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AP Publishes Confusing Article About the Left’s Role in Occupy Wall Street

AP Publishes Confusing Occupy Wall Street Piece About Liberal Support

Yesterday, the Associated Press published a confusing article about the left’s role in Occupy Wall Street. Entitled, “Occupy Movement Accepts Modest Help From the Left,” the piece begins by showcasing how liberal groups have assisted in propping up and fueling the protests.

But about 14 paragraphs in, the article seems to backtrack on the left’s involvement — or, at the least, it seems to diminish the role of leftist groups. Here are some portions that stake claim to the fact that the left is embedded in the movement:

…from the start, the movement has also gotten support from a long list of experienced, well-funded organizations, unions and political committees – sometimes to the discomfort of more radical protesters who worry about their message being co-opted or watered down.

After an initial hesitation to get involved, unions from Boston to Los Angeles have sent members to march in the demonstrations and donate air mattresses, food and other supplies. In Oakland, unions representing teachers and government workers are encouraging members to take a day off from work to march with protesters Wednesday.

MoveOn.org, a group that has given millions to liberal Democrats, has promoted the demonstrations relentlessly on its Web site and in blast emails.

These accounts are surely true, as unions and groups like MoveOn.org, have promoted the protests incessantly. From supplies to physical space, organizations and labor groups that typically align themselves with the Democratic Party, have afforded support to the Occupiers.

Here’s a screen shot of the MoveOn.org web site, where you can count how many times, for yourself, the word “Wall Street” is mentioned:

AP Publishes Confusing Occupy Wall Street Piece About Liberal Support

And here’s another screen shot, this time from the Service Employees International Union (SEUI) web site, where you’ll see (top right) a pledge that the group is promoting for members to visit an Occupy event:

AP Publishes Confusing Occupy Wall Street Piece About Liberal SupportThese are just two examples. Yesterday, the Blaze’s Mike Opelka published a starting post on the connections between various leftist groups and figures and the Occupy movement. He wrote:

The Blaze has presented details on the people inside the OWS movement as well as those believed to be supporting it with money, material goods (sleeping bags, non-perishable foods, etc.), organizational skills, and even storage space. We have named names from the White House to the American Nazi Party, we have shown connections to several unions (like SEIU, UFT, and TWU) and pointed out the organizers like the Working Families Party and ACORN.

The Blaze recently published reports about potential ACORN-related support for Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Orlando. Clearly, the movement’s connections with leftist groups runs deep.

Below, see an advertisement for Occupy that was put together by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO):

And here’s a brief clip of a nurse who traveled all the way from Nevada from National Nurses United (a union) to support the movement. The woman, named “Maria,” says that her union wants a single-payer health care system:

The AP continues, in a sense corroborating what the Blaze and other outlets have been saying about leftist support:

When Occupy Wall Street needed an established nonprofit group to help handle incoming donations, which have now topped $500,000, they turned to the Alliance for Global Justice, an entity originally founded in 1979 to build support for the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

The National Lawyers Guild, whose members have been representing dissenters, peaceniks, and civil-rights activists since 1937, has set up Occupy legal hotlines in 19 cities and been representing protesters arrested across the country.

Even the unofficial newspaper of the New York encampment, The Occupy Wall Street Journal, didn‘t simply spring organically from the protesters’ base in Zuccotti Park; it is a special edition of the Indypendent, an alternative newspaper that has been publishing for 11 years.

All this considered, the AP takes some U-turns within the same article. After quoting some protesters who are skeptical about unions and the Democratic Party and just before continuing to build a case for leftist support, one paragraph reads:

Today, the group that has now occupied a city park for six weeks shows few signs that it is allowing outside organizations a substantial role in planning its marches, making decisions, or deciding what issues to embrace. But it has also turned to a network of left-leaning organizations for help, some of which have been around since before most of the protesters were born.

This paragraph, alone, is confusing. While the AP is claiming that these groups aren’t taking the lead, the wire service admits that the Occupiers have turned to the left for support. While there’s certainly a difference between leading and supporting, it‘s hard to imagine that those associated with these groups haven’t taken some sort of role in organizing and providing leadership service to the movement.

But it gets even more muddled. After half of the piece shows an inherit connection between leftist groups and the movement, the article continues (emphasis added):

All of this support by outside groups has become a rallying point by the movement’s critics, who have accused it being manipulated behind the scenes by government worker unions trying to keep taxes high, or by Democrats trying to use the “class warfare” card in upcoming elections, or by community organizing groups trying to drum up support for government entitlement programs.

