Reply #2: The Tea Baggers are the embodiment of a certain strain in politics [View All]

[gratuitous]

And it's hard to discern always, because it lurks just out of sight most of the time. You skirted it with your comment that Tea Baggers believe themselves to be the mainstream of America. The flip side of that coin is that other Americans aren't really Americans. You'll hear it when poll results are analyzed, and (for example) they mention that while President Obama's approval ratings are holding steady overall, the rating is dropping among white men over age 45. There will be some generic comment to follow about what reliable voters white men over 45 are, and then the conclusion, which is that President Obama's approval numbers are slipping. It happens real smoothly, and you hardly notice that the conclusion doesn't follow the poll results. The average viewer is left with the impression that President Obama is losing support.

But is he really? While one segment of the population (a segment that represents a smaller and smaller percentage of the total) shows less support for President Obama, his overall numbers remain steady because he's getting better responses from other segments. Those other segments of the population, however, are tacitly said to not count, or to count for less, because they're not white men over 45. It's no wonder Tea Baggers think they're the mainstream majority of America: In ways obvious and subtle, the popular media tell them that over and over again.