Tea Parties will not be Ignored

It wasn't hardly mentioned on Google News. In fact, you had to work your way down the page to find it, but the Tea Party enjoyed a bash to remember in our nation's capital this weekend. It is the kind of event that the mainstream media has tried desperately to avoid. The numbers on how many that showed up are fuzzy, at best:

• A reporter for the Examiner said around 30,000 showed up



• ABC news reported over 60,000



• NPR called it "tens of thousands"



• CNN is even more non-committal, merely describing the numbers in the thousands



• Ironically, the closest number came from a British newspaper, the Daily Mail, which put it at approximately 2 million (actually citing Capitol Hill police)
  

I guess the British didn't have a vested interest in the numbers like the US media. American news sources are so vested in this Administration (after all, the news made history in the way it handled Obama, it didn't merely witness it). Not only has the media dramatically underestimated the numbers of those who attended, but has also presented the story with rather harsh headlines:

• The Kansas City Star notes "Angry Tea Party protesters flood D.C."


• The CNN, in its classically cynical fashion says "Health care reform critics converge on Capitol." I don't know anyone, including those in the tea party movement, who don't want to see health care reform. However, if you oppose the President's approach, you oppose reform according to the news. There is nothing like objective media.


• Another Examiner writer argues about "The Hypocrisy of Tea Party Conservatives."


• One writer finds one of the protests' more crude protesters with "Tea Party protest: 'Bury Obama Care with Kennedy.'"

The media is committed to marginalizing and dismissing the tea party movement as a very temporary fad. Ironically, that seems to be only driving the tea party movement further. As the numbers continue to be measured in terms of fractions by the media , the Tea Party provides one of the largest protests on the Capitol in our nation's history. For the Tea Party, the best days are yet to come.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

News Reporters or News Makers?

Although every media has an opinion section, you want to hope that you are largely getting real news and not a political agenda. That "hope" is quickly becoming a joke thanks to the clear agenda of the "mainstream" media.

For example, much of the mainstream media has created a "profile" of what a "Tea Party" member looks like. He is white, angry, and racist. His interest isn't nearly as much about taxes and government control, we are told, but has much more to do with the fact we have a black president. This assumption about Tea Party members was challenged by a recent health care rally being held by President Obama. Sure there were protesters, but this particular one even included the favorite media stereotype of all -- someone actually carrying a gun. MSNBC reported that "A man at a pro-health care reform rally...wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip....there are questions about whether this has racial overtones....white people showing up with guns." The one thing MSNBC reporter Contessa Brewer failed to mention is that the gun man was a black and they edited the video in such a way you would never know. A black, gun carrying, protester, didn't reflect MSNBC's obvious agenda.

Than there is the story of a leaked email from Tea Party Patriots and reported by TPMMuckRaker.com, a decidedly liberal website. Zachary Roth points out in the article that "CNBC approached Tea Party activists, looking for angry protest events that would make good television, according to a leaked email from a Tea Party discussion group. And one Tea Bagger responded by flagging an upcoming event that, he said, 'should be a riot ... literally.'" Having had witnessed Tea Party events and having been a speaker for them, I know first hand they are very peaceful demonstrations. Loud, but very orderly. Members of the Tea Party went on to say that they intended to provide an event that was "above reproach." For me, the far bigger issue in the exchange between the CNBC and the Tea Party. The network abdicated its role of merely reporting stories and not trying to create it. It is interesting that CNBC made this request to a conservative organization and not one of the many left wing "truth squads" who naturally create riots at Ann Coulter, Tom Tancredo, and others.

It is the burden of the media to monitor people and events and provide stories of these accounts to keep us better informed. This often includes investigative reporting. But creating stories themselves is not reporting but the worse form of political activism.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. His articles often appear in Chicago Sun Times, Reuters, USA Today, and other national media. Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.

Under Obama, Ten Percent Unemployment is Described as Prosperous Economy

It seems like just yesterday when George Bush's unemployment rating of around 5 percent was described as symptomatic of a "weakening economy." Meanwhile, a CBS affiliate website just declared that the "Unemployment Rate Shows Hope" rather than the more logical slug of "Unemployment is at its worse rate in 25 Years."

The positive spin today versus the "horrible" scenario of a couple years ago simply don't make sense, especially when you look at the numbers from 2006:

• Consumer confidence stood at a 2 1/2 year high. People were buying more and feeling better about their economic future.


• Regular gasoline sold for $2.19 a gallon. This price is far too high, but less than today and certainly better than the direction it is going. "Cap and Trade" is just another name for gas taxes.


• The unemployment rate was 4.5%. Economists define this as "full employment." This economy was surprisingly strong and the demand for quality employees was at an all time high.


• The Dow Jones hit a record high. 14,000 and higher. Americans were optimistic about the future on both Wall Street and Main Street.

The raging optimism by the media about the future of the US economy is running rampant. In a story that would almost make one laugh because of how outlandish it sounds, CNN Money is reporting a headline stating that "Wal-Mart CEO: 'Our customers will stay with us.'" The subtitle goes further: "Citing a 'new normal' in shopping behavior, (Mike) Duke promises shareholders that the discounter will not lose customers even after economy rebounds." Rebounds? One recent upbeat Consumer Confidence survey and nearly ten percent unemployment translates into "rebound?"

I keep hearing from experts that, "no matter what, this economy will get better." If this Administration continues to pursue policies that tax and regulate job creation out of existence, job growth will be more of a dream than a reality. Government can either encourage job creation or deter it. This government is taking the latter approach.

The media intends to continue its course of being a cheerleader, rather than a force to hold the government and others accountable. You can see it in the headlines:

• The Kansas City Star argues that "The Good News on Jobs Cloaked in Bad News." In other words, "ignore the ten percent unemployment, the worst job numbers in a quarter of a century, and your own gut instincts...everything is fine."


• Reuters takes an odd, but up beat approach by staying that "Jobless Data Bad, But Better."


• The Houston Chronicle is even more optimistic: "Report Adds Hope to Recovery."


• Finally, the Associated Press states "Layoffs Slow as Recession Eases."

The stock market is still around half its high, unemployment is higher than it has been in a quarter of a century, and many new taxes and regulations that have a history of cooling off an economy have not yet gone into effect. Reports of an economy on the mend are quite exaggerated.

Back during the stimulus package debate, the Obama Administration warned that if the bill didn't pass, we would have 8.8 percent unemployment. With the package, we currently have 9.5 percent. It is amazing that this fact is large being ignored by the media.

The job of the media is to report, not promote. It is to ask tough questions, not be a mouth piece for those who would use it. The media today is responsible for "making history" instead of being a witness to it. As a result, it has so much invested in the Obama Administration, we will find it very unlikely that the media will hold this President accountable on the public policy front.

Kevin Price is Host of the Price of Business, the longest running show on AM 650 (M-F at 11 am) in Houston, Texas and on AOL Radio. Eric Bolling of Fox News and Fox Business says that Price’s Blog “is very influential and moves the blogosphere.” Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal calls Price the “best business talk show host in the country.” Find out why and visit his blog at www.BizPlusBlog.com and his show site at www.PriceofBusiness.com. You can also find Price on Strategy Room at FoxNews.com.