I don’t understand the fascination with this hateful, racist group of freaks and nuts. I’ve been pissed off for years and nobody gave a rat’s ass that I was pissed. I don’t recall the media ever covering a protest from the left to this degree, discounting of course the 60′s.

Maybe I should’ve dialed up the “nutometer” if I wanted to get anyone’s attention. Apparently my Constitutional rights now include, death threats, spitting, and destruction of private property. No one told me.

The Tea Party is not a racist group. It’s not even really a group (or racists), most people who identify with it have never gone to a meeting, protest etc.

Who are you talking about? Some crazy protesters? who represent .0001% of those who identify with the Tea Party? What are you basing your definition of the Tea Party on?

You don’t understand it because you aren’t trying to understand it.

btw, speaking of the ’60s… Where did all the anti-war protesters go? We still have a couple wars going on and bases all over the planet, and a massive military budget.

Where are the articles about that on this site?

Or is this just an Obama lovefest and a Tea Party hatefest?

No, you’ve got it all wrong. Overt racism, bigotry and willful ignorance (of which one is proud) are universally adored by Americans. Those polls are just wrong (and Obamunist).

Yes of course. FDL Is WELL KNOWN for its veneration of the Corporate Stooge in Chief and his henchmen….

Duh.

I’m concerned about methodology. Phone surveys underrepresent people who have thrown out their phones because they emit gummint thought control waves.

Phone surveys also underrepresent those who are taking mind-altering drugs to control their rage, as well as those who are too drunk to answer the phone, or too busy beating the children like the Bible says.

Second, they didn’t take into account that most self-respecting teabaggers will hang up on somebody who says they’re from the New York Times or CBS just on principle. Either that, or they’ll shoot the phone like some varmint.

Do overs permitted.

I was being sarcastic

/s symbol required. That was too subtle.

Well anyway, the rest I wasn’t being sarcastic about. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding and hyperbole as well coming from the Left.

I think a lot of this “tea bagger” stuff, it was funny at first but it’s gotten so out of hand that, I think it’s a big mistake to believe your own BS. Which is why a lot of people are surprised at this poll.

I guess my point is if you want to change some minds you have to know whose minds you are trying to change.

As for me, I’m neither a Democrat, nor a Tea Party person.

The most general Tea Party complaints such as no bailouts and more government accountability–I totally agree with.

The Tea Party are people on government funded age, unemployment, and disability cheques (unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare) who suppliment their government cheques as corporate (astroturf) paid protesters to work against the best interests of the majority of the people (as do Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich,etc.).

I’m not sure if that’s true for most of them. If it is a widespread thing give me a link.

If they are on “unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare” — so what?

Did they not pay for it out of their taxes already? Usually if I already paid for a service I expect something in return.

Maybe they are getting more than they paid? I don’t know.

Who determines that? The Government pays it. The Government makes a formula for how much they get paid. The government takes the taxes out of their paycheck. The government offers to pay them. They cash a check.

I don’t see how that invalidates the idea of more fiscally responsible government (regardless of your overall political philosophy)

So you weren’t being sarcastic? Did you say you were because I pulled you up on something and made it look a bit ridiculous? Because that would be really, really weak.

As well set your boot to the mountain’s root…

who suppliment their government cheques as corporate (astroturf) paid protesters

Wow. All 17% of the American public, all 40 million of them? Must get expensive.

We’re still here and I will be out today pointing out how many tax dollars are wasted in the endless war. And you?

Maybe I should’ve dialed up the “nutometer” if I wanted to get anyone’s attention.

Well we could always call the truther hotline. That always does wonders for our credibility when we’re protesting the war. ;)

Haha… I was being sarcastic :-) and you pulled me up on something too. Both :-) I am well-aware Obama is criticized here for his health care plan. That’s how I got here a couple weeks ago. Beyond that, I only registered tonight… So I haven’t spent enough time here yet to find out if it’s only that issue or others too. But I’m not here to either pro or anti Obama, just to discuss ideas and policies.

They aren’t angry , just scared . That change thing scares the hell outta them and they react with anger.
I want my country back !!
Back from who ?
Who took your country?

Peel it! Heal it!

I think it would be smart to wrap the wars up and reduce some of the bases (at least).

Who are you talking about? Some crazy protesters? who represent .0001% of those who identify with the Tea Party? What are you basing your definition of the Tea Party on?

