I gess them Tee Bagurz kant thinkkk 4 theyselvz orr spel to gude

[joan1984]

I think the Tea Party folks get a really bad rap from Democrats and their sharp tooted weasel press supporters, without much foundation. Having said that, not all who are against one or another government plan or action are your grandparents, picking up the litter and leaving the Mall, or wherever they hold a rally spotless when they leave.

Just as Hells Angels served well as "security" at some old rock concerts, having a certain gravitas, there are legendary stories of their illegal and thuggish activity as well. The same for some of the Aryan groups and other misfits in certain States, and they can self attach to a Tea Party event I suppose.

Objection to the imposition of a directed Health Care Plan, and especially the behemoth turned out by the Democrats in the House and Senate, with likely illegal tactics, was the genesis of the Tea Party 'gelling' as some sort of group with a common interest. There are divergent interests in various places which also drive the local "branches" of what serves as the Tea Party when writ large.

Abused by Democrats and their compliant Press, during the "comment" period they demanded in Nancy Pelosi's 2009/2010 Congress, these groups self attached and eventually have been embraced, sort of, by Republicans (not all, not even most, not the party hierarchy itself, not the House Speaker, but nonetheless many Republicans).

As with any energized group(s) of size, who show their muscle as to getting the vote out, holding politicians to their promises, organizing effective Primary challenges when necessary to achieve goals, this group has the ear of threatened or would be threatened incumbents, hopefully of both parties. In local races, all political offices see some influence from local Tea Party groups, in opposition or support, regardless of Party.

"It's the issues, stupid" is the key to understanding where they stand. Not renowned for political contributions of large dollars, and some groups are better organized than others, this movement has been successful in calling for help from like minded Tea Party groups in other areas or even other states. Lobbying at State and Federal levels has been effective and getting more so, as time moves along.

The groups self police at rallies or gatherings, and shun any with signage and language that is distracting or obscene, asking the offenders to cease and/or remove themselves. Press coverage has been light to mixed, except in the case of isolated incidents of incendiary signage, and some believe such issues have been staged by detractors in an effort to draw negative attention to the movement.

So, while I don't know the particular group represented by the gentleman in a US Flag shirt, please take care not to malign the Tea Party as a generalization, though their issues do not meet your own agenda. Take issue with the issues, please.

Close but no cigar. They exercise their freedom as they see fit, within the law. NP

Which puts them perilously close to being:

1. In rebellion,

2. Traitors.

Yeah, like the soldiers arrested a couple of months ago who were conspiring violent action against the government, and killed another soldier and his girlfriend because they wanted to silence them. I'm not confident that these other yahoos aren't but a hair breadths away from taking similar action.

[Katiebee]

They damn themselves. Too many have been shown supporting racist statements, supporting dissolution of the union, etc., etc, etc.

These have NOT been isolated incidences, they are very, very common occurrences by persons claiming to be Tea Party adherents. Add to it the extremist views of economy and taxes and they paint a very anti-social, and particularly fascist bent.

And if you think I'm Godwining the thread take a close look at the Tea Party statements and the definition of fascist.

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to unify their nation based on commitment to a nation state where its individuals are united together as one people through their national identity. The unity of the nation is to be based upon suprapersonal connections of ancestry and culture through a totalitarian state that seeks the mass mobilization of the national community through discipline, indoctrination, physical training, and eugenics. Fascism utilizes a vanguard party to initiate a revolution to organize the nation upon fascist principles. The fascist party and state is led by a supreme leader who exercises a dictatorship over the party, the government and other state institutions. Fascism views direct action including political violence and war, as a means to achieve national rejuvenation, spirit and vitality.

The Tea Party, and increasingly the Republican Party are moving toward this.

[Gina Marie]

Mor smartz frum tha rite...

[alistair.blankley]

Haha that has to be a piss take, and a good one too.

You give the average tea partier much too much credit. They are perfectly capable of coming up with such absurdly outrageous statement in all sincerity, even when they know the wider world is listening.  Case in point, statements remarkably similar:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/denise-helms-california-woman-hopes-obama-is-assassinated_n_2104184.html

Denise Helms, California Woman, Fired After Calling Obama N-Word, Hoping He's Assassinated

The Huffington Post   |  By Meredith Bennett-Smith       Posted: 11/09/2012 5:46 pm EST Updated: 11/11/2012 11:34 am EST 

News keeps getting worse for Denise Helms, the 22-year-old California woman whose racist, threatening Facebook status about President Barack Obama went viral this week. Helms has since been fired from her job at a Turlock, Calif., Cold Stone Creamery, and the Secret Service is now looking into her comments.

