When my friend interned for CNN, I reccomended that she talk to Anderson Cooper about covering the 2006 Darfur rallies in Washington D.C. and in San Francisco. Thousands of people showed up to protest the ongoing genocide, but none of the mainstream media outlets covered it. Instead, Anderson Cooper interviewed the author of a new Terri Schavio book.
Now Fox News is covering the Tea Parties across the nation. Few are showing up to these rallies, and yet they get national attention. When then Senator Barack Obama and actor George Clooney stood up against genocide, the rallies barely got covered. Now that we have more voices in the media and a left-wing tilt in thiscountry, the chances that our rallies will be covered by the mainstream media is all the greater.
Now is our chance to get the attention of the Obama administration. When veterans groups protested the privitization of the veteran's health care, veterans stood up and got things done. Now is our time to take to the streets, non-violently of course, to advocate for universal health care, for alternative energy, for public education, for the issues we have fought for for years. Now we have a strong media outlet on our side, with Maddow, Olbermann, Matthews and Schultz in prime time.
The right-wingers are fighting a losing battle, as the American people realize that Obama is lowering taxes for 95% of all Americans. Only the super rich will be paying more taxes. The right wingers are doing all they can to paint Obama as a communist, a fascist, a socialist, a modernist, anything with an ist at the end. Now is the time for us Democrats to demonstrate and show the American people who we stand for. They will then see that the teabaggers stand for smearing Obama, but do not stand with America or its economic interests.
And please, someone come up with a better name than "teabagging". ;-)