But .0001% = 40,000,000. Please review your math.

The depth and breadth of anger in this country is substantial. Not solely at government but at not having a job, not having health care access, having to work two or three jobs to keep up, watching wall street and politicians making dirty deals and lots of money, at the president making dirty deals and lying, at “the system” for lowering their meager pensions, at their hopelessness, at their kids and grandkids having unpleasant and inefficient school conditions and at seeing the American promise of “a better life” go down the drain. The teabuggers are just symptomatic of a far deeper problem, the head of a boil if you will, and they should not be ignored. The treabuggers/angry people we see are those that have the time, through unemployment, retirement or whatever, to demonstrate. There may not be very many downright angry people visible but unless many of the reasons they are angry are remedied we could be in for some really nasty and growing violence in a very short time.

Maybe they were inspired by Michael Moore’s work entitled “Duuuude. Where’s My Country?”

The bail-outs were engineered by the Bush administration and the tax rate for middle class people is the lowest it’s been in a generation.
So why are these tea baggers out there protesting now?

Credibility is everything. That is what the opposition will always attack on.

I don’t think there are many tea baggers who get there inspiration from Michael Moore.

The poll of the moment has more than 50% of those who tell pollsters they support the teabaggage saying they make more than $56,000 a year and have college educations. Sorry, people carrying signs telling the government to get their hands off their medicare …

They were.

Many of the same people who are now doing the Tea Party were protesting the Bush bailouts. I knew some of them (online) before Obama entered office.

I don’t care how freaking angry the Tea Partiers are. They have no credibility whatsoever. Where the Hell were they nine years ago, when all the problems began? They are hypocrites, or else they have the slowest reflexes in the world.

Btw, straight women and gay men here have no problem with the term teabaggers. Very liberal, and dominant. Why doesn’t Olbermann just call these protesters scrotum suckers. I mean it’s not like we on the left have higher standards or anything.

The bailouts and real estate collapse are what brought everything to a head–which was the very end of Bush (last 2 years). They *were* protesting at the end.

Before that in 2003-2006 the economy seemed fairly good to most people and they were in mania mode, flipping houses, buying Hummers or whatever. Their 401k looked pretty and they had a job. That all changed at the end of Bush’s term. Obama extended Bush’s policies, so they extended protesting.

Good morning, pups. It’s Collins and Kristof this morning. In “Celebrating the Joys of April 15″ Ms. Collins says if the I.R.S. had been doing its marketing properly, little kids would dream of growing up to become really big taxpayers. Mr. Kristof, writing from Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, sends us “Every (Wild) Dog Has Its Day,” in which he offers a lesson in do-gooder marketing to save an endangered species in the African bush.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got apple walnut muffins that are still warm. I’m now off to get the second cup of tea and fill out my census form. Procrastinate? ME? How could you say such a thing? [sniff] Have a great day!

Good morning all.

WJ about Tea Party. Had to flip it off. I’ve had enough of those jerks.

Holder hearings replaying on cspan2.

thanks, Marion.

CSpan also on the poll of the moment. Very specific about the self-identification and that this amounts to a small proportion of the public.

I agree. They’re getting way too much attention.

It’s the fault of that damn liberal media… (/snark, just in case that wasn’t clear!)

This will drive the religious types nuts. Humans with 3 biological parents.

I found this piece from the NY Times story on the poll quite telling:

The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.

They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

The poll suggests to me that we hammer the GOP on plans to cut SS we ask them fine what do you want to cut.
They say education we say why how many other countries kids score higher on test scores.
They say the IRS fine where will you get the money to balance the budget.
They say the EPA we say after Bush is there anything left to cut?
Then we say we know you want to Privatize SS so your fat cat banker friends can all get big commissions.
If we listened to your side when Bush wanted to Privatize SS well after the banking crisis hit would not SS have been broke that very day?
Then we bring out every GOPer’s statement about wanting to kill, cut back or Privatize SS.
That is if we want to win the election.

Belief without facts have they seen the African American unemployment rate?

I mean it’s not like we on the left have higher standards or anything.

