MORE VIDEO: Doggin’ Doggett.
UPDATE: Doggett calls protesters a “mob.” Remember when Obama told the bankers that he was the only thing standing between them and the pitchforks? Well, Lloyd, he can’t help you here . . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Wendy Cook emails:
I think that “mob” quote is a preview of how these protests are going to be characterized, maybe by the media and certainly by politicians like Doggett. I live in Dallas and the Doggett video led yesterday’s 6pm local ABC affiliate news. The title of the story was something like “Hollerin’ About Healthcare” and Doggett made his allegations about Libertarian and Republican involvement on-camera. No camera time for anyone else to refute that claim. And no real explanation of the protestors’ positions — just a lots of “hollerin’!”
It stood out to me because a few hours earlier I heard a Rush Limbaugh caller claim that these townhall protests are actually coordinated by insurance companies who plant people and script their questions. This must be the two new lines of defense for people like Doggett — these are “mobs” and/or insurance company stooges. So depressing. And somewhat reminiscent of the Clinton-Carville “nuts and sluts” and right-wing conspiracy talk whenever there was a sex scandal.
When ACORN protested several Dallas banks back in May, the local paper hardly characterized them as “hollerin’.” And no one from the banks accused ACORN of being part of a larger, orchestrated effort. (Well, no one from the banks evidently was asked for a comment.)
Yes, absurdly orchestrated events on the left are treated as flowerings of genuine grassroots sentiment, even when media outnumber the protesters.
MORE: Alinsky in August?