Malkin Calls Right-Wing Tea Party Movement A ‘Counter-Insurgency’

This morning, right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin joined the ABC roundtable on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Asked what the conservative opposition strategy is going to be this coming month while Congress is in recess, Malkin said there is a growing “tea party movement — these counterinsurgencies amongst taxpayer rights groups” — that is fomenting opposition to Obama’s health care plan.

Malkin claimed the Obama administration has “vastly underestimated just how grassroots this movement is.” Lawmakers are going to face “townhalls-gone-wild,” she added. Watch it:

The term “counter-insurgencies” does reveal the mentality of conservatives in opposition to Obama. Like Bill Kristol has said, the right wing is bluntly stating that it is going “for the kill.” Malkin has previously declare her hope that Obama fails.

As ThinkProgress has documented, these tea parties may indeed be “counter-insurgencies,” but they are hardly “grassroots” movements. Corporate lobbyists — led by Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks and Tim Phillips’ Americans for Prosperity organizations — have staffed and funded these gatherings. (They are doing so again.) The Fox News network, including Malkin’s frequent appearances, has taken the lead in publicizing and promoting the events among its right-wing base.

The tea-partiers have already proved that they can create a “townhalls-gone-wild” effect and are willing to demonstrate the violent qualities of an insurgency. Recently, Republican congressman Mike Castle (R-DE) faced down angry right activists who hijacked a townhall gathering by spouting crazy conspiracy theories. Right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D) in New York and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety. And anti-health care protesters hung an effigy of Rep. Frank Kratovil (D) in Maryland.