The much-ballyhooed Tea Party “movement” that has arisen to absurdly accuse the corporate and imperial Barack Obama administration with “socialism,” “favoring the poor,” and other “radical leftist” crimes claims to be a decentralized, independent, “grassroots,” and popular/populist uprising against concentrated power. Contrary to that claim, Part 1 of our report presented recent polling data showing […]
Author Archive | Anthony DiMaggio
What “Populist Uprising?”Part 1: Facts and Reflections on Race, Class, and the Tea Party “Movement”
The right-wing Tea Party “movement” has recently grabbed attention in the dominant media again. On Tax Day last April, it garnered headlines by rolling out its standard high-decibel complaints against “big government,” deficits, taxes, and the supposed “radical” agenda of “Obama, Pelosi, and Reid” and the rest of the Democratic Party. As usual, the Tea […]
Witness to Mediagate: Making Sense of the “Climategate Scandal”
Leading global scientists have been exonerated of blame in the “climategate” controversy, although this won’t stop right-wing and corporate-funded pundits from attacking the science of global warming. The British government recently released its first investigation on the activities of East Anglia University’s Climate Research Unit, finding no evidence that its scientists manipulated data or distorted […]
The Afghanistan Paradox: Evaluating Prospects for a New Antiwar Movement
The antiwar movement is all but dead and buried. Turnout at the March 20th, 7th year anniversary of the Iraq invasion in Washington D.C. was pitiful, estimated at approximately ten thousand. To make matters worse, approval of the war in Afghanistan has not fallen, but slightly increased in the last few months as U.S. marines […]
“Boons” for Business: The Real Victors behind Market-Driven Health Care Reform
In a 219-212 vote this week, the House of Representatives approved, and President Barack Obama signed into law, a new round of national health care reform. The bill is the subject of celebration in the liberal corporate press, with the editors at the New York Times framing it as “a triumph for countless Americans who […]
“Conspiracy” Science: Mass Media and the Conservative Backlash on Global Warming
On March 2, the New York Times ran a story informing readers of recent “controversies” related to global warming. The story chronicled the efforts of scientists affiliated with the United Nations Climate Panel and other major research institutions to answer the claims of conservatives who suggest there is a conspiracy to hide the “debate” over […]