“Another 4 years of this (N-word),” Helms wrote on her Facebook Tuesday night. “Maybe he will get assassinated this term.”

Sacramento's Fox 40 news crew caught up with an unapologetic Helms on Wednesday.

"I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," she said. "The assassination part is kind of harsh. I'm not saying like I would go do that or anything like that, by any means, but if it was to happen, I don't think I'd care one bit."

She then took to Facebook to defend herself, according to The Modesto Bee.

So apparently my post last night about Obama got onto Twitter and Fox 40 came and interviewed me cause apparently a lot of people in Sacramento think I'm crazy and racist. WOW is all I got to say!! I'm not racist and I'm not crazy. just simply stating my opinion.!!!

[/color]
Her Facebook account has since been deactivated.

Helm's supervisor, Turlock Cold Stone Creamery store director Chris Kegle, told The Bee that he was shocked to read about his employee's comments, which he said do not line up with his company's values.

We found her comments to be very disgusting," Kegle said. "We made the decision [to fire her] because of her comments, but also the community feedback. We are very into working with the community and doing community service. So when your community does not like you because of an employee, that's bad. We have a business to run.

Cold Stone's Twitter feed was besieged by angry tweets, and the company has worked hard to disassociate itself with Helms.

Following the Fox 40 reports, Agent Scott Gillingham from the Sacramento Secret Service office said he would be checking out her posts.

The Washington, D.C., bureau of the Secret Service told Fox 40 that all threats, or perceived threats, are taken seriously and investigated. If the Secret Service were to decide her threat was legitimate, Helms could face a felony under U.S. Code Section 871, which states prohibits willfully and knowingly threatening "to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm " on the president, vice president or other office next in succession to the presidency.

In September, a North Carolina man was arrested for threatening to kill President Barack Obama in a series of Twitter messages, according to The Smoking Gun. Donte Jamar Sims, 21, was charged in a felony criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.

Helms' troubling comments about Obama's race were echoed on election night across the Twitterverse, as many people used social media to spread similar messages. In an effort to curb the trend, Jezebel tracked down many of the teenage miscreants and contacted their schools. Almost all have since taken down their Twitter accounts.

If you made up someone that stupid, no one would believe you.

[Katiebee]

And some people wonder why I have such a low opinion of the tea party followers.

[Gina Marie]

[Fish]

Wow, Gia, this shit is cracking me up! Woo.

The Tea Party is an organization about taxes that knew fuck-all about taxes. When polled about what the income tax rates were in 2010, over 90% of Tea Party members insisted the tax rates had gone up or stayed the same. Of course, they had gone DOWN. It's like an organization supporting babies wanting care for storks. Joan, they get a bad rap because so many of them are retarded.

That being said, a similar thing was happening with the occupy movement. I went to several protests, and found a bunch of burnouts and morons. It wasn't that bad at first, just a few, but the more intelligent people stopped attending right away, seeing that the movement lacked a coherent message.

That is the difference between the right and the left- the left pays attention to clear evidence that a fringe group is filled with dipshits and crackpots, and then leaves. I'm neither left nor right, and actually a little closer to the right on fiscal issues, but the Tea Party is retarded, flat-out retarded. They might manage to win a few more state-wide contests in the absolute stupidest states, but only for a few more years. They will never be a national force, except to be a laughing stock when the Republican presidential primaries come back. <Grabs popcorn> I can't wait for that.

[alistair.blankley]

Wow, Gia, this shit is cracking me up! Woo.

The Tea Party is an organization about taxes that knew fuck-all about taxes. When polled about what the income tax rates were in 2010, over 90% of Tea Party members insisted the tax rates had gone up or stayed the same. Of course, they had gone DOWN. It's like an organization supporting babies wanting care for storks. Joan, they get a bad rap because so many of them are retarded.

That being said, a similar thing was happening with the occupy movement. I went to several protests, and found a bunch of burnouts and morons. It wasn't that bad at first, just a few, but the more intelligent people stopped attending right away, seeing that the movement lacked a coherent message.

That is the difference between the right and the left- the left pays attention to clear evidence that a fringe group is filled with dipshits and crackpots, and then leaves. I'm neither left nor right, and actually a little closer to the right on fiscal issues, but the Tea Party is retarded, flat-out retarded. They might manage to win a few more state-wide contests in the absolute stupidest states, but only for a few more years. They will never be a national force, except to be a laughing stock when the Republican presidential primaries come back. <Grabs popcorn> I can't wait for that.

Good comparison with Occupy. I hadn't really thought of that, but it's made me see things a little differently.

