Pajamas Media

145 Comments

1. David Thomson:

There are a couple of things the tea party people must realize:

1.) The world isn’t fair. They will likely do more than their fair share. Many Americans will continue to sit on the sidelines waiting for them to do all the work and spend all of the money.

2.) Politics should not dominate every moment of your existence. Utopia is not achievable and political activism will not save your soul. Nonetheless, it must not be relegated to something you engage in a minor way once every 2 to 4 years during an election cycle. There are 168 hours in a week. You probably only need to spend 2 to 3 more hours a week on politics to make a major difference. Many of you tithe 10% of your income to your place of worship. Think seriously of also spending at least 1% of your income on politics.

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:49 am 2. mik:

it would probably have been less confusing if fox news was just there to report it and not promote it. fox, this time, did not help the cause. it would also have helped if some of the people there would stop repeating the same old tired ‘obama is a socialist’ etc. lines we heard during the elections. the delivery of the tea party message was muddled.

bush didn’t hear us when we yelled to cut down on spending. obama thinks it’s neccessary to spend. and congress….forget them. like they’re still in high school. they don’t care about us.

this was the first go around. hopefully, second time around will be better. keep the hate out, and keep the extreme left and right wing stupid talk out.

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:04 am 3. Carl:

The Tea Parties are a combination of accumulated demand, frustration, hope and expression of intent that somewhere out there in the 306,000,000+ citizens of our country there is one, just one person that will step forward and lead our nation forward.

The Tea Parties are the earnest yearnings and united prayers of the rightfully proud people of the greatest nation on Earth saying that they are not willing to let their country die by putting up with the inbred inabilities to understand on one side while the other side exhibits flat out refusals to stand up on behalf the Constitution, God, what is right and the overwhelming will of the majority of our people.

The Tea Parties are a statement of notice saying that if this leader, whoever and wherever he or she is across the United States of America, doesn’t step forward soon out of the endless, green, growing blobs of politics as usual, then the people themselves will do the job for them.

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:52 am 4. Laughing Out Lipton:

Though it is not at all difficult to work out the Teapers’ notions of representation, the neocomrade does not do it.

When this sort of thing happens in the intellectually respectable press, one naturally supposes that the headline editor failed to understand what the reporter reported.

Is darkest Pajamastán like that too?

Happy days.

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:19 am 5. Peter the Bubblehead:

To all mt TEA Party friends:
I have noticed a common mistake in posts, blogs, and signs at events like these TEA Parties.

When you make a sign looking forward to the End of the Current Error, it must read 01.21.13

The Presidential Inauguration in 2013 is pushed back a day to January 21st because MLK Day falls on January 20th that year. It was something several co-workers and I looked up on November 5th last year.

So remember, 01.21.13 The End of a Big Error.

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:23 am 6. fear Obama:

Nancy Pelosi, declared these hundreds of grassroots gatherings to be “astroturfed” – events funded by “corporate front groups” – attended by “neo-Nazis,” “secessionists,” and “racists.”

There is that Bambi word again.

The ‘R’ word.

If the demorats march its patriotic,
if the voting tax paying public march its the R word.

Notice I mentioned ‘voting public’!

Can’t wait till 2010 to watch some of these clowns beg for their jobs.

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:29 am 7. ConservTeacher:

I agree that the tea party phenomenon has the possibility of turning into something really grand. The administration and the MSM knows this (now) too. Expect some serious backlash, beyond the sophomoric(Im being generous here) “teabagging” snarks. Expect special reports on neo-Nazis, other white supremicists groups, the OK City bombing and some less-than-flattering bios on some high-profile Republicans (Jindal comes to mind for the creationsim stuff)

The real test is now. Where does the movement go next? How do we channel disgust at where the country is going (now as the TX gov. says, we “frogs” have finally noticed that they have been inching up the temperature of the water for some time now) and develop a strategy? (without becoming another ACORN-type organization)

My suggestions are to continue networking through Twitter and other online sites (@ConservTeacher=me in Twitter) and read, read, read. The tea parties showed that we are not alone. And the Internet allows for information and communication that the MSM and the president do not want you to have.

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:33 am 8. vivo:

Something to think about:

Jeaneane Garofalo said that this Tea Party is nothing but an excuse to repudiate the fact that a black man is in the White House; i.e., racism.

One way or another, dirty politics is well and alive . . .

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:42 am 9. Jewels (AKA Julian):

If the Media and Government are that Clueless, then It means that they cannot see the problem…and are therefore part of the problem

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:11 am 10. Bruce:

I’m confused about the Tea Party messages, too.

INCOME TAXES? It’s ALL the crazy hidden taxes that they take from even their precious “negatively” taxed constituents without them knowing it.

OUR GRANDKIDS WILL SUFFER? Who’s kidding who? THIS generation will pay the tax of hyper-inflation in just a few years. IT’S US! that will pay NOW! through hyper inflation that will make Gemma Carter look like a genius economist. Your grankids won’t even know it. They’ll grow up in a collectivist bubble thinking of their freedom-loving ancestors as political dinosaurs. It’s inflation now, not taxes later, that will make up the deficits. The tea-baggers can’t all be that stupid? Or are they carrying their “message” signs for someone else like the Lefties say.

BAD REPRESENTATION IN CONGRESS? How about out-and-out thievery and corruption? Out-and-out CROOKS in all corners of the governing class. Near Bolshevik strength left-wing bureau-rats from the 60’s and 70’s tenured into govt at all levels. And the tea-baggers’ signs mumble about “deliberation” and “representation”?

The messages confuse me too, Claire. It’s corrupt cleptocrats collectivizing our Republic. THAT’s the message! And this was weak tea indeed.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:14 am 11. David S:

I still don’t see any clear description of what the Tea Parties represent aside from a protest against government taxation. Meeting on tax day and using the tea party metaphor make that connection pretty clear.

Obama & Co. can’t really be faulted for spending – it is exactly what they promised to do. What the Tea Parties seem to me to represent is a frustrated fringe of the GOP that is politically disenfranchised and unable to contemplate cooperation with Obama.

Tea Parties apparently have been all about tax cuts for the rich and cutting government spending on social programs. These are not popular policies with voters. I encourage the Tea Party movement as a way to expose the shallow, naive and incomplete policy program that the GOP has been flogging since 1980.

Peace.

DS

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:22 am 12. Cybergeezer:

With the most ignorant, best kept secret occupying the White House, and watching the stock market plummet every time he addresses the nation, you’d think the average person would get a hint to just STFU, and leave well enough alone; But he has to “make it perfectly clear” how ignorant he is.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:41 am 13. Alice Roddy:

I’m planning to send Janet Napolitano my picture and address so that she can know where one opponent of illegal immigration and fetal stem cell research is!

More grass roots protest: will someone please buy turnyourselfin.com so that all loyal, patriotic right-wing extremists can turn themselves in to Ms. Napolitano and thereby demonstrate that we are not intimidated. I tried to put in a bid on it but the Sedo site refused my email addresses.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:41 am 14. Katablog.com:

I’m proud of all Americans who took the time and trouble to express their displeasure about pork spending and the demise of our country. McCaskill can claim confusion but she’s not one bit confused. She merely used that excuse to get her sound bite in. Remember, we protested at McCaskill’s office so she’s quite aware of our objections to Pork.

I agree with the comments about Fox News. While they gave voice to our protest, they turned it around and make it about them with their “send a Fox News celebrity post card to your friends. It’s not about Fox and it’s not about Republicans.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:48 am 15. The Historian:

TEA PARTY REPORTING: WHORING OBAMEDIA
The adoring Obamedia is no longer in the tank, they drowned there!

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/adoring-whoring-obamedia.html

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:59 am 16. ricpic:

Who will carry the Tea Party message forward? Only the Republicans, IF the party can be purged of RINOs. Will the Republicans hear the message and return to conservatism? Stay tuned.

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:21 am 17. Samizdat:

DavidS, I’ll try to clarify for you. The overarching theme of the two rallies I attended was that BOTH parties are spending us into bankruptcy. I have slammed GWB repeatedly over the last 6 years for failing to cut the size of government, as I have also slammed the GOP for it’s screw ups while in the majority. In fact, I resigned from the RNC in January of 2007 because of their cluelessness. Now the Democrats are firmly in control both in Washington and locally. They are spending at a rate that will, in a few years, exceed all spending by our government in its history. As a liberal, can you see the danger to the continuation of the government programs you advocate for if our government defaults on our TBills and Bonds, or if we go the way of the Wiemar Republic? Liberal policy is best served by a healthy economy that creates excess tax revenue that can then be spent on social programs. This occured under Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and the first 6 years of Bush 2. We can not possibly grow our economy at a rate that will create the revenue to fund the debt we are accumulating at a logarythmic rate. The Government is consuming more and more of our GDP and there is an inverse relationship between that ratio and the health of an economy. That’s what the TEA parties were primarily focused on, with tax policy being a secondary concern, at least that was true in Concord and Manchester NH. I have repeatedly challenged posters to show me why I am wrong about my economic assessment and I have had no takers to date. By the way, some of the northern European nations have figured out the importance of a healthy economy for advancing the social agenda. Both Sweden and Norway have reduced the % of GDP consumed by their governments to increase business activity, growth and tax revenue. Ireland did the same thing about 15 years ago and until the downturn, had the fastest growing economy in all of Europe. Arthur Laffer is proven right again and again and if the left plays it’s cards right it could be the permanent beneficiary. If the northern Europeans can figure this out, why can’t Americans? It kind of boggles the mind.

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:28 am 18. RobertG:

If fools such as Senator Claire McCaskill are confused I do not know. As with Nancy Pelosi, Paul Begala and the Talking Heads of MediaLand their contempt for the non Obama/State worshipers is profound. But that is fine as I imagine most of we teabaggers are contemptuous of them.

To be sure this is much more than an “anti-tax” movement-to many of us it is an anti-powergrab movement and NOT Republican Party. We want an awful lot of those RINOs gone too.

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:35 am 19. ChipD:

Protesting against governmental spending is a fine thing; I would agree the government is spending far toomuch.
But if the conservatives want to be taken seriously, instead of becomning irrelevant cranks, they need to make a few decisions:
1. What is the government’s role- how large should it be?

Meaning, even if every single bridge-to-nowehre pork earmark is erased, even if every single frilly social-welfare program is compltely eliminated, we will still have a gargantuan, colossal military establishment that keeps 700 military bases around the world, is fighting 2 wars simultaneously (with a 3rd looming in Pakistan) and delivers military), economic aid of gazillions of dollars to nearly every single nation on the planet…

In order to feed and maintain this Leviathon entity, spending and taxes will have to remain pretty much where they are; the only way to really reduce government is to reduce what it does, and what its role is.

So far, conservatives haven’t been able to resolve this conflict.

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:37 am 20. elvis:

Pictures of NH TeaParties.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:00 am 21. Frank Logan:

In late February, I attended a Tea Party on the steps of the State Capitol in Austin with 40-50 like minded Texans. On April 15th, I attended two Tea Parties in Austin. Governor Perry & others spoke to 1500-2000 at lunchtime in front of City Hall. Congressman Mike McCaul, and various State Representatives spoke to 3000-4000 at 4pm on the Capitol steps. Obama was only a by-line at these gatherings. The main problem is seen as the 535 men & women of both parties in the US Congress. The main focus was on the runaway spending, and the increased taxation that is sure to follow (think about it). Signs advocating both term limits and the FAIR TAX were common. It is hoped that the next Tea Party scheduled for July 4th will be larger and the message more focused. Since the MSM tends to distort the facts, I forsee a million person +/- march on the Capitol Building in Washington, in the next year or so, to make sure they get the real message.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:03 am 22. savage24:

The latest I heard the count was up to about a million. Lots of new names for the DHS list.So far the politicians have turned a deaf ear towards this. I guess that “this to shall pass” is the attitude of Washington DC.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:12 am 23. Sebastian Shaw:

The Tea Party Movement needs to spike the RINO’s from power & find a leader who embodies all we represent in the Republican & build upon the power base. Politicians of all stripes need to be put on notice. We also have to look for the exploitative politicians of such a movement & not have them just use it for their own ends. It’s a fine line, but Reagan did between 1976-1980.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:18 am 24. Richard:

The first message of the TEA Parties is that we are no longer going to bend over when the government tries to screw us!

