GOP operatives crash the tea party
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35785.html


http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/04/14/teaparty
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2010 10:45 EDT
How GOP consultants ripped off "tea party"
A year ago, "tea party" emerged as a right-wing brand with electoral potential. And a GOP firm planned its rip-off


Attn. Murdoch: Tea Party Express proposal says Fox News "promoted" the tea parties
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201004140058
April 14, 2010 5:02 pm ET by Matt Gertz

Last week at an event at the National Press Club, Media Matters for America's Ari Rabin-Havt asked News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch whether Fox News' extensive promotion of the tea party movement was appropriate. Murdoch replied that he didn't think Fox News "should be supporting the Tea Party" but would like to "investigate" "before condemning anyone."

Media Matters subsequently offered to assist Murdoch's investigation, sending him extensive documentation of Fox's prior glowing coverage of the tea parties. But in case that seems for some reason insufficient, we've now identified what for Fox News must be an unimpeachable source: The Tea Party Express.




http://www.prwatch.org/node/9012
Will the Real Tea Party Movement Please Stand Up?
Submitted by Anne Landman on April 19, 2010 - 2:31pm.

Tea Party Bus Have you wondered how the Tea Party, portrayed as a "grassroots" movement, could possibly raise enough money in one year to procure a professionally-painted, luxury motor coach and send it on two highly-publicized national tours? Or how the Tea Party so quickly developed the expertise to plan, organize and execute the tours, and consistently draw major media attention to them?

The answer is that the Tea Party Express is not a "grassroots" effort. The Web site Politico.com obtained and posted a proposal (pdf) showing that long-time Republican party operatives are, in fact, directing the "Tea Party Express" portion of the movement. The "group" and its activities are the result of efforts by a Republican-affiliated political consulting and public relations firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers, based in Sacramento, California. PR executive Sal Russo of Russo, Marsh & Rogers is also the chief strategist for the Our Country Deserves Better, political action committee (PAC) formed in 2008 to oppose then-candidate Barack Obama.



http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/26865
Sarah Palin: A phony populist for a phony movement (AP)

Sarah Palin is a twit: There’s little doubt about that. A rich twit, yes, and a pantyhose populist to the uneducated, uninformed and ignorant masses that make up so much of the rabid right in this county.

To some, she’s Ron Paul with tits. To others, a “shot in the arm” to the tired old concepts of the sham called the Republican Party.

Mostly, however, she is a symbol of how little substance is left in politics and a monument to the stupidity of those who foolishly believe that Palin — and the phony “grassroots” Tea Party that embraces her — is real or worth the time and attention that is wasted on both.

Yes, I know, Palin was elected governor of Alaska but the 49th state has a long and shameful tradition of putting flakes in office.




http://beforeitsnews.com/news/33431/Tea_Party_was_Engineered_By_GOP_it_Turns_Out.html
Tea Party was Engineered By GOP it Turns Out

The Tea Party has been billed as an organic grassroots operation, but a newly uncovered document obtained by Politico suggests the movement has been successfully co-opted as a Republican fundraising ploy.

GOP political consultant Joe Wierzbicki floated the proposal a year ago today to create the Tea Party Express, a nationwide bus tour to "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus." His idea eventually became one of the best known brands in the Tea Party movement.

The document cautioned planners to be careful when discussing the ruse to use Tea Parties for political gain. "We have to be very, very careful about discussing amongst ourselves anyone we include 'outside of the family' because quite frankly, we are not only not part of the political establishment or conservative establishment, but we are also sadly not currently a part of the 'tea party' establishment," Wierzbicki wrote.

Wierzbicki, who works for the Sacramento firm Russo Marsh + Rogers, went on to outline how conservative media including Fox News could be leveraged to hype the Tea Party Express. He recommended using "mentions and possibly even promotion from conservative/pro-tea party bloggers, talk radio hosts, Fox News commentators, etc..."


http://mediamatters.org/blog/201004140045
More on the Fox-pushed Tea Party Express scam

April 14, 2010 2:42 pm ET by Matt Gertz

I noted a few months back TPM Media's report that the PAC that organized the Tea Party Express, a series of right-wing nationwide bus tours and rallies, had sent nearly two thirds of its spending during a recent reporting period right back to the GOP consulting firm that spawned it. Today, Politico's Ken Vogel provides more details of the Tea Party Express' operations, including the original memo from a consultant with the firm, Russo Marsh + Rogers, proposing its creation.

Vogel also reports that a substantial percentage of spending from the PAC, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, continues to flow directly into the coffers of Russo Marsh + Rogers. That appears to have been the intent from the beginning; Vogel reports that the firm's operative, Joe Wierzbicki, stated in proposing the Express that it could "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus."

Since the Express' inception, Fox News has seemingly done everything in its power to provide that boost.

In the memo, which Vogel reports was issued "just days after" last year's April 15 tea parties, Wierzbicki lays out how the first Tea Party Express bus tour would operate, who would be invited to participate, and how they would build a fundraising campaign behind it. He also drops this little nugget (emphasis added):


http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978149655

CNN pimps Great American Tea Party Express PR and Propaganda Tour


Posted: 02 Apr 2010 02:00 PM PDT

If you gave a Tea Party and no one came, would it still be news? If, on the other hand, Koch Industries and the RNC gave a Tea Party and a handful of people came, would it still be news? Or would reporting it three or four times a day make it news?

Shoq and StopBeck pointed me to something I hadn't noticed: CNN is serving as a built-in PR machine for the Tea Party Express.

Since the kickoff of the TeaParty Express Tour, CNN has embedded a small press corps in their custom-painted "CNN Express" press bus for the sole purpose of following teabaggers around the country , reporting 3-4 times daily on the activities of the corporate-funded, RNC-connected Tea Party Express.

This clip from Wednesday boggled my mind. You can see how few there are at this rally, but watch as Ali Velshi and Ed Lavandera turn it into a "movement".