NYT's Sam Tanenhaus Schools CBS's Lesley Stahl on Tea Party Women
CBS reporter Lesley Stahl was very confused on Monday's "Morning Joe". She just couldn't figure out why there are so many women involved with the Tea Party.
Stahl received a basic civics lesson from two unlikely personalities: columnist Mike Barnicle, and Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review and author of "The Death of Conservatism".
Tanenhaus noted that economic issues are of particular importance to women, and therefore that women are going to be more active when their economic livelihood is threatened. Barnicle suggested that since women generally handle household finances, the illogic of deficit spending is especially clear to them (video and transcript below the fold - h/t Caroline May).
STAHL: I wanted to ask all the gurus here, why so many of the Tea Partiers are women. I find that just intriguing and don't quite understand why that has happened?
BARNICLE: I have no idea.
BRZEZINSKI: Sarah Palin? I don't know.
STAHL: I don't know either. But it's a phenomenon, and it's a real, and there are enough that it's a critical mass.
TANENHAUS: Can I propose my suggestion, see what you think of it Leslie [inaudible]? You've been talking about the economy. Who runs the household economy in America? I mean, the classic Greek word for economics means "home economy". Who's paying the bills? Who's worried about the kids and college loans? They are the ones that run the country.
BARNICLE: It could be that women, as we all know, are smarter than men.
TANENHAUS: It's not saying much, but it's true.
BARNICLE: And they have better instincts than men, and they know off what you just said, that the government or their household - you have a checkbook. You can't start writing things for checks that you can't pay for. The checks bounce. We've been bouncing checks as a government for 20 years.
STAHL: But the Tea Partiers are not necessarily saying we have to pay our bills, they're saying no taxes, and that doesn't mean we are going to pay your bills. I'm not sure that's the message. And it is the first answer.
TANENHAUS: Can I throw out a second one?
STAHL: Yeah.
TANENHAUS: The politics of those that have not been engaged in the process before. Very early on in the Tea Party, it was women coming forward saying 'I've never paid attention, now I can organize, now I can get involved.' The greatest contribution conservatism has made to American politics in the last 40 years is that the protest is channelled through organized politics. Conservatives don't take to the streets, they don't burn cities down, they don't riot. They get involved in parties, campaigns, they'll do the work of licking envelopes, right, putting stamps on them. That's women's work, too - you actually do the work, not just talk about it like people like me.
STAHL: It's ultimate anti-establishment.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, something about finding a voice, too, happening there. Sam Tanenhaus, thank you very much. And Lesley Stahl, thank you as well.
Leave aside Tanenhaus's comment that licking stamps is "women's work" - imagine the howling if Sean Hannity had said it. For an author not particularly friendly to conservatism generally, Tanenhaus gave a pretty apt description of women's interest in the Tea Party. The movement is an empowering force for a group who have traditionally remained homemakers, outside the realm of political activism.
Rebecca Wales of the conservative women's group Smart Girl Politics agrees. She told the Daily Caller:
Women are primarily responsible for the finances in their household, own small businesses, take care of their children and their aging parents… And when those things are threatened, women fight back. This movement empowered them. They found the means to become politically active, found a voice, where they never had before.
Tanenhaus is a liberal, male, New York Times editor. It doesn't get much further from a "mama grizzly" than that. And yet Stahl is apparently so removed from the mainstream of American political thought that she had to take instruction on the issue from the likes of Tanenhaus.
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Comments
The libs just can't get their
Submitted by HockeyKid on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:12am.
The libs just can't get their heads around the concept of a movement that encompasses and is open to everybody. They are incapable of understanding anything without breaking it into labels, groups, and stereotypes. It's pathetic, really.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Stahl is either a liar
Submitted by texriot on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:20am.
Stahl is either a liar, Hmmm, or freakishly stupid. Let me clear this up for her. Teapartiers are NOT anti establishment and NOT anti-government. we recognize that government should be Honest, not write checks they can not cash and/or rely on us to pay for. It is called being responsible with other peoples money. We are just fed up with the deceit, back-room deals, running up the deficit with nothing to show for it, being anti-business, which is the monetary engine in this country. Geesh, I get sick and tired seeing these jackasses coming on TV and calling teapartiers disparaging names when they only want an honest and responsibly run government. My apologies to jackasses.
Actually, the tea partiers
Submitted by Martin2717 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:50am.
Actually, the tea partiers are anti-establishment. That's one of the biggest reasons why they formed.
Thank you Martin*
Submitted by cajun2 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 2:12pm.