Have you counted the lies, hate, calls to violence etc on O’Reily, Hannity and Beck and found that the Lake, Koz and Crooks and Liars lie, hate, calls to violence the same amount?
Are we less accurate than the MSM? Last I checked Judy Miller lied about WMD and still got a Pulitzer heck they gave Kathleen Parker one.

you know, the tea party was organized by the likes of the kock brothers and fox news doing their corporate bidding

the “tea partieers” are simply puppets, they are mindless, clue less, information less marionettes

the real problem of course would be jobs, half of the tea partiers wouldn’t be tea partying if they had jobs

and then barack is a foreigner don’t forget, how can a president be a foreigner, it just ain’t right

freaks and nuts… death threats, spitting, and destruction of private property…

Sounds like the hippies of yesteryear.

No just the ones who can be bothered to show up at protests last I checked their protests were still smaller than the immigration rights protests.

Unfortunately, much of the media buys into the
“Aw, shucks, they’re just freedom-loving patriotic Americans” meme.
A late Valentine to the Tea Party movement from Gannett:

Local Tea Partiers defy labels
Local Tea Party members reject violence and national stereotypes of the group

I don’t care how freaking angry the Tea Partiers are. They have no credibility whatsoever.

their very concept is hypocracy defined;

the orignal boston tea party was a revolt against REDUCTION OF TAXES, not a revolt against raising taxes

in fact, “the stamp act” was rescinded almost a decade before the boston tea party and had nothing to do with it

the king removed tariff on his pal’s company so they could compete and the colonists went balistic because of the LOWERING of taxes

the tea partiers have no clue, they are the antithesis of the original event

…in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.”

These tea partiers are nuts. Of course we need to cut Medicare and Social Security.

To me, that is the key. Why tea parties got off the ground but legit grass roots 3d party efforts can’t. Big bucks organizers. for tp. All the rest is garbage.

Oh, the troll is out early this morning with fingers all limbered up.

April 15, 2009 was the date of the largest number of tea parties, with demonstrations reported to be occurring in more than 750 cities.[76] Estimates of numbers of protesters varied by location and source. The Christian Science Monitor reported on the difficulties of calculating a cumulative turnout and said some estimates state that over half a million Americans participated in the protests, noting, “experts say the counting itself often becomes politicized as authorities, organizers, and attendees often come up with dramatically different counts.”.[77][77][78] Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, estimated that at least 268,000 attended in over 200 cities.[79] Statistician Nate Silver, manager of fivethirtyeight.com, has stated that the largest protests were in capitals and large cities while many others had little or no reliable media coverage and were thus not included in his estimate. He reported cumulative crowd size from credible sources to be an estimated 311,460 for 346 cities and on April 16, 2009 stated “essentially all major cities and state capitals should now be accounted for.”[80] The largest event, in Atlanta, Georgia, drew an estimated 7,000[81] to 15,000 people.[80][82] Some of the gatherings drew only dozens.[77]

My Bold The largest event drew only 7,000

April 15th – July 4th Tea Parties
Independence Day Tea Party protests
A number of Tea Party protests were held the weekend of July 4, 2009, coinciding with American Independence Day.[105][106] “The rally followed a national effort that drew thousands of activists

Wiki has no estimates mentioned

Independence Day Tea Party protests
A number of Tea Party protests were held the weekend of July 4, 2009, coinciding with American Independence Day.[105][106] “The rally followed a national effort that drew thousands of activists

Thousands not tens of thousands

On September 12, 2009, Tea Party protests were held in various cities around the nation. In Washington, D.C., Tea Party protests gathered to march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol. Estimates of the number of attendees varied, from “tens of thousands”[109] to “in excess of 75,000″

Isn’t this the one where John Steward caught Fox News using footage from another protest? Regardless notice the trend the Tea Baggers peaked at their first protest and are not growing.

All I know is, if the MSM and those of us that encounter the baggers would simply have these questions written on a little card and ask them of each bagger we encounter, pretty soon the entire movement would evaporate faster than ice in Death Valley.

Funny, that way.

Shocker: FOX News isn’t always fair and balanced. After Comedy Central’s The Daily Show pointed out Tuesday night that FOX News’ Sean Hannity program used footage from another GOP protest in a clip about a recent teaparty rally, Hannity admitted the network incorrectly used bogus footage

http://politifi.com/news/Fox-apologizes-for-using-bogus-teaparty-protest-clip-19867.html

It seems I was right unless Fox News was talking about another Tea Bagger Protest that happened around the same time only this protest did not make the wiki.

