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Another story on why the Tea Party sucks

Most of the stories I have read on the Tea Party movement are relentless - and that is entirely what I expect on the editorial pages. But the same sentiment has found its way to the news page as well.

In a Washington Post article from Sunday, Oct. 24 the paper presented findings after what seemed to be a lengthy investigation on the Tea Party as a whole. The Post attempted to contact every Tea Party "group" and, in essence, verify their existence. After making sure they did actually exist, the Post then asked them questions about their chief concerns - which of course included their thoughts about the president's race and religion, since that is all the Tea Party really cares about.

Maybe I'm just a bit too conventional for these modern day "call out the stupid group (any conservative group, of course) and give them grief" journalists and so I'm being too harsh, but I just think Tea Party coverage is ridiculously biased. 

My favorite parts of the article are the quotes by one of the most uneducated person in the group - and the article then acts as though that is a decent representation from the group as a whole. Obviously, all Tea Party members hate Obama because he’s black and they, of course, think he is a Muslim....and a socialist. Or at least the Post would let you think so.

A Coat of Few Colors

I like coats. Long ones, short ones, blends, cotton, trench, leather: I would spend more time wandering antique stores looking at relics from the '50s and '60s than ever in an Abercrombie & Fitch or even Target.

When I got off the DC Metro at Benning Road station, I wished I hated them. Several of my DC Programs colleagues and I, six this particular morning, were headed towards Cornerstone Christian, an pre-K through 8th school that was one of many service-learning locations. The intent, as stated multiple times by DC Programs Directors Terry Mattingly and Peter Baker, was to make us feel uncomfortable. I'd say it succeeded before we even got onto the escalator to the street.

My brand-new, reverseable coat, alternating tan and white, without a smudge of dirt on it, was functionally a label of Does Not Belong. It had been a present from my mother for Christmas, and an unexpected one at that. When I landed in DC, I was glad for any and all cold-weather clothing I could get.

Tale of Two Cities: Cutting Buses

One of the things we emphasize at the Washington Journalism Center is the degree to which Washington, D.C. is two cities. There's Washington -- the home of government pomp and power that rides the metrorail from power center to power center; and there's DC -- the home of crime and generational poverty that rides the metrobuses from neighborhood to neighborhood.

And is there a cultural-racial divide? You'd better believe it:

» More than half of Metrobus riders are black, Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander. But only a quarter of Metrorail riders are such racial or ethnic minorities.

» Education levels vary, with 80 percent of rail riders having at least a college degree compared with 59 percent of Metrobus riders. Similarly, the median income of Metrorail riders is $102,110, while Metrobus riders earn a median $69,620 annually.

And do the two mix? Sometimes. And it's grand when it happens. But this divide is in the background of the brilliant story by the Washington Examiner last week. There's a budget shortfall in Metro and where were the suggested cuts? The bus system. Here's a breakdown on the proposed changes:

Obama's speech: Press missed the point

News agencies were quick to jump on Barack Obama's speech today, which decried his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons, parts of which have of late been looped over and over on television and the Internet. Coverage was coming out even while, and certainly directly after the speech was finished.

However in their first reports, neither the The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times or The Washington Times recorded Obama's powerful acknowledgment of white economic struggle and resentment towards affirmative action.

The Race Race

She was only nominated because of her sex. That’s what Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 democratic nominee for vice president, says about herself as she pokes at the media for being sexist toward Hillary. It doesn’t seem to matter that she’s been pointed at for judging race in the race.

Black, white and read all over

By Richard Potts, Assistant Director of the Washington Journalism Center

So who is more popular with young, African Americans:  Bill Cosby or Fifty Cent?  Do black Americans still consider themselves a single race?  The answers (Cosby and "no") are tucked away in yesterday's Black Progress Report from the Pew Research Center.  And despite the unpredictable findings, much of the news coverage of this report was plain old predictable. 

NPR and the Washington Post were the bright spots.  But first  some underachievers.