Hundreds of thousands of Americans are gearing up to participate in Tax Day Tea Parties around the country and there are signs that, finally, the mainstream media just may give these protests against big government and high taxes some fair coverage. Ironically it is the opponents of the movement who may be responsible for the change.

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First there is the ongoing controversy over the claim that racial slurs were shouted at three African American Democratic Congressmen as they walked through a crowd of protesters on their way to the US Capitol. Although there were plenty of media and citizen cameras in the immediate area, none caught the alleged slurs which Representative Andre Carson (D-Indiana) says he heard coming from different places in the crowd. "You heard it in spurts, in the midst of 'Kill the bill. Kill the bill. One guy, I remember he just rattled it off several times." (source) That time the media was there to cover the imminent House vote for Obamacare. This time, thanks to the unproven allegations of racial taunts, you can bet they'll be paying close attention to the protesters every word.

In addition to being on the lookout for any sign of racism at this week's protests, the media will be looking for promised infiltrators. A newly formed group that was created to "crash" the Tea Party movement and try to make its members appear to be "racist, homophobic and moronic" has gotten plenty of media attention lately. (source) No doubt the media will turn out to see their act. Will there be a confrontation between genuine tea partiers and these infiltrators? Will members of the media boost their journalistic credibility by discovering and outing one of the imposters? Will the imposters fool the media and make outlandishly racist, homophobic and moronic" statements that will become the latest YouTube sensations? No matter what, it promises to be what passes for good television these days and the mainstream media will be there to catch it all.

So even though hundreds of thousands of protesting American citizens didn't rate more than a brief mention from most news outlets before, the unproven allegations and deceptive practices of the Tea Party opponents will most likely be the reason the movement will finally get the coverage it deserves. And to paraphrase Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin's response to a heckler at a recent political rally: Stick around, folks. You might learn something.