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:26 am 25. Herb:

“21. savage24:

The latest I heard the count was up to about a million. Lots of new names for the DHS list”

Woohoo! A million people! A whole 1/300th of the country. The silent majority isn’t silent anymore…(or much of a majority.)

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:28 am 26. RE:

It’s inspirational to see so many Americans turn out in support of our founding principles and our Constitution – and against the control freaks our Ameirca’s founding fathers warned us about.

It’s also good to see so many states starting to reassert the US Constitutuion’s 10th Amendment. The federal government has grossly overstepped it’s bounds. Shame on us for letting it go so far. Complacency Kills. It’s time to stand up to the elistist control freaks who seek to dictate micro-manage our choices, options, lives, and spending.

Thanks to all who showed up at the ‘Tea Party’ rallies! Bravo!

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:31 am 27. one of my own:

Enemies lists . . . a government that doesn’t listen . . . we’re hurdling in the wrong direction . . . your jeopardizing our future . . . throw the bums out . . . they work for us, we don’t work for them!

What, feeling marginalized? Disenfranchised? Ignored? Unfairly targeted? Suspicious of government? Worried about your civil liberties?

Well the people in power and the people who put them there think you’re over-reacting . . . that you don’t know all the facts . . . that you’re not capable of handling the intensity and complexity of the situation . . . that you should just go shopping and leave it the liberals to look after the country because we know what’s right and you don’t.

Now how’s that feel?

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:39 am 28. Samizdat:

ChipD,
Good points. I think most conservatives are concerned primarily about the size of the leviathin and the size of the debt. I speak for conservatives, not Republicans, I don’t know what they think based on their sorry past performance. I look at what we can spend governmentally as a function of GDP, knowing that the smaller the % is, the healthier our economy will be in the long run and the more wealth and tax revenue will flow. The northern Europeans get this, we are going in the opposite direction.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:39 am 29. JKB:

Everyone is looking for that one issue to chain the tea parties to. Well, it doesn’t exist, it is more a mood. I believe that mood can be summed up:

We are watching
We are connected
and Washington,
We are very unhappy

Now, I suggest the 536 elected officials in Washington use some of that hated free market experimentation to discover what will salve this mood. Winner gets to keep his job and perhaps increase his influence. Oh, and, taking our earnings and throwing them back at us, is a failed strategy.

November 2, 2010, well, that’ll be an interesting day.

Bonus: State and local politicians can play too.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:40 am 30. marsouin:

Without concommitant constitutional restrictions, i.e. return to the Founder’s vision of limited government, even the most fantastic revolt will become but a fleeting outburst to no lasting change. Make rent-seeking, in all its forms unconstitutional, and much of our troubles will fade away. Unitl the next attempts to loosen the shackles of Leviathan.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:45 am 31. Professor Guvinoff:

The hottest of all the “cool” inventions these days must be the GPD (General purpose denial). Don’t look for consistency. It’s not required! There is no difference between the “train of thought” that leads to the concept of “greed-only pirates” and the one behind the portrayal of tea party attendants as remotely-controlled dunces.

Expedited logic is not what animates the tea party attendants. They also have a train of thought, but not one that has derailment for a first priniciple. This is a movement, and it is gathering momentum. The deniers will never know what hit them!

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:54 am 32. Ex-Dem:

10. Bruce:

if you think the tax burden to come for generations is not indeed generational theft then you have some more research to do, son.

and what is up with all of the sophomoric teabagging jokes? not funny folks.

the repubs need to clean house and get a fiscally responsible conservative running the show. bush with a democratic congress was an epic fail.

do not even get me started on that hag pelosi.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:07 am 33. Samizdat:

Herb,
Go a head and attempt to marginalize the numbers. I’d like to see what you have to say about the thoughts articulated in post #17 above. I attempt to get at the heart of the issue there. Why am I wrong? When 1 person throws a pie at Ann Coulter it is news to the MSM. When 20 people stand in front of a government building protesting the war, that is deemed news. When 500,000 get together at Woodstock that is news. When 300,000 taxpayers take time off from work and peacefully protest runaway spending, that is not news. That makes no intellectual sense and explains why the NYT, Boston Globe, MSNBC, CNN, WAPO, CBS, NBC etc are hemoraging money while Fox is gaining market share. People are busy, my wife wanted to protest, but let me go instead so my sons could attend their sports practices. Only a fool would think I was alone with that schedualing conflict.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:08 am 34. Sunglasses on a cloudy day:

DRIFTER, STILL DRIFTING
(AP) Toledo, Ohio

A family in Toledo, Ohio is still looking for answers. They would like to know when the dead drifter they’ve had in their crawl space for the last two years is going to be returned to them. The dead drifter was removed from their home on November 4th, 2008 by members of ACORN. Todd Bainbridge, a father of four, was told by ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) representatives that the dead drifter was a registered voter and by not allowing the dead drifter to vote, it would be a violation of the dead drifter’s “democratic rights”. Mr. Bainbridge was told the dead drifter would be returned to the crawl space after performing his civic duty, but has yet to show up. “The dead drifter’s been part of the family for over two years”, said a visibly upset Mr. Bainbridge, “they promised he’d be returned by the end of the day, been more than five months now, it’s especially hard on the kids, they liked to go into the crawl space and poke him with sticks”.

Everything was running smooth, then the ACLU entered the picture. “I have no idea where these people get off thinking they can take advantage of these dead drifters”, said ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) spokesperson Emily Dufiss, “do they think just because they are drifters or that they are dead, they can put them in their crawl space and that’s it? These dead drifters have just as much right to the American Dream as you or I”. The whereabouts of the dead drifter is not known and the ACLU is not willing to release that information. “We are not holding the dead drifter against his will”, the spokesperson reassured.

Mr. Bainbridge is not convinced the ACLU is playing fair and has retained the services of lawyer Gertrude Huff. “Mr. Bainbridge’s father had a dead drifter in his crawl space and his father before him had a dead drifter in his crawl space and Mr. Bainbridge would like to have his dead drifter back in his crawl space”, said Ms. Huff. Despite it being wasteful posturing, the ACLU will not budge, “If we don’t stand up for these dead drifters, who will”? Local authorities issued a single statement. “There was no identification on him except what appeared to be a user name and password, to what, god only knows”, said chief of police Ed McMahon, adding, “it seemed unusual for a dead drifter to vote, you know, we get the odd hooker with a heart of gold showing up to vote, but not too many dead drifters, at least none that I’ve seen”. A source close to the investigation said the only identification authorities could find on the dead drifter was a balled-up piece of paper with “one of my own” and “666″ written on it. Mr. Bainbridge is pursuing all legal avenues. ACORN refuses to answer any questions. Meanwhile, the dead drifter continues to drift.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:17 am 35. just passing through:

one of my own:

I think the reason that you, muppet master, david s, and the rest of the sock puppets are so viscerally scared of the Tea Parties is that if they succeed in coalescing into a national movement it will be because they achieve a true coalition status. Too early to say if they will reach the tipping point into a broad coalition, but since they are growing, not contracting, there’s no discounting the possibilty at this point. The ‘nyah, nyah, I can’t hear you’ from your marching moron coalition notwithstanding.

If, or in my belief when, enough politically moderate and fiscally conservative independents, republicans, and democrats identify themselves with the Tea Party message, you sock puppets are going to be a trivialized and bitter bunch.

I think it’s the anticipation of that that has you so scared.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:23 am 36. Peter the Bubblehead:

25. Herb wrote:
Woohoo! A million people! A whole 1/300th of the country. The silent majority isn’t silent anymore…(or much of a majority.)

Peter writes: In Herb’s world, if a couple thousand people gather to genuflect to The One, it’s an Earth-shattering event, but if over a million gather to tell the government enough is enough, it’s just “Ho-hum. Nothing important. I can go back to sleep now and let Obama mail me my welfare check again.”

You’re not seeing the big picture here, Herbie. This is just the beginning. Obama had months to organize his adoring fans into packing the stadium in Denver. (And don’t believe every person at an Obama event during the campaign was a supporter. I have a co-worker who is definitely anti-Obama and who got wrangled into an event in Virginia Beach last year just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.) We Tea Partiers have until November 2010 to get our group organized, and then the political fat-cats in DC will be begging for their jobs.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:32 am 37. Paul -Indiana:

Tea parties are fine, but if people don’t vote, they are pointless. Obama was elected by 30.5% of the electorate, of which 42% failed to vote. Protesting your lack of choices by not voting is what got us into this mess.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:37 am 38. Samizdat:

One of My Own,
I cut my shopping by more than 50% last August when I saw the handwriting on the wall. My wife and I cut the Christmas shopping by 60%. We have doubled the size of our vegetable garden this year and have curtailed spending radically. No longer going to restaurants. Not buying new clothing. We have lost all confidence in our Governments ability to work with the economy. All evidence suggests that things will only get worse, at least in the next year or so. If inflation replaces deflation, it will be alot worse for a long time. As revenue shortfalls accumulate it will become harder and harder for the government to maneuver us forward. By the way, we’re both currently employed, but we can see trouble ahead and a government that has no idea of what to do and how to deal with it. The understanding of economics simply escapes the Washington crowd. I would appreciate it if you would address my post at # 17 above and tell me how I am wrong. Over the last several months of posting it repeatedly no one has told me why that assessment is incorrect.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:41 am 39. kdman:

David S

it is OK that you don’t get what the Tea Parties are about. You never get it. You never will.

So stop fretting over it, go back the corner, return to the fetal position, renew your thumb sucking, and leave thinking people to deal with the important things in life.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:49 am 40. eburchelli:

For those of you complaining about the participation of Fox News at the Tea Parties – if they hadn’t been there, the only places we would have heard about them is on the net or in some local newspapers. The MSM of any type, broadcast or print, would not have given it any coverage at all, even the negative, if Fox hadn’t been involved.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:07 am 41. Alice Smythe:

Rubbish. Laws are made by congress. Congress is owned by a privileged aristocracy that rigs election rules — campaign finance, gerrymandering– to keep outsiders out. How do you think we got in this mess in the first place?

In 2010 in 95% of national elections the same guy will win who’s won for the last 26 years. At the margin we conservatives will get to vote against the corporate Democrat and for the corporate Republican. BFD.

Government works for those who govern.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:08 am 42. Sherab Zangpo:

I don’t know Folks.
This administration is moving pretty fast (economy, national defense, foreign relations) and has the support of 80 per cent of the media, a support that looks more and more like a true totalitarian control of the info (and of the minds).

2010 seems immensely far to me, at this pace of subversion.

The trolls here are wrong when they don’t understand the relevance of this movement, but we better work to transform it in a true tsunami, able to peacefully unify the Nation against the socialist “change” (i.e., subversion).