If that’s happening, there is scant evidence in Occupy Wall Street’s daily organizational meetings, where the demonstrators seem to focus a substantial amount of time and energy on the logistics of keeping the camp running and building an organization. Much of the assistance provided has been more inspirational than operational.

More “inspirational than operational?” At the end of the day, the protesters need sleeping bags, food and supplies. Without these elements, the movement would wane. Regardless of whether groups are providing funds, storage, food, supplies or anything else for that matter, their support is necessary to sustain the viability of the movement.

In New York, unions have provided bodies to protest (as has been the case in other cities as well). The collective media power of these groups also must be brought into the fold and considered. When unions are sending newspapers and leaflets to their members touting extremely supportive messages and pinning the 1 percent against the 99, it’s safe to say that the Occupiers are receiving some free and useful PR.

Dismissing these important factors as mere “inspiration” is haphazard and potentially journalistically unsound. Rather than diminishing the role of the left, the AP, along with other outlets, would be smart to be honest about these ever-growing connections.

Comments (47)

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  • Tepeyac
    Posted on November 3, 2011 at 10:01am

    How many Tea Partiers wore masks and scarves? Are the Occupiers ashamed to show their faces?

    Report Post »  
    • Ruler4You
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 11:56am

      Experienced and well funded group of white collar crooks, according to the OWS crowd. Interesting how the whole thing has this sort of double standard… my rich tyrant is better than your rich tyrant.

      Report Post » Ruler4You  
    • Archangel10
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:51pm

      Wouldn’t you be!

      Report Post » Archangel10  
  • MUDFLAPS
    Posted on November 3, 2011 at 6:23am

    mn Ill bet the company that gets the contract to clean up all of these places is going to make a mint… from ovamit.

    Report Post »  
  • bardy
    Posted on November 3, 2011 at 3:58am

    Test

    Report Post » bardy  
  • lukerw
    Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:57am

    Maybe, the AP has discovered that they are Gay… alike being confused about Sexuality… they are Leftists, who seem to think that they are Neutral!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • txn4justice
    Posted on November 3, 2011 at 12:23am

    Baffle them with BS! That is the modus operandi. Democratic party supporters are paying the protesters. Follow the money.

    Report Post »  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 9:42pm

    The AP is even more left leaning than the New York times or the LA Times.

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
  • obamabirthcertificate.net
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 8:28pm

    Let’s clear up the confusion. Liberal media = anti-American socialism.

    How to quickly understand the Obama’s ineligibility and what you can do about it.
    http://www.obamabirthcertificate.net

    Report Post » obamabirthcertificate.net  
  • drphil69
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 7:01pm

    Freeloaders that will stay there as long as the food, tents, sleeping bags and condoms are free. Of course they need support from “left-leaning” groups.

    This is going to end badly. The protestors are pawns in a much bigger game, and I fear many of them will be sacrificed without even knowing why.

    If you live in a city, please have an evacuation plan, a place to stay. Unless you are a lib, of course…

    BE PREPARED.

    Report Post »  
    • I Luv America
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 7:56pm

      I hope you are wrong, but I fear you are right. I live in a suburb of the San Francisco/Oakland area, and I have an evacuation plan that I just may have to implement in the very near future.

      Report Post »  
    • dcraw21b
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 10:19pm

      I agree… big time. These people don’t have a clue. “Useful Idiots” If only people could think for themselves anymore. My generation is sooo blind to what is happening. Not just that; they are helping! HAVE A PLAN!

      Report Post » dcraw21b  
    • ozchambers
      Posted on November 3, 2011 at 2:20am

      Imagine this: The organizers just try to keep the movement alive to an extent throughout the cold months of winter and begin a planned surge during the Spring and Summer of 2012. As the movement grows the violence escalates. The protests turn into sustained riots in multiple metropolitan areas of the nation. As the election draws near, and if the numbers are not polling well for BHO, it is discovered that the OWS is planning to “Occupy Polling Stations” and create riots at polling stations nationwide. Reluctantly, Obama is forced to implement unprecedented measures in modern times to ensure the safety of the citizenry including the curtailing of 2nd Amendment rights and a postponement of the 2012 election until order is restored. The left will try to entice a violent right-wing response as the collection of now illegal weapons is undertaken in conjunction with the election postponement. If such a response occurs in various locations, lets say from a well-armed militia(s), and politicians become targets, a full-fledged implementation of martial law may take place. Being that the majority of our troops will be fulfilling their roles overseas, a well-equipped, well armed civilian security force will be needed to be quickly assembled. Various Union organizations may quickly offer their services to the President in this time of national crisis……..

