tagged w/ teabaggers
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I was going to open this piece with an analogy about the tea party groups and why they're treated seriously by the press and the Republicans. The analogy would go something like: "Imagine [insert left-wing activist group here] getting a serious profile in a mainstream newspaper, and imagine serious Democratic politicians appearing at their convention."
The problem is, when I really evaluated what the various far-left activist groups are all about and compared them with the tea party movement, there really wasn't any equivalency. At all.
Because when you strip away all of the rage, all of the nonsensical loud noises and all of the contradictions, all that's left is race. The tea party is almost entirely about race, and there's no comparative group on the left that's similarly motivated by bigotry, ignorance and racial hatred.
I hasten to note that I'm talking about real racism, insofar as it's impossible for the majority race -- the 70 percent white majority -- to be on the receiving end of racism. That is unless white males, for example, are suddenly an oppressed racial demographic. But judging by the racial composition of, say, the Senate or AM talk radio or the cast members playing the Obamas on SNL, I don't think white people have anything to worry about.
This isn't an epiphany by any stretch. From the beginning, with their witch doctor imagery, watermelon agitprop and Curious George effigies, the wingnut right has been dying to blurt out, as Lee Atwater famously said, "nigger, nigger, nigger!"
But they can't.
Strike that. Correction. TeaParty.org founder Dale Robertson brandished a sign with the (misspelled) word "niggar." So they're not even as restrained as the generally unstrung Atwater anymore.
Most of the time, they merely imply the use of the word. Rush Limbaugh referring to the president as a "black man-child," for example. Every week, a new example pops up on the radio and somehow the offenders are able to keep their job while Howard Stern is fined for saying the comparatively innocuous word "blumpkin." Limbaugh, on the other hand, can stoke racial animosity on his show by suggesting that health care reform is a civil rights bill -- reparations -- and no one seems to mind. And no, the impotence isn't an adequate Karmic punishment for Limbaugh's roster of trespasses.
The tea party is an extension of talk radio. It's an extension of Fox News Channel. It's an extension of the southern faction of the Republican Party -- the faction that gave us the Southern Strategy, the Willie Horton ad, the White Hands ad and the racially divisive politics of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. It's an extension of the race-baiting and, often, the outright racism evident in all of those conservative spheres.
But unlike the heavy-handedness of Dale Robertson and others, the tea party followers are generally more veiled about why they're so outraged by our current president.I was going to open this piece with an analogy about the tea party groups and why... more
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They're shutting down essential services in the Springs. What we’re seeing right now are the first few scenes of a morality play. The question is whether or not the denizens of America’s foremost Anti-Tax Utopia are bright enough to figure out the moral: to wit, where taxes and services are concerned, 2 -2 = 0. God Bless the ghost of Ronald Reagan!They're shutting down essential services in the Springs. What we’re seeing... more
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Is Obama doing it? Just asking.
"One year in, the evidence is clear – and growing by the day – that the Recovery Act is working to cushion the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and lay a new foundation for economic growth."Is Obama doing it? Just asking.
"One year in, the evidence is clear – and... more
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WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - One week after their first national convention, the self-styled Teabaggers are facing an identity crisis after one of their members finally Googled the slang term “teabag.”
“I was wondering why every time I told people I was a Teabagger they kind of started giggling in an embarrassed way,” said Tracy Klugian, a Teabagger from Elyria, Ohio. “I was like, what the heck? Maybe I should use the Google and see what this is all about.”
After Mr. Klugian Googled the word “teabag,” he was shocked by what he discovered and shared his information with the Teabaggers’ leadership, who are now actively looking for a new name for the group.
“We want a name that suggests we’re out to give the Democrats a good fight,” he said. “So far what we’ve come up with is the Donkey Punchers.”WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - One week after their first national convention, the... more
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President Obama may be secretly plotting to declare martial law, but the Tea Partiers now face a more immediate threat: Captain America. Conservative blogger Warner Todd Huston has checked out issue 602 of the long-running series and concludes that Marvel Comics is “making patriotic Americans into [its] newest super villains.”
