Political Discussions
Tea Parties and other crazy Republican antics
Posted by satijournal • 4/13/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: politics, republican, tea party
Paul Krugman wrote a good article about the current state of the Republican party. In it he wrote:
One way to get a good sense of the current state of the G.O.P., and also to see how little has really changed, is to look at the “tea parties” that have been held in a number of places already, and will be held across the country on Wednesday. These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so.
www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/opinion/13krugman.html
These demonstrations mimic grass roots activities, but are actually sponsored by big money such as Fox News. Krugman calls them "astro-turf" events (get it, fake grass roots).
On April 15, they're holding tea party protests across the country. There's one here in Denver at noon at the capital. I'm going to try to attend just for the hell of it, and to see what kind of propaganda they're promoting.
My guess is there will be a lot of uninformed right-wingers there: the anti-abortion crowd, the anti-gun regulation crowd, and a lot of people who just don't think they should have to pay for things like highways and schools.
One of their slogans is "Take America Back." I thought we just did that with the election.
User Comments
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Here are some videos of tea parties from a few months ago:
www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/tea-party-video-right-win_n_185577.html
Where exactly were these people when Bush was increasing the debt by 5 trillion dollars? Or when Reagan tripled the US debt? It's like Republican history started in January of 2009. -
Why should I pay for schools? I graduated, so I don't really benefit from schools anymore, right?
It's like everything they try ends up pushing them further to the corners of American mainstream thought. Frankly, I have no doubt Obama will mess up something. He's trying a lot of things, and one of them will fail. If only Conservatives had a little patience they could attack him then. But after their teabagging parties and calls of Socialism they would just continue to sound irrelevant.-
It depends on how you define "fail." These massive increases in deficit spending ARE failures, but economists claim it must be done to slow the free fall. The jobs programs WILL create jobs. You can't build things without labor so there's not much chance in it failing in that respect, but right-wingers will claim it's a failure if it doesn't completely offset the layoffs and result in an immediate decrease in unemployment.
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But after their teabagging parties
I'll never look at the GOP the same way again - what dirty bastards!!!
BTW, where are these parties? Do they record them like college f***k fest? -
I actually saw John Waters last week in the supermarket. I wanted to ask him how he felt about his own Teabagging making the news. But he looked like he wanted to be alone, so I left him alone.
Still, I feel some pride knowing my neighborhood in Baltimore is where Teabagging started.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsKt4O4Yw8
Rachel Maddow's spin on "teabagging."
By the way, I had to clear out my search history after searching for this clip. I'm not sure what my wife would think if she saw that I did a search for "Rachel Maddow teabagging."-
BUwahahahahahah *snort*
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Polybore would be very interested to hear about your trip to the tea party if you decided to go.
Strange article you quoted "GOP remains one of America's great parties". Odd thing to say when there are only two. Also he can't really say "Today’s G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party."
Bearing in mind that, without the economic crisis breaking when it did McCain may well have won, it would be logical for GOP to start gearing up for the next Presidential race now.
There is a little bit of a hint of complacency, typified by PAUL KRUGMAN's article, about the Democratic Party just now (not Obama though). As omiller points out there is plenty of room for mistakes or unintended consequences within the huge stimulus plan and all it's detail. If a screwed up economy can get you into the White House then it can also get you out.
So polybore can't really criticise GOP for their Tea Parties.-
Maybe Krugman was talking about the history of the GOP. Lincoln was a Republican. So was Eisenhower. I don't know. You have to really grasp at straws to find anything good about the GOP.
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Sati- And the Democrats are saints? Hahahaha.... You see Sati, someone like you is never going to get it. You only see things the way you want to see them, through some distorted partisan prism (in your case blue). You refuse to see reality as it is. I have seen this through all of your comments. It is the Republicans fault, Rush's fault, conservatives, and anything else that you do not agree with. That is part of the partisan problem in this country right now. There are people running around on the left and the right always blaming the other guy for something and taking all the credit when something goes right. You know what the problem is, politicians. Politicians that are only out for themselves, that will say and do anything to get elected as well as lobbyists who feed on such behavior. The problem is not the Republicans or Democrats, but corrupt politicians that have forgotten the Constitution and Declaration only to gain for themselves. This is behavior is not specific to any party and Democrats are just as guilty as Republicans. I am probably just wasting my time though because I do not think that you will even think about what I wrote for even a minute. -
You right-wingers crack me up when you try to appear diplomatic. FYI, I was registered republican from 1978 - 2004.