I agree wholeheartedly that the Occupy movement attracted a great many knee-jerk radicals who don't check their facts, wackos and conspiracy theorists, but to say it's most or all of them is not fair.  The mileage in your town may vary, but I know many people active in both the local movement in my city and in the original Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, and they are among the most intelligent, rational and well-informed people I have ever met. They may or may not be representative of the majority, but they are there.

Therefore, because exactly the same comments can be made about the Occupy movement, with which I am sympathetic & the positions of which I largely agree, from now on I'll try to refrain from making any broad, sweeping statements about "all" tea partiers, but rather focus on individual examples and, perhaps, state my opinion that a particular person or statement or opinion appears typical, IMHO.
 
Ridiculing the "enemy" is a central tactic of right-wing zealots, and in this case I don't think it's constructive to fight fire with fire. Facts (Colbert's liberal bias of reality) are enough.

But some of their shit is just plain hilarious...

Al B.

[Elizabeth]

WOW....I didn't know that there was NO God in Africa..
When Did He Leave??
Where Did He Go?....Most Likely Bermuda??
LOL...

[cltlicr]

I truly believe, God is sitting in a Bar in Trinidad drinking a "Dark and Stormy" and laughing his ass off.

[alistair.blankley]

WOW....I didn't know that there was NO God in Africa..
When Did He Leave??
Where Did He Go?....Most Likely Bermuda??
LOL...

Close. Mexico. I have it on very good authority.

http://www.kristensboard.com/forums/index.php?topic=270.new#new

Yes, God exists. I know a guy whose cousin actually saw him, so I know it's true.

This is from a friend of a friend who made me promise I wouldn't use his name, so I can't provide proof that it's legit, but... It seems God got kinda freaked out with the dramatic acceleration of human killing and despoiling of his favorite planet in the last 150 years, and decided to get away from it all and take a little vay-cay on Earth to chillax, until he decides just what to do.  With all the extra work he put into humans, to make them so hilarious and paradoxical, he's trying to find a reason not to smite the whole species from the planet, but with all the killing, violence, injustice, hypocrisy and fucking up the planet for all the other species, it's a tough sell.

His Earthside locale, as one would expect, has always proven hard to pin down, but the latest word is that he's currently hanging out in a small village outside Oaxaca, fixing old Fords and Chevys and shacking up with an underage Mexican girl named Maria Magdalena who, if anyone asks, just washes his feet with her hair (wink! ). Anyway, that's what I heard.  Within the whole scheme of Christian dogma, it seems perfectly believable to me...

Al B.

[Katiebee]

It's not that God left, it's simply that they don't practice transactional theology.

Transactional Christianity is the refuge of the frightened, threatened masses who haven't bothered to think for themselves. They take comfort with being part of a group that is "chosen" and as a result are given benefits.

An excellent analogy is that transactional Christians are just like welfare queens. They live off of God's welfare handouts because they are entitled because they Believe in Him through a specific dogma and ritual.

[Fish]

It's not that God left, it's simply that they don't practice transactional theology.

Transactional Christianity is the refuge of the frightened, threatened masses who haven't bothered to think for themselves. They take comfort with being part of a group that is "chosen" and as a result are given benefits.

An excellent analogy is that transactional Christians are just like welfare queens. They live off of God's welfare handouts because they are entitled because they Believe in Him through a specific dogma and ritual.

Woo for a wonderful comparison to welfare, that was simultaneously hilarious and apt.

[Gina Marie]

I think it is pretty sad that they're so goddamned stupid, they don't know the VP takes office in the event that the POTUS is removed or cannot act as President.

Murikkka!

[Fish]

Or they start a movement based on taxes without the foggiest fucking notion what is going on with taxes.

In the first four years of his presidency, Obama lowered taxes from the Bush rates. For 98% of Americans, the rates are still lower. Yet if you poll the Tea Party, they will almost all be ignorant to that fact.

The dumbest bunch of fucking knuckle-draggers ever...

[Katiebee]

I suppose that If you lowered their taxes to zero they'd still complain that they pay too much in taxes.

[Fish]

I suppose that If you lowered their taxes to zero they'd still complain that they pay too much in taxes.

According to Mitt Romney's math, almost half of them don't pay taxes, and thus automatically vote for Obama, as, of course, they are all filthy leeches.

[Gina Marie]

A "gratest hitz" if you will...

15 Of The Dumbest Political Facebook Posts From Right-Wingers! (Face-Palm Alert!)

http://progressivepopulist.org/2013/04/12/15-of-the-dumbest-political-facebook-posts-from-right-wingers-face-palm-alert/

[Gina Marie]

[Gina Marie]

21st Century Tea Party

What could be more American than firing up the grill on Memorial Day, loading up on sparklers for the Fourth of July?