Isn’t this the one where John Steward caught Fox News using footage from another protest? Regardless notice the trend the Tea Baggers peaked at their first protest and are not growing.

fox does this all the time, if not for fox, where would palin be right now?

they create a demand that could not have possibly existed without their marketing model

these questions written on a little card

Or on the palm of our hands.

Just angry about uh, something

for instance, they claim they’re angry about taxes but rigt off the bat obama lowered their taxes from where bush had them

they are mindless marionettes

All I know is, if the MSM and those of us that encounter the baggers would simply have these questions written on a little card and ask them of each bagger we encounter, pretty soon the entire movement would evaporate faster than ice in Death Valley.

this sounds likea great diary becca!

first few questions on my list;

“did you know obama lowered your taxes below the bush adminstration?”

“did you know medicare is a social project, and the road you use to drive, and the water to your house, the electricity and your park, the police dept and the armed forces too, do you want these projects created by socialism abolished?

this would be interesting

First Protest 268,00 – 311,460 the GOPer gave the low number our guy gave the high number 2 other nation wide protests according to wiki but no numbers.

Then 75,000 to tens of thousands show up for the next protest but we already have reason to doubt the high estimates because Fox News faked a photo.

But even if we accept the high number 75,000 is more than three times less than 268,000 the Tea Baggers decreasing ability to mobilize turnout for protests is decreasing if this trend stays the same on election day the GOP is toast.
Tea baggers I presume are the most angry and therefore motivated voters against Obama.
Which brings up the question just how bad a campaigner did Rahm pick to run for Ted’s seat?
Was Healthcare really that big an issue at the time? Has passing healthcare and the sky not falling decreased Bagger fear?

fox does this all the time, if not for fox, where would palin be right now?

Google searching Fox faked photos led to way to many hits.

The bottom line is this: the tea partiers are an angry bunch. All of them are angry about something, but that something varies from person to person, and they find it impossible to describe exactly what they’re angry about. “Illegal aliens,” the government’s taking away their freedoms, the government’s intrusion into their private lives, corruption, high taxes, NAFTA – no two of them agree on the reasons for their anger and none of them has any idea what should be done to change the situation.

It will be interesting – and telling – to see how candidates who appeal to the tea partiers do in November’s elections.

The Media says the Baggers are a sign of growing discontent however they are shrinking! Imagine if Koz or the Lake lost 2/3 of its people would Koz and Jane still get tv invites?
Come to think of it why did Red Stater Eric Erickson get that CNN job his viewership is how big?

Very Interesting.

government funded age, unemployment, and disability cheques (unemployment, Social Security,

There is evidently much disinformation, misinformation regarding SSI. SSI is employee/employer funded and currently on paper has a surplus.

It’s amazing the number of posts and comments here at FDL that rehash and restate this simple misnomer regarding SSI.

Markos’s point of view is the Obama point of view. That is what progressivism is.

as corporate (astroturf) paid protesters

Some facts and references please

i’m 65. i’m already past what i paid in. if you want to know ssa will send you a list of what you have paid in yearly and what you will be or are getting. breid…………..

Swim is up top…

Where the Hell were they nine years ago, when all the problems began

Doesn’t matter where anyone was 9 years ago unless you intent to disenfranchise them. Is that what you interested in doing Perry?

Disenfranchise anyone who doesn’t agree with us?

Reality check: Neither “we” nor “them” are doing very well at getting our goals met. And that applies to any “we” or “them” that you care to focus on, EXCEPT for the big corporate interests.

We just gotta stop tearing at each other, folks, and focus instead on the common ground we share in wanting to advance our real-life interests as regular people against the soulless and corrupt big corporations.

Sure, the Tea Party folks are unfocused in some ways, but they’ve got some good points as well; same for the lefties who are more populous here.

But I submit that the things that enrage both groups about our government are the very things that have been wrought by and for the benefit of the big corporations.

Are we big enough and smart enough to re-frame our views to focus like a laser on that reality?

baggers aren’t the issue, those in power and control in the Village are.

You’ve got your history a little askew…the original Tea Party was not BECAUSE taxes were lowered. That was incidental. The Tea Party happened because colonists were losing their choices. The British government had set up a legal monopoly and the colonists recognized it as a threat to their status as free men.

Pete Townshend was wrong, we will be fooled again (and again and again). He was talking about the Woodstock generation but the Tea Party people are just the right wing version of this, in many ways similar to some evangelical movements throughout history. They are true believers and really think something earth changing will happen if they just wish it hard enough.

