AP Finds Anti-ObamaCare Protests Represent Genuine Grassroots
I have Yahoo! as my home page on my Safari browser, largely to make sure I always see a “mainstream” source of news, even on my busiest days. More often than not, I discover a left-leaning article leading the news, with headlines almost always more favorable to the Democrats than Republicans. But, oftentimes, they do link fascinating articles about astronomy or archeology. And sometimes, they’ll surprise us by linking an article which paints conservatives in a favorable light.
As I was checking the news before bed Wednesday night, I was delighted to discover an article which painted an unbiased picture of some of the people in Pennsylvania protesting ObamacCare. At first, I thought, the article, Just who are these health care protesters?, would make them out to be mind-numbed robots, mesmerized by talk radio or paid and bussed in by insurance companies, but instead well, they found a diverse crowd.
Reporter Erica Werner reported from State College, Pennsylvania where she reported on a crowd gathering at a town hall for Pennsylvania Democrat Arlen Specter. She did note that the central Pennsylvania crowd was “white, conservative and working class” which she did not note pretty much reflects the demographics of the region. (Yes, I know PennState is in the area, but I’m referring to the broad demographic of the region.)
Yet, while pointing out that yes, indeed, some were drawn by talk radio, she also focuses on an actual couple:
Instead, the Snyders and many Americans like them are adding their voices to a populist backlash evident in the taunts, jeers and rants at lawmakers’ health care forums around the country in the past week and a half. The contentious sessions highlight the difficulty for President Barack Obama and the Democrats as they push for a comprehensive remaking of the nation’s health care system.
Many of those raising their voices and fists at the town halls have never been politically active. Their frustration was born earlier this year with government bailouts and big spending bills, then found an outlet in the anti-tax Tea Parties in April and has simmered in the punishing recession.
While she does seem to reduce the activism of those portrayed to “taunts, jeers and rants,” Werner does report the couple’s genuine concerns in a broadly favorable manner. And when she points out that some of the opposition is organized, she notes that, well, so is some of the support:
There is an element of organized opposition, just as on the other side unions and Obama’s political organization are trying to turn out supporters to town halls and other events.
Indeed, she compares the movement to that which fueled Obama’s election:
The emerging protest movement is almost the mirror image of the grass-roots campaign that helped sweep Obama into office by pulling in people who’d never been politically active. This time Obama is seeing the other side of what can happen when people are motivated, connect over the Internet and seemingly reach a tipping point that turns them from onlookers into activists.
Guess, then, if those protesting the President’s policies are astroturf, so too were the rallies for Obama. As the activism increases, so too does opposition to the President’s policies increase in the polls–as did support for Obama.
Looks like some Democrats owe these protesters an apology.
I would offer kudos to the AP for doing their job, but, well, should be praising a news outfit for covering the events of the day in an even-handed manner? It’s just that I think to offer them kudos because this kind of coverage is so rare.
NOTE: About five, maybe ten, minutes after posting this, this article had disappeared from the headlines on Yahoo!’s main page. Wonder why.
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Erica Werner will be sent to a re-education camp,run by the New York Times, after this article.
Comment by mike191 — August 13, 2009 @ 7:01 am - August 13, 2009
I too keep my homepage set on Yahoo. Occasionally they carry a opinion piece from AP called ” Analysis”. Its laughable and always left leaning.
Comment by DennisD — August 13, 2009 @ 7:26 am - August 13, 2009
It always seems as if the media must portray citizens by color when they are “white” especially Republican or conservative. . I rarely ever see gatherings or protesters described as “black liberals” or “white liberals” and so forth. It seems to be a way of denigrating the protests by saying they are white and you can sometimes hear the sneers on MSM when they talk about Republicans being white (by white hosts!). There is nothing wrong with being Caucasian or conservative but you wouldnt know that by the press reports.
Comment by Krystal — August 13, 2009 @ 8:41 am - August 13, 2009
Sorry, I don’t buy into the “kudos” bit. It’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome indicative of how conditioned we are to media bias to be grateful for the few stinking scraps of begrudging objectivity they throw our way. To be giving “kudos” to mainstream news sources for doing their basic job — or for slightly moderating their everyday bias because maybe the reporter is in a charitable mood — not acceptable.
We shouldn’t be grateful when they do their job — we should expect nothing less all the time.
Comment by rrpjr — August 13, 2009 @ 9:20 am - August 13, 2009
Tea Party gear can be found at http://tinyurl.com/superfreedom
Comment by teapartygear — August 13, 2009 @ 9:32 am - August 13, 2009
rrpjr, that’s my point–and why I didn’t offer kudos. That I was tempted to shows how are it is to see such even-handed coverage from the AP
Comment by GayPatriotWest — August 13, 2009 @ 5:15 pm - August 13, 2009
[...] our dissent. The Hoosierpundit: Baron Hill Repeats “Political Terrorists” Line GayPatriot: AP Finds Anti-ObamaCare Protests Represent Genuine Grassroots Moe Lane: Rep. Bishop, Boswell having health care meetings allllll the way over *there* Jim [...]
Pingback by “You Can Bet Our Astro-Turf…” San Francisco Tea Party Against Health Care (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone — August 15, 2009 @ 4:09 pm - August 15, 2009
Just think, George Soros and the AP have made a deal so it may be harder to find any “objective” articles when the new “analysts” begin saturating the “news”.
Don’t worry about the tought camp, you’ll have good company.
Comment by MotherRedDog — August 15, 2009 @ 5:41 pm - August 15, 2009
[...] today, save the AP’s Erica Werner (and a few others), when the MSM turns their attention to the rallies, they focus not on the [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » Just Because Crackpots Join a Political MovementDoesn’t Mean They Define It — August 17, 2009 @ 5:37 pm - August 17, 2009
[...] who have taken the time to talk to people attending Pennsylvania town halls have found such protesters to be quite a diverse lot, mostly concerned citizens who came there on [...]
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[...] ARE NOT THE STAGERS! Leftist Activists try create faux imagery to squash our dissent. GayPatriot: AP Finds Anti-ObamaCare Protests Represent Genuine Grassroots Moe Lane: Rep. Bishop, Boswell having health care meetings allllll the way over *there* Jim [...]
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[...] more to the article than that–and I highly recommend you read the whole thing. Like AP reporter Erica Werner, WSJ reporters Janet Adamy and Jonathan Weisman do take the time to understand the legitimate [...]
Pingback by GayPatriot » The Genuine Outrage of Obamacare Opponents — September 1, 2009 @ 11:52 pm - September 1, 2009
[...] Gandhi and the ObamaCare Protests Jump to Comments Like a dinosaur who stepped on a rock a few months ago and is only now beginning to wonder why his foot hurts, the newsmedia are beginning to get it that the anger in the townhalls isn’t from losing the election, and isn’t even just ObamaCare, and it isn’t ObamaCare plus the deficit either. It’s that a large segment of the population is fed up with politicians that won’t listen to them, and a …. [...]
Pingback by Gandhi and the ObamaCare Protests « Teh Resistance Blog — September 2, 2009 @ 8:55 am - September 2, 2009
[...] Terrorist[s]” The Hoosierpundit: Baron Hill Repeats “Political Terrorists” Line GayPatriot: AP Finds Anti-ObamaCare Protests Represent Genuine Grassroots Jim Blazsik: Breitbart.tv » ‘06 Flashback: Pelosi Tells Anti-War Protesters ‘I’m a Fan of [...]
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