The offending storyline finds Captain America and his African-American sidekick the Falcon in Idaho, where they encounter a Tea Party rally. They then scheme to infiltrate the antitax protesters as a way to get to their real target, a militia group known as the Watchdogs. The Falcon is skeptical: “I don’t exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks.” It’s not the first time the Star Spangled Avenger has revealed his secret identity as a big-government liberal. Back in the ’80s he battled Ronald Reagan when the Gipper turned into an underpants-wearing lizard man. And more recently, he met secretly with Obama to offer his services.
http://motherjones.com/riff/2010/02/captain-america-vs-tea-partyPresident Obama may be secretly plotting to declare martial law, but the Tea Partiers... more
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Teabaggers need to sit down and relax over a nice cup of Boo-Frickin'-Hoo tea. They're upset over a recent Captain America comicbook showing protesting baggers with signs like, Stop the Socialists! and Tea Bag the Libs Before They Tea Bag You. Oh, the irony.Teabaggers need to sit down and relax over a nice cup of Boo-Frickin'-Hoo tea.... more
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NASHVILLE, Tenn -- Tempers rose and tea bags flew everywhere at the first national Tea Party conference, as attendees became embroiled in a bitter dipute over the specific type of beverage referred to in their their group's moniker. [more]
--TheSkunk.orgNASHVILLE, Tenn -- Tempers rose and tea bags flew everywhere at the first national Tea... more
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It seemed a bit over-the-top when Eddie Brock went to church and prayed that God would kill Peter Parker. So how does it seem now when teabaggers, inspired by Tom Coburn, are praying that God will kill Robert Byrd?It seemed a bit over-the-top when Eddie Brock went to church and prayed that God would... more
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Midge Hough's daughter and unborn granddaughter died partly due to lacking health insurance. She spoke of her daughter's tragic ordeal, of having to leave one hospital to enter another, of having to lie to that second hospital about having insurance simply so they could be seen by a doctor. Not only was she booed and shouted down by members of the Chicago Tea Party Patriots, a mass email was sent out by the group's organizer, Catherina Wojtowicz, disputing the story as true, and called the Hough family operatives of Obama that "go from event to event and (cry about) the same story."
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Teabaggers are the most despicable people around (and I am being generous). Shameful, to say the least.Midge Hough's daughter and unborn granddaughter died partly due to lacking health... more
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"A short film of sorts, by Brad Friedman -- We went out to Griffith Park out here in L.A. on Sunday 10/25/09 to check out the kick-off day for the new "Tea Party Express II" national tour. Thought we might meet some interesting people and file a quick video report, but instead ended up making a short film of sorts.""A short film of sorts, by Brad Friedman -- We went out to Griffith Park out here... more
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The battle among Republicans over what the party should stand for — and how much it should accommodate dissenting views on important issues — is probably going to move from the states to the Republican National Committee when it holds its winter meeting this January in Honolulu.
Republican leaders are circulating a resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support to demonstrate that they “espouse conservative principles and public policies” that are in opposition to “Obama’s socialist agenda.” According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement.
The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on Monday morning. They are asking for the resolution to be debated when Republicans gather for their winter meeting.
The resolution invokes Ronald Reagan, and noted that Mr. Reagan had said the Republican Party should be devoted to conservative principles but also be open to diverse views. President Reagan believed, the resolution notes, “that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent.”
Hence the provision calling for cutting off Republicans who agree with the party on seven of 10 items. The resolution demands that Republicans support “smaller government, smaller national deficits and lower taxes,” denial of government funding for abortion, and “victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.” It calls on candidates to oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants and repealing of the Defense of Marriage Act.
The development is going to put pressure on Michael Steele, the party chairman, as he tries to maintain a balance between those in his party who have been saying the road to victory is to include divergent views, and those who say the party needs to embrace conservative principles that have been at its core.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/gop-considers-purity-resolution-for-candidates/?hpThe battle among Republicans over what the party should stand for — and how much... more
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We've talked about how young voters are more progressive, more apt to to support democratic candidates, and are one of the age groups that supports the President's push for health care reform. Its not surprising then, that the majority of the Teabagger Community is made up of people over the age of 30.
"Young voters are not going away. There is a greater chance that the people in those tea party photos will see far fewer birthdays than the 18-to-30-year-olds who seem to have very little in common with graying protestors.