No offense, but you come off like an unthinking snob in this post. What that woman said actually makes a lot of sense. She likes programs that she believes she’s paid for and benefits from. Tada! Not exactly brain surgery. This is the reason Medicare and Social Security are so popular,they are universal programs everyone puts into and everyone benefits from, not welfare. The health care bill is means tested. It helps some people and doesn’t do anything(as the President himself was found of saying, “nothing changes for you.”)for other people. There is nothing new about people rejecting big federal programs they don’t think they benefit from.

They’re just angry people.

They see the world changing drastically, the people they thought were on their side betrayign them, and they see themselves completely powerless.

so of course they’re looking to lash out at something.

What we need to do is to tap into that anger and direct it.

No one has paid in to SS or Medicare in the sense of an investment that one builds up over time and then enjoys the benefits from later. It’s pay as you go. All this time you’ve been paying for someone ELSE’S SS and Medicare. And when the time comes, someone ELSE will pay for yours. Your run-of-the-mill teabagger doesn’t understand this and doesn’t want to.

BTW, Pete Townshend was really pointing out how we WILL be foled again. He was bitter and disllusioned when the movement they thought would become transcendent was instead crushed by the powers that be, and he realized that this was part of a historical pattern.

Teabaggers are jsut the same old rightist fringe that starts screaming as soon as a Democratic president is elected. They have slightly more traction now because of the 8 1/2 million jobs lost so far in the Bush Depression. If employment would tick up, they would lose their support, such as it is.

CAUGHT BETWEEN THE DEVIL/TEABAGGERS AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

In order to gain the political power they’ve enjoyed for decades, Republican moderates and fiscal conservatives made a pact with the devil (faux Christians, bigots, racists, sexists – teabaggers) to achieve the numbers they needed to defeat Democrats. They made a strategic decision to manipulate and exploit the ignorance, fears and hatreds of dysfunctional and vulnerable voters in order to win elections rather than lose them by being intellectually and morally honest.

Today, those who conspired with the devil are caught between wanting to disassociate themselves with and casting out the demons they empowered and the karmic reality that they don’t have the numbers to hold on to or regain power without continuing to accept and “advocate” the immoral values, hypocrisies and corruptions that are dividing and destroying their party.

The survival of today’s shrinking Republican Party is so dependent on extremism that they have no significant power left WITH or WITHOUT the support of America’s increasingly pernicious lunatic fringe.

The idiom “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea” is appropriate as Republicans are facing the dilemma of choosing between two equally undesirable alternatives that both result in Republican impotence in mainstream American politics. They are suffering the consequences of their treachery.

Their irresponsible propping up of George W. Bush cost them their credibility, and the dysfunctions of teabaggers, birthers and deathers exacerbated by the irresponsible exhortations of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are costing them their viability.

misguided…

No one has paid in to SS or Medicare in the sense of an investment that one builds up over time and then enjoys the benefits from later

I’m curious then, why does SSI send me all that financial info every year, showing my contributions?

Do you really think that’s the same thing? Regardless of whether they send those statements or not (and I’m well aware that they do because of course I receive one also), it does not change the PAYGO nature of the program.

The answer is: because the law says they must, and it does because people want to know.

You must pay in a minimum amount in order to receive benefits.

If you don’t pay in the minimum, you don’t receive the required credits.

If you don’t have the required credits, you don’t receive benefits.

(that’s one of the reasons for sending out the statements yearly)

you’ve got your cronology wrong

the boston tea party was specifically to prevent untariffed tea into the colonies

that was the ONLY reason the tea party took place

there would NOT have been a tea party if the tariff remained, the east india import company imported tea all the time and the colonists had NO problem with that tariffed product

this country was founded on the principle of local protectionism

the boston tea party was specifically to prevent untariffed tea into the colonies

and being sold at less than market rate … The early ‘Walmart’ school of predatory capitalism

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/41145

I believe the cut-off for benefits is 40 quarters worth of pay-in over work life (10 years)

yep

Yet that still des not contradict my point that SS is not an investment program in which one has any claim on monies paid in. Yes, eligibility and benefit payout are both calculated on the basis of payments in, but your payments are long gone by the time you collect. And you will notice that, contra your financial statements from financial institutions, your return on investment in SS is never stated. Because there is none de jure.