Republican polices have been bad for the middle class. They have made our country weak and have put us deep in debt. Our rights were eroding under the Bush administration. Our environment was being sacrificed so a few could make a few more bucks.
The Republican party may have been noble a 100 years ago but they're now a disgrace. They've shown repeatedly that their only concern is the acquisition of power. It's party first and country somewhere pretty far down in the list. While I don't agree with some of the things Democrats want to do, for the most part, they are trying to do what's for the good of the country.
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I wonder how they'd react if I went down there with a sign that said: "Reagan Tripled the U.S. Debt! Bush Doubled It! Republican Policies Have Destroyed the U.S. Economy!"
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My fav' is the Thomas Paine wannabee... even though Paine would be considered a leftist today! -
I just got around to actually watching the video's.
The thing that makes me laugh hysterically - are the signs saying "shackled by the stimulus" and "where's my stimulus".
I wonder how many of these people got the extra stimulus money when they filed their taxes.....I wonder how many of these people make over $250k per year?
Idiots. -
Betcha there's a "Girls Gone Wild--Tea-bagging edition"...
That'd sell a few copies... lol-
With stars like Ann Coulter and Michelle Bachmann, I'm not sure that would sell... ... ...
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Basically, this tea party movement is an astro-turf movement financed by big money and Fox "news." The right-wing sheep are protesting the idea of higher taxes, but almost all of the protesters are seeing a tax decrease under Obama. Taxes are only going up for the wealthy and it's only about 2%.
And what's the connection to the Boston Tea Party, anyway? We all still have Representatives from our states representing us in Washington. That hasn't changed. The only thing that's changed is the fact that right-wingers don't have as many Representatives in Congress as they did a few years ago and they don't like that. -
Glad I'm not the only one around cracking teabagging jokes. What were they thinking choosing that term? Naive and sexually repressed? Hope they have an even number of participants. Would hate to be the odd man out.-
For a while I couldn't help but feel like an immature child - giggling at even the mention of it
It's just...a really poor choice of words -
cue clip from "Soul Plane"
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WOW the Tea Parties are a huge success!-
Success for accomplishing what exactly?
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Fox News & tea party organizers: advertising selfishness
April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us.
For those who wear a military uniform, those who serve the rest of us as policemen and firefighters and teachers and other public servants, every day is patriots' day. They work hard for our country; many risk their lives -- and some lose their lives.
But for the rest of us, the civilian majority, our government asks very little. Except for April 15. On this day, our government asks that we pay our fair share of taxes to keep our beloved country strong and safe.
Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Congress, 95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut this year. No one -- not even the wealthiest 1 percent -- will have to pay higher income taxes until 2011.
So why are a bunch of Fox News clowns and right-wing cranks hosting "tea parties" all over the country? The Boston Tea Party, in case the clods at Fox didn't know it, protested "taxation without representation." Note the second word: without. The goofballs tossing tea bags today have representation. They voted in the election; they lost.
That a bunch of overpaid media millionaires would lead a faux-populist revolt is comical. They somehow held their populist instincts in check as George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes on the idle rich and put the screws to the working stiffs.
Bush's tax policies were a godsend to the Paris Hilton class, but they sent the country on the road to bankruptcy and helped ruin the economy. But now that we the people have decided to set things right, now that we've hired Obama to fix the mess conservatives created, now they're protesting?
Give me a break.
If the whiners at Fox News want to advertise their selfishness, they are free to do so. But please don't dress it up as patriotism. Patriotism is putting your country ahead of yourself -- which is the precise opposite of what the tea party plutocrats are doing.
