Fox news: "we did PR for the tea party"

File under the utterly obvious. I was pondering what would have happened if the anti-war movement got as much profile as the tea parties did. The one problem (there was just one???)during the anti war effort was that what little media coverage we got was generally photos/film of the protests with most commentators on left(sic) and right talking more about the protests than the message. Granted the tea bagging meme was in a similar vien but no where near the level.

Via Media Matters report on the Fox News coverage of Tea Parties:

Examples of Fox News' and Fox Business' April 15 tea party coverage included:

Discussing how to show support for tea parties, Fox & Friends' Gretchen Carlson claimed: "You can hang [a teabag] from your mirror, too, like fuzzy dice."

Fox News host Megyn Kelly claimed that "you can join the tea party action from your home if you go to the FoxNation.com ... a virtual tax day tea party."

Fox Business anchor Cody Willard asked, "Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?"

Willard further stated that conservatives and liberals are "both fascists who are taking all of my money and building up corporate America with my welfare."

Fox News host John Gibson expressed "hope[]" that millions of people" would participate in the protests.

Fox Business anchor David Asman told viewers they "need[ed] to go" to the tea party merchandise website "no matter what side of the issue you're on."
Willard asked a protester: "Are you worried about me taking these dollars from you ... or destroying those dollars? I mean that's what the government does anyway."

On The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Dennis Miller claimed that "the average American taxpayer feels like they've just been shot in the head in a deck chair on a sinking boat."

Fox News host Sean Hannity asked contributor Newt Gingrich "one serious question": "Is this now a battle between capitalism and socialism?"

Hannity also asked: "Why don't we have more anger towards government, or is this the anger that finally is beginning to emerge?"

Discussing the protests on Hannity, RedState's Erick Erickson stated, "[I]f we don't do something, if we don't turn the corner, we're going to be enslaved to the government."

Also on Hannity, radio host Bill "Bubba" Bussey said it was "time for a revolution."
Hannity also featured a Thomas Paine imitator to plug the tea parties.

Granted i'm not as in a huff as others about the astro turf campaign... if people come out, and organize on their own (like Henry's) thats grassroots to me. But the point remains it was astro turf--just like Obama's astro turf election I guess?

But here is a question... did you hear anything about the anti-war tax day protests? Yeah. I thought so.