Protesting is Good, Again

Funny thing about the words spoken in the video, and if you note the exclusion of a major group of protesters in it, the stated attitude did not seem to apply when a mixed group of Conservatives, Liberals and Independents joined together nationwide in 2009 to protest Obamacare.

That’s right, the group known as the TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already) was ridiculed, lambasted, labeled racist (as nearly any disagreement with Obama was for 8 years) and marginalized often by the media, including our own Lazy C.

I recall a significant turnout at Esther Short Park of TEA Party activists that they did not even bother to send a writer to cover, even though over 1500 people attended it.

In fact, John Laird, former political page editor penned back then, Political rallies: just huffin’ and puffin’ where he wrote, “But at the tea party, angry protesters will frown and snarl ‘No!’ and ‘From my cold, dead fingers’!”

Late in November 2009 Laird penned Coming soon! A giant anger-palooza where he wrote claims of, “This was the year their crusade was born, and the screaming and kicking hasn't stopped yet,” “town hall meetings have become boisterous, bigoted shout-downs where the only things that matter are volume and venom,” “when a president wins the Nobel Peace Prize, a large segment of Americans actually boo” and “This year we increasingly heard, ‘I want my country back!’ proclaimed by people who had difficulty accepting the will of the national electorate.”

Laird somehow seemed to have forgotten just months earlier how President George W. Bush was greeted by boos, jeers and singing of “Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” as he walked out at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Are we not today hearing the cry of “I Want My Country Back” from those protesters marching throughout the country who seem unable to accept the will of voters in the latest election?

By 2013 Laird was describing TEA Party activists as “Political piranhas” in an editorial.

That is in addition to when we citizens took a stand against the bloated Columbia River Crossing Light Rail project labeling us as “cockroaches,” “Hounds of Whinerville” and more.

And just today we read in the Lazy C’s opinion page, In Our View: Marches Grab Attention,
“Demonstration of what makes America great sends message to administration” and “It was a remarkable demonstration of what truly makes America great. Dissent, it has been said, is the highest form of patriotism, and Saturday’s events rank among this nation’s most memorable patriotic outpourings.”

And it wasn’t just our local Lacy C. Main media blasted TEA Party rallies, even blended pro-second amendment rallies with TEA Party in an effort to label us as armed malcontents.

No, protesting wasn’t seen as noble or how to effect change throughout the 8 years of Obama, just the opposite.

And as much as I distrust Trump’s ability to do what he says he will do or that it will improve much, it is the media and their bias and double standards responsible for him being elected.

A large number of citizens are fed up with being manipulated and lied to by biased, dishonest media that portrays dissent as “patriotic” only when a Republican is in office.

So go ahead and make your noise, falsely think you are doing something great and noble by burning businesses and cars or beating up on people that disagree with you.

Then in 4 years, thank yourselves again should Trump win a second term.