It’s a long, long run.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:35 am 43. Middleman:

Sorry tea party folks, but the illegal immigrants and their rallies still have you beat. 200,000 at 1000 locations? You’d be better off offering free Grand Slam breakfasts.
Just like most other movements on both the right and left, this will fizzle out.
Mostly because the mainstream like the status quo (whatever that may be), there is no clear message, and this small movement will eventually be ripped apart by extremists and special interest groups looking to capitalize off people who feel marginalized.
Just like the anti-war rallies on the left had any lefty screwball with a chip on their shoulder showing up with Free Mumia/Right On To Anything Third World signs, you’ll have the same thing happen with Tea Parties and it will increasingly leave a bitter taste in common peoples’ mouths to the point where they write the protests off as nuts. It’s already begun, and you don’t need MSM to show it. You can watch YouTube clips of the rallies where people scream about Communist plots and one clip where a woman advocates the burning of books.
On top of that, with Republicans now out, it’s highly suspect that suddenly there is a movement against government spending by the people who went 8 years with barely a peep and now are mad with the Democrats are in power. This isn’t a bi-partisan movement, but rather a lame attempt by Republicans at thinking outside of the box, and to base it off the words from some CNBC schlub further heightens the lameness.
You might think you’re on to something, but I’ll bet $100 of your tax dollars that we won’t hear much about these within a year, particularly if the economy gets better. Then you’ll realize what a lot of people on the left think they already realize- most people in this world are asleep.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:53 am 44. kenny komodo:

The harder the left tries to marginalize, mock, belittle and scorn the tea parties the more you begin to realize they really are running scared. Bordering on paranoia. The left, the media, the tv talking heads, most blacks and most Jews bought into the Obambi rhetoric and bought big…now they’re beginning to see through the mist a bit more clearly and frankly I think they don’t like what they are seeing. So they use the politics of slander, gutter humor and brainless dolts like Olbermann and airheads like Katie Couric to heap contempt. It’s not a “Black President” thing regardless of how the left tries to spin it and by calling the gathering of tea party protesters “racists” just proves my point. I’m sure that if there had been a strong Black conservative running in the last election he, or she, would have won. Conservatives that I know don’t give two hoots about the color of the President they care about his spending, his policies that seem to be weakening our country and his obvious kowtowing to Muslims such as bowing to a Muslim King.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:55 am 45. mbs:

David S
Others can probably explain the ideas behind the tea party protests better than I, but I can tell you what I think is behind them. I’m no expert, just your average middleaged, middle class taxpayer, but personally I would like to see the following specific actions result from the spirit of the tea party protests
1. STOP THE EXPANSION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! It’s too big already, stop creating new programs with our tax money.
2. Go through the existing federal budget line by line and eliminate unnecessary programs (wait, that sounds familiar, like I’ve heard it before – but no one ever does it). That includes things like STD prevention, which is not and should not be a federal issue. There are lots of others, but I’ll leave that list for another time.
3. Go through that stimulus bill and repeal all the pork. I don’t think my tax money (or my grandchildren’s) should go to build a high speed rail line between Las Vegas and Disneyland. That bill could have been 1/2 the size, and still satisfied even most Democrats.

Right now, I don’t have a problem with the taxes I pay, their high, but I can pay them. I just don’t like how they are being spent. However, I’m not stupid enough to think that my taxes aren’t going to increase exponentially to pay for all the trillion dollar deficits that are coming. And it’s not just income taxes, this administration seems to be looking for and finding all kinds of new and different ways to tax the populace. We can see where the country is headed, and a lot of us don’t like it. And for me, and many others, it’s not just an Obama issue. We need a Republican leader who believes in limited federal government, and is strong enough and willing enough to try to stop the continued expansion of pork, entitlements, and plain old payoffs. Because that seems to be a lot of what federal government spending is about, no matter who is in office. Payoffs.

That’s a start, and it only took me 3 minutes.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:57 am 46. JV:

You guys really should read this one-page PDF: http://www.veraverba.com/newsletter/archives/Youve%20Been%20Robbed.pdf
And God Bless everyone at the Tea Parties.

Apr 17, 2009 - 11:30 am 47. Pastor of Muppets:

From 2001 through 2008, not a single one of you marched or assembled to protest against anything your Republican president did.

Not one of you assembled to voice your outrage that thousands of American soldiers who served our country are now without jobs, homes or health care.

Not one of you protested the sham that was No Child Left Behind.

Not a single one of you assembled to protest the fact that we abandoned our search for Bin Laden. Not one of you assembled to protest the fact that the President tried, several times, to block the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks.

Not one of you protested the billions in no bid contracts for Halliburton.

Not one of you assembled to protest the illegal wiretapping of civilians.

Not a single one of you marched to protest a single thing that VP Dick Cheney did, regardless of the rapidly mounting evidence that not only did he continually break the law, but moreover he viewed himself as outside the realm of law and oversight.

Not a single one of you marched to protest the torture of human beings or the unnecessary death of children.

Not one of you joined millions of Americans who marched against the War in Iraq.

But now that we have a black, Democratic president, you all suddenly, and very conveniently, seem to have a whole lot to protest.

And what are your grievances?

“Fascism”, you say is why you are protesting, with the Tea Party movement but not a single one of you can name something that is inherently “fascistic” about the current administration. You cite the idea the federal government is now “controlling industry”, but conveniently fail to ever mention that the industries that are now under federal oversight chose to take American tax dollars in exchange for being under federal oversight. No government entity forced these corporations to be bailed out; they agreed to the bailout and therefore agreed to the federal oversight. You also claim that the federal government is going to take away your “guns” and your “freedom” but can’t either a) cite a single shred of credible evidence to prove this, or b) name a single act by the current administration that has limited your ability to get guns or limited your freedom.

The other grievance of the Tea Party movement is that you hate taxes. But that’s equivalent to a mass of five year olds gathering to protest vegetables. Sure, our tax code needs some serious overhauling, but everyone with a brain knows that you simply cannot effectively run a nation as large as ours without substantial taxes. It’s simply not possible to run a country on tax cuts; the last eight years have been a rather stunning affirmation of this. Without taxes, and without “pork”, we have no public services. We have no functional police protection and no 9-1-1 to call in an emergency. We have no Emergency relief. We have no firefighters. We have no education system. We have no transportation. We have no Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security or any other safety net. We have no benefits for our soldiers. Without taxes, we are a third world country.

So it is really astounding to see a group of portly, soft people protesting against the very system which has allowed them to be safe, free and prosperous. In essence, it’s like a bunch of pigs kicking over their trough because the feed is not to their exact liking. Around the world, people starve, people are victims of genocide, and people are victims of natural disasters because they don’t have governments that are large enough or are secure enough to ensure their day-to-day safety, but here in America, fat people are wearing tea bags on their heads because apparently keeping the United States of America safe, healthy, educated and secure is just not nearly as important to them as keeping every last cent of income.

What it seems to boil down to is that this Tea Party movement is comprised essentially two groups of people, the first of whom simply don’t understand how government works, and don’t understand the correlation between paying taxes and having a stable, secure, functioning society; the other segment do understand the correlation, but continue to mistakenly believe that society can just crumble around them, but as long as they still have a gun and aren’t taxed on their income, they’ll weather the anarchy.

But the underlying sadness of this whole thing, what it makes it all truly pathetic and disgusting, is that it’s all about money.

The last eight years, the Left protested and marched for many reasons, and often times went off the deep end with their passion, anger and rhetoric. But when you look at what they were protesting, the contrasts couldn’t be starker:

The Left marched to protest torture. They marched to protest the deaths of innocent civilians. They marched to protest the illegal surveillance of innocent American citizens. They marched to protest a war that left hundreds of thousands dead, and they marched to protest a Federal government that left American citizens in New Orleans to fend for themselves when a disaster hit.

And the right protests not over human lives, or the safety of their fellow man, or even against some real tangible physical threat. In the end, they protest because they want more money.

If that doesn’t tell you a lot about the character, motivation and ethics of the Tea Baggers and there movement, I surely don’t know what does.

Apr 17, 2009 - 11:36 am 48. jodetoad:

It’s hard to talk to people who are blinded by their own nobility.

If waterboarding some criminal could prevent another 9-11, I say go for it. Life’s decisions are not always so simple as ‘what noble sign will I carry today?’ If sleep depriving some knuckle-dragger could prevent a disaster, I support it.

The reason I don’t care what libs think is that they are too busy admiring how noble they must look to check reality now and then. They don’t CARE why we were there, as long as they can feel superior to somebody, so it’s a waste of time to try to explain it to them. As long as they think their image is pure, they are happy.

I hope we can come up with frequent action, Labor Day would be good. Not only does much of the public have a short attention span, we want to keep the momentum up.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:25 pm 49. AThinkingPerson:

Pastor of Muppets… You make a lot of assumptions. How do you know no one did anything during Bush’s tenure? DID YOU? I cannot seem to remember even ONE demonstration by a liberal group besides Code Pink during Bush’s term. Gee… no wonder you and your like-minded, racist compadres are so up-in-arms! You all find it so hard to grasp that a massive amount of average Americans have come together to protest. You’re just angry you’ve let Code Pinkers and PETA do your liberal talking for YOU. Too bad. Too late. You’ve helped bring the US to the brink and now it’s time to bring it back to what our founding fathers intended.

As to your assertions that the Left marched for this and that…yeah right. They march to legalize pot and to stop parental abortion notifications. Very noble.

I’d say that says a lot more about the character of the liberal left. Why not come out and protest with us for the future of our country? Why are you so against seeing the US succeed?

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:32 pm 50. AThinkingPerson:

Pastor of Muppets… Oh, I almost forgot…you’re right, the left did protest in a BIG way recently……… for gay marriage. Very altruistic.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:34 pm 51. elvis:

No most of us didn’t march before. SO WHAT. WE ARE NOW………
and yes we do want to keep our money that we make. It is quite simple.

The left never knows why they march. If they were really concerned about people… they would be marching now.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:35 pm 52. Samizdat:

Pastor
You reveal yourself to be a racist, arguing completly falsely that it is all about an African American president. You are completely offensive to me and my family that fought for the Union Army in the Civil War. You are spewing your ignorance.
Let me staighten you out on a few other points as well; I have been an opponent of President Bush’s spending for the last 6 years, I appear regularly on local and regional talk radio and have strongly criticized the profligacy. Ditto for the Republicans who squandered the opportunity to get our fiscal house in order. I resigned from the RNC over the issue. My criticism has also been expressed in numerous letters to the editor. Additionally, I am in frequent contact with my Rep in Congress and the two Senators from my state. We weren’t protesting before, what an ignorant statement!
Why don’t you park your ideological rant and answer my post at # 17 above? That is what the issue is. And, by the way, you won’t be able to stand this, I am a strong supporter of Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams along with a number of other conservative commentators and jurists who happen to be African American. One of the persons identified above happens to be a close friend who I have known since highschool. Your racism disgusts me, you need help.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:36 pm 53. Lucy:

Some people can’t see the good in anything. Some people can’t even see the good in America.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:37 pm 54. USPatriot:

To middleman(#43) and Pastor of Muppets(#47):

Take your garbage, bilge and subterfuge over to the DailyKos, MSNBC,CNN, HuffPo and Moveon.org echo chambers. “Teabagging” seems to be a hot topic of preoccupation with the degenerates connected to these organizations. Maybe you could expound upon that topic with your fellow travelers. It’s obvious you don’t have a clue what the Tea Parties were about or an understanding of the motivations of the Americans that attended the Tea parties.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:44 pm 55. Ditto:

It isn’t a black president I object to in the least. It’s the prospect that he’s really red that has me concerned.

Apr 17, 2009 - 12:52 pm 56. FLMom:

Obama’s people in Washington and in the media set up a straw-man argument. It’s a nice simple technique to help them avoid addressing reality. I have a hard time believing they are as clueless as they sound, but one can never be too sure.

They appear to have no clue about the rising level of anger over reckless spending at every level of government. Apparently, they think a million ordinary people came out in rain, sleet and all manner of other conditions to protest higher taxes on the rich, just because we’re a bunch of racists.

Or is this a set up so that when we complain about the much higher energy taxes they can say we are only complaining because we’re racists?

This is becoming so tiresome. I think the straw in their straw man is beginning to rot.