As a practical matter, may people FEEL as if they should be able to expect a return on what they have paid in, but that’s just a result of the fact that people don’t understand the system. The first people who collected had paid in NOTHING.

Except for spouses, children, the disabled…

I Agree !

Teabaggers are the people who think that Sarah Palin is an intellectual…

Here’s a great piece by tax historian Joseph Thorndike which correctly explains that the Boston tea party was not a revolt against high taxes, but, ironically, a protest against tax cut:

http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/1BB0C8F894BB490B852577020083A6F6?OpenDocument

This is just more evidence that today’s teabaggers are suffering from a bad case of bizarro world. They mistakenly see Obama as socialist when in reality he’s a corporatist. Otherwise, they’d know that Obama signed off on a bank bailout plan and pushed for a health care bill that are both clear-cut examples of welfare for Corporate America, not for society as a whole. They also mistakenly see Obama as a loyal friend to the Muslims, when in reality he’s more of a foe than a friend to them. Otherwise, they’d know that Obama is clearly conducting himself as Christian Zionist in a Holy War against the Muslim world. But I personally have come to believe that teabaggers, whether they are victims of astroturfing or not, really and truly don’t believe that Obama is a socialist Muslim. I think what they are doing is falsely portraying Obama as a far-left socialist with strong ties to the Muslim world in order to get Obama to respond by moving himself and the Democrat Party further and further to the Right — to the point where he and the Democrats are one and the same with the Republicans. Unfortunately, what the teabaggers are doing is working!

but I say again, the Baggers aren’t our biggest problem or threat

That largest threat we as a nation face is that the current Administration and Congress is pandering to all corporatist powers and moneyed influence

I think this post/video does an excellent job of describing it.
Absolutely FASCINATING – Anti-Corporate, true history of the ORIGINAL Tea Party

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/41145

These Tea Baggers are the type of people Charles Pierce had in mind when he wrote his book “Idiot America”.

But Jon Stewart said it best about the ClusterFOX Noise watchers like Jodine White – “Finally, a person who says what people who aren’t thinking are thinking.”

“I think what they are doing is falsely portraying Obama as a far-left socialist with strong ties to the Muslim world in order to get Obama to respond by moving himself and the Democrat Party further and further to the Right.”

You make some good points, but I respectfully disagree with part of your premise in this sentence. IMO, individual tea partiers are not thinking along these lines, but their Koch’s and the Scaife’s who have funded astroturfing this movement most likely have this as part of their goals:

http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/

Some info there about these rightwing thinktanks founded and funded by our corporate oligarchs. Rachel Maddow has been (or was) following the Americans for Prosperty (just one of Charles Koch’s rightwing think tanks that also lobbies against climate change improvements) funding of the Tea Party protests this summer:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity

It’s quite likely that most individuals who protest have no idea that they are being astroturfed and manipulated, but everyone that I know personally who associates themselves with the Tea Party (admittedly a small group) listen to rightwing talk radio and watch Fake “Nooz” constantly. I continuously hear them spouting (almost word for word) the exact same rightwing talking points (which are usually factually flawed by the simplest of google searches) at the same points in time.

The tea partiers that I know personally happen to be white, middle to uppper middle class, well educated and most still have jobs. Absolutely NONE of them protested a darn thing about the Bush Admin – not one peep. Perhaps *some* Rebuplicans did towards the end of the Bush Admin, but if so, then I would like to see some links.

My experience was that one nanosecond after BHO was announced as POTUS, they set to work with signs and pitchforks. My siblings all WAILED to me about how their “lifestyle” was “now” being “ruined” by Barack Obama. They immediately went to Tea Party protests (as is their right) with signs about how their grandchildrens’ futures are being destroyed by Obama. My siblings went to one such protest in late Nov of 2008, when GW Bush was still POTUS.

These same relatives and friends have also stated to me that 9/11 either happened under Clinton’s presidency – or – if categorically caught out, then contrive to blame it all and solely on Clinton, alone, as if Bush had absolutely NO responsibility whatsoever.

So pardon my skepticism about the tea party movement. I just see far too much brainwashing and manipulation going on to make it particularly credible for me. That, plus the racist signs, and that giant and cravenly offensive Dachau sign with Jewish Eric Cantor smiling gleefully under it last fall was the last straw.

If tea party folks want to be taken seriously, then they need to do a few more google searches, as well as casting a critical eye on those with whom they associate.

