Via Instapundit, I watched the long discussion between Michelle Goldberg and Megan McArdle over the Tea Party rallies.

Goldberg is attacking what she sees as right-wing rhetoric that "contribute[s] to a climate of incitement."

What struck me was how, in the course of the debate, Goldberg casually expresses her deep hatred for Bush and Cheney. At 64:20, she mentions in passing, "God, I hated Bush so much." And at 39:10 Goldberg refers to the "blessed day" when Dick Cheney dies and says, "I certainly wouldn't be shedding many tears if Dick Cheney dropped dead."

Goldberg also refers to the protesters by the sexually derisive term "tea-baggers" (at 54:03).

The biggest problem with the media's understanding of the Tea Party movement is that some on the left assume (1) that the Tea Parties are Astroturfed at least as much as some of the left's own demonstrations and (2) that the educated right hates Obama at least as much as the educated left hates Bush and Cheney. So far, I haven't seen much evidence of either.

Orin responded to a post of mine on the Michelle Goldberg-Megan McArdle video.

First, I don't know whether Orin is objecting to my pointing out that opposition to Obama is often attributed to racial hatred -- something that I have seen again and again on MSNBC and on the internet (and even occasionally in Volokh.com comments) -- or whether Orin is objecting to my opinion that for some on the left this is likely a matter of projecting their own hatred of Bush and Cheney. In the clip I linked, I read Michelle Goldberg as defending the idea that the Tea Party movement is racist.

Second, I don't know whether Orin is objecting to my pointing out that some left-wing protests were astroturfed at least as much as the Tea Parties — remember ACORN, Moveon.org, and the AIG protests -- or whether Orin is objecting to my opinion that for some on the left this is likely a matter of projection of their own approach to organizing.