Skip to main content
  • CNSNews.com
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • TimesWatch
  • Take Action!

Join Us @:
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon Kindle

Tell the Truth campaign logo
NewsBusters.org logo

May 26, 2012
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • RSS

Hot Topics

  • Anti-religious Bias in the Media
  • Same-sex Marriage
  • 2012 Presidential Race
Home » Blogs » Noel Sheppard's blog
  • Ashley Judd to NBC: Republicans Are 'Really Dumb,' Obama Has 'Flowered'
  • Bozell Column: Canada's 'Scientific' Museum of Smut
  • CBS: 'Troubling Signs' For Obama, Like Bush in '92, But President 'Cannot Control' Economy
  • On and On It Goes: Networks Cover 'Predator Priests' As They Stay Silent on Catholic Liberty Lawsuits
  • NBC's Williams Touts L.A. Banning Plastic Bags As Effort to Keep Them 'Out of the Natural World'
  • Bozell, Carlson Note Media's Silence on Obama Supporter's Bribe to Hush Rev. Wright
  • Very Annoyed Matthews Rips ‘Horse’s Ass Right-Wingers’ Who Cite ‘Thrill Up My Leg,’ Calls C-SPAN Host a ‘Jackass’
  • CNN Asks Tony Perkins 'Why Do Homosexuals Bother You So Much?'

Tapper: 'DNC Suggests Town Hall Protesters are Fringe Birther Mob'

By Noel Sheppard | August 05, 2009 | 11:03

Change font size:  A |  A
Noel Sheppard's picture

The Democratic National Committee has released a new video to push back against protests happening at town hall meetings across the country, and according to ABC's Jake Tapper, these demonstrators are being depicted as "irrational birthers who want to 'destroy' President Obama."

For those unfamiliar with the term, "birthers" are folks that question whether Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen.

Tapper also reported that the ad claims these protests are being staged by "desperate Republicans and their well funded allies [who are] organizing angry mobs -- just like they did during the election."

DNC video along with more of Tapper's report below the fold:

DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse issued a statement about "the Republican Party and Allied Groups’ Mob Rule," saying that the "Republicans and their allied groups -- desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill -- are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country."

Woodhouse said: "The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the president's citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are.  This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 -- and it is bound to backfire again." [...]

Woodhouse continued: "These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington.  Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues -- or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes."

Though Tapper did offer a counter view that "some of the town hall protesters are clearly organized at the grass roots level by some of the conservatives active earlier this year in the 'tea party' movement," his piece largely echoed Tuesday's "World News with Charlie Gibson" segment wherein demonstrators were depicted as "orchestrated" and "organized."

This all raises an important question: as the August Congressional recess continues, and more town hall meetings are attended by angry protesters, will media just repeat Democrat talking points concerning who the attendees are, or will they report how such demonstrations are indeed an outpouring of emotion from regular citizens worried about the direction of the nation?

Is everyone in this country that is angry about higher taxes, higher government spending, as well as the pending healthcare and cap and tax bills somehow tied to a conservative organization pulling the strings?

Do media elites REALLY believe that, or is this just good copy to assist a president they helped get elected whose polls are plummeting while his agenda has hit a roadblock?

Share this

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.
  • Barack Obama
  • Charlie Gibson
  • Jake Tapper
  • ABC
  • ObamaCare
  • Noel Sheppard's blog
  • Login to post comments
  • Printer-friendly version
Donate to NewsBusters

  • Is liberalism dead? (Roger L. Simon)
  • The media's next move on same-sex marriage (Get Religion)
  • Senate Dems pay women staffers less than male staffers (Washington Free Beacon)
  • Left targeting Chief Justice Roberts in attempt to save ObamaCare (IBD)
  • Walker's chance of defeating Wisc. recall looking great (Ace of Spades)
  • Ex-prez Bill Clinton poses for pic with porn stars (Fox Nation)
  • Protests against conservative group ALEC draw pitiful numbers (YouTube)

Donate to NewsBusters Today!

This form needs Javascript to display, which your browser doesn't support. Sign up here instead

User Shortcuts

Log in

  • My account
  • My buddylist
  • Log in to check messages
  • RSS feed
  • About NB
  • Contact us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise on NB
Scott Rasmussen
Rasmussen Column: 'Austerity' Talk Is Just Political Cover for More Government Spending
Walter E. Williams's picture
Walter E. Williams
Walter Williams Column: Should Black People Tolerate This?
Cal Thomas's picture
Cal Thomas
Cal Thomas Column: The Media's Religion Deficit
Chuck Norris's picture
Chuck Norris
Chuck Norris Column: IRS Gives Billions in Tax Refunds to Illegals
Michelle Malkin's picture
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin Column: How the Gay-Marriage Mafia Slimed Manny Pacquiao
More >

RSS FeedAmazon KindleFacebookTwitter

Recent comments

  • Hey CA...
    13 min 10 sec ago
  • Phones?
    15 min 1 sec ago
  • Here are some interesting
    19 min 27 sec ago
  • Hell yeah.
    23 min 26 sec ago
  • Of Course...
    24 min 17 sec ago
More >

More Like Farcebook
more cartoons
  • Howard Stern Hasn't Been 'King of Prime Time'
  • All Purpose Weekend Open Thread
  • NPR Celebrates Transgender Olympics Hopeful as Hammer-Throwing 'Jackie Robinson'
  • Bashir to Facebook Co-Founder: Go 'Play with the Traffic'
  • Piers Morgan Whacks 'Little Wretch' Who Says He Taught Phone-Hacking
More >
NewsBusters

Executive Editor
Matthew Sheffield

Editor at Large
Brent Baker

Senior Editors
Tim Graham
Rich Noyes

Managing Editor
Ken Shepherd

Associate Editor
Noel Sheppard

Contributing Editors
Tom Blumer
Geoffrey Dickens
Dan Gainor
David Limbaugh
Lachlan Markay
Mithridate Ombud
Clay Waters
Scott Whitlock

Senior Contributor
Mark Finkelstein

Contributing Writers
Matthew Balan
Michael M. Bates
Erin R. Brown
Jack Coleman
Kyle Drennen
Douglas Ernst
P. J. Gladnick
Stephen Gutowski
Matt Hadro
D. S. Hube
Kathleen McKinley
Dave Pierre
Amy Ridenour
Julia A. Seymour
Terry Trippany
Rusty Weiss
Brad Wilmouth

Publisher
Brent Bozell

Site Design
Dialog New Media

 

  • Home
  • Blogs
  • About
  • Forum
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Account
  • rss
  • CNSNews
  • MRC TV
  • Biz & Media
  • Culture & Media
  • Take Action!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Advertise
  • Jobs

Copyright © 2005-2012 NewsBusters. Terms of Use.