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:01 pm 57. FLMom:

We have every right to protest wasteful spending.

If your family was broke and doing everything possible to get by on as little as possible, then your spouse borrowed 80,000 for a new sports car, you would keep silent?

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:07 pm 58. FGH:

The common theme was protesting what many see as the government’s overreaching in terms of taxation and spending, but also, and perhaps even more important and too little stressed—the erosion of values that have been at the core of American life since they were fought for and won during the American Revolution. Instead of the free market commanding the economic heights with its emphasis on consumer choice, competitive prices and profit-seeking, they see a shift to government control and industrial policy dictating the nation’s commerce. Instead of self-reliance, a traditional work ethic and personal accountability, the tea party protesters see a shift to rent seeking (the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution) and moral hazard (the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk).

Alexis de Toqueville, in his seminal “Democracy in America,” worried that democracy might lead to a tyranny of the majority—a tyranny of “all over all,” which might result when the people seek to use government to protect them in their mediocrity by restricting the freedom of any who might challenge or endanger them. This could lead to a kind of sterile suffocation of talents or ambitions, he feared, and the utter surrender of freedom in exchange for equality. “The nations of our day cannot prevent conditions of equality from spreading in their midst,” wrote de Toqueveille, “But it depends upon themselves whether equality is to lead to freedom or servitude, knowledge or barbarism, prosperity or wretchedness.”

One senses de Toqueville would sympathize with the tea parties.

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:31 pm 59. Jack Okie:

RE and marsoiin:

I agree about the Constitution. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, et al, high taxes and huge deficits are symptoms. Intrusive government is a symptom. If we don’t restore the original balance between the states and the federal government, it won’t matter what else happens. There is just too much unchecked power in Washington – party be damned. I referred to it as Imperial Washington a couple of days ago, and it fits.

Pastor, David S, Middleman: Tell us what would be wrong with restoring the balance the Founders called for. The Tenth Amendment is quite clear, why not enforce it?

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:47 pm 60. Mike2:

47. Pastor of Muppets:

Oh aren’t you guys such an altruistic and wonderful bunch. I just have two little questions that I hope won’t upset you too much. If the war in Iraq was was illegal when Bush was president why is it not so now?? And why aren’t the “millions of Americans” that you mention still in the streets protesting? After all, Obama has extended the period the period that our troops will be there and even says that 50,000 will need to be there indefinitely.
But, I bet that partisan politics have nothing to do with the lack of protests by the left do they. Hypocrites, the whole bunch of you. Only Code Pink and a few others are true to their beliefs. The rest of you are party hacks, just what you accuse others here of being.
————————————
Who is John Galt?

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:48 pm 61. SteveB/Colorado:

As I wrote in another T-P thread, all the hoopla over “tea parties” is amusing. In #11, David S. opined that the tea parties come from a frustrated fringe of the GOP that is politically disenfranchised. If he is referring to fiscal conservatives, he is right on.

For years, the real RINOs in the GOP have been those who allowed the great party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower to get hijacked by the religious right. Instead of focusing on the real issues, our party has been preoccupied by religious issues like stem cell research, gay marriage, abortion (code for restricting birth control), prayer in public schools (written of course by the TV preachers of the right), etc.

FL Mom (#57) you want the right to protest wasteful spending. How about the recent GAO report advising that 64 of 96 current military procurement programs are running a collective $296 billion over original estimates. I feel so much safer knowing the military-industrial complex is spending money so well. Will you protest that?

I’m no fan at all of the current Pelosi pork. But I think all of thou dost protest too much. After all, I heard hardly a peep during 8 years of runaway deficit spending by Bush/Cheney. Whatever Clinton may be for some of you, at least he left office with a balanced federal budget.

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:52 pm 62. stuart Williamson:

Of course the Tea Parties were not simply protests against immediate tax progrms, as was clear from the diversity of the messages on the signs being waved. And of course it was a “rabble”, albeit an orderly one, in the sense of its diversity and lack of a central controlling force.

For Dr. Goebbels Axelrod and his henchmen, the scary things were its rising so soon after the inauguration, its size. its spontaneity, and the clear indications that it was not just anti-tax, but anti-spending, anti-socialist, anti-Obamist. They knew it would be coming, but not so soon.

There is no need t be concern about the “movement” going away. Just wait till they initiate their Energy policies! The major stimulus this administration will produce will the rise of outraged resentment and open rebellion – directed at the Congress. “Throw the Bums Out” is certain to resonate with senators and congressmen on both sides, and erode Obaama’s control of Congress, probably before the year is over. So they’ll be piling on their radical socialist efforts in a full court press
(Highly appropriate: Courts…and Press.) in the cming months.

One thing should be made certain.Keep the GOP out of any managerial or leadership role: it must be non-partisan into the 2010 campaign.

Apr 17, 2009 - 1:56 pm 63. Dave:

Winner of today’s idiot comment goes to Master of Puppets: “In the end, they protest because they want more money.”

When people want to keep a reasonable amount of the money they earned, whether through work or investment, leftists equate this with wanting someone to give them something. That’s Orwellian.

But that is not really even the point of the protests. My guess is that most people can handle their tax bill today. But anyone with any understanding of economics knows that this massive spending is going to require a massive tax hike one day. That high taxation has a number of very negative effects on society and the economy. Even if you stick it to “the rich”, it lowers incentive to take risks and build businesses which means less jobs, less economic activity, less tax revenue in the long run. That is going to mean a lower standard of living for everyone – including you leftists.

This big tax and spend model is crushing the economies of states run by Democrats. We don’t want this to become nation wide.

Apr 17, 2009 - 2:09 pm 64. Professor Guvinoff:

58: FGH

Some things transcends time! What de Tocqueville wrote is still applicable today, and the principles that guided our founders are still as valuable they ever were, only they have been cheapened by various attacks of hubris.

Wisdom and money are two different things, but inflation threatens them both.

Principles do not lose their validity because we invent some excuse for ignoring them. They are in our custody, and we can dissipate them if we don’t recognize how privileged we are for having inherited them.

Apr 17, 2009 - 2:14 pm 65. elvis:

#64 “Principles do not lose their validity because we invent some excuse for ignoring them. They are in our custody, and we can dissipate them if we don’t recognize how privileged we are for having inherited them.”

Yes, and unfortunately we have many bitter, ignorant people that have no principal that only practice dissipation. In fact their sole reason to live is to this practice… from values to their wasted lives.
Then they try to tell us how to live.

Apr 17, 2009 - 2:31 pm 66. AThinkingPerson:

Anyone else enjoying the Left’s interpretation of the Tea Parties? My favorite is that we’re all racists. Yes, that’s it. We all took the day off of work, rallied friends and family to join us and made signs saying “NO MORE SPENDING!” all because Obama is 1/2 black. Such simpletons. No wonder they have to travel in packs and share a brain.

Apr 17, 2009 - 2:41 pm 67. Middleman:

USPatriot,
Why don’t you drop the name USPatriot if you can’t take opposing viewpoints or even provide us with a reasonable sales pitch to what the Tea Party is about and why WE as either non conservatives, independents, or other AMERICANS should support the Tea Parties. If it’s about nothing more about your own echo chamber than it won’t go anywhere. Whether you’re on the steps of a government building or not.

You and people with your viewpoint don’t have a monopoly on patriotism. Understand?

Apr 17, 2009 - 2:47 pm 68. DavidN:

All of this is complete futility. The tea parties will fail, and Obama will spend as much money as he and his supporters feel is necessary to save the economy for the middle class. If it means bankrupting Wall Street, then so be it. The government is going to run the banks and much of corporate America, whether those entities want to be run by the government or not. Everyone talks as if the bail outs were done at corporate behest (Pastor of Muppets makes this claim) and while it’s true of Detroit, an number of banks *didn’t want* TARP money, tried to refuse it (and were forced to take it, by Paulsen, the Republican Sec. of Tres.) and now have been refused in their attempts to return it.

It’s clear who the opposing sides are, here. Obama is reasonable, well-spoken (not just for a Black guy; hell I think he’s the best President at making speeches since Kennedy) and seems very moderate. His opinions come across as well-thought out and middle of the road. If we take over the banks, he can make sure all the predator lending practices go away. This will insure that the people who should get loans do. No matter that many of him voted for him, and have bad credit scores. Pointing that out will get you singled out as a racist. On the other side we have the tea party protesters, who are represented by every goofball in the crowd the media could find. My favorite representative of opposition to Obama is the guy who had a poster of our President, and he’d photoshopped him into a Nazi uniform and put a Hitler mustache on him. He’s our poster boy, that’s what the rest of the country is going to see as representative of our opposition to Obama’s policies. If he’s genuine, someone in the march should have told him to go home; if he’s an agent provocateur, he did a brilliant job.

The fact is, the administration and those who support it are playing with fireworks in the dynamite factory. No one knows for *certain* that they’re going to blow things up. The economy can go in a number of directions, and there are other factors that we can’t anticipate. It does seem likely that they will blow things up completely, but when they do, rest assured of one thing: it’ll be George W. Bush’s fault.

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:04 pm 69. just passing through:

47. The puppet head: said

“From 2001 through 2008, not a single one of you marched…”

I went to several assemblies in support of the war.

“thousands of American soldiers who served our country are now without jobs, homes or health care.”

Cite? Liar.

“Not one of you protested the sham that was No Child Left Behind.”

Sham? So your crowd protested it?

“we abandoned our search for Bin Laden…”

Cite? Liar.

“the President tried, several times, to block the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks.”

Cite? Liar

I could go on, but will just tie it up neatly by saying that you really, really need help. You’ve tipped over.

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:07 pm 70. just passing through:

67. Middleman: said

“…provide us with a reasonable sales pitch to what the Tea Party is about and why WE as either non conservatives, independents, or other AMERICANS should support the Tea Parties…”

You come off like a reasonable guy. But you damn well know that you’ve been provided an explanation of what is driving the Tea Party multiple times. The fact that the sales pitch is lost on you only indicates that you’re not ready (or may never be ready) to buy, not that the pitch is unreasonable. So you’re either a reasonable guy who is a bit obtuse, or a sophomoric blockhead generating a facade of being a reasonable guy for purposes of your own.

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:15 pm 71. AThinkingPerson:

Middleman…. You’ve made a few bad assumptions. The Tea Parties were filled with “non-conservatives, independents, or other AMERICANS…”. Just because you put your head in the sand, didn’t listen to WHY people were going and assumed that Carter II would revoke your liberal card if you even considered going doesn’t mean that others did the same.

Why are you so averse to AMERICANS having a say? Aren’t you for MORE say how the government operates? As for having a monopoly on patriotism… by you’re responses ye shall be judged. If you’re NOT for Americans having a voice in their government, you’re NOT a patriot. So, Middleman, are you FOR us having a say or not?

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:18 pm 72. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Is It Just My Imagination?

Or are the nay-sayers here and in the media and in Congress sounding more and more desperate in they braying?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[You can tell how desperate they are by counting the number of times they say "racist" in their statements.]

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:49 pm 73. Chuck Pelto:

TO: AThinkingPerson
RE: Why?

Why are you so averse to AMERICANS having a say? — AThinkingPerson

Because they can’t abide hearing anyone who differs in opinion from themselves. Especially if that opinion can be backed up with better facts than their own opinion can be supported.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Politics is truth. Do not be swayed by facts.]

Apr 17, 2009 - 3:51 pm 74. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: Now Is NOT the Time….

….to rest on our well achieved laurels.

Now is the time to take the next step. We’ve got lists of potential volunteers.

