, FOX News analysts were at some of the events. That strategy was very smart.
Millions of Americans feel they have no voice in the left-wing media. Again, that comprises about 75 percent of the press. So when the folks hit the streets in a big way, it should be covered, correct?
That is why FOX News destroys NBC and CNN on cable every night. We cover the news. We don't ignore it. We don't denigrate it. And there was plenty of that going on Wednesday:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And of course, right-wingers are going nuts on tax day. They're holding these tea parties across the country.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think you get the general tenor of this. It's anti-government, anti-CNN, since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network FOX.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you also saw was this sort of fringe group, the secessionists, the militia types.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These tea parties were filled and fueled with one network, which has got, of course, a stable of talk show hosts who throw around the word revolution all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A few hundred hearty souls come out with their mildly racist signs.
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Summing up, many in the American media are not very interested in reporting the news. Their mission is to promote left-wing ideology. This network has been accused of the opposite, but our coverage of the tea parties was vastly superior to anything else around. So you make the call.
And that is the "Talking Points Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
The city of Corpus Christi, Texas, has awarded "The Factor" and me, your humble correspondent, a certificate commending our support of the Wounded Warrior Project.
Mayor Henry Garrett is a big supporter of the U.S. military, and we accept Corpus Christi's generosity with honor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You are a patriot.
On the pinhead front, I think it's time to put rapper Snoop Dogg in the pinhead hall of fame.
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SNOOP DOGG, RAPPER: (EXPLETIVE DELETED), you know how we do. If you've got some chronic, now's the time to blaze that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up. Oh yeah, Obama smoked, too.
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Hopefully the president will deport the man soon.
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