Why does this demographics shift matter? Here is an example why: When it became clear that the health care reform package might include a 5 percent tax on multimillionaires, conservative boomers went mad ... and 18-to-30-year-olds yawned.
Why? They don't have sympathy invested into the plight of millionaires. Unlike their parents, they never bought into the "trickle down" myth. That was where taxpayers were supposed to give more money to millionaires in hopes that some of that money would trickle down to the pockets of the average American."
Read more: http://www.futuremajority.com/node/9265We've talked about how young voters are more progressive, more apt to to support... more
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Those crazy teabaggers!
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asherp
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2 years ago
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On a night when conservatives expected a landmark victory in New York’s 23rd congressional district, the movement’s anointed candidate, Doug Hoffman, instead went down in a startling defeat to Democrat Bill Owens. The official Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, had dropped out days before and thrown her support to Owens after the conservative movement backed Hoffman in a campaign to destroy her, attacking her as a closet socialist with a cynical, hidden agenda—the same terms they have used to demonize President Barack Obama.
Hoffman’s rejection by rank-and-file voters in a solidly Republican district dampened the conservatives’ mood on an otherwise upbeat night and raised serious questions about the movement’s attempt to purge moderates from party ranks. Now, many of Hoffman’s right-wing cheerleaders are struggling to explain their dubious gambit, while others fear repercussions for their zealotry.
With endorsements from the National Rifle Association, the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican Party elders Newt Gingrich and New York Rep. Peter King, Scozzafava was assured an easy victory. Then Hoffman declared his candidacy on the Conservative Party line. Hoffman was a lawyer and Tea Party activist who did not live in the district and, according to the local Watertown Daily-Times, “showed no grasp of the bread-and-butter issues pertinent to district residents.” Offered as his only selling point: ideological purity.
Hoffman instantly became the point man for the national conservative movement, dedicating himself to fulfilling the right’s dream of a complete purge of moderate elements in the GOP. Campaigning in a local constituency of mostly Republican regulars, Hoffman behaved as though he were running in a presidential primary. He slammed Scozzafava for supporting abortion rights and gay marriage, substituting the hot button issues that had electrified the national Tea Party movement rather than the bread and butter concerns of the working class district he campaigned to represent.
Hoffman’s appeals to cultural resentment attracted zealous support from a who’s who of far-right icons, from Fred Thompson to Glenn Beck, from Rush Limbaugh to Sarah Palin. The former Republican vice presidential nominee recorded a robocall for him a week before Election Day. Tim Pawlenty, the Republican governor of Minnesota, sought to establish his conservative credentials in advance of an expected 2012 presidential run by endorsing Hoffman. The National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay religious right group, commissioned a poll supposedly proving Scozzafava’s support for gay marriage had doomed her (the sample size was only 318 likely voters). Meanwhile, cash poured into Hoffman’s coffers through conservativeoutfits from the Club For Growth to the American Conservative Union.
More @ link
http://maxblumenthal.com/2009/11/the-great-teabag-disaster-in-ny-23/On a night when conservatives expected a landmark victory in New York’s 23rd... more
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When Obama became president people thought all comedy had beenen ensued during the last eight years would go away but the republicans proved us wrong this year.
On ""Real Time" Friday night, Bill Maher decided to end his show by mocking all the Republicans who have become prime targets for jokes now that George Bush is no longer front and center. "It turns out there were plenty of ridiculous Republicans behind him that we just couldn't see," Maher said. "His stupid star doth shone too brightly."
WATCH:When Obama became president people thought all comedy had beenen ensued during the... more
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Nazis always think they're fighting the Nazis. It's the eternal wisdom of "whoever smelt it dealt it" scaled to address the psychoses of the terrified, gullible, angry, armed, hate-prone demographic.
[...much more at the link...]Nazis always think they're fighting the Nazis. It's the eternal wisdom of... more
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At Senator Claire McCaskill's health care town hall yesterday, one of the video highlights on mainstream media was a women being half-dragged from the building. What wasn't show was what provoked that incident: a teabagger tearing up the woman's Rosa Parks poster.At Senator Claire McCaskill's health care town hall yesterday, one of the video... more
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