We need web-sites, mailing lists, etc. dedicated to organizational communications. We need an infra-structure to collect, collate and disseminate information. Not just our own activities but the activities of all those who are opposed to our movement.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Know your enemy and know yourself..... -- Sun Tzu]

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:00 pm 75. Mary in LA:

“Not one of you…
Not one of you…
Not one of you…”

Pastor, how the heck do you know that “not one of us” protested?!? Just because you didn’t hear about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. The MSM hates our guts, remember? They won’t give conservatives the time of day, unless it’s to make them look like kooks. Principled conservative objection to the Patriot Act, formation of the Department of Homeland Security, TARP, and many other actions of the Bush administration went unnoticed and uncovered, except in conservative and libertarian blogs.

It’s not even true that “Not one of you joined millions of Americans who marched against the War in Iraq.” Reasonable people can and do disagree over whether deposing Saddam and his merry band of psychopaths was an appropriate action for the US to take. If you’re intellectually honest, you’ll find plenty of conservatives (mostly under the rubric of “paleo-cons”), as well as libertarians, who did not support the war in Iraq. But, again, they didn’t get any press, because our MSM insists on equating “100% of conservatives = 100% Republicans = 100% EEEVIL!”

I would be sad to find out that someone who writes as well as you do is a shallow thinker who swallows the MSM line uncritically. Why don’t you check out the archives at Reason.com’s “Hit and Run” blog? You’ll find lots of conservative and libertarian arguments for and against the Iraq war there. Again, just because you didn’t see it on TV news or read it in the New Yorker doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:04 pm 76. Nine-of-Diamonds:

@#72 – Don’t you just love the smell of roasted styrofoam in the morning? Major 0bamuppet meltdown, people. A few things to consider:

-Don’t listen to the 0bamedia babbling about a recovery. The current “Bull Market” is like the post 1929 mini-recovery in early 1930 – right before things hit the fan big-time. And Hoover was much more intelligent, experienced, and well-rounded than 0bama (although he shared 0bama’s foolish tendency to meddle with the markets).

-The 0bamoids can’t fight mathematics. Their Affirmative Action golden boy’s flailing around trying to prolong the party for as long as possible. Sooner or later it’s either going to be massive inflation or crippling tax hikes. Not exactly the recipe for Dem success.

-Energy prices. Oil ticks up whenever there’s a hint of a recovery. Prices are over $2.00 a gallon in many areas, despite extremely low demand. Any disruption in supply and we’re going to be back in $4.00 plus territory. Researchers studying presidential popularity and gas prices found an interesting (and predictable) correlation. 0bama’s got to keep gas at roughly its current price for four years, while appeasing his no-drill eco-terrorist base. Fat chance.

-Polling data. 0bama’s roughly on par with GWB pre 9-11. Whereas GWB had to fill the shoes of a popular predecessor, support in the upper 50-low 60% range is NOT GOOD for a prez like 0bama who inherited an ideal set of political circumstances. Plus, factor in pollsters’ bias, oversampling the unemployed, urban areas, and racial minorities – you get the picture.

-0bamnesty. Only a Harvard intellectual would think that importing millions of unskilled, social service using foreign workers was a good idea to push at this time. He stands to divide two of his most prominent racial blocs in the process (witness Black/Hispanic violence nationwide, Hispanics taking over service sectors from lower-income blacks, &c.) A massive influx of more legal and illegal immigration is sure to make for an … interesting situation in Urban America. It’s not likely that the minorities will vote Republican in 2010 and 2012, but we could witness major disillusionment amongst some of the Messiah’s most die-hard supporters. Now that the novelty of “First Black Evah” is over, look for apathy to set in.

Of course, the fools in the GOP will likely find a way to botch everything, but I think I can smell [possible] victory.

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:38 pm 77. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Mary in LA
RE: Aaaahhhhh…..

“I would be sad to find out that someone who writes as well as you do is a shallow thinker who swallows the MSM line uncritically.” — Mary in LA

…but they do. And not without good reason. It’s because they know the truth. And the truth is the line is a lie. But that doesn’t matter to them. The truth is far from them. And all the comments about how ‘racist’ and/or ‘evil’ conservatives are is a tool for the fools who follow them.

We saw the same technique applied by Lenin in Russia after the Soviets won their civil war. Do some research on the ‘kulaks’ and see what happened to them…..3.1 million marched off to ‘re-education’ camps. Few ever survived the ‘training’ regime.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Nothing succeeds like success.....]

Apr 17, 2009 - 4:44 pm 78. typos_R_us:

The tea parties cannot accomplish anything worthwhile. Maybe in 2000 they could have. The rot is to deep. A layer of paint won’t help. Nothing short of a revolution will ‘change’ the direction America is headed.
The ballot box is being stuffed. Like Stalin said, it’s who counts the votes that matters.
If the judiciary wasn’t corrupt, the Usurper would have never been able to ride ACORN and the ballot box stuffing into office.
The left controls the MSM.
All conservatives have left is a choice between accepting their future, or fighting for a different one…..

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:13 pm 79. Войска ПВО:

TO: Chuck(le)
RE: Resting on one’s laurels.

Chuck, I attended the party in Santa Ana, California and signed up at three tables there. Today, I received two phone calls, and 4 e-mails from people who asked what I could do for the cause, what my skills were, how much time I had, etc.

If anything, there people were charged up, real fire-breathers and I sensed from their enthusiasm that this little tax day get-together only whetted their appetites (and mine) for the soiree on 4 July and other days.

Also, one organizer (grass-roots type, not involved in politics for the past fifteen years — until now) spitballed with me for about 30 minutes about what could be done in addition to just throwing tea parties.

So, if all of us here want to piss off the trolls — not to mention making them apopleptic — then we should use this forum not only for debate but also to post links, offer suggestions, and support the others here who want to get involved. Blogs like these will become the modern day equivalent of the Committees of Correspondence and, instead of emitting that juvenile flatulence that “one of [his] own” or “Pastor[bator] of Muppets” or the other Huffslime eruct, we can be a positive influence in building a machine to flush the RINO and Dimocrat slime down the drain in 2010 and 2012 and beyond..

Regards,

Comrade Войска
[It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide..]

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:20 pm 80. Kevin:

It has been rather humorous watching the left try and get a handle on what has been happening with the whole “Tea Party” issue. Failing to grasp that it is much larger than just tax issues, they naturally fall back to “default” mode and go with the easy answer. It must be about taxes. From there they go forth and spew out the fact that we got a tax cut. Oh, that extra 13 bucks is a tax cut, eh? Man, talk about a “windfall profit.” This movement isn’t simply about taxes, or government spending, or the DHS report, or the myriad of other concerns many citizens have when it comes to the relationship between the people and its government. It’s all of it baby. And it has been brewing for quite some time. All it took was a runaway spending orgy by the president(s) and his cohorts in crime to cause the top to be blown off.

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:27 pm 81. totin in tx:

To #74 – absolutely right. As a person who writes for a living for “evil corporations” it’s obvious to me that we as the “tea partiers” lack a cohesive message. At the moment, we feel like a start-up that is trying to figure out exactly who we are, what we do, and what we want the customer to think. It’s kind of a process that evolves, but at some point, we need to put a stake in the ground about what the tea party phenomena is and wants. Tea party attendees, me included, have a lot of issues with the current administration’s policies and actions but it will take some work, good thinking, and effort to synthesize and distill all of these notions into a real messaging hierarchy that we can use.

People have had their ears perked up. Consistent communication and commitment to the message will win. If you’re trying to get a message out about a product or company, it can take 12-18 months for it to really get out and take hold. We have to stick with a consistent ideal that encompasses the many issues underneath it. If anyone noticed the O’s campaign — it didn’t matter if what he said was lies most of the time. He just never stopped saying it and people believed it. Fortunately, we have a position that a lot of people feel strongly enough about to stick with because it’s who we are and what we’ve always known to be right.

I’ll raise my hand to help. I just don’t know who or where to start with….and I still have to work for a living!

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:29 pm 82. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Войска ПВО
RE: Indeed

So, if all of us here want to piss off the trolls — not to mention making them apopleptic — then we should use this forum not only for debate but also to post links, offer suggestions, and support the others here who want to get involved. — Войска ПВО

For my part, the organizers of the local event are having a potluck picnic this Sunday.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[If ants are such busy workers, how come they find time to go to all the picnics? - Marie Dressler]

Apr 17, 2009 - 5:36 pm 83. catlee:

8. vivo:
It is known that the left are the racist.
Who cares what a 3rd class want to be atress thinks – Jeaneane Garofalo.
We from the Tea Party do not care if the president is pink, yellow, blue, orange, or whatever. Oh Obama is another Carter. I didn’t know Carter was black… Racism is an excuse from the left to be mean. Good work.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:03 pm 84. Samizdat:

Pastor,
You racist coward, you spew your hate and you don’t have the intellectual ovarian or testicular fortitude to answer the economic premise I presented at post # 17. I have given you a number of hours to screw up your courage, but you haven’t been able to do it. Why? You can’t find the answers in “Das Capital” or ” Mein Kampf”? Pastor, as a number of other posters have correctly suggested you are intellectually bankrupt and racial sick. Our country has moved way beyond your twisted and withered half thought. We routinely elect people of all ethnic groups to govern us. Your mind is consumed with a mentality that happily began to disappear with the Edsel. Our multicultural society is not perfect, but it is far more tolerant and accepting than you apparently can possibly imagine. To me, it is the content of the story inside the book that counts, to you it is the color and picture on the books jacket. This is how people were judged in our country by many 50 years ago. There is a shrinking minority who cling to such judgements today. Congratulations, I hope you like hanging out with your increasingly shrinking group of racial haters.

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:30 pm 85. Delia:

Our White-American president is a joke. Yes, I know it’s ‘racist’ to call him ‘white’ but he IS half Caucasoid. *gasp*

That white SOB is flushing our country down the toilet with his socialist agenda.

FN white people! Hmph!

Apr 17, 2009 - 6:41 pm 86. DanO:

So many choices of who to comment on, so little time.

Pokemon-like, I choose: ChipD, #19!!!

IF every non-proper (social welfare) government function that you mention WERE eliminated (oh, I’d like to faint, such a dream)…and its proper function and Constitutional right of self-defense kept in place, i.e., our extraordinary military, somehow keeping this planet from thermo-nuclear warming long before (false) global warming kicks in, and further terrorist attacks, and winning the quite legitimate war of self-defense in Iraq (once Bush got it right with the Surge)…and taking out Islamo-pirates…and all we never hear about…

We would be SWIMMING in surpluses. Those “social welfare” programs have dwarfed the defense budgets for years. We could pay for the federal government’s proper function with voluntary and lottery taxes…including a world-wide military…many times over…if we could rein in the pork and “social” spending…

And to both correct your spelling and your ideas, Leviathan comes from Thomas Hobbes. Here’s a good right-wing/Libertarian sample, speaking of an extraordinary characterization of what we are being asked to do now for The One, and the other two of the OPR:

“I authorize and give up my right of governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men”…

For those interested, check out this Wikipedia link, esp. what Hobbes calls “The 12 Rights of the Sovereign”. I can’t think of a better description, point by point, of what this administration imagines their “rights” and their power to be founded on. It certainly isn’t the U.S. Constitution…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(book)

So Chip, you pose the right question…

“What is the government’s role- how large should it be?”

You mention Leviathan…but get it wrong…and focus on only one of the 12 Rights. Ignoring the more important “rights” given to the Sovereign, leading to what Hobbes calls the “Social Contract”. One of the worst concepts in the history of Philosophy. I can summarize it in one sentence: “You put ME in charge, and I will take care of YOU!”

Yet, even the one “right of the Sovereign” from Leviathan that you seem to focus on is not true of the U.S.:

#9: “to make war and peace as he sees fit; and to command the army.”

Hmmm…not sure where you were…but that certainly doesn’t describe how we go to war…and never did…it takes the backing of Congress…even if they conveniently change their minds later, when it is politically expedient…

To summarize:

You bring up a legitimate question, about the size of our Federal government, and then attack one of its few legitimate functions. And smallest budget items?