Thank you for explaining to me my own personal beliefs and the beliefs of millions of Americans. Typical liberal bs that you are smarter than everyone else and full of elitist snobbery that you know what is best for us. If we would just be more informed like you. Oh my, I'm so confused!
The Tea Party is not anti government. We are against irresponsible government and an administration that wants to take us away from free market enterprise to European Socialism which we know is a dismal failure. We are against a government comprised of those who believe they are a separate class. We simply want to remind them that they WORK for us.
We will begin the process of re-education on Nov. 2, 2010. Hold on to something, the blow back is gonna hurt.
You must have taken my
Submitted by Martin2717 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 6:28pm.
You must have taken my comment the wrong way. I don't know how you can confuse me with being a liberal. I was correcting him on saying the tea partiers are not anti-establishment. They don't like the establishment in both parties. Are people here starting to take some of my comments the wrong way? If that's the case, then I won't be commenting here.
Leftist dingbat Stahl is
Submitted by TE on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:20am.
Leftist dingbat Stahl is shocked that any women are involved with the Tea Party because she doesn't know a single person (male or female) who is not a red-eyed, frothing at the mouth, virulent, militant, America hating, fundamentalist, leftist feminist.
Stahl was also shocked that both Reagan and Nixon carried 49 out of 50 states in their reelection campaigns because Stahl didn't know a single person who voted for either Reagan or Nixon.
Empty Stahl
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:25am.
She's just sitting there waiting to digest another load of Democrat crap.
Barnicle!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:21am.
Barnacle actually makes a point?
Since when is Barnicle a voice of common sense?
I'm Werner Klemperer!
Cool
Submitted by rockyracoon on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 12:58pm.
I wonder who Barnicle "borrowed" his point from?
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
That was a pretty sad
Submitted by shannon76 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:27am.
That was a pretty sad display. To see people who are so insular and have such little insight into the attitudes and world view of real people. It would be hilarious except for the fact that these people report the news.
This is amazing!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:28am.
The only one with a clue was the NYT reporter! How's that for Hope and Change, yo?
As Palin says, common sense is a rare trait nowadays. Thank God (Can is say that? What the Hell!) that common sense appears to be making a comeback.
How hard is it to understand that if you cut taxes, people who actually know how to innovate will have more of their own money to do so, and the economy will boom!
I just read a list of all the US companies that helped get the Chilean miners out of the hole, and with the exception of NASA, NOT ONE of them got any stimulus money or other tax money. They did it with their own money and knowledge with products and services that they had developed. The miners would still be rotting in that hole if they had had to wait for the federal government to get them out. Hell, they'd still be studying the environmental impact to see if any moles would be disturbed in the rescue process.
Face it. The only thing that government does well is, ahh ... let me see ... I'll get back to you.
"Face it. The only thing that
Submitted by HockeyKid on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:32am.
"Face it. The only thing that government does well is, ahh ... let me see ... "
Spend other people's money, and think of ways to take more!"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Thanks Kid.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:42am.
I knew there was something!
I find the ignorance of these
Submitted by ML Stovall on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:40am.
I find the ignorance of these 'news' readers astounding and somewhat scary. Aren't they ever curious about what the REAL people who are on the other end of their TV signal think and not just the NYC liberals they associate with?
Taxed Enough Already active participants are turning the tables
Submitted by Deskpilot on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 10:59am.
on the Progressive(Communist) elements. In much the same way that "The Mancurian Candidate," was an attempt to install a subversive into a position of power, that campaign has been enacted to some degree of success. Soros' SoS project is one example, where an idealogically favored individual is installed to oversee desired results.
TEA party is the exact same operation except that its distinct advantage is that is working at the wider, local level. Getting involved in every precinct, engaging voters, looking over canidates at the earliest stages (It's called vetting) to see whether they can appeal to the electorate.
What Leslie doesn't understand is that WE have learned from her and her types. Academia and Journalism will be the next takeover points.
Short Story.
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 11:05am.
"CBS reporter Lesley Stahl was very confused"...period. End of story.
An NYTer referring to "the
Submitted by mattm on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 11:50am.
An NYTer referring to "the illogic of deficit spending"??? Don't tell Paul Krugman... I guess it's CYA time for the media... they don't want to go down with their Donkeyrat cronies.
Not all women think alike
Submitted by nkviking75 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 12:05pm.
What are the odds that any group that comprises more than half the population of the world (and yet somehow is treated as though they are a minority) thinks as one monolithic group? Women are a diverse population. Some women think along the lines of what we traditionally think of as feminism. Other women live out what feminism is supposed to be about, but the left considers them backwards or just plain stupid because they are also conservative. Conservative women think for themselves too.
