See, this is why the Republicans are the big boys...

So, the conservatives (re: most Republicans these days) are trying to push a bill through Congress to deny NPR of funding, supposedly after they were outraged by the Tea Party entrapment of one of NPR's head honchos(not really because NPR and PBS, in general, have been targets of conservatives for years). It is an illustrative case of how Republicans (and their activist offshoot, the Tea Party) are able to quickly mobilize to set in motion attacks against objects of their ire. Whereas Democrats have to be fired up only after the most egregious incidents (like Wisconsin... which took weeks to build up), Republicans gather forces quickly, set things in motion, and, for the most part, proceed cohesively to decimate their enemy. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work but not for lack of trying.

And what of the Democratic response to the attempt to kill off NPR and its affiliates? The most vigorous response I have read/heard so far:

"Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., chided Republicans for trying to deprive Americans of popular programs such as Car Talk and A Prairie Home Companion, which would do little in the long run to erase the nation's red ink."

...because, of course, these programs are not the ones that set conservatives on fire...(shaking head in dismay)

No nuance (though out of fashion in today's media environment, it would be nice to engage it sometimes), no vigorous defense of the importance of providing funding to our public media system in today's increasingly commercialized media environment, and, most egregious, no exposure of the very real motives and hypocrisy of, notably, the Tea Party.

In an op-ed for The Hill, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, wrote that:

"While the defunding of NPR is a given at this this point ... how long will we as a nation be willing to tolerate the arrogance of the self-appointed ruling elite," write Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, in an op-ed for The Hill.

Note how the the statement confidently and masterfully uses language that presupposes the outcome as well as constructs language of outrage and exclusion to label and demonize NPR. In other words, NPR and their supporters are ruling elites, not us (of course, a gross distortion since many Tea Partiers are above average in income and are funded by the billionaire Koch brothers). Ah, the hypocrisy...

And the liberal response...pathetic.