Note to David Shuster and Anderson Cooper: GET A ROOM
Ever heard of the slang sexual term “teabagging”? In case you haven’t, I’ll spare you the actual copy/paste of the definition – you can just go here and read it. Once you get done with that, click to watch the below video where you’ll see Red Eye’s Greg Gutfield rip CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSDNC’s David Shuster for the deliberate “teabagging” references they used when discussing the Tea Parties yesterday (via j$):
Fox News provides a mini-recap:
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interspersed “teabagging” references with analyst David Gergen’s more staid commentary on how Republicans are still “searching for their voice.”
“It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging,” Cooper explained. Gergen laughed, but Cooper kept a straight face.
MSNBC’s David Shuster weaved a tapestry of “Animal House” humor Monday as he filled in for Countdown host Keith Olbermann.
The protests, he explained, amount to “Teabagging day for the right wing and they are going nuts for it.”
He described the parties as simultaneously “full-throated” and “toothless,” and continued: “They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending.” Shuster also noted how the protesters “whipped out” the demonstrations this past weekend.
Anderson’s and the error-prone Shuster’s respective “comments” were both bad, but Shuster’s repeated use of sexual innuendo to describe Tea Party protesters was much worse. These clowns are supposed to be “serious and respected journalists”? Only in the small minds of the power elites both in the mainstream media and at left wing cocktail parties in DC.
I want you to imagine for five seconds the absolute howls of outrage we’d be hearing from the left had the kinds of repugnant comments made by Anderson and Shuster been made about a NOW rally. The cries would be so deafening, that both of them probably would have been kicked to the curb. Let’s not forget that Shuster was suspended for making the remark on air that Hillary Clinton was pimping her daughter during the campaign last year. But the criteria for “edgy” commentary on left-leaning news outlets apparently does not include dissing liberals and their icons. It mostly revolves around disparaging and belittling people that MSM leftists never will understand: conservatives and other average Joes who agree with them on the state of high taxes and federal power in this country.
The contempt shown towards the Tea Party attendees yesterday is unmistakable. And not just by Shuster and Anderson, but also CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen, who got the riot act read to her by Tea Party attendees shortly after her little hit piece was broadcast on CNN. Think she’s being fair and balanced? Watch this report she did back in January on left wing protesters hoping to get a chance to talk to Barack Obama. The differences in portrayal are absolutely undeniable.
But it doesn’t stop with left wing “journalists,” nasty opinion writers like Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, and bloggers. Members of Congress are getting in on the act as well. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) sneered:
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted “tea party” protests yesterday, labeling the activities “despicable” and shameful.”
“The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs,” Schakowsky said in a statement.
“It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt,” she added. “Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi squeaked:
“What they want is a continuation of the failed economic policies of President George Bush which got us in the situation we are in now. What we want is a new direction. … This [tea party] initiative is funded by the high end — we call call it astroturf, it’s not really a grassroots movement. It’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.”
Sigh. Wrong.
I’m not much for conspiracy theories, but don’t the coordinated attacks coming from lefties in the media, at popular liberal blogs, and in Congress sound suspiciously similar in nature? Hmmm …
Anyway – what does all this mean? I guess it means we’re all supposed to sit back, be quiet, break out our checkbooks, and be “patriotic” by paying high taxes. If you’re a Democrat, however, you can wait until President Obama nominates you for a cabinet position before paying yours.
Edited to add: And for the David Shusters of the world who laughably claimed that conservatives essentially stayed silent over Bush’s bailout push last year: Are you freaking kidding me?