Obama's Assault on the Tea Parties

Love that Drudge Report graphic. And the link goes to NYT, "Obama Aides Weigh Bid to Tie the G.O.P. to the Tea Party." (Via Gateway Pundit and Memeorandum.) I'm reminded of the debates we have on crowd size whenever there's some big tea party event. Remember the Glenn Beck rally? Check the links here and here to see how invested folks were in attempting to minimize the significance of the event. Steve Benen, one of those seeking to minimize the heft of the tea parties, wrote on August 28th, the day of Glenn Beck rally at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial:

Beck and his minions don't quite appreciate why they're an embarrassment to themselves, and that's a shame. They can't comprehend why King was a giant, and Beck is a small, sad cynic. They have no idea why America is so much better and stronger than their hate-filled demagoguery.

And now, the administration is planning an ad blitz to sow a campaign of disinformation against the tea parties? So much for that America that is "so much better and stronger." This is the sound of abject fear:

President Obama’s political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said.



White House and Congressional Democratic strategists are trying to energize dispirited Democratic voters over the coming six weeks, in hopes of limiting the party’s losses and keeping control of the House and Senate. The strategists see openings to exploit after a string of Tea Party successes split Republicans in a number of states, culminating last week with developments that scrambled Senate races in Delaware and Alaska.



“We need to get out the message that it’s now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party,” said one Democratic strategist who has spoken with White House advisers but requested anonymity to discuss private strategy talks.