Gov. Ed Rendell: Fox News Hosts ‘Deserve More Credit’ Than Tea Party Movement For Marshaling Anger

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http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/26/rendell-tea-party-fox-news/


Rendell: Fox News Hosts ‘Deserve More Credit’ Than Tea Party Movement For Marshaling Anger

Recently, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has made it a personal cause to challenge the media for its distorted coverage of the tea parties. “I think the media has blown the tea party themselves out of proportion,” he said on Meet the Press last week. “There’s just no clout behind this movement,” he told Fox News this weekend, adding that “a rally to have stronger laws to protect puppies” would draw a bigger crowd than the tax day and anti-health care protests. Rendell argued that while anger in the country “is real,” much of it is directed at the weak economy rather than actions by the Obama administration.

This morning, Rendell again appeared on Fox, this time pointing a finger at the network for its role in galvanizing the anti-Obama movement:

RENDELL: The tea party movement deserves some real credit because, without much of an infrastructure, without much of a following — and 1,000 people, guys, is no following — they have captured the attention of the media because of their passion and because of their anger. <…>

I would say you guys (Fox News) deserve more credit for marshaling that anger than the tea partiers do. I’m being serious, and I think it’s your right to do so.

GRETCHEN CARLSON: Well, we’re just showing both sides of the story.

Indeed, while introducing the Rendell segment, co-host Brian Kilmeade did his part to promote the tea party movement, stating matter of factly, “ has been growing in size and intensity as we get closer and closer to the mid-term elections.” Watch it:


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Rendell has been castigating his fellow Democrats of “cowering behind the shower curtain” as Republicans exude passionate responses against their policies. “We have been out-spun and we are scared,” he said. “And when you are scared, you can do one of two things: you can circle the wagons and hide inside…or you can get out and fight for what you believe in.”