Instapundit and the "Wild Eyed People of Idaho"

I want to thank Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit for linking to my post.  Also a big shout out to Left Coast Rebel for linking.  If you haven't been to visit Left Coast Rebel  --do so.   He consistently turns out quality material with great thought and meticulous research, and is one of my first stops every morning. 


 I was led from a tip on Instapuntdit to this ridiculous article from the The New York Times; Tea Party Movement Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right, by way of an article by Ira Stoll.

The New York Times article quotes  some "person of color" who lives in this area as being "afraid to attend a tea party event".  Let's take a look at what she said:

Rachel Dolezal, curator of the Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene, has also watched the Tea Party movement with trepidation. Though raised in a conservative family, Ms. Dolezal, who is multiracial, said she could not imagine showing her face at a Tea Party event. To her, what stands out are the all-white crowds, the crude depictions of Mr. Obama as an African witch doctor and the signs labeling him a terrorist. “It would make me nervous to be there unless I went with a big group,” she said. source

And now lets hear what Mr. Ira Stoll has to say in reference to the New York times article:

The whole thing is sad; that the Times seems unable to give a reasonably sympathetic hearing to Americans mad at Wall Street, Washington, Republicans and Democrats but instead travels to Idaho to interview and emphasize what it depicts as a particularly strange group of them; that those Americans angry at both political parties would channel their anger toward immigrants; that minorities would feel intimidated by Americans mad at Wall Street, Washington, Republicans and Democrats. The Times doesn't get into the question of how anti-immigrant and how heavily armed the average non-Tea Party-activist Idaho resident is. Nor does it get into the fact that a certain set of wild-eyed true believers who don't appear normal to outsiders tends to exist on the fringes of just about every mass movement, from the AFL-CIO to the Obama campaign. source

 To be fair, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit does a remarkable job of "reporting the news."  His site is primarily one of compilation and links and we appreciate all his hard work.  And it appears Mr. Stoll is feeding off this New York Times article.

But I need to make some things very, very clear about where I live!!!

The areas depicted in these articles - Spokane, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, is where I have made my home for over 22 years.  First off, I have no idea of what Ms. Dolezal is referring to when she claims she would be "nervous" to attend a tea party event in my home town of Post Falls.  I've been to these tea party events and have never witnessed crude signs or crude behavior.  I have, however,  witnessed many "people of color", and none of them appeared the least bit nervous. 

To back up my point, take a gander at the photos the New York Times published as a slide-show with their article.  You will not see "wild-eyed true believers", as Mr. Stoll has labeled us.  You will see rather normal looking people exercising their right to protest a government run wild.

This meme about North Idaho has been going on since before I moved here, due to a very small group of people who called themselves "white supremacists" camped out in Hayden Lake, a bit north of Coeur d' Alene.  The MSM has consistently made it appear as though this compound of wackos, which incidentally has been gone for a good number of years, was comprised of  hundreds of fringe lunatics.  The truth is there was never more than 10 or 15 people hanging out acting stupidly. 

Mr. Stoll continues with "The Times doesn't get into the question of how anti-immigrant and how heavily armed the average non-Tea Party-activist Idaho resident is." Perhaps, Mr. Stoll, you might ask instead  how many people hunt in North Idaho.  It's a joke around here that on opening day of hunting season the entire region almost shuts down because of people calling in sick to work.  People who hunt usually have guns.


I find it particularly amusing how the New York Times describes Liberty Lake, WA as "a small town on the Washington Idaho border" as though it's some mecca for single-wides and outside plumbing, when in fact it is extremely up-scale community which also happens to have indoor toilets.


My question for Mr. Stoll is this:  Have you ever actually been to North Idaho?  If you have, I'd sure like to know where you hung out while you were here.  If not, I'd like to know why you have made such patently untrue statements with no basis in fact.  It appears that you, as a resident of New York, simply read the New York Times article and decided to expand on what was untrue to begin with.  That's a lousy way to run a blog.


Update:   I understand Mr. Stoll is on the side of the tea party movement and is taking the NYT to task for what they wrote and for that I thank him.  However, he does nothing, IMHO, to disabuse people of the notion that people in North Idaho are wild-eyed crazies who are bereft of indoor plumbing.  Now I need to be excused to go visit my outhouse (which I might add is a two-holer)