Tea party movement and the press

Earlier today I attended a meeting with representatives from most of the tea parties in Massachusetts. One of the things which wasn't discussed, but probably should have been (I know, I know, I could have said something) was how does the tea party movement counteract the negative publicity we continue to get?

Almost everyday we see a negative story printed about the tea party movement with some kind of negative slant to it. yesterday on Fox News there was a story about a study tying personality disorders to conservatives. While the study doesn't mention the tea party by name, the tea party is constantly linked with conservative, which would mean a certain guilt by association. For the record the article also states the findings of the study are somewhat flawed. Also for the record, I was like I am way before I knew anything about the tea party.

The point is, there is very little positive press about the tea party movement, especially in the mainstream media. Look at the difference between the press the Occupy movement receives and what we get. The occupy movement creates all kinds of problems but you very rarely see these stories and when you do there is always some spokesperson who claims that the (looter, rapist, vandal, drug dealer, etc) isn't part of the group.

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We even get compared to the occupy movement which is a real stretch in my opinion, the only thing we have in common is we hold rallies. The tea party has a message, we have core principles, where the Occupy movement has none. One only has to watch any video of an Occupier being interviewed to see this. I suppose both groups want change, but we want positive change while they want negative change. But I digress.

The tea party movement needs to make certain we get positive press by doing positive things. We have to be professional, by that I mean we can't yell obscenities at people like Elizabeth Warren, even though I don't think that person was a tea party member, but we all know we will be blamed for it. We have to always show a positive and professional image. When we get a chance to speak, whether on a talk show, in front of a town or city board or through a blog or letter to the editor, we need to stay professional, make our point and get our message across.

Each of our groups will have different agendas, some will want to make change nationally, some locally, this is what makes us great, but we all have to remember our core principles and work towards those. We are all on the same team and we need to keep that in mind. Talk up your groups, get people involved and get involved yourself. This upcoming election is probably the most crucial of any of our lifetimes. We mess this one up, we may not get another chance.