Good commentary... read more: www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/15/begala.taxes/index.html
It's astonishing how some lower and middle-class Republicans are being used by upper class suits, pundits and media moguls. They seem blind to the fact that they will prosper more under the Obama administration, yet they fight for the wealthy at their own expense.-
RR - that is a consistent problem that ANarchists face when talking to people about the system.
The desire to fight for the wealthy at their own expense.
It's the reason we have "The American Dream" - it's a farce designed to keep us hoping that we will all be in that position one day. What these people don't understand is that - even if they managed to get their hands on millions of dollars - the upper elites will not, and will never accept them into their group.
It is an ideal, a dream, that is so pervasive we have people today who actively hate and target groups of people, and literally act in a manner that harms others as well as themselves in order to keep that ideal alive.
*shakes head* -
Corporate interests and a major media outlet help organize a 'grass roots' movement. That oxymoron is both comical and sad. Some on the higher tiers will always look for ways to manipulate those beneath for their own gain.
thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/
Let's see, how did Bush put it?
"fool me once, shame on — [pauses] - shame on you. Fool me — I can't get fooled again."
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Leave it to the republicans to invent "Astroturf" that grows.. lol guess we can call that description an epic fail.
I'm enjoying to see the verbal loops of the rabid lefties, trying everything they can to make these events seem unimportant, when the fervor of their arguments show nothing but the opposite, and more than anything the fear of the right actually getting organized.
But of course, the panic is more than understandable. Nothing is more dangerous for a crappy leader than his own people organizing against him.
So by all means, you Ubamaites keep going, if nothing else reading what you have to say is entertaining in the same way a trainwreck or "worlds dumbest criminals" is.-
It's hybrid turf really...
Just interesting to see how good conservatives are at "community organizing" -
Chia turf? :-)
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The astro-turf comment, in case you missed it - is because the original tea party was about taxation without representation. Therefore this "tea party" movement is fake like astro-turf.
Why? Because they voted for their representation. The founding fathers are turning over in their graves right now.
What I find to be massively amusing, though, is how quickly the conservatives have moved from "love the country, respect the president, USA! USA!, if you don't like what your elected official is doing then leave the country, you're a bunch of stupid, left wing, conspiracy theory, America hating moonbat hippies, stop protesting, you deserve to be on DHS's hit list, spying is good for national security" to...this.
LMFAO.
Welcome to the club, righties! -
The COMMUNITY ORGANIZING party! lol
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"What I find to be massively amusing, though, is how quickly the conservatives have moved from "love the country, respect the president, USA! USA!, if you don't like what your elected official is doing then leave the country, you're a bunch of stupid, left wing, conspiracy theory, America hating moonbat hippies, stop protesting, you deserve to be on DHS's hit list, spying is good for national security" to...this."
Amen, Anok.
Why, when I questioned President Bush, was I called "un-American" and "a liberal whiner" by the same crowd who has no qualms with creating signs that say things like "The American tax payers are the Jews for Obama's oven."?
Why was it ridiculous to talk of impeaching Bush when it was discovered that we were led into a war with phony intelligence? Why was it ridiculous to talk of impeaching Bush when it was discovered that his administration allowed torture? But, we should impeach Obama because...uh... ...well, because... ...he...uh... ...took too long to pick out a dog? And, after all, it wasn't a TRUE rescue dog, as he promised.
Why do my conservative friends and co-workers roll their eyes at the mention of Obama's tax cut; one of the LARGEST middle-class tax cuts in history?
For eight years, the party in control tried to make me feel un-American for disagreeing with the President. For eight years, the message from the right was, "support our president." For eight years, it was (as Anok stated)if you don't like it...don't live here or, more frequently, "love it or leave it."
Now, perhaps it is time for anyone who held the "love it or leave it" mentality to do one of two things. Either put up, or kindly shut up.
Of course, when the shoe is on the other foot, there are valid reasons to complain. It's only un-American if people are protesting against what you believe in. See, Obama's tax cuts don't matter because, in 2011, taxes for the top earning Americans will skyrocket to...uh...well, less than they were under the liberal Ronald Reagan.