I’m also skeptical that I (and other lefties who are frustrated and/or disgusted with BHO) have “much in common” with most tea partiers. I am openly willing to be proven completely wrong, but my take on most of them is that they feel: I got mine, eff the rest of you. That’s certainly what the people I know believe. Plus they are, one and all, virulently opposed to paying almost any taxes ever, yet are the first in line with their hands out when something goes wrong, like a fire, or whatever. I’m really, really tired of Republicans who demand a lot of services, but then do not ever wish to pay for it, themselves.

That’s my little rant for the day.

And yes, we probably pay too much attention to these folks. It would be nice to make common cause with them, and protest as a united group against the real problems with our corporate dominated government. But I won’t hold my breath. These folks are often easily misled by lots of bright shiny objects.

those who conspired with the devil are caught between wanting to disassociate themselves with and casting out the demons they empowered and the karmic reality

Brilliant. Sounds like you have a good grip on reality based politics.

All this time you’ve been paying for someone ELSE’S SS and Medicare. And when the time comes, someone ELSE will pay for yours. Your run-of-the-mill teabagger doesn’t understand this and doesn’t want to.

Well thank god you’re there to explain it.

If tea partiers haven’t figured out by now that they are being used by our moneyed elites to help them transfer even more of our nation’s wealth to the top of the economic food chain, then I’ve lost all hope of the tea-party movement ever becoming a green-roots’ cause for ordinary Americans.

Thanks for linking me to Thom Hartmann’s clip. I think it’s better than Joseph Thorndike’s piece at capturing the anti-corporate sentiment shared by those involved in the Boston Tea Party of 1773.

Exactly! Funny how time only moving in one direction is a pretty common experience and yet the concept of intergenerational transfers is so difficult for people to comprehend. So long as we don’t have dramatic changes in demography, there will continue to be a greater population of people paying in than those collecting…and in the counterfactual, apparently a lot more things would be going wrong.

Is time going to somehow change direction? Will we become Italy with a severely negative population growth rate?

They may not be a racist group but the certainly have racist tenancies, and they may not be a defined group other than they are Republicans, One and All. They are the far right wing of the party, they are not new, nor are they original. They’ve always been with us.

But really why is it that the site can’t comment on these yahoos? If you want to do posts on 60 radicals you are free to start your own site. Please do, there are 18% of the population would love to hear your views, I am sure.

The NYT article notes that 57 percent of the Tea Partyers admit to being Bush supporters (how many more were reluctant to admit it?) I’ve always thought that the Tea Party was the last refuge of the Bushies. They will never admit they were wrong and at fault for the Decade From Hell.

I’m an optimist of the eternal type.

As such when I viewed that piece from Thom Hartmann, It game me hope that there was maybe something that could unite this country against the common evil that we truly are facing, that is perched, ready to devour, at the door steps of our liberty and freedom.

I went covert to one of these nutjob gatherings and they were mostly concerned by the growing deficit with the belief that all their nutjob-kids and grand-nutjobs would be piss poor. They were also concerned that social security and medicare will be gone soon.

All I got to say is “no shit sherlocks”! The thing, though, that they don’t get is that the benefits will be gone FOR THEM but not for us (who will be in complete control). All their crying and belly-aching is hilarious as it won’t amount to anything of consequence and they have no idea what really is coming their way. I can’t wait! They’re dumber than rocks.. but hey, if you consider the intellect of the average american, can you expect more?

“gone FOR THEM but not for us (who will be in complete control).”

Pray tell, what are you trying to say with that??

What’s confusing about that, razorbrain? Who can’t see where this ship is headed (other than 99% of the nutjob teabaggers)? There will be winners and losers just as there have been throughout all of history. I suggest choosing the correct side.

Uh, the “. . .us (who will be in complete control)” part. Is “us” the corporations, or something else?

us = progressives (real progressives)

Oh, I must have somehow missed the fact that we are succeeding in taking over. In my obtuseness, I actually thought we have been losing ground, and rather rapidly. I’ll make an effort to behave more imperiously. (eye roll)

Just wait and watch. It might not be exactly what you thought it would be, if you think we play nice. Make sure you don’t get in the way…

LOL. From your mouth to God’s ears, my friend. I am one of the louder voices around here that argues against “playing nice.” I guess we’ll see what we’ll see, but it looks to me like the corp oligarchy has things well in hand. I’d love to be proven wrong on that.