The Revolution Is Being Televised - Democratic Underground

WilliamPitt

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Mon Feb-22-10 11:42 AM
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The Revolution Is Being Televised

Edited on Mon Feb-22-10 11:43 AM by WilliamPitt

Note: An audio version of this article can be found here : http://www.truthout.org/the-revolution-is-being-televised57054

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Ⅿeagan, Christian Haugen / 1/ 2/ 3, (sam))

The Revolution Is Being Televised
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Sunday 21 February 2010

I wrote this past weekend about the very real danger facing the Republican Party in 2012 thanks to the "Tea Party" uprising within the GOP base. I noted that it was preposterous to be talking about the inside baseball of the '12 election three years out, and it turns out that assessment was exactly correct. The GOP's Tea Party problem is blowing up right now, and threatens to wreak extreme havoc for them not only in the upcoming midterms, but in the next several elections to come.

At least, that's how it's playing on television. The Wednesday afternoon CNN broadcast was a feast for those with a taste for irony. To wit, a couple of talking heads spent a full segment describing how the sudden ascendancy of the Tea Party was largely a product of the saturation coverage they've been getting from the cable news networks. Ergo, the easy assumption they were proffering was that if the Republican Party simply told their members to turn off their televisions, well, the whole Tea Party noise will fizzle out from lack of attention.

I'm not so sure about that. CNN had other numbers that paint a fairly grim picture for the GOP, especially if this insurrection within their base continues to fester and grow. According to CNN, only 44 percent of those who identify with the Tea Party movement identify themselves as Republicans, while 52 percent identify themselves as Independents. Worse, when those questioned were asked whom they would support if a Tea Party candidate entered a primary race against a Republican, half of them would break away from the GOP and vote third party.

These Tea Party people are really starting to get organized; the best evidence of that is the media savvy they've displayed thus far by garnering so much television attention, which has translated into blog and print news coverage. The fact that they've managed to do this by organizing rallies filled with people holding signs that say things like "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare" is more than just grist for the irony mill.

They know that TV news people are happiest when given the chance to broadcast spectacles, and so they gave them one, and got what they came for. Inside the Washington bubble, where television is king, the echo of the Tea Party shouters has begun to ring in a lot of Republican ears, especially those who are vulnerable to a challenge from the right flank in a 2010 primary.

Now that these Tea Party folks have people's attention, they are moving into the next phase of getting organized: preparing a manifesto. According to a recent ABC News report, the process of preparing this document, as well as the final product, will not leave the Republican National Committee suffering from a case of the warm and snugglies...

The rest: http://www.truthout.org/the-revolution-is-being-televised57054