Leading to your most ridiculous statement:

“In order to feed and maintain this Leviathon (sic) entity, spending and taxes will have to remain pretty much where they are;”…

As stated…look at the numbers Chip…how can you possibly state that eliminating 80% of the Federal budget…and leaving the military alone…could possibly mean: “spending and taxes will have to remain pretty much where they are”…

I am no conservative, but then, having set up the military straw man, you say this:

“So far, conservatives haven’t been able to resolve this conflict.”

Uh, yes they have. There is no conflict here or dispute about that…and while I think that “conservatives” might keep a few more laws in place than I would like…their basic message, and the message of the Tea Parties, is to return to the Founding Father’s correct concept of limited government. A Congress limited by the Constitution…to “making laws” as needed in narrow cases to better define what’s in the Constitution…not to “make-up” laws as it sees fit, like, uh, 1913…a judiciary to enforce those laws according to the onstitution…and very limited Presidential power…and a military to defend us from foreign powers…what part of 700 military bases around the world and two (or three, if necessary) wars doesn’t fit?

So, please finish your half-finished post. You say we spend too much…then segue into the military. As said, a miniscule, yet necessary part of the Federal budget.

What exactly are you suggesting we do?

Dan O

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:01 pm 87. AThinkingPerson:

Is there anything better than coming here and knowing that there ARE still sane people left in America? Don’t know about anyone else but after reading the intelligent articles and the following conversations, I know there is always hope for this great country of ours (no matter how low Carter II plans on taking it). Posters like Pastor prove that the shrill, shrieking voice of the liberal left has run it’s course. When they’re reduced to calling everyone who disagrees with Carter II a racist, they’re day has come and gone. Just hope the door doesn’t hit them on the way out!

Cheers to a successful Tea Party and to a new beginning for this great country!

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:08 pm 88. Agent WD-40:

Where do these basement dwelling leftist children come from that troll here? Are they paid for their drivel?

The tea parties obviously struck a chord and the lefties are trying to downplay it. Big surprise.

Apr 17, 2009 - 7:35 pm 89. one of my own:

Bored, Delia?

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:10 pm 90. one of my own:

84. Samizdat . . . News flash! Some people don’t care about your question.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:12 pm 91. one of my own:

School’s in! Everyone take their seats. Bilgepump, are you back in the cloak room again with Timmy? Stop that and join the class. Today I’m going to teach you why liberals call conservatives racists (or rednecks or ignorant rubes or fascists or lazy or greedy or sexually repressed Jesus freaks, whatever). It’s the same reason conservatives call liberals socialists (or communists or hippies or lazy or greedy or godless, whatever). Both sides are right just often enough to use the following ploy. Ready? Because if we repeat it often enough some dumbass will believe it and vote for our side.

Any questions? Good.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:22 pm 92. AThinkingPerson:

Anyone check out what the Huffington Posts take on the Tea Parties was? Hilarious! They reek of desperation and have actually printed that the GOP is regretting having them. Sad that there are brain dead minions out there actually believing that’s a “news” source.

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:27 pm 93. one of my own:

90 Whodathunkitperson . . . Quick question: Do you consider Fox to be a news source?

Apr 17, 2009 - 8:54 pm 94. Delia:

92. AThinkingPerson,

The dumbing down of America is self-evident in anyone who takes ‘huffpo’, Daily Kos or ["thrill going up my leg"] MSNBC for that matter even remotely seriously. Also, CNN demanded that youtube take down that video I posted earlier on a dif thread busting der hosenbaggen’s chops who played ‘reporter’ and someone else filmed the REAL deal after her B.S., so here we have Pravda in full effect. The MSM are getting busted on der internetz. Ze MSM nazis are not happy.

You vill be silenced. Der ebil freedomz of der speech vill be ‘kaboomed’. No alphabet soup for you! Vee are vatchink you.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:19 pm 95. just passing through:

91. one of my own: said

“…Because if we repeat it often enough some dumbass will believe it and vote for our side.”

I doubt this clown realizes both how badly he just indicted Obama’s progressive core for promoting the empty hopey changy mantra against all the then currently available evidence, and how badly he just insulted the folks taken in by it.

By the way, botboy, it is not generally liberals that are correctly called socialists, but progressives that are correctly called socialists. It is true that progressives are usually lumped together with liberals, but they are distinct in thought and intentions. The second greatest fault of the liberals is their unwillingness to distance themselves from the progressive uberleft. Their greatest fault is allowing the progressives all too often to speak for them.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:26 pm 96. Delia:

89. one of my own:

“Bored, Delia?”

Only with vous, my sveet leetle trollink leeb kewl aid dreenker.

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:34 pm 97. AThinkingPerson:

one of my own… Quick question: Do you consider bowing to a Saudi and shaking hands with a communist dictator while trashing Americans to be good public policy?

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:38 pm 98. Air2air:

This is slightly off topic but I feel it is the primary wound we inflict upon ourselves as Conservatives. When we can rethink it, we will be able to welcome independents, moderates, and many others from off the fence. It would remove the biggest wedge issue used against us in generations of ignorant characterizations from the Left and MSM.

We are the party of morals. Many of us bring religion into our politics. But some take this to mean that the GOP door is open for their own social issues.

As I understand the Conservative and Tea Party ideology, it’s about personal independence and freedom. My (conservative) friends exercise this freedom through the many faiths they choose to follow, or not.

As a lifelong Christian, I cringe when Conservatives claim that our country is “Christian”. In one stroke, this comment immediately alienates and even insults one half of our population. Let us not smugly assume that since we must be right, this is the right thing to do. Their side uses that one.

My conservative friends include Jews, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Each of them great Americans and family-loving conservatives. Huge potential assets for the GOP. And millions like them are here enjoying the American Dream from start to finish.

But I’m probably not the only PJM fan that has a hell of a time recruiting new Republicans when it is sometimes hard to distinguish our political party from Church.

As we know, our primary advantage over liberals is that our views don’t come from philosophy: they come from experience and understanding. Humans work a certain way. Government works a certain way. You need lots of life experience to be able to say you know why conservatism works. This is the element of conservatism that no liberal can debate; they simply change the subject to BDS as we all know. It is the great strength of our platform, as it is the country’s.

Throwing our personal religious views in however, reduces the argument to a belief-based one impossible to justify. We laugh at Global Warming, secure in the knowledge that it is yet another nail in their coffin. Well, we have our own version, and it has injured our party for generations.

I hope I have been tactful to those here who may be offended….

Apr 17, 2009 - 9:42 pm 99. steveg:

one of my own….do you ever read or watch anything that is not anti-capitalist, anti-christian or anti-military?

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:04 pm 100. JKB:

CNN was being a bit bipolar on tax day. Here is an op-ed by David M. Walker, former Comptroller General, they posted while snickering at the tea parties. Seems a man in the know tells us that we all owe $184,000 as of last September, more now no doubt. So without significant changes in entitlements and reductions in health care costs, taxes will double. Probably triple with the current trend in DC to spend, spend, spend.

Want to know why the tea party protests now, well the great weight recently added to the damocles sword of debt that hovers over us. The problem now is that since January the weight has been tossed on in 500 lb loads rather then the previous 5 lbs added added repeatedly over time.

Oh and the great lie of the bank bailout is nagging people as well. People start to think they should pay attention when their government officials perpetrate a fraud and flout laws requiring speedy resolution of insolvencies. Bankruptcy was designed to inhibit favoritism in clearing up failed businesses. When the government changes the rules for special friends, then it’s time for regular folks to let them know the people are watching.

Apr 17, 2009 - 10:15 pm 101. Войска ПВО:

Chuck(le), Marc Malone, David Thompson, cfBleachers, and others of good conscience and principle who wish to further the efforts of this grass roots campaign, is there a way we can collaborate to give all of you a voice in this crusade so that we can attract other like-minded patriots to our cause?

..if it is not an intrusion, please let me know at k6whp (at) n6vcw.com.

Note that I am NOT an Amway salesman nor am I looking for any “downline”.

“One if [his] own” and others of that ilk need not apply unless, of course, you need some realy great detegent or spot remover.

Apr 17, 2009 - 11:20 pm 102. paul_unalaska:

Samizdat, kudos on your posts (specifically #17.. ‘fist bump’).

DavidS and Pastor.. are cut n’ runners. Attempting to receive validity or lucid responses in their posts is futile.

Again, thank you for the insightful comments.

Apr 17, 2009 - 11:27 pm 103. Rachel Peepers:

Every now and then I’m tempted to confront the slow witted progressive left that hangs around here like lonesome, loathsome, patten leather, mouth-breathing pansies because Daily Kos and Moveon.org will not even give them a forum to spit.

Instead of being able to come up with an original thought; a fresh way of looking at the topic at hand, they reach for warmed over, let’s-call-em-nazi slash racists, shrill, reguritative, semi-hysterical pouting points.

And make me think they were in all the dumb classes in high school, and their lives went downhill from there.

Really, trying to intellectually joust with the likes of Senor Войска (a tilden over the “n”) strikes me as the equivalent of Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton or Tina Fey another tiny micro mind from the looney tune left trying to debate Dick Cheney on politics.

Dick Cheney.

Who cut John, (when I cheated, my wife was in remission) Edwards into little pieces back in their 2004 Vice Presidential debate. For the peace, serenity and attention you progressives have this bottle fed yearning for, I respectfully suggest you look in the yellow pages under, “Witless Protection Program.”

But that’s off topic, ain’t it?

Subject: Tea Parties throw the left wing mainstream media a curve ball.

The alphabet stations, (NBC, CBS and ABC for you mouthbreathers), had no idea how to deride, slam and sabotage the millions across red, white and blue America who supported Rick Santilli, Rick Perry, Sean Hannity, Rush, Beck, Senor Войска , Delia, et al.

So they acted like third graders who heard their first dirty joke. Or some fifteen year old puke who just had his first beer.

The big O, the annointed one, also had his knees buckle like Roberto Alomar expecting a fast ball and getting a Nolan Ryan roundhouse.

In fact, Barack was so scared and upset about the massive tea party doings that Michelle was reported to have picked Obama up and walked him around the room till he calmed down. At which point,
Rahm was called, who told Obama to encourage the alphabet networks, and the MSNBC water carriers like Rachel Madcow Disease to characterize the tea baggers in a moronic, laugh-filled, smutty sort of way. Which comes as natural to Maddow as breathing through her nose on command. That’s while, in between gulps, she’s calling the tea partiers, neo-nazis.

While protest may be the highest form of patriotism, when it’s against Obama, I guess it becomes downright unconstitutional.

Unconstitutional. Is that when the President authorizes the head of homeland securty to go on a fishing expedition searching for members of the military who, after laying their lives on the line for their country, are then investigated by Obama’s FBI because there’s a possiblity they’ve joined an anti-Obama, pro freedom group?

Janet Napolitano and the FBI did just that.

But, perchance, isn’t that contrary to the 14th and first amendment?

Of course, if they use firearms, Obama is liable to persecute and proscecute former soldiers for that, too, just as soon as he puts the second amendment through his home made Bill of Rights paper shredder.

Or doesn’t the great Obono have to follow the law? I just throw out the question. Any mouth breathing left leaning Daily Kos worshipping whimps out there can discuss this amongst your disgusting selves.

Gee willikers, I just realized that, before the government goes after returned war heroes, they just might be more likely to find domestic terrorists among admitted bomb throws.

Like guys and girls who have a history of bombing the Pentagon. Police stations. And such.

Jiminy Crickets, before Obama goes after returning war heroes (is there an echo in the room?), maybe he should investigate people like, like, like.

Bill Ayers.

If memory serves me, isn’t Ayers an admitted domestic terrorist?

