Ron Paul Vs Obama

[Mr Khan]

badgenome said:

Mr Khan said:

the main problem is that they would be playing with fire either way. A movement with strong motivation is invaluable, but a movement that goes too far is immediately going to turn off that undecided median that always decides the elections anyway. There are elements in the tea party (not the whole one, but the louder elements) that could demonize the whole movement

 

This phenomenon has happened before. Women's Lib back in the 60's lost momentum because certain elements were too extreme, which is also what decimated the anti-war movement around the same time as an effective political force, and what knocked the steam out of the KKK as the mainstream political organ it had almost become in the 20's

On the other hand, the anti-war left behaved itself atrociously during the Bush years, but the Republicans fucked themselves so hard, there was no chance the Democrats weren't going to wipe the floor with them. I see a similar arrogance among the Democrats today as among the Republicans then.

The only possible difference is that the media did the anti-war movement a tremendous service by not focusing on the crazies brandishing heinous signs at their rallies and by sanitizing Cindy Sheehan for public consumption. When it comes to the tea party, the majority of the media doesn't like them one bit and isn't even going to bother with the pretense of fairness. Violent anti-WTO protests get better press than these people who, to my knowledge, haven't lifted a finger against anyone as yet, even as their detractors openly fantasize about committing acts of violence against them.

I would say the more visible coverage they've been getting has been from sympathetic media outlets, FOX and Glenn Beck and all.