Fox News Uses Education-Cut Protest Video To Pimp British Tea Party Popularity
Reported by Ellen - December 6, 2010 -
Fox News was apparently so desperate to show that American Tea Party politics are popular in Great Britain that it was willing to dig up any video of a large protest – even if the protesters stood for exactly the opposite of what Tea Partiers advocate – and run that as B-roll footage in a gushing report about the movement there. (H/T reader John C.)
In a video that FoxNews.com called, Yankee Rebellion Resonates in Ye Olde England, Shannon Bream introduced the report by saying, “Great Britain is following the lead of the U.S.”
As reporter Greg Palkot said, “A new rebellion against big government and high taxes is resonating in Ye Olde England,” footage was shown of a large demonstration. The video was obviously meant to suggest that the demonstrators were the British version of the Tea Party. But the texts of the placards made clear that the protest was against spending cuts, not against spending or taxes.
So how, exactly, is the Tea Party having an effect on England? Palkot never explained, other than to say that one group, Taxpayers Alliance, “the largest group here with a Tea Party slant… organized workshops this past fall with Freedom Works and other American Tea Party support groups.” But Palkot also said, “With no real primary system here, it’s harder for U.K. Tea Partyers to storm the political barricades. Palkot later added that “The deficit-reducing cuts of the current conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron steals some of the British Tea Party’s thunder.”
But, Palkot enthused, none of that has “held back Tory Member of Parliament Robert Halfon who has images of past Tea Party heroes around his home.” We saw Halfon’s Ronald Reagan wristwatch, photos of Margaret Thatcher and a video of Sarah Palin on his computer.
Palkot concluded by noting that "Tea Party advocates here admit some of the more colorful aspects of the American movement might not translate too well here in staid England." But no worries, Tea Partiers. Palkot quickly added, “Still, even without Mama Grizzlies roaming around, they say they can still leave their mark.”
So far, the only mark left seems to be a Ronald Reagan wristwatch on a member of Parliament.