Well, shiver my timbers, I think he is.

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Most admitted and known bomb throwing terrorists are personal friends of Barack Obama.

On second thought, Barack and Janet, maybe sending your attack dogs on returning Afghan and Iraq war heroes isn’t such a bad idea. I mean. It’s more your style.

Heroes like Paul R. Smith.

Jason Dunham.

Michael A. Monsoor.

Ross A. McGinnis.

Michael P. Murphy.

Wait, golly President Obama, even a sack of dirt like you would have the decency to leave them alone.

After all, they’re not just heroes.

They’re Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. Heroes who gave up their lives so the rest of us can live out ours in freedom.

Barack baby. Janet, you ignorant north end of a south bound horse.

As John Paul Jones said while sailing the sea in unfriendly waters, “We have not yet begun to fight.”

Apr 17, 2009 - 11:52 pm 104. Delia:

103. Rachel Peepers,

Wowie kazowie! Now THAT is a rant that sent a tingle up my leg!

You never cease to amaze me, Rachel P.

I’m not worthyyyyyyyyyyyy. *kicks self and yelps*

Apr 18, 2009 - 12:51 am 105. vivo:

103. Rachel Peepers:

Wow! Hallucinating again?

Apr 18, 2009 - 3:18 am 106. Samizdat:

Paul_Unalaska,
Thanks for your kind words. It is telling that One Of My Own and the Pastor of Muppets want to stay close to shore and wade in the shallow water. One of My Own is revealing himself, over time, to be Leninst. Notice that he doesn’t care about truth. He says something repeatedly so it will be adopted by others as truth, he admits this at his post at #91 above. This is an old Bolshevick tactic, and it pretty much discredits One of MY Own from now forward. He will do or say anything to further his cause, the ends justify the means.
Pastor of Muppets is more of your classic Ward Churchill leftist elitist, and racist to boot. When the average American looks at our society today they see a completely different racial picture than existed 40 years ago, a much more integrated nation. Racism in our country, while it still exists to some degree, has been marginalized. We are moving in the direction Martin Luther King envisioned, and while not perfect, are a much more economically and socially integrated society than we were when Dr. King was killed. Except not to Pastor, he views the world through his Al Sharpton glasses. I am sick and tired of Sharptonism, and as you can tell I take it quite personally. Remember it was the southern Democrats who fought the civil rights movement in the 1960’s, not the Republicans. People like Al Gores father, George Wallace, Robert Byrd; they stood against civil rights and the implementation of Brown Vs Board of Education. I have an ancestor who joined the Union army at 15, initially as a drummer boy. He eventually became an infantryman. I don’t accept being called a racsist, as it insulting to my family, in addition to being false.
Let’s keep up the TEA party cause, Americans are waking up and they are beginning to see that we will be bankrupt if we don’t change course. Our historic prosperity came from capitalism and free enterprise, not from the failed ideology of favoring the unproductive over the productive.

Apr 18, 2009 - 3:58 am 107. Peter the Bubblehead:

43. Middleman wrote:
Sorry tea party folks, but the illegal immigrants and their rallies still have you beat.

Peter writes: Maybe if the Queen Nancy’s of the lefty liberal world would actually ENFORCE existing laws instead of not only ignoring them but actually DEFYING them, we wouldn’t have that to worry about anymore, would we?

Apr 18, 2009 - 6:46 am 108. Peter the Bubblehead:

For all the Lefty Looney Liberals, especially those in the Dinosaur Media, who have convinced themselves the TEA Party movement is only about the fact the man in the White House is black (which, by the way, is isn’t really. He’s mixed race, and should really be referred to as an Arab-American if you want to be PS about it), THIS is what we really want:

• Limited Government! As our Founding Fathers recognized, restraint of government is necessary to protect the liberties of the people.

• Fiscal Responsibility! Government at all levels must learn to live within its means. To saddle future generations with the crushing burden of our excess spending is unconscionable.

• Personal Responsibility! Liberty is unsustainable without responsibility. Each citizen must take responsibility for the consequences of his or her own actions while respecting the rights and dignity of others.

• The Rule of Law! Consistent, independent and uniform application of the law is critical to a free and prosperous society.

• National Sovereignty! We must maintain a strong national defense, effective security for our borders, and sole control over our land and our laws.

Apr 18, 2009 - 6:50 am 109. Peter the Bubblehead:

And for those who have been arguing with the trolls on these threads, take some advice. It’s not worth the aggravation. Whenever I see any posts by the likes of one of my own, pastor of muppets, vivo, david s, or any like them I simply pass right over the post without wasting the time reading it. I know I will never convince these trolls with facts, and more than likely they are being paid to post on sites like this by groups like ACORN, so why bother trying?

Just my 2 cents.

Apr 18, 2009 - 6:57 am 110. one of my own:

You just can’t deal with reality. Don’t believe me, believe Bush “It’s my job to keep catapulting the propaganda.” Don’t believe me, believe Rupert Murdoch when he said Fox’s agenda was to help get Republicans elected. The truth comes from your own gurus’ mouths, albeit inadvertently, and yet you refuse to hear it. Obama never apologized to anyone about America. Show me the quote. Nobody can. But Hannity says, “Obama’s out there on his European apology tour” and you all believe it. The right has absolutely zero intuition about human nature. You WANT to be played like a fiddle. Thinking for yourself is too hard so you turn that task over to junkies and serial philanderers and gambling addicts (take a guess).

You’re just so pee-picking mad that you lost. You’re just so tied up in knots that the majority of people in this country have grown permanently tired of your self-righteous religiosity and ham-bone kindergarten politics and chickenhawk patriotism. To my earlier point, Fox News and talk radio have no interest in persuading smart people to join their cause. We know better. Their only purpose is to fill the heads of idiots with red, white and blue platitudes and ridiculous claims of coming doom.

Here’s the bottom line . . . the economy is going to come around. The right wing media machine knows that, so it’s pushing you into a state of panic, trying to create an underclass of useful idiots to go up against the newly awakened and now all-powerful electorate of liberals, young people, women, and people of color. We beat you the last two times, and we’re going to beat you the next two and more. You can claim all you want that the Tea Parties were about all Americans, but the only pictures anybody saw were of a bunch of angry white people.

And that’s just good enough anymore.

Apr 18, 2009 - 7:15 am 111. Nomad:

#25 How about another 10-15 million(maybe higher #’s) that didn’t attend ,but supported and would have been there if they could have.. Hold this tea party every year and just see how large the #’s will get.. “How you like them Apples…” Let the MSM try not to report the next TAX REVOLT!! A TAX PAYER VOTING FOR OBAMA IS ‘BOUT LIKE A CHICKEN VOTING FOR COL. SANDERS!

Apr 18, 2009 - 7:25 am 112. Reaganite Republican Resistance:

With Obama making it crystal-clear that he couldn’t give a rat’s ass what the TEA Party demonstrators were trying to get through his head, he will now enact his radical agenda regardless of cost, and is perfectly willing to pull us into the abyss to do it. In Barack’s world, even if impeached tomorrow, he could always brag that he fired the CEO of GM- the ultimate class-enemy.

It’s hard to imagine a worse combination in a leader than managerially-inexperienced narcissistic control-freak with Bolshevik mentors and weird racial/class grudges. This guy thinks he’s king of the universe, when his resume doesn’t qualify him to run a muffler shop. The only “qualities” I can see besides soaring rhetoric to wow the plebes are towering arrogance and a black-hole where a conscience was supposed to be… explains how he did so well in the mafia-like Chicago Machine.

Obama is a kook, and belongs on a shrink’s couch for the next 4 years, and not anywhere near the levers of power– because his bad childhood and bizarre, far-left mother are all our problem now, too.

Apr 18, 2009 - 7:27 am 113. winston:

All of the protesting will continue to fall on the deaf ears of the political ruling class. Unless enough voters go out and make some meaningful political changes in the voting booths, we will just be wasting our time.

Apr 18, 2009 - 8:38 am 114. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Войска ПВО
RE: Coorperation

“Chuck(le), Marc Malone, David Thompson, cfBleachers, and others of good conscience and principle who wish to further the efforts of this grass roots campaign, is there a way we can collaborate to give all of you a voice in this crusade so that we can attract other like-minded patriots to our cause?” — Войска ПВО

There probably is.

The question is just HOW.

Personally? I think a more formal organization and a web-presence are crucial to the idea. But we’re only just beginning. Tomorrow, I’ll ask this of the local group over some potato salad….

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Life is a feast. And most poor bastards are starving to death.....it's a self-inflicted wound.]

Apr 18, 2009 - 8:49 am 115. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: one on her own

The right wing media machine knows that, so it’s pushing you into a state of panic, — one on her own @ item #110

The only people I see here in a “state of panic” are the likes of one on her own.

The rest of US are not ‘paniced’. Rather the majority appear (1) to be pissed off’, (2) getting better organized, (3) girding up our proverbial ‘loins’ and (4) getting ready to ‘rumble’.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The sleeper has awakened! -- Paul Atredies in Dune]

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:06 am 116. David S:

@112. Reaganite Republican Resistance:

It’s hard to imagine a worse combination in a leader than managerially-inexperienced narcissistic control-freak with Bolshevik mentors and weird racial/class grudges.

Really? I imagine the managerially incompetent, serial failure, self-righteous idiot dictator and class warrior with Fascist tendencies that he replaced was much worse. Perhaps you slept through the last 8 years?

Peace.

DS

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:19 am 117. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: The ‘Devil’ Speaks

Really? I imagine the managerially incompetent, serial failure, self-righteous idiot dictator and class warrior with Fascist tendencies that he replaced was much worse. — David S

Sounds like he’s describing Obama. I’m particularly impressed with the projection of “class warrior” and “fascist tendencies”. Not to forget “managerially incompetent”. Not every ‘manager’ I know has succeeded in almost tripling the organizations ‘debt’. And that such debt should be almost as bad 10 years later.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out....and devil worshipers are not going to like it.]

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:27 am 118. venividivici:

117. Chuck Pelto:

Sounds like he’s describing Obama. I’m particularly impressed with the projection of “class warrior” and “fascist tendencies”. Not to forget “managerially incompetent”. Not every ‘manager’ I know has succeeded in almost tripling the organizations ‘debt’. And that such debt should be almost as bad 10 years later.

Knowing how marginally most lefties live (can’t seem to climb that corporate ladder despite their “genius” and those cushy tenure-track jobs are harder and harder to come by, especially in the humanities, which they tend to infest), with any luck David S will some day have to give up his internet access to pay his “fair share” of the future debt service.

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:40 am 119. one of my own:

How about that Obama quote apologizing for America? Bueller? Bueller?

Doesn’t fit into your mythological command of “empirical data , facts and logic” does it. You’ve been challenged and you’ve failed. I suggest you go back to Google and brush up on that whole “Venn Diagram” thing. Logic to the Right is like music to Britney Spears . . . lip-syncing mindless pop phrases and calling it art.

Now how about that quote? Come on . . . you’re all strong, independent, patriotic, Americans. You’re edumacated! You would never be played for a patsy by rich people out on Long Island or some Palm Beach fat cat. Show your own mind! Prove your insight. Stand up for what’s Right!

No? Well then I guess you’re stuck with throwing temper tantrums every three months. When’s the next one? July 4? I hear Neil Cavuto is already estimating that crowd at 91 million. Go ahead, whore out your kids with signs they don’t understand. Maybe Hannity can get Montgomery and Gentry to shoot another caged bear, this time on the Atlanta courthouse steps. Me, I’ll be rafting down the Snake River. Have fun, y’all.

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:54 am 120. Chuck Pelto:

TO: venividivici, et al.
RE: Indeed

with any luck David S will some day have to give up his internet access to pay his “fair share” of the future debt service. — venividivici

There are only TWO ways out of this dilemma, as far as I can see.

