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[Riley Casey]

Now I have only heard four clips I admit but one was the opening speaker with his memorable screed about them filthy furriners and one was Barbie, err Sarah Palin.  I would think that with tickets at $500 a pop that the group could afford a competent audio vendor.  Anyone know who is on deck there?

[John Roberts {JR}]

Riley Casey wrote on Sun, 07 February 2010 10:05

Now I have only heard four clips I admit but one was the opening speaker with his memorable screed about them filthy furriners and one was Barbie, err Sarah Palin.  I would think that with tickets at $500 a pop that the group could afford a competent audio vendor.  Anyone know who is on deck there?

I actually watched that and didn't hear the hum in CSPAN or Fox feeds...   Your Barbie (doll) quip is unfortunately a little too on point. Her vocal pattern and persona is IMO actually distracting from her message, not unlike how Bush's odd pronunciations led people to think him ignorant, she seems too cutesy (and pretty?) to have any gravitas. It's more distracting in short sound bites, than from longer segments, but we live in an age where 20 second sound bites matter. Maybe why she's better on twitter or facebook than TV.

I think she did misspeak at least once where she called Alaska a beacon of hope when she surely meant the USA, but public speaking is never as easy as critics would have us believe.

This tea party movement is an interesting development. There is a lot of anger directed against both parties, but an independent third party has historically been a recipe for diluting influence and power. They have some political power now, but it is not obvious how to use it, beyond putting their finger on the partisan scale in marginal elections. Longer term I see them being absorbed into the conservative wings of the two major parties, which means mostly republican, because the conservative wing of the democrat party (blue dogs?) is not a very large group, or very conservative. But then again the tea party is not universally conservative, just universally pissed of by the current crew in DC.

Interesting times.

JR

[Al Limberg]

Personally, I liked her comment about Obama using a teleprompter as she continually scanned the "crib sheet" she had written in the palms of her hands.  Sharpies rule!!

?;o)
Al

[John Roberts {JR}]

Al Limberg wrote on Sun, 07 February 2010 13:19

Personally, I liked her comment about Obama using a teleprompter as she continually scanned the "crib sheet" she had written in the palms of her hands.  Sharpies rule!! ?;o) Al

She actually used a paper crib sheet and still seemed to get lost a few times, but being a fluent public speaker requires practice and perhaps some talent.

Criticizing Obama for a perceived reliance on teleprompters is a form of ad hominum that really has no bearing on his ability to govern. That said the mention of that appeared to be raw meat for that tea party crowd who was rather anti-administration and responded positively. There were quite a few interruptions for applause.

There were also substantive points raised, some that resonated with me, but nothing worth repeating here or new criticisms. IMO it is more interesting to see how the talking heads from the different partisan perspectives try to spin this.

At least they've stopped trying to completely dismiss this as political dirty tricks, or an extreme fringe group outside of the political mainstream.  

Interesting times.

JR

[Tom Reid]

The idea that anyone watched or 'listened' to the Tea Party speeches is encouraging.  

Maybe some news orgs had bad feeds since they probably sent out the low budget crews to cover Tea Parties?  However a pressbox is not a sophisticated piece of gear and even an intern should be able to figure it out.

Keep an open mind.  Spewing rhetoric has always been popular.

[Mikey Brown]

Dunno, if the tea party is going GOP, then whats the point. They bozoed us for 8 years. Now were getting bozoed again. 3rd party or hang it up. IMHO

[James Feenstra]

The Tea Party?

[Al Limberg]

For her speech, she had the notes on paper. During the Q and A that followed, her palms were obviously ink covered and she stared into her hands often.

?;o)
Al

[John Roberts {JR}]

Mikey Brown wrote on Sun, 07 February 2010 16:25

Dunno, if the tea party is going GOP, then whats the point. They bozoed us for 8 years. Now were getting bozoed again. 3rd party or hang it up. IMHO

If the two major parties don't change their spots that's what will happen, but they are now both paying at least lip service to the TP.

IMO the 2008 vote was a reaction to unhappiness with GB and the republicans. The democrat's talked the right talk during the campaign to win a majority of independents and moderates. Their walk since then has that swing vote suffering from buyer's remorse.

A new third party, based around the tea party movement may sound attractive but IMO has no hope of garnering any kind of majority. A failed 3rd party attempt might make a strong political statement and even get some platform ideas into the popular political debate, but the short term effect is usually to steal votes from the major party that is closest to them philosophically, having the unintended net result of getting the party with least in common elected.

The mid term elections later this year will give us insight into how the major players will respond.

I haven't seen private citizens this involved and paying attention to government and the whole ugly process of legislation... ever. No matter how this turns out, that involvement is not a bad thing.

JR

[Jordan Wolf]

Tom Reid wrote on Sun, 07 February 2010 17:14

However a pressbox is not a sophisticated piece of gear and even an intern should be able to figure it out.

Yeah...one would think.  Trust me, there are people out there stupid enough to mess that up.  I guess a company intern should be expected to figure it out, but in news-gathering, I wouldn't trust anyone.  Most of the photogs who go out with reporters aren't the most adept at following a signal chain and keeping levels matched.