I missed the big party in Huntsville — and the real Teabagger Fail. I was prepared to spend way more than $200 on this. It would have been a hoot, I’m telling you. That’s my teabagger fail for the day. Meanwhile, the astroturf succeeded in laying down its plastic roots in the Rocket City: two thousand people were there.
So many wingaloids, so many signs… Such a lost opportunity!
HUNTSVILLE, AL – An estimated 2,000 protestors jammed into a vacant parking lot in downtown Huntsville Thursday, protesting recent government spending by the Obama administration.
The “Tax Day Tea Party” off Clinton Avenue overflowed into the streets, and featured speeches by radio talk show host Dale Jackson and Madison County commissioner Mo Brooks. The event was one of several hundred across America, giving voice to a taxpayer tirade that has reached a boiling point in recent weeks.
What a glowing lede!
Here’s Dale Jackson, the Rush Limbaugh of Huntsville:
I spoke to the traffic control officers and they estimate the crowd at around 2000 people. Every media out let (sic) is estimating more (between 3,000 and 4,000)… It was such a success that, I AM THE ONE UNDERESTIMATING…
Wait a minute. Every news outlet? Channel 19 estimated 2000, didn’t they? But then, Channel 19 is only one news outlet in Huntsville… Oops! Has Mr. Dale Jackson, the Rush Limbaugh of Huntsville, caught himself out in a factual error?
Did we just witness…a teabagger fail?
Wait, here’s the Huntsville Times website:
HUNTSVILLE, AL — Huntsville’s Tax Day Tea Party brought a large crowd to Monroe Street where the protest was held. An estimated 2,000 people came out with signs, banners and flags to protest big government, rising taxes and government spending.
Read both ledes and you’ll see the effects of a single press release. That press release likely came from the folks who organized the tea party: RightOn Huntsville. Check out the website (go ahead, it’s safe to look) and you’ll see no comments on any of the posts. That’s because there’s no “community” being organized by this website; crackpots aren’t very good at organizing themselves beyond a small group of people who share the same specific paranoia.
RightOn Huntsville is under a private registration. Why would they keep their ownership secret? Maybe that’s because it’s being run by The Freedom Foundation, a conservative astroturfing group that probably had a volunteer write and distribute the press release so readily apparent in the news coverage.
Perhaps Mr. Jackson has made an innocent mistake. Perhaps my suspicion — that he’s engaged in freelance astroturfing — is completely wrong. I can think of a number of scenarios by which this could be a perfectly human error.
But here’s what I’m betting: that tomorrow, Dale Jackson says the Huntsville press is in the tank for Obama. A conspiracy! But the real conspiracy is in the Teabagger protests themselves, and it’s all too easy to spot.
UPDATE: Dale Jackson, the Rush Limbaugh of Huntsville, calls me a coward because my job needed me. Apparently, having a real job is cause for shame.
Which begs for the question: since when are small-market talk radio hosts part of the upper class? What, is he paid like Limbaugh, too?
ADDING: Yesterday I said the Teabag Fail would turn into a Teabag Terror. Can I call ‘em, or what?
UPDATE THE SECOND: Blogger is acting up this evening. I approved this anonymous comment, but it isn’t showing up below:
Just my own opinion, but… is it really *necessary to hound each other? It just makes both of you look stupid, really. It’s like two peacocks trying to one-up each other for the peahen, only there’s no peahen here.
I have no obsession with Mr. Jackson. In fact, I made no plans (and still make to plans) to ever speak with him.
