Tea Party Coverage

- John Hinderaker at Power Line has posted a video (which I have not yet viewed) and some nice photos he took at the tea party in St. Paul.

- I happened to be in the car this morning later than usual and caught the first 30 minutes of Glenn Beck. He played audio of his speech at a tea party in San Antonio, where his statement that the Republican party "sucks" got just as big a cheer as his statement that the Democratic party "sucks." He also played audio of an unbelievably tendentious "interview" of a tea-party participant by a CNN personality.

- Today's Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece today by Karl Rove (may be gated) on the political significance of the tea parties. I could not detect any other coverage of the tea parties in today's issue, however.

UPDATE: Here's a youtube video clip of the same CNN "interview" that Glenn Back played, although Beck's audio included some additional back-and-forth before the reporter walked away, in which she pointed out that Illinois, "the land of Lincoln," would receive a large amount of stimulus money.

UPDATE: Here's a longer youtube video clip with all the CNN material that I heard this morning on Beck's radio show. (Plus another protester with Obama = Hitler material that is over the top, needless to say.)

UPDATE: Here's the New York Times' story, which seems to be pretty fair. It describes the turn-out as "moderate," whatever that means.

The LA Times' story, by contrast, is noticeably slanted, portraying the parties as a "Republican" event. The opening paragraph:

Republicans sought to ignite a popular revolt against President Obama on Wednesday by staging "tea party" protests across the nation to demand lower taxes and less government spending -- but the tactic carried risk for the party. [Emphasis added.]

UPDATE: Wikipedia entry including information on yesterday's protests and lots of links.

UPDATE: Reason magazine's Hit & Run blog discusses claims about who/what was behind the tea parties.

UPDATE: A balanced article from today's Christian Science Monitor. One participant is quoted as follows: “On the one hand, I feel optimistic to see so many people coming out, . . . But I’m also pessimistic because I think it’s too late. I think both parties in this country are bent on repressing the individual rights the Founders worked so hard to craft into the Constitution.”

UPDATE: Economist David Henderson has posted his thoughts on the Monterey tea party he attended.