So...we should all go protest against taxes. Let's do it in a public park that's funded by taxpayer dollars. And, of course, we'll need protection, so hopefully there will be police officers, whose salaries are paid by taxpayer dollars.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go turn on MSNBC and take a shot every time a "teabag" innuendo is made. My liver may end up suing Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow by the time it's all over. -
"What I find to be massively amusing, though, is how quickly the conservatives have moved from "love the country, respect the president, USA! USA!, if you don't like what your elected official is doing then leave the country, you're a bunch of stupid, left wing, conspiracy theory, America hating moonbat hippies, stop protesting, you deserve to be on DHS's hit list, spying is good for national security" to...this."
EXACTLY!
Where were all these protesters when oil man Bush invited the heads of energy companies to formulate our energy policy?! Where were all these people when the last administration was spending like mad?! Why no outcry over the $613 BILLION dollar and growing Iraq bill and the $720 million spent their daily?!
Now the current administration budgets for infrastructure repair, new schools, new highways, new railways, clean energy, etc. which leads to more jobs while having to bring the economy back to life and look at their selfishness. -
These people are sheep. They only do what they are told to do. That's why they were silent when Bush was doubling the national debt and running the country into the ground. At least we'll have some things to show for the stimulus spending, but to right-wingers, that's socialism.
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So...we should all go protest against taxes. Let's do it in a public park that's funded by taxpayer dollars. And, of course, we'll need protection, so hopefully there will be police officers, whose salaries are paid by taxpayer dollars.
Hahahahahahahahaha! That's an excellent point!
I guess they've forgotten that the tax dollars go towards military budgets as well - so they're indirectly protesting the military, those anti-American sods!!
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No surprises here:
"Fair and balanced" Fox News is anything but in coverage of tea parties
mediamatters.org/items/200904160011
If people knew that those behind the demonstrations were the very same lobbyists and influence peddlers the teabaggers claim to decry, the whole thing would be revealed to be what it is - a hollow excercise in extremist right-wing hypocrisy. -
unfortunately the current DLC driven administration is busy lumping everyone else into the heading of extremist. It's starting to backfire.
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How so? Can you point to a specific reference to back up that claim?
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Ruinous- Ummm.. perhaps the report that Napolitano had to partially apologize for? It was an insult to veterans, an insult to the armed forces, and is an insult to anyone who is currently serving the country.
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Also the memo about "components of anticapitalist, antiglobalization, communist, socialist, and other movements"
Describe anyone who blogs here? -
Napolitano apologized if veterans where somehow offended, but that was not the intent. Some people on the right are distorting the findings and failing to mention a similar report regarding extremest on the left issued by Obama earlier this year. Of course, that report was initiated by the previous administration.
I have the utmost respect for those who serve and have served. My father was in the Navy. However, do YOU not think that someone who has served in the military is likely more dangerous than someone who has not. Meaning.... a veteran with arms and explosive experience could be more dangerous as an extremest (left or right) IF he/she decided to take that path?
I'm against all violent extremest - left or right, but I'm seeing major media outlets, popular pundits, politicians and authors inciting people on the right more and more these days. -
Basically, I find the DHS and other Bush-era "reforms" like nationalizing airport security to be a reaction to the failure to execute the laws that were presently on the books--ie the INS's refusal to deport terrorists taking flight school lessons.
Now that should meet some criteria of the "right" memo, to go with the corporation-bashing that likely meets the "left" memo criterion, such that I now feel the need to issue a disclaimer (lest I wind up in the Ministry of Love)
I LOVE BIG BROTHER... DO IT TO JULIA INSTEAD! -
"...administration is busy lumping everyone else into the heading of extremist."
