Here we go: Fox News actively promoting tea parties

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I blogged yesterday about the corporate greed and ideological extremism behind the so-called "tea parties" that are being held around the country. They're not expressions of some populist grassroots uprising, they're partisan political events supported by right-wing media outlets, think tanks, and other such organizations. And one of the main promoters of these manufactured events is, of course, Fox News. Think Progress:

Fox News host Neil Cavuto regularly claims that when he aggressively advocates for the anti-Obama "tea party" protests on air, he is simply covering them as a journalist. But Stuart Varney, Cavuto's fill-in host, admitted this afternoon that the the network is actually promoting the right-wing protests. After telling a guest that the tea parties were in protest to President Obama's policies, Varney closed a segment by saying, "It's now my great duty to promote the tea parties. Here we go!"

Yes, indeed, here we go.

None of this is surprising -- the network's political leanings are hardly a mystery -- but it's nice to see at least one "news" host dropping the whole "fair and balanced" bullshit and explicitly declaring his, and Fox's, agenda on air.

It's the network of Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, after all -- that is, the network of the very corporate greed and ideological extremism behind the tea parties.