A tale of two protests

I’m so tired of the media bias. Look at these two AP articles about two protests that occurred in Washington yesterday. One was against the Iraq war. One was against the health care bill. First, the anti-war protest:

Thousands of protesters – many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama – marched through the nation’s capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least eight people, including activist Cindy Sheehan, were arrested by U.S. Park Police at the end of the march, after laying coffins at a fence outside the White House. Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

“Arrest that war criminal!” Sheehan shouted outside the White House before her arrest, referring to Obama.

At a rally before the march, Sheehan asked whether “the honeymoon was over with that war criminal in the White House” – an apparent reference to Obama – prompting moderate applause.

Now, the anti-health care bill protest:

House Democrats heard it all Saturday – words of inspiration from President Barack Obama and raucous chants of protests from demonstrators. And at times it was flat-out ugly, including some racial epithets aimed at black members of Congress.

[…] But much else about the day was noisy, emotional and right out in the open. After more than a year debating the capstone of Obama’s domestic agenda and just hours to go before the showdown vote, there was little holding back.

The tone was set outside the Capitol. Clogging the sidewalks and streets of Capitol Hill were at least hundreds – no official estimate was yet available – of loud, furious protesters, many of them tea party opponents of the health care overhaul.

Rallies outside the Capitol are typically orderly, with speeches and well-behaved crowds. Saturday’s was different, with anger-fueled demonstrators surrounding members of Congress who walked by, yelling at them.

“Kill the bill,” the largely middle-aged crowd shouted, surging toward lawmakers who crossed the street between their office buildings and the Capitol.

Notice any differences? Those scary, racist, bigoted, angry Tea Party protesters are against the healthcare bill because they’re scary, ill-behaved racists. Let’s be clear: The asshats who yelled the n-word at black Congressmen are bigoted jerks. So are the ones who called Barny Frank a faggot. But let’s also point out that they were in the minority. Over the past year, hundreds of rallies have been held, and the overwhelming majority of the protesters were there to protest the healthcare bill, not to shout racial epithets.

But of course, the mainstream media concentrates on the ugliness, because now they have proof that those “teabaggers” are all hateful bigots.

Then there are the crowd estimates. Apparently, reporters aren’t able to tell the difference between a crowd of hundreds and a crowd of tens of thousands. Look at this picture for the “at least hundreds” who showed)

Lastly, there is the AP apologia for the anti-war protest, which used language harsher than “Kill the bill,” but which got the kid-gloves treatment:

Others were more conciliatory toward Obama. Shirley Allan of Silver Spring, Md., carried a sign that read, “President Obama We love you but we need to tell you! Your hands are getting bloody!! Stop it now.”

Allan thought it was going too far to call Obama a war criminal but said she is deeply disappointed that the conflicts are continuing.

“He has to know it’s unacceptable,” Allan said. “I am absolutely disappointed.”

Quite a difference in editorial tone there, huh? But what can we expect? It’s the Obamedia. They’re still in the tank for Obama.

As for your idiot protestor statements, well, I found this anti-war protester quote to be about the stupidest one I’ve heard in years:

Anna Berlinrut, of South Orange, N.J., was one of a number of protesters who have children who have served in Iraq, and said her son supports her protests.

“If there were a draft, we’d have a million people out here,” Berlinrut said when asked about the turnout.

Um—what? Oh, that turnout? Seems that the AP could find someone to estimate the ANSWER anti-war protest, but not, of course, the healthcare protest.

The exact number of protesters was unclear, as D.C. authorities do not give out crowd estimates. Organizers estimated the march, which stretched for several blocks, at 10,000.

The objective media at work.