>>>>>>>>Generally their positions are outside the mainstream one way or the other. The Tea Party certainly is.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Mike, you might want to take a closer look at what some people in the Tea Party are saying. "Tea party activists" aren't nearly the kooks that the liberal press would have you believe (though I was strongly disappointed that they wanted Palin as a keynote speaker). I had an intense argument the other day with the person who "introduced me" to Ayn Rand - this person is now a big Palin supporter. Palin is nothing but a feeble specimen of window-dressing, a ditto-head.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I read about them and see the pictures. Middle aged white people, men and women, literally red faced with anger and shouting. That's not an invention of a liberal media.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>We agree about Sarah Palin. If you put her brain in a bird the bird would fly backwards.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I certainly don't see it as my party of choice :o) However, to be honest, a move (even temporary) away from our two-party system took anger in the masses for it to happen and I think many in this country are no longer tied to any specific party as much as before. How angry are the tea-party folks? The whole group is certainly not comprised of shouting red faced members whose goal is to return to the colonialist times, although there certainly are some of those. When folks got really angry about the taxes, economy, bailouts is when they actually started protesting and that certainly brings out the crazies but it also brings out those who are just plain fed up. I am surpised that an educated individual would completely buy into the media portrayal when it is well known that the media always focuses on the fringe of every group that makes the best news. Of hundreds of folks attending protests, the media only films those with the most outrageous behavior. You support anti-war protests and see those folks as passionate but you despise anti-tax and pro-fiscal conservatism protests and label the entire group as angry white folks. You hate negative left-wing labels but enjoy dishing out right-wing labels every chance you get. There are fringe freaks in all groups and it's a shame is every group is pigeon-holed based on their most outrageous members. Our political system and government are broken. Even Maine Senator Olympia Snowe admitted as much in a CNN interview. In a CNN poll in February, 86% of the public agreed. Thank goodness 81% believe that what is broken can be fixed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Here is one (of many) stories:
>>>>>>http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/21/poll.broken.govt/index.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I did not know I had so many extreme positions! Thanks for setting me straight.
>>>>>
>>>>>One thing I will disagree with is your statements about the news media. You are in no position to make statements like that. How would you know what they choose not to cover?
>>>>
>>>>By being in places where the media is and seeing the real picture. I am indeed in a position to make that statement.
>>>
>>>How many of these events have you been to? A couple? You're painting with a pretty broad brush based on that.
>>
>>I am not basing my statement solely on electoral and political coverage by the media. Really, what is your issue with my statement? Are you really that naive? I really wish I could be so as well...seriously. :o)
>
>I do not agree with your frequent statements that the news media is monolithic or has a consistent liberal bias. IMO lots of people say that just because they don't like what is reported.


This is not a left versus right issue so please stop trying to make it so. It is not about liberal media bias and I never wrote that. Although that does occur (and I gave you links to the editor of the NYT admitting it back when it happened), it is about bias in the media period. If you read the links you would know that.

http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/other/types-of-media-bias/
http://books.google.com/books?id=GHIQimmDvbcC&dq=how+to+recognize+bias+in+the+media&printsec=frontcover&source=in&hl=en&ei=mYGWS9nENMaWtgeW7-ztDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=12&ved=0CCoQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://www.criticalthinking.org/store-page.cfm?P=products&ItemID=167&catalogID=224&cateID=132
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ424959&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ424959
http://civilsocietytrust.org/blog/2009/09/13/professor-krugmans-bias-by-omission/