Redefining The Tea Party Protestors

They've been called many things - racists, homophobic, violent, and potential terrorists - but the people at the Tea Parties are not being called what all of them really are: taxpayers. Some may be collecting unemployment but they're still paying taxes as are most of those protesting the vast increases in government spending.

They're also confounding the media elites who at first ignored the movement, then mocked it, and now are scared to death of its growing numbers. Just about everyone in the entertainment industry has to take a potshot at this political phenomenon.

The latest is Lance Baxter (a.k.a. D.C. Douglas), the voiceover actor (not the gecko) for the GEICO ads. He was recently fired for leaving the following message on the voicemail of FreedomWorks, a grassroots organization advocating lower taxes, less government, and more economic freedom for all Americans:

"I'm doing a paper about FreedomWorks and I was wondering if somebody could give me a call back. I'm wrapping up and I just have one more piece of information I need to get from you guys - just need to know what the percentage is of people that are mentally retarded who work for the organization, and are members of it. And, oh - and one final thing, wondering what your plans are, how to spin it when one of your members does actually kill somebody, wondering how, if you've got an actual P.R. spinning routine planned for that or are you just going to take it when it happens."

Poor Baxter. How was he to know that his sentiments were not shared by his employer? After all, GEICO was one of the skittish sponsors that boycotted the Glenn Beck show last summer after he called President Obama "a racist." Apparently he forgot that GEICO is a business not an MSNBC anchor. That particular network's anchors, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, are rabidly anti-conservative and routinely denounce the Tea Party protesters as "teabaggers" on their programs.

Unfortunately, they also spread lies.

Mr. Baxter realized his stupidity and almost immediately blamed it on his reaction to the reports that the protesters had hurled homophobic and racist remarks at Democrat congressmen during the health care vote. In an Internet video he says: "FreedomWorks members and Teabaggers are just smart people who really want me to have a nice day. They just don't like facts, gay congressman, or black presidents."

Now where did Mr. Baxter get that idea? Andrew Breitbart is offering a $100,000 reward for video proof of those allegations. So far, no one's claimed that prize and that's probably because they never happened. Even the congressman who was thought to be spat upon has denied that he ever made that claim. So what's the truth?

There's violence at these rallies but it's being committed by Democrat union thugs and so the media ignores it. They will instead report unsubstantiated allegations as fact and repeat them and repeat them. This is the sad state of journalism today.

A few weeks ago, far-left anarchists viciously attacked the campaign finance director of Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal in New Orleans, following the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, putting Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend Joe Brown in the hospital with broken bones. Unsurprisingly, the story has been ignored.

According to Scott McKay of Pajamasmedia.com, "Brown was immediately set upon by four of the assailants, thrown into a wrought-iron fence. Another assailant attacked Bautsch, knocking her to the ground and stomping on her leg. She suffered four breaks in the leg, requiring a steel rod during extensive surgery on April 10, and faces three months of recuperation."

But that's not the news that Chris Matthews, Contessa Brewer or the rest of the MSNBC hate-conservatives crowd want to report. These so-called journalists apparently are getting their news from left-wing bloggers and faux reporters who are determined to undermine and demonize the ordinary citizen taxpayers concerned with the direction of the nation. Only a few are actually interviewing the participants who are nouveau activists. The lame stream media are instead focusing only on the extremists who may in fact be infiltrators.

A Web site was set up to recruit these infiltrators. Crashtheteaparties.org was set up before the proposed April 15th rallies were scheduled. They promoted it on various leftwing sites with their plan to:

"... act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from mainstream America and damage the public's opinion of them."

Their mission:

"WHAT WE WANT: To dismantle and demolish the Tea Party by any non-violent means necessary.

"HOW WE WILL SUCCEED: By infiltrating the Tea Party itself! In an effort to propagate their pre-existing propensity for paranoia and suspicion ... We have already sat quietly in their meetings, and observed their rallies."

Who are the manipulators behind these radicals that want to demonize the salt of the earth attending these rallies, which is their civil right to assemble? These leftists are well funded and can afford to travel to all parts of the country yet they're never thoroughly vetted by investigative reporters as are the genuine Tea Party attendees.

My physical limitations have prevented me from attending the local rallies but I am in constant touch with the ones who can be there. They come in all different colors and ethnic backgrounds. The lame stream media journalists make a big deal about the white majority that makes up the grassroots rallies. They seem to forget that blacks and Hispanics are still a minority so their numbers would not be significantly noticeable in large events. In addition, many Latinos are Caucasian and can only be distinguished by their names, which the media never bother to inquire about because these agenda-driven reporters are only looking out for those individuals that suit their prejudiced views.

I predict that the Tea Party movement will only grow larger and more influential and it would be wise for Congress to recall the climate that led to the original Tea Party in Boston and, eventually, the American Revolution. The chant then was "No taxation without representation" and the current climate in Congress today, which is evoking the same protests, is resonating with people who now refuse to be silent.

The Tea Party movement is not only made up of taxpayers. They're also voters.

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com