Letter: Student calls tea party column hypocritical, biased in coverage

04/17/09 - To the Cigar,

After reading yesterday's column written by Justin Oswald entitled "G.O.P. and Fox News promote tea parties," I feel it is necessary to correct the many misconception and politically biased coverage.

I acknowledge Oswald celebrates our First Amendment rights, which include freedom of speech and protest.

Yet, his message is a cheap shot at Americans who disagree with his ideology and neglects to illustrate the true symbol of the tea party protests.

For starters, I would like to applaud every American who stood up for what they believe and expressed their anger toward the crumbling economic system and massive government spending.

It is estimated that roughly 250,000 hard-working Americans throughout the country joined together with picket signs in hand to protest the implementation of high taxes and the growing power of the federal government.

With such a substantial amount of people joining forces under a common theme of promoting a small government and low taxes, is it possible that some of the protesters might be affiliated with the same political party?

Let's have a little reality check.

Most democrats believe in a larger government and initiating higher taxes.

So, if there were to be a protest in regards to promoting higher taxes and expanding the role of the federal government, who exactly would attend?

If you were thinking democrats who fight for higher taxes, pat yourself on the back because you are right.

So, now that we are really smart, who do you think represented the majority protesting at the tea parties on April 15, which supported lower taxes and a small government? I would put my money on conservatives.

Therefore Oswald, although the purpose of the protest was to unite Americans under a common idea, the issues derived from the conservative ideology. Anyone was invited to attend the tea parties. There was no guest list, and people in attendance did not have to be a registered Republican.

This is why the protest was defined as bipartisan because the organizers wanted to take the focus off of labels and on the issues.

In reference to why conservative politicians were in attendance, maybe they were invested in the cause.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I don't think Sen. Jack Reed would have attended, due to the fact he is against the principles that the tea parties stood for. That could definitely be why the politicians attending and the Republican National Convention was involved, because the protests expressed their beliefs resulting in their support.

Yet, I was not surprised the liberal organizations chose to denounce the protests calling the people anti-government radical conservatives who rallied under a partisan agenda.

Yet, I was shocked that a protest of such caliber was not newsworthy to the New York Times, CNN or MSNBC. This could be why the tea parties were given, as Oswald would say, "frenzied attention by Fox News anchors and commentators," because other networks neglected to cover the protest.

The only "spin" that was put on this event was that of liberal networks who are more concerned with promoting the political ideology than the facts.

People from all over the United States protested because they love their country, but believe the government should be smaller and that the American citizens should not have the burden of paying such high taxes.

Whatever happened to the American dream?

When you work hard you will succeed. I'm sorry that everyone does not agree with the principles instilled in the Democratic Party, but they don't and I don't. We should not denigrate the Americans who practiced their right to voice their opinion. It is extremely hypocritical to say that you are "thrilled people excised their rights granted by the First Amendment" and then say, "It is important to realize that a small amount of unhappy people make more noise than a large group of content people."

People have the right to express their opinion and it was incredible the fear surrounding the liberal media.

That is why they barely reported on the tea party presets, because they are scared that people are actually starting to think for themselves.



Alexandra Miceli