[1] We tax the upper and middle class to the point that they are part of the poor.
[2] We apply a modern form of the Roman technique….they went out a conquering and looted other peoples’ treasuries.

I suspect it will be a combination of BOTH techniques. They’ll apply #1 until that won’t work anymore and then they’ll be forced to resort to #2.

Then we’ll have a REAL American Empire. Not what the cretins on the left accused Bush of establishing.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[History repeats itself....again.....]

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:57 am 121. Chuck Pelto:

TO: winston
RE: Only….

we will just be wasting our time. — winston

….if you believe you’re wasting it.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[There's more to Life than is perceived by your five senses.]

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:59 am 122. Chuck Pelto:

TO: All
RE: one on her own

Go ahead, whore out your kids with signs they don’t understand. — one on her own

I guess she doesn’t remember the cutsey little children singing the praises of her Dear Leader.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Selective remembrance. A sign of REAL 'stupid'.]

Apr 18, 2009 - 10:01 am 123. Nine-of-Diamonds:

“How about that Obama quote apologizing for America? Bueller? Bueller?”

Are you ignorant, or do you not remember 0bama’s closing quote from one of the presidential debates? Think of it – he the moderator gave him an opportunity to make a closing statement and the first thing he could think of was to complain about his country. Like so many other leftists 0bama loves the thought of “what America might become” after his radical agenda is implemented. He has no love for America as it exists.

“You would never be played for a patsy by rich people out on Long Island or some Palm Beach fat cat.”

It’s hilarious to listen to SWPL fat-cat leeches ranting about GOP elitism when the basic premise of 0bamunism is corporatist control over the “uneducated” Red-state masses.

Oh, and have a nice trip. While you’re paddling through Jeebusland, be a good little girl and denounce any counterrevolutionary red-state activity!

Apr 18, 2009 - 10:19 am 124. venividivici:

[1] We tax the upper and middle class to the point that they are part of the poor.

That counter-revolutionary Orwell already noticed the inevitable tendency of post-revolutionary states to settle into a very predictable pattern of two classes: the masses and the nomenklatura (”Four legs good, two legs better!”) Today’s modern Marxist isn’t against classes per se, he’s against the business class having all the fun. The old-fashioned Marxists, like the Trotskys of the world, well, they just aren’t with the program and have to be taken care of.

So, he destroys the business class, taxes the middle class into poverty and lives off the accumulated capital of the prior regime. Then, when that runs out, the whole thing collapses into anarchy. The idea that somehow “good people” can prevent this sequence of events or a benevolent leader (the “If only Stalin knew” theory of communism) would stop it from happening is the height of naivete.

One need only read two books to learn this. “Leftism Revisited” and “The Black Book of Communism”. Even our resident leftist idiots ought to be able to sound out the words to two books.

Me, I’ll be rafting down the Snake River

The Snake River has rapids and sharp rocks, right? Good.

Apr 18, 2009 - 12:02 pm 125. Samizdat:

Venividivici,
Glad to see you checked in. Did you checkout One of My Own’s comment at #91 above where he reveals his thinking about truth? One of My own appears to be a relativist which coveniently dovetails with his lefty bias.
Still chuckleing over your “Brain of Gnat” quote from the other night. One fine moment in internet history.

Apr 18, 2009 - 12:15 pm 126. Will:

Tea party’s should be promoted mik. People need to wake up fast as a first step.The second step will be doing something.

Apr 18, 2009 - 1:01 pm 127. one of my own:

Bueller? Quote please. Bueller? Can’t do it because it didn’t happen. Think about that. it didn’t happen. That’s what we call R_E_A_L_I_T_Y.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Apr 18, 2009 - 3:23 pm 128. Son of the Cucumber King:

You’re predictably not going to like what I had to say about tea parties and partiers, but some of your commenters will, others may be prompted to think a little differently about them, and I expect civilized reactions from all. See if you see yourself in “April’s Fools” at http://www.sonofthecucumberking.com.

Apr 18, 2009 - 3:38 pm 129. Chuck Pelto:

TO: Childish ‘Son of the Cucumber King
RE: Heh

You don’t know me very well. Do you.

And after 27 years in the infantry, I’m hardly one of the ’sheep’ you describe. Let alone being an ‘April fool’.

After all. Most sheep can’t make bombs out of bisquick. Or how to make foo-gas out of bacon drippings. Let alone how to apply either.

Maybe DHS is correct in being concerned about my type of ‘fool’. They spent good money to teach me well. Furthermore, for some fool reason, they inculcated in me a spirit to defend the Constitution of the United States…..against ALL enemies…..foreign AND domestic.

As yet, I’ve not seen reason enough to do something particularly newsworthy. But that could change in a few months. It all depends on what the government does. And, based on the people I saw at the two events I attended, I’m not alone in my dedication to the Constitution.

Hope that helps…..

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government. -- Thomas Jefferson]

Apr 18, 2009 - 5:38 pm 130. venividivici:

125. Samizdat

Cold Hawk is in the house.

Yes, while I was glad to see one of my own recognized the left’s “big lie” and seems to understand that very few on the right are racists or whatever the insult du jour is, it was too bad that the recognition was marred by the idiotic knee-jerk moral equivalence that the left can’t seem to avoid.

I trust the New Hampshire Tea Parties went well. I’m a former Masshole myself, so I’ve seen much of the great state of NH. I remember being shocked when part of the Old Man of the Mountains went down. I suppose that’s the fate we all face.

I attended the Chicago Tea Party and was about 20 feet from the CNN/Chicago Tea Party throwdown. That reporter was clearly out of line and I noticed that the CNN film crew gravitated toward the guy with the most extreme sign possible, comparing Obama to Hitler and taxpayers to Jews. It was so over the top that even before the film crew got there I wondered if it was a plant to make the Tea Party look bad.

Yeah, I won’t forget “Man with Brain of Gnat”, if only because I’m afraid there are going to be many contenders for that name in the coming days and months.

Apr 18, 2009 - 6:13 pm 131. venividivici:

Cucumber King,

From your blog post:

April’s Fools are angry with a president who can’t, in less than three months, salvage and repair the ship of state their ship of fools of choice plunged into the depths of darkest waters during eight lost, and found pirated, years.

No, no, no, a thousand times no. The problem (one of them) with Obama is that in his three months instead of even trying to “repair the ship of state”, he’s spending money that we don’t have on things that we don’t need. What ever happened to Hippocrates’ “First, do no harm”? I can tell that Obama doesn’t have clue one how to fix the ship of state, but does he have to keep drilling holes in the bottom of it while we’re still at sea?

As for the “sheep” comment, dude, I will bet you our national debt that I’ve got more and better education than you could even dream of having. I taught myself German so I could read Nietzsche in the original. What have you ever done of comparable difficulty in the intellectual realm? I don’t even see a single non-English language book among your favorites in your blog profile. Although, I will give you kudos for liking “Moby Dick”, even though most of the rest of that list is middlebrow crap.

Apr 18, 2009 - 6:27 pm 132. Войска ПВО:

131. venividivici writes:

“Cucumber King..I don’t even see a single non-English language book among your favorites in your blog profile.”

..besides, his tech awareness sucks or he is just plain cheap. The server his ISP uses takes forever to respond.

Apr 18, 2009 - 7:01 pm 133. vivo:

109. Peter the Bubblehead:

Please don’t read this, just pass over.

“I know I will never convince these trolls with facts, and more than likely they are being paid to post on sites like this by groups like ACORN, so why bother trying?”

What facts? I don’t remember you saying anything worthwhile.

And please tell them to send me the checks (one of your facts?), I ain’t got any yet.

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:53 pm 134. Samizdat:

Venividivici,
Don’t know if you have heard but that CNN “reporter” has supposedly gone on “vacation”. The TEA parties I attended made me proud of our country and our side of the argument. AT two events there was one sign about Hitler. The other signage was tasteful and appropriate, some of it quite amusing. The speakers were good to excellent. The crowds were animated, but respectful. I am looking forward to additional opportunities to articulate my concern about out of control spending and the role of government. Thanks for your thoughtful posts and your sense of humor.

Apr 19, 2009 - 6:53 am 135. typos_R_us:

“not a single one of you can name something that is inherently “fascistic” about the current administration. ”

Someone is demonstrating an appalling ignorance of history.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1501561,w-obama-gm-wagoner032909.article

How about that for being fascist?
BTW, do you even know what a fascist is?
Let me help with that.
Fascism is socialism. The word was coined by Benito Mussolini after he had a falling out with the Italian Socialists and was fired as the editor of their newspaper.
Fascisim, like socialism is built around the idea of ‘one state, one party, one leader’. Sort of like what his fellow socialist A. Hitler said; Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrer!
Both are Communism light.
STOCKHOLDERS hire or fire the CEO in a capitalist system. Der Fuehrer picks or unpicks the CEO in a Socialist ( fascist) system. The Usurper fired the CEO of Gm and one assumes he will have a say in his replacement.
QED. quod erat demonstrandum.
Look it up.

Apr 19, 2009 - 10:54 am 136. Middleman:

Peter, how in the world is Barack Obama an Arab American? He doesn’t have any Arab blood in him

Apr 19, 2009 - 11:54 am 137. myth buster:

Middleman, you’re clueless. Obama’s father was more Arab than he was Black African. He was either 3/4 or 7/8 Arab.

Apr 19, 2009 - 2:49 pm 138. Chuck Pelto:

TO: myth buster
RE: Interesting Report

Obama’s father was more Arab than he was Black African. He was either 3/4 or 7/8 Arab. — myth buster

Is there a source I could have to cite that information with?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[The Truth will out.....]

Apr 19, 2009 - 5:38 pm 139. Dave Surls:

“I taught myself German so I could read Nietzsche in the original.”

Talk about a waste of effort.

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:30 pm 140. Dave Surls:

“The Left marched to protest torture.”

Right. When “The Left” controlled this country they burned a hundred thousand Japanese civilians alive in one night of fire-bombing at Tokyo. Now, they’re screaming “atrocity” because a few terrorists have had water splahed in their faces.

Very amusing, but hardly impressive.

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:39 pm 141. Tonya:

“Not Yours To Give” David Stern Crockett

http://www.fee.org/pdf/books/Not%20Yours%20to%20Give.pdf

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:58 pm 142. one of my own:

138. Chuck Pelto: . . . ”
Obama’s father was more Arab than he was Black African. He was either 3/4 or 7/8 Arab. — myth buster . . . Is there a source I could have to cite that information with?”

Yo betcha. I can give you three . . . Neil Cavuto, Bilgepump, and Delia. All three known for their consistency, commitment o research, and dazzling intellect (when they’re not talking about somebody’s anus.)

Apr 20, 2009 - 7:38 am 143. Chuck Pelto:

TO: one on her own
RE: Well….

Neil Cavuto, Bilgepump, and Delia. All three known for their consistency, commitment o research, and dazzling intellect…. — one on her own

….based on presentations in THIS venue, I can attest that two of those three you mention surpass your own ‘talents’.

Hope that helps….

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Never enter a battle of wits unarmed.]

P.S. You might find that tag-line to be good advice…..

Apr 20, 2009 - 8:26 am 144. The Historian:

TAX PROTESTS AND CIVIL DISSENT UNHEALTHY?
Only if you are a rock star member of team Obama.

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/team-obama-rock-stars-are-not-leaders.html

Apr 20, 2009 - 2:36 pm 145. vivo:

143. Chuck Pelto:

“Neil Cavuto, Bilgepump, and Delia. All three known for their consistency, commitment o research, and dazzling intellect…. — one on her own”

Oh, I get it now. El Menso is married to La Culera. But they look like two worlds apart. Go figure.

Apr 21, 2009 - 3:22 am

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