A liberal view of the tea parties...

On probably 100 blogs or more on the left, there are almost identical comments regarding the tea parties. They snicker about the teabaggers teabagging each other. They say Rick yelled "secede" into crowds of raving lunatics (which is just a really big lie). They mock the protests in every way they can. They make things up about the tea party movement, calling the whole thing astroturfed. They cut the numbers in half or by a third to try to undermine the magnitude of these events. It's all typical liberal reporting.

The Texas Observer has a blog about the tea parties, and they get a lot of things wrong just like all of those in the liberal media and on liberal blogs, but at least their effort was well researched and is well written (link). Excerpt follows...

About 1,000 flag-waving, sign-carrying (“Honk If I’m Paying Your Mortgage”) citizens had assembled outside Austin City Hall for one of some 50 Tax Day protests in Texas against ... well, it was a little hard to say. The lead-up to Perry’s address consisted of a small-government sermon by Railroad Commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Michael L. Williams (“We came here today to fight, baby!”), followed by a parade of conservative activists, each pointing out one of the “Top 10 Reasons Texas is Number One.” (No. 10: “Texas has the largest electricity market in the country.” No. 1: “We have the best diversity in the Union: beaches, mountains, high plains, Hill Country, deserts, you name it!”) The Top Tenners worked in a few catcalls at Obama, bailouts, welfare and socialist tendencies (“Vice President Biden even said it was patriotic to pay taxes!”). One proclaimed tea party day the start of the “second American Revolution.”

There was little to portend a history-making moment when Perry dude-walked to the front of the stage and drawled, “I gotta say it gives me that thrill up my leg when I see all these people standing out here ... with liberty in their hearts and independence on their minds. Plenty of patriots in this crowd today!”

The patriots cheered politely as the governor warmed to his theme, finger-pointing and fist-shaking as he praised Texas, thanked veterans, cursed Washington, and called for restoring “a shared set of values.” Defending his fellow tea-partiers, he commenced to holler: “I’m just not sure you’re a bunch of right-wing extremists. But if you are, I’m with you! ’Cause you are a true patriot today in this country. And I might add, you’re surrounded by fellow patriots—individuals who embrace the concepts like lower taxes and smaller government and freedom for every individual. I’m talking about states’ rights! States’ rights! States’ rights!”

The folks were raising a fuss now. “Secede!” one hoarse voice from way in the back called out over the ruckus. “Seceeeeeeede!” Duly encouraged, Perry went on: “Since the U.S. Constitution was first ratified, the federal government has slowly, steadily, and successfully eroded the notion of states’ rights. The Founding Fathers understood something: They understood that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work. ... I happen to agree with the seventh governor of this great state, Sam Houston. He once said, ‘Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may!’”

The Texas Observer at least recognizes that 600 thousand people attended across the country. Some in the media have tried to put that number far lower.