      Report Post » ozchambers  
  • Hickory
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 6:27pm

    Do you notice the OWS site looks like a spoiled teenager’s room? Crap is just thrown all over the place. When they go to sleep, they just make a nest in all that garbage and cuddle up. I will just bet there is probably partially eaten pizzas somewhere under all that.

    Report Post » Hickory  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 6:41pm

      Actually it looks like a hoarders home. Though the teenagers analagy for certain ones is very appropriate.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • CatB
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 6:43pm

      They are “occupying” a park that is supposed to host a weekend event that has been a yearly event for a LONG time .. now they are threatening not to leave unless given a 10 day permit for after the event .. and they aren’t even going to clean up after themselves if they do leave the city needs them to leave a day early so the TAXPAYERS can pay to have the park cleaned up. … WHAT A BUNCH OF PIGS .. should be POWS! POWS I like that .. I would like to pow them!

      TEA!

      Report Post »  
  • ares338
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:45pm

    This isn’t unusual, all of their articles are confusing.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • mcgrawactor1
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:25pm

    I am still waiting for the snow and ice that’s going to fall on their heads. Or perhaps a big flock of seagulls letting fly from the skies above!! Any Act of God would be welcomed to clear the streets of these clueless, lazy-a$$ed spoiled brats!!

    Report Post » mcgrawactor1  
  • mountainmover101
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:20pm

    It is sad really. Objective insightful journalism is truly dead. No wonder newspapers and magazines everywhere are going belly up. The American public is more toward the right of center. Some polls say as much as 51% of Americans self identify as conservative. I think the general consensus is around 40% as opposed to 20% self identifying as liberal. The choir is kind of small in actuality. Only the choir reads these rags. Therefore, they are going out of business.

    Report Post »  
  • 762x51
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:14pm

    What a garbage dump they have built there.

    They need a good, highly experienced community organizer. The criminal Obama needs to step down as pseudo-president and go help these miscreants figure out that the coffee will taste better if the toilet is DOWNSTREAM from the kitchen.

    Report Post »  
  • paleoman
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:59pm

    Is that my goat standing in front of that pile of human trash?

    Report Post »  
    • phillipwgirard
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:56pm

      not sure, but the one in striped stretcho pants looked like she jumped off a can of Bumble Bee Tuna,LOL

      Report Post » phillipwgirard  
  • bringiton
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:32pm

    Jeez! Let’s get this thing on already! All this build up with no happy ending is starting to remind me of my ex-wife.

    Report Post »  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:27pm

    That AP Takes Sides :O Im In SHock!!!!Ok.Not Really.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
    • db321
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 5:15pm

      Forget the AP and the Liberal Media – what about the Late night Comic’s – they are passing up some of the greatest material – you can‘t write some of the stuff Obama and his Cronies do and both the comic’s and the Lib Media just ignore it like it never happen. Media reporting and Comedy is dying in America.

      Report Post » db321  
  • tifosa
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:24pm

    Silly me, I saw “AP” and thought Cain’s possible 3rd victim would be featured… maybe next? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-cain-third-worker-accusations,0,3496855.story

    Report Post » tifosa  
    • barber2
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:32pm

      Hey, haven’t heard from you in a while. Just know the comment will be the usual gem. Trying to lead us to more of the usual Lefty character assassination? We are so on to this tactic..

      Report Post »  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:43pm

      LOL..“victim”. Did you believe that being hypberbolic would give your post some kind of legitimacy TIFOSA? By your measure…what about Clinton’s “victims”? LOL.

      Report Post »  
    • tifosa
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:44pm

      or righty “death by a million cuts?”

      Report Post » tifosa  
  • BlackCrow
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:19pm

    Hey Idiots Guy Fawkes was NOT an anarchist! He was a Catholic who tried to murder the Protestant king of England and restore a Catholic to the throne. If you got your history from history books instead of novels and movies you would know that.

    But if you were that smart then you would recognize that it is fiat currency and PROGRESSIVE/COMMUNIST government that is the problem NOT Wall Street. But then you would be Tea Party.

    Report Post » BlackCrow  
    • amtsoundsmith
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:39pm

      …and he was a complete failure. I think he makes a good mascot for them.

      Report Post » amtsoundsmith  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:40pm

      BLACKCROW…you have to understand this group of children. They’ve never been taught history like you and I were. They’re taught stuff now like “LGBT achievements”. So the Guy Fawkes mask is not from the origins of Guy Fawkes night in the UK which was a celebration of the King surviving the plot to murder him …it’s from the Alan Moore comic made into a movie starring Hugo Weaving. You’re looking at a group of idiots that is that shallow.