We’ll celebrate by filling our gobs with coleslaw and giving some snappy lip service about our founding fathers and servicemen, then nod in unison between swigs of beer. After all, we are a patriotic bunch. Ask any group of foreign visitors what is most striking about America and you will frequently hear that they notice all of the American flags, not just on government buildings, but on private homes, vehicles, and clothing.

Americans are terrifically proud of our ancestors’ rebellion against the world’s most powerful nation in the 18th century. And our Great Experiment in Democracy has been, mostly, a resounding success, and one that continues to inspire the world over. Yes, even in light of our historical pockmarks, from the treatment of American Indians, to the enslavement of Africans, and to the internment of Japanese Americans.

In 2010, the Tea Party movement tapped into our nation’s patriotism and penchant for thrift-store costuming. Angry grandparents everywhere armed themselves with poster boards and Sharpies to decry the level of national spending and any suggestion of a tax increase. No doubt, they fancied themselves the modern equivalents of those rapscallions who dumped the crates of tea into Boston Harbor in 1773. Stand back, they said. We’re about open up a can of Freedom on your ass!  Then they trotted out the Gadsden Flag, featuring its bewitching Snake o’ Freedom that hisses, “Don’t Tread On Me.” Oh, snap!

But who is doing the treading? In 1773, the colonists weren’t objecting to the taxes; they were objecting to being taxed not by their colonial assemblies, but by the British Parliament. From those taxes, Parliament was paying the colonial governors and administrators, thereby keeping those administrators loyal to the crown and not to whom they were actually governing. Further, the colonists held no seat in Parliament. They had no one to speak for them. The British government took their tax money but gave them no voice in how that money was spent. “No taxation without representation.” Indeed.

Let’s compare that to today’s Tea Party. These people are getting all Joe Pesci over a proposed tax increase from 35 percent to 39 percent for households earning over $250,000. “It’s Socialism,” they caterwaul, as their eyes glisten over with misty-colored memories of Ronald Reagan running shirtless through the foamy surf, glistening from a suntan and just the right amount of Bryllcreem. Hold up, Mr. Middle Management in the feisty tricorn—the tax rate under St. Reagan was 50 percent in the years 1982-1986.  But hey, that doesn’t make him a Socialist. It’s not like that money was going to feed poor kids or anything. No, hell no. That money was going to keep us in big-ass shoulder pads, Aquanet (in the pink can) and a nuclear arsenal, the likes of which the world has never seen.

Reagan knew that big military expenditures needed significant tax revenue. It’s not like he went and started two wars and cut taxes by 4 percent at the same time. What’s important here is that the so-called job creators are able to live comfortably and not be inconvenienced by these wars, so that they can go about the business of creating jobs — never mind that most of those jobs are overseas.

During the 2008 election, Joe Biden was lampooned for saying that the wealthiest Americans should show their patriotism by paying higher taxes than the 35 percent they are currently paying. Señor Tourettes is well known for his outrageous, yet earnest gaffes, but here he is spot-on. During World War II, both political parties understood that tax revenue was important to fund the war effort. The top marginal tax rate ranged from 81-94 percent for the duration of the war. Let’s take a moment and reflect on those numbers, shall we? Millionaires were paying 94 percent of their income in taxes in 1944 and 1945. Furthermore, President Eisenhower kept taxes at 91 percent for the wealthiest Americans throughout his two terms. Yet no one calls Ike a Marxist. Oh no, comrades. They actually minted his mug on money.

So what happened, America? How did we get to the point where blue-collar workers are frothing at the mouth over a 39 percent tax rate for people who make ten times their annual income? How is that we have been embroiled in two wars for ten years and yet most Americans haven’t been asked to sacrifice anything? Where’s the War Bond Drive, the Victory Gardens, the feeling that we’re in this together? When our soldiers are doing five, six, or seven tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, why is it wrong to ask millionaires to have some skin in the game?

The GOP likes to talk values, so let’s talk values. What does it say about a country that delays or cuts corners on treatment for 9/11 First Responders (the Zadroga Bill stalled for years by Republican Congressmen)? What does it say about a country that forsakes its commitments to active duty soldiers and veterans (Republicans voted against: Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, a pay raise for the troops, extending the G.I. Bill for children of fallen soldiers, and a tax incentive for businesses hiring veterans)? What does it say about a country that cuts back on the hiring of teachers and firemen in order to save the wealthiest 2 percent some money (Senate GOP blocks Obama’s Jobs Bill)?

The true measure of a people, of a nation, is how it cares for its own. Flag waving isn’t patriotism. Sacrifice is.

http://www.glittersnipe.com/2012/07/04/dont-tread-on-me-either/