Those misguided citizens and their unhealthy protests

David Axelrod is aware of the Tea Parties, and thinks they are misdirected and potentially unhealthy. What else could they be, populated as they are with potential terrorists? Fox News has the story.

Axelrod: Tea Party Anger is Misdirected

Obama senior adviser says frustration over spending and taxes is "unhealthy."

Damn the tea bags. A top adviser to President Barack Obama takes a dim view of last week's anti-tax "tea parties," promoted by organizers in the spirit of the Boston Tea Party.

"The thing that bewilders me is this president just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere because he certainly understands the burden that people face," David Axelrod said Sunday.

The rallies coincided with the deadline to file income taxes, and gave people a chance also to voice frustrations about government spending and corporate bailouts.

The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist.

Axelrod was asked on CBS' "Face the Nation" for his opinion on what the show's host described as "this spreading and very public disaffection with not only the government, but especially the Obama administration."

Axelrod replied: "I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that's unhealthy."

"Unhealthy?" the moderator repeated.

"This is a country where we value our liberties and our ability to express ourselves. And so far these are expressions," Axelrod answered.

So far? But...Tea Parties are just a fad! They are not authentic, remember? Just paid demonstrations financed by the Republican Party. This has a ring of fear to it, and seems to acknowledge that the participants are legitimate, not just paid stooges. Certainly Axelrod indicates that he expects the protests to continue, and is concerned that they will "mutate," as, of course, they will...into a million person march on D.C. in the near future. That will surely be unhealthy...for the Obama agenda.

And one other point. Fox picked this story up from the AP. Note the fourth paragraph, which is completely out of place in the story. There's still that element of not being able to face the fact that we are just incensed citizens, setting out to protect what's left of our Constitution - there has to be some kind of sinister sponsorship, this time by FreedomWorks and (eek!) lobbyist Dick Armey. I can't speak for the rest of the participants, but this is the first time I've heard either of those names mentioned in conjunction with the Tea Parties, and certainly neither was instrumental in recruiting the estimated 10,000 people who participated in my local gathering. The MSM simply cannot believe that conservatives are staging protests. I'm not entirely sure I blame them...it's never happened before as far as I can recall. Still, it's pathetic that they call themselves journalists without taking the time to interview a few of us to actually find out our motivations.