      Report Post »  
  • AvengerK
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:17pm

    AP was the same “news organization” that ran the story about OWS being so wonderful and generous and benign in feeding the homeless and the poor. This was tailored clearly to make the organization seem worthy in some way…a scan few days later…the story breaks out that that “chefs” at OWS upset at serving the homeless and the poor, feel “unappreciated and overworked” and will be serving “gruel” until the homeless go to find food elsewhere. The media is doing it‘s utmost to help OWS but the OWS idiots are so radicalized and stupid that they can’t stick to the script the media keeps writing for them.

    Report Post »  
    • @leftfighter
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:21pm

      The AP is simply trying to muddy the waters in order to provide cover for the Dems, who we all know are supporting this Marxist uprising at best and aiding and abetting domestic enemies at worst.

      Report Post » @leftfighter  
    • Teaparty-grammy
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 7:10pm

      @leftfighter who Posted: “The AP is simply trying to muddy the waters in order to provide cover for the Dems, who we all know are supporting this Marxist uprising at best and aiding and abetting domestic enemies at worst.”

      Since the idiot liberal Democrats have deluded themselves into believing this is “their Tea Party” that is going to “energize their party the way the Tea Party did for the Republicans” (is that rich, or WHAT!), they have fallen all over themselves to rush out there and declare themselves in support of this mess. It will be entertaining to watch them scrambling to distance themselves when the Lamestream media can no longer ignore the rapes, thefts, assaults, etc., or somebody is publicly murdered by this “wonderful spontaneous movement” . . .

      Report Post » Teaparty-grammy  
  • dave_ct
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:16pm

    This whole exercise with the current “protests” is simply a dry run in advance of the real union thug facilitated demonstrations, flash mobs and riots leading up to Election Day ’12. It’ll be a good enough reason for Obama to enact “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20″ (HSPD20) and suspend the election until HE gets things back to “normal.”

    All part of the “re-election” strategy. Wait a minute, who needs a re-election strategy when you have HSPD20 at your finger tips.

    That’s “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20,″ folks – The radical Marxist’s dream come true!

    Report Post »  
    • honolulu45
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 8:00pm

      Thanks for the info. Looked it up and you would be correct. I wondered how he was going to pull off canceling an election. Gut tells me that 2012 is going to be a real mess. Prepare for you and your family NOW

      Report Post »  
    • Teaparty-grammy
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 9:12pm

      That’s why we should fight like hell when the govt. enacts something like the Homeland Security Act, all the while assuring us that it would NEVER be used against U.S. citizens! Yeah, well, maybe Bush would not have used itthat way, but it’s clear his successor has no problem with it. And THAT is the problem with it. These freaking laws are FOREVER once they are on the books, and all it takes is one tyrant to come along who IS willing to use it against U.S. citizens, and there goes our liberty.

      Report Post » Teaparty-grammy  
  • Banana Republic Capitalist
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:15pm

    Great article, Billy. You’re exactly right — the AP is simply confirming everything Glenn’s been saying (read: warning us) about all year long.
    To the Associated Press, I simply say, “Welcome to the party.”

    Report Post » Banana Republic Capitalist  
  • Blackop
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:14pm

    Once again, the Blaze, Glenn Beck and his acolytes are on the wrong side of history. It’s just a matter of time before all of your whining and name-calling is forgotten.

    Report Post »  
    • barber2
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:28pm

      Once again? Remember the 2008 elections, bud ? In Denver we just voted down 2 union/ Lefty backed bills: one with a tax increase for education and one an attempt to increase sick days so that “germs wouldn’t be spread at work ” at tax payers’ expense! You, dude, and your Occupying buddies are in for some serious re-awakening in 2012 – despite the Obama campaigning in the New York Times comment sections ( so obvious that it is nauseating ) and the media trolls here and in other blogs. Watch Greece. All intelligent, rational Americans are.

      Report Post »  
  • MrButcher
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:06pm

    Captain Obvious: OWS is Obama’s re-election plan.

    It won’t work.

    Just wait until the Republicans take the senate and the White House in ‘12, then all hell’s gonna break loose.

    Report Post » MrButcher  
    • GONESURFING
      Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:21pm

      Let’s hope for change in 2012. 99% of the morons must be at these protests.

      Report Post » GONESURFING  
  • DirkPitt
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:06pm

    More of the same.

    Report Post »  
  • Arc
    Posted on November 2, 2011 at 4:05pm

    The OWS crowd is clueless………now AP??? Sayit ain’t so Joe

    Report Post » Arc  
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