Tapper: 'DNC Suggests Town Hall Protesters are Fringe Birther Mob'

August 5th, 2009 11:03 AM

The Democratic National Committee has released a new video to push back against protests happening at town hall meetings across the country, and according to ABC's Jake Tapper, these demonstrators are being depicted as "irrational birthers who want to 'destroy' President Obama."

For those unfamiliar with the term, "birthers" are folks that question whether Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen.

Tapper also reported that the ad claims these protests are being staged by "desperate Republicans and their well funded allies [who are] organizing angry mobs -- just like they did during the election."

DNC video along with more of Tapper's report below the fold:

DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse issued a statement about "the Republican Party and Allied Groups’ Mob Rule," saying that the "Republicans and their allied groups -- desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill -- are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country."

Woodhouse said: "The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the president's citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are.  This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 -- and it is bound to backfire again." [...]

Woodhouse continued: "These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington.  Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues -- or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes."

Though Tapper did offer a counter view that "some of the town hall protesters are clearly organized at the grass roots level by some of the conservatives active earlier this year in the 'tea party' movement," his piece largely echoed Tuesday's "World News with Charlie Gibson" segment wherein demonstrators were depicted as "orchestrated" and "organized."

This all raises an important question: as the August Congressional recess continues, and more town hall meetings are attended by angry protesters, will media just repeat Democrat talking points concerning who the attendees are, or will they report how such demonstrations are indeed an outpouring of emotion from regular citizens worried about the direction of the nation?

Is everyone in this country that is angry about higher taxes, higher government spending, as well as the pending healthcare and cap and tax bills somehow tied to a conservative organization pulling the strings?

Do media elites REALLY believe that, or is this just good copy to assist a president they helped get elected whose polls are plummeting while his agenda has hit a roadblock?