The Rise of the Tea Party

DiMaggio argues that rather than a grassroots movement of libertarian and otherwise conservative "regular Joes," the Tea Party phenomena has been manufactured by moneyed elites and corporate media distortion allergic to real populism. He has studied over 150 local branches, regional and national conventions, and outlines six main institutions that support the pro-business movement. He devotes a whole chapter to a case study of Tea Party organizing in the mid-west, where it's claimed the movement is most thoroughly organized. He then examines how the Tea Party wasn't just bolstered by corporate propaganda outlets like Fox News, but had generally sympathetic coverage by otherwise mainstream media. He also spends three chapters studying the effects on public opinion in relation to sympathetic coverage of the Tea Party, first generally and then specific to healthcare reform. His conclusion re-states his thesis of the media-manufacture of the Tea Party and related phenomena. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)