“Always love your country — but never trust your government!" -- Bob Novak (1931-2009)
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
LESLIE STALL DOESN'T 'UNDERSTAND THE TEA PARTY'???
Submitted by Geez Louise on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 12:42pm.
IT TAKES EITHER GUTS OR ABSOLUTELY NO BRAINS OR THE BIGGEST DEMONSTRATION OF OUT-OF-TOUCH ELITISM EVAH for Leslie Stall to admit--in plain English she doesn't 'get it'.
If I were the owner of the Program/Station, her pink slip would be in her mail before she signed off.
AREN'T THEY PAYING HER TO BE INFORMED?
I guess not. That's what the MUTE button is for. Cut the commercials.
AT LEAST NOW ALL SUSPICIONS ARE CONFIRMED. The Media is NOT BIASED!! They are IGNORANT AND UNIFORMED.
LAFFING all the way to the Voting Polls.
Tea-Party Sr. Citizen way to-h*ll-&-gone on the West Coast.
I think of the media as II, that is...
Submitted by texasborngranny on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 1:04pm.
I think of the media as II, that is... Intentionally Ignorant
They refuse to watch or read anything that might intrude upon their Intentional Ignorance.
G Louise
Submitted by Blonde on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 1:51pm.
That's about the best SN I've ever seen here.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Woman can be conservative?
Submitted by Tomorama on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 12:52pm.
Stahl is of the mindset that ALL woman are liberals and therefore feminists and that is why she DOESN'T GET IT:
"I wanted to ask all the gurus here, why so many of the Tea Partiers are women. I find that just intriguing and don't quite understand why that has happened?"
Newsflash Leslie, NOT ALL WOMEN THINK ALIKE and for you to be that clueless IN YOUR POSITION, is incredible.
Thanks to NB and the other new media, their one mindset thought process are being brutally exposed day by day, hour by hour.
Journalist? Stahl just plays one on TV
Submitted by mom_rox on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 3:26pm.
Stahl: "I wanted to ask all the gurus here, why so many of the Tea Partiers are women. I find that just intriguing and don't quite understand why that has happened?"
Hey, Lesley, why don't you pretend to be a journalist and ask them? Yes, I know - that would actually require you to attend a Tea Party instead of just sitting on the Morning Joe set with your pals.
The bitter taste of Irony
Submitted by CobraMan on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 1:02pm.
"It's ultimate anti-establishment."
Enjoy the bitter taste of Irony, liberals. Not that long ago, YOU were the "anti-establishment" movement who complained about the over-reach of government and now YOUR the "fascist pigs" who are trying to silence the dissidence. Not that long ago, YOU were the "great uneducated masses," now YOU'RE the "power-mad elites." Not that long ago, YOU were the "movement" and now YOU'RE the impediment! Would you all like a little more whine to help wash down that bitter taste of irony?
Power to the people!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
STAHL: But the Tea Partiers
Submitted by kronological on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 1:37pm.
STAHL: But the Tea Partiers are not necessarily saying we have to pay our bills, they're saying no taxes, and that doesn't mean we are going to pay your bills. I'm not sure that's the message. And it is the first answer.
First off...what the heck does this mean? Apparently Stahl needs her own teleprompter.
Secondly...who in the Tea Party movement is saying NO TAXES? Absolutely NO ONE! We want limited taxes and reduced spending...DUH! The mindless mental midget media simply parrots the same old demo-drone talking points. When will they rise above their collective nincompoopery and actually provide accurate, factual information regarding the Tea Party?
And would somebody please slip Stahl some fish oil? Her withering cerebrum seriously needs some Omega-3s.
A couple things
Submitted by IgnatzJFahrquar on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 1:38pm.
First off, way to go Mika, barfing out the Liberal spew like a good little vacuum brain. Gotta bring Palin's name into every/all discussion for possible "blame" points:
BRZEZINSKI: Sarah Palin? I don't know.
And then, if I may, play the game of "fill in the inaudible":
TANENHAUS: Can I propose my suggestion, see what you think of it Leslie [inaudible]?
"You no-talent hack"
or perhaps taking from a great Dan Akroid line:
" You ignorant sl*t"
15%
Submitted by vote24 on Tue, 10/19/2010 - 5:25pm.
The Ignorant Media (IM), is simply playing to the 15% of all people who truly know, and choose to know nothing...except what they are fed on television. This is a well know concept in media circles. As long as you can fool someone.. keep on going.