Sweet Dreams & Sleepytime Tea

High Country Radio promoted the recent Tea Party held in Boone quite aggressively, both on the air and on goblueridge.net. To most observers, it would seem obvious that High Country Radio would do such a thing--all of the syndicated talk programming carried on their stations skews hard right, and the whole Tea Party event was launched by wealthy folks who tried to pass themselves off as somehow being "grassroots"--who then joined up with the echo chambers that are Fox News, Rush Limbaugh (carried on WXIT 1200 AM), and Neal Boortz (carried on WXIT 1200 AM, in the summer).

And High Country Radio was probably doing just what their wealthy, out-of town masters (Curtis Media) would want them to do--help promote an event that would make it seem like ordinary folks oppose the imposition of any tax increases on the mega-wealthy.

A few of the DNHC Team members attended the Tea Party. We took pictures. Here are our observations.

1) Crowd size. After the Tea Party was over, goblueridge.net made a post on their blog site estimating the attendance to be "around 200". Look at the first picture and decide for yourself. We think not.

2) goblueridge.net promoted the event as being non-partisan. Look at the signs in the second picture. Wrong again, guys.

3) There was a counter-protest at the Tea Party (look at the third and fourth picture). goblueridge.net made no mention of this, nor did the Watauga Democrat. How hard is it to walk around and take pictures?

4) The Emcee of the event (not sure of his name), gave a big shoutout to the local media who came to cover the event--the newsreader who works for MTN, and Mr. Roten of WATA-AM--to thank them for coming. Both of them got a big cheer from the crowd. Did the swooning crowd have any influence on their coverage of the event?

5) The final speaker (introduced as someone from Ashe County, see picture five) bemoaned the recent report issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which highlighted the increasing threat to the country posed by extremist groups, as somehow constituting evidence that groups opposing the government are not going to be allowed to protest anymore--a bizarre rant that would have made Glenn Beck proud.

In all, the messages from the various speakers seemed to focus on their feelings of "disenfranchisement" and desire to keep their own money--all of it. We could not help but notice that the Tea Party attendees were making excellent use of several taxpayer-funded ammenities, like sidewalks, and depending on the existence of Blowing Rock Road to convey the vehicles to which they shouted their anti-tax slogans. This irony was apparently lost on the crowd.

About that crowd. There really did not seem to be many people in attendance who looked like they made more than $250,000 per year. Seemed like just a bunch of average folks. Which brings up the question: if their taxes are not going to increase under the Obama plan, then why were they protesting? In fact, many will see their taxes go DOWN.

Under the Obama-Biden Plan:

• Middle class families will see their taxes cut -- and no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes increase. The typical middle class family will receive well over $1,000 in tax relief under the Obama-Biden plan, and will pay tax rates that are 20 percent lower than they faced under President Reagan.
• Families making more than $250,000 will pay either the same or lower tax rates than they paid in the 1990s. Obama will ask the wealthiest two percent of families to give back a portion of the tax cuts they have received over the past eight years to ensure we are restoring fairness and returning to fiscal responsibility. But no family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s.
• The Obama-Biden plan will cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan (less than 18.2 percent of GDP). The plan is a net tax cut -- his tax relief for middle class families is larger than the revenue raised by his tax changes for families over $250,000. Coupled with his commitment to cut unnecessary spending, Obama will pay for this tax relief while bringing down the budget deficit.

Who funded these allegedly "grassroots" protests? And why did High Country Radio promote them so heavily? Can you say astroturf?

Why would an average person defend the mega-wealthy from paying their fair share?

The sixth picture is one more crowd shot. Not 200, sorry.