"They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment, as a way to explain their frustrations."

-- Barack Obama, famously speaking last year about small-town Americans

Some in the "mainstream" media seem to have the same dim view of many Americans.

It's sickening, really, to see how news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC "covered" the nationwide tea parties on Wednesday. After providing precious little advance coverage -- a good way to hold down the crowds, one supposes -- they openly mocked participants, even doing so in subtly profane ways.

Amazingly, anchors such as Anderson Cooper on CNN and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC snickered about the participants at the tea parties being "teabaggers" and "teabagging" -- knowing full well that the term is slang for a disgusting sexual act. At one point, a guest on Maddow's show even explained that.

Although on separate, competing networks, they seemed to be working from the same sordid script with the same dismissive narrative. Curious.

It was disgusting and reprehensible, and a full-throttle insult of everyone who attended these protests to express legitimate concern about the direction of the country.

In one of the most unprofessional acts of "journalism" we've ever seen, CNN's Susan Roesgen "covered" a tea party by combatively peppering a young father with leading questions, arguing with him, then giving up and disparaging the entire event as "anti-CNN."

Illegal immigrants marching in U.S. streets demanding tax-paid services and citizenship from the country they entered illegally got better treatment from the media.

It appears that CNN and others were so far behind the curve on the tea party movement that they ceded coverage to Fox News Channel -- then, ironically, used the rival network's coverage as a reason not to take the events seriously.

How utterly sad -- for both the country and for any semblance of journalism left. Easily over 100,000 concerned Americans interrupted their busy lives Wednesday to commiserate over the financial future of the nation. And for their trouble, major news networks laugh, call them names and walk away.

It says much more about the news gatherers than the people they so arrogantly look down on.

When Republicans were in charge, dissent was considered the highest form of patriotism.

Now, apparently, it's just a joke.