This IMO is the problem... some on the right are 'lumping' everyone together as being called 'extremist'. Most people know that's not the intent and that the report is broadly covering possible candidates. Veterans of Foreign Wars is backing the governmental effort. -
While I wouldn't call the guy an extremist or a terrorist, not long ago, a war vet with PTSD had an episode. Was suicidal. Not sure if other people were involved. Cops talked the guy down, but he did have a gun in hand. To suggest that guys coming back from Iraq and Stan Land without proper mental health provisions might suffer from PTSD and snap is really not much of a stretch. As RuinousRight just pointed out, there is some serious spin going on with the wording of the report. I am going to start working on a post about what I consider a right wing extremist. I have a lot of material to work with, it seems.
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A war Veteran with PTSD who does act violently is a war Veteran let down by the government. Left without help. Yes we have the VA, but sometimes Vets don't go for help because they don't know what they offer and depression can really stop you from doing what's good for you. I've been to VA recently. I love being in the military but I'm sad at what has happened to my brothers and sisters. Yes they signed the dotted line, NO they did not know 3/4's of what could happen to them. Most think they could die or come back to tell their war stories and share what they were able to accomplish. Not that they'll come back to find that they no longer fit in and that their families who were proud of them while they wore the uniform do not understand that they now need help and turn their backs.
So it's not surprising that a Vet would snap, what's surprising is how they are treated when this happens. It's surprising that we don't do more for them.
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OK, this is too freaking funny :
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,516715,00.html
DAVID SHUSTER, HOST: It's going to be tea-bagging day for the right-wing and they're going nuts for it. Thousands of them whipped out the festivities early this past weekend and, while the parties are officially toothless, the tea-baggers are full-throated about their goals. They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending-spending they did not oppose when they were under presidents Bush and Reagan.
We can only speculate why widespread tea-bagging made Cavuto think of the Million Man March, unless he got them confused with Dick Armey. And in Cavuto's defense, if you are planning simultaneous tea-bagging all around the country, you're going to need a Dick Armey.
HAhahahahahahahahHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHahahahahahaha-
appalling... lol
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I have to admit, I wasn't aware of the term "teabagging" before this. Doh!
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Inevitably, the party in power turns to Statism, and the party out of power to Populism. Thus the cycle repeats... and those who have voted for such Populist fervor are left wearing King Number's new clothes!
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Actually, I think that the fact that people are getting out there to protest something they feel is unfair is very American. Whether I agree with them or not doesn't matter. I'm glad that they are able to do that.
And of course we're able to make fun of them. I won't though, theres no reason too. Already you can tell a big difference with the way these Tea parties were handled. There were no riot police and I haven't yet heard of any action needing to be taken to squash the crowd. That's a far cry from what happened during the last administration. You couldn't utter a word against president Bush or band together to protest without the Riot police and hearing of unwarranted arrests.
This demonstration by the right has proved that there has been a change. And it's safe again to voice your opinion.-
I agree with you that voicing your opinion, protesting, and being active is very American.
What people like me are making fun of, though, is the blatant hypocrisy of the groups now protesting.
Two years ago, if you protested the government, government action, or policies, you were a far left pinko commie liberal hippie America hater.
But now that the conservatives are doing it, it's "All American". It's OK when WE do it!
I'm having a rather good time making fun of all of the people who hurled nastiness and violence in my direction during the last administration. Not because I am mean (OK,I am, but still...) and not because I don't think they have a right to protest, and not even because I believe the insults they threw at me and others for the last 6+ years...but just to give them a little dose of their own medicine.
No one is above the bitter taste of their own medicine once in a while. -
"the bitter taste"
LMAO -
Understood, however I simply noticed that under this administration nobody is coming down on them and causing them to fear retribution. Though they have pretended in "their" media that their voice is being squashed by "our" media. It's obvious that it's not true.
Things have changed. Now continue on with making fun of them. It is rather funny. -
Oh I absolutely got what you were saying - and I'm hoping that it's a trend that will continue - people should not be afraid to protest.
But yeah...right now i feel like a kid in a candy store. It's like seeing the schoolyard bully get punched in the nose, and watching as the disbelief washes over their face...and then the tears
(Yes, if anyone is wondering, I punched my fair share of schoolyard bullies just to make them stop....and to see that reaction ) -
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yeah, I decided not to say anything about that either..
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