In the wake of the Rick Santelli rant against President Obama's proposed mortgage relief program and the homeowners in need of such relief, the republican spin machine has been busy attempting to organize a populist movement under the monikers of "Tea Parties" and "We Surround Them" events across the country. These lack luster events have drawn double digit numbers in places like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Rochester, New York.
As some of us in the center and on the left have snickered with mild amusement at the apparent "crash and burn" of this so called movement, it appears that their "grassroots organizing" efforts have finally paid off in Cincinnati. But, as this video documents, it only appears that way.
So with out further ado, here are your "grassroot Cincinnati residents" staying at the swanky Westin Hotel at 21 East 5th Street, just one block from Fountain Square, the site of the Cincinnati Tea Party.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Reminiscent of the standard republican operating procedure, first made infamous during the 2000 Florida recount, where a group of "grassroots" protesters stormed a recount location only to be later identified as Bush/Cheney 2000 campaign staffers, this video documents clearly the faux populism orchestrated by our political opponents.
As described by YouTuber bandit957...
The Tea Party in Cincinnati was billed as a "grassroots" event. That was a lie: It was backed by corporations and right-wing foundations.
This clip shows participants in the rally entering the very expensive Westin Hotel at the end of the event. They're the people with the signs.
Most of the participants were professional out-of-town agitators - not locals. And they stayed at one of the most expensive hotels in the area!
What would that story, cast by that dramatic video at the door of the Miami-Dade Canvassing Board, have become if we had video of those same protesters funneling back into the Bush/Cheney Florida state campaign headquarters? Could they have been able to spin the incident as a true "grassroots" action? Chances were, they would have still gotten away with it.
Thank God Al Gore got credit for inventing the "internets", because without his work in helping to bringing this technology to the masses, the exposure of such underhanded tactics would not be possible.
I know that this alleged "populist revolt" against a handily elected President, and the victims of predatory lending by big money interests is nothing but faux populism, as many here do. The issue is that many do not see the slight-of-hand unless it is proven to them visually.
Some may say here in the comment section of this diary, that by pushing this video, I may be helping to push the "Tea Party Hysteria". To that I say, DAMN STRAIT! RIGHT OVER THE STARBOARD BOW!
I just have one question for all these (and I use all sparingly) professional agitators...
Who's surrounding who?
Kudos to DumpDavisHogg over at DU for finding the clip, RamboLiberal, also of DU, for setting the table at which this story came about, and to everyone here at DKos for the voodoo that you do!