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Tea Party activists carry signs as they protest the exclusion of Tea Party candidate Jamie Radktke from a Senatorial debate during the AP Day at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., , Dec. 7.
For insight into the conservative Tea Party movement's battle plan in 2012, check out Joe Dugan's Google spreadsheets.
Dugan, 66, a retired manufacturing executive and chairman of the Myrtle Beach Tea Party, is particularly proud of the scoring system he's devised for South Carolina legislators. Every vote by a member of the state's House or Senate is recorded, with points awarded for those that reflect the conservative position.
"Let's say you get above a five, we'll actively campaign for your reelection," Dugan says. "Below a three, then - Republican or Democrat - we'll come after you."
In 2010 the Myrtle Beach Tea Party backed 10 Republican candidates for state and local offices - from school board to governor. All ten won, including sitting Governor Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint and Myrtle Beach freshman Congressman Tim Scott.
This year, when South Carolina gained a seventh seat in the House of Representatives based on the 2010 U.S. Census, Dugan's group successfully lobbied for the new district to be in their area and is now vetting candidates.
First Thoughts: Final debate before the caucuses
The group has also been actively courted by most of the Republican presidential candidates, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who appears with Dugan in a number of photos in the Tea Party activist's study.
"The Tea Party movement is more organized, more focused and more potent," said Rep. Scott, who talks regularly to Dugan. "What happened in 2010 was not the end. It was just the beginning."
Tea Party supporters now hold fewer sign-waving rallies, a hallmark of their early opposition to bank bailouts and President Barack Obama's healthcare reform in 2009. But the movement isn't losing steam.
Interviews with activists across 20 U.S. states indicate that Tea Party groups, far from fading, have evolved into an increasingly sophisticated and effective network of activists. They are working to unseat establishment Republicans who they believe have betrayed the principles of lower taxes, limited government, and free markets.
"Those who think the Tea Party is on the wane are in for a gigantic surprise in 2012," says Debbie Dooley, co-organizer of the Atlanta Tea Party. "We have built a grassroots army and we will be a fine-tuned machine next year."
The goal of these loosely affiliated but fiercely independent groups nationwide is to hone their electoral skills and build a "farm team" of public officials who can ascend through the ranks of government. It's a long-term strategy that looks past the 2012 election to a takeover of the Republican Party and the U.S. Congress.
Tea Party 2.0
"The Tea Party was a very showy populist movement in the last cycle," said Steven Schier, a politics professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. "Now they are in the trenches and institutionalizing their efforts." Some call the new push Tea Party 2.0.
Instead of organizing demonstrations, an unpaid army of managers, small business owners, and stay-at-home moms is learning how to get out the vote, raise money and set up political action committees. They are working to overcome the territorial rivalries that dogged the Tea Party in 2010, when groups backed multiple primary challengers and often allowed the establishment candidate to win.
Because the Tea Party energy produced a larger than usual turnout for a mid-term election, however, the young movement propelled the Republican Party to the biggest midterm swing since 1938, with a mad scramble to staff phone banks and knock on voters' doors.
"We came to the game late last time," says Bob Orbin of the Northeast Pennsylvania Tea Party, who is a vice president at an investment advisory firm. "It was sheer craziness. We're light years ahead of that now."
One thing the activists have learned is that they must unify behind one candidate rather than let a number of conservative contenders split the vote. A Tea Party coalition has already done this in Indiana, where they hope to unseat six-term incumbent Senator Richard Lugar. Some groups in the state's 8th district have already backed a challenge to first-term Congressman Larry Bucshon.
Democrats abandoning millionaire surtax proposal
Bucshon ran on Tea Party principles last year, but then disappointed conservatives by voting to raise the debt ceiling and to approve the compromise 2011 budget. Both Lugar's office and Bucshon's office declined to comment for this article.
Tea Partiers are keen to avoid embarrassments such as Christine O'Donnell's unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in Delaware last year. They now realize that the higher the office, the more they need someone with a political track record, name recognition, fund-raising ability and organization.
To make sure there are qualified candidates in the pipeline, Tea Party groups around the country are recruiting candidates for lower offices with the aim of producing qualified politicians for Congress in 2014 and beyond.
"We've had to learn a lot of patience," said Karen Hurd of the Virginia Tea Party Alliance. In her state, Republicans failed to win outright control of the state Senate in November, yet Tea Party-backed candidates did win races further down the ticket. The Mechanicsville Tea Party, for instance, backed five successful supervisory board candidates in Hanover County.
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Tea Party activist Joe Dugan stands next to a wall covered with photographs in his office in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina October 31, 2011.
But Tea Party groups have also lost the benefit of surprise, which some observers credit with their unexpected impact on state and local races in 2010.
"While the movement is significantly better organized than it was in the last cycle, the establishment is much better prepared for them," said Dan Schnur, an expert in political strategy at the University of California who worked on Republican Senator John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign.
"That could limit their impact."
According to a Reuters/Ipso poll this week, 43 percent of Republicans either identify (23 percent) or identify strongly (20 percent) with the Tea Party. Among all Americans those figures are: identify 13 percent, strongly identify 10 percent.
"The Tea Party still don't seem to be in a majority position in the electorate," said James Henson, a politics professor at the University of Texas in Austin.
"The question is whether there will be uneven voter mobilization in the primaries. Will moderate Republicans show up in greater numbers? There is a lot of cleavage within the Republican Party at the national level, but the Tea Party may meet more resistance this time."
The key to the Tea Party's grassroots strategy is to master the mechanics of state and local politics.
"What are you smoking?"
Last year Catoosa County Tea Party member Keith Kenney - who works for a tile maker in northern Georgia - was elected as a Republican precinct chairman in his county.
"If you'd told me two years ago I'd be a precinct chairman," he says, "I'd have said, 'what are you smoking?'"
The precinct delegate system is the basic building block of America's two-party system. The average precinct has 1,500 voters and the main job of delegates (who have different titles in some states) is to get out the vote.
They also choose party county representatives, who select state representatives and so on up.
But Republicans have long relied on well-funded campaign advertising to win elections instead of a precinct ground game. So the party's precinct system was so atrophied in many places that Tea Party activists were easily elected delegates in 2010.
Once elected, Kenney compiled a PowerPoint presentation for delegates based mostly on Democratic Party literature (Democrats have traditionally had a better ground game). Now, using this or similar playbooks, Tea Party precinct delegates in many states are working on "walking lists" for their 2012 get-out-the-vote drives.
Farm Team
Tom Hartwell is running for circuit court clerk in Illinois' Kane County. Addressing a crowd of local conservatives at a restaurant in St. Charles last month, he pledged to tackle waste at the clerk's office, which has an annual budget of around $50 million and 127 employees.
Hartwell's brother Todd, a member of the Elgin Tea Party Patriots, persuaded him to run. Much as major-league sports franchises nurture talent in minor-league farm teams, "we're looking for the right conservatives to get them in at the ground level, then move them up," said John Carlson of St. Charles We The People, which organized the fundraiser for Hartwell.
In states such as California, with its liberal bent and new open primary system, that can mean recruiting small-government "blue dog" Democrats instead of Republicans.
"Yes, we do exist," said Leslie Eastman, a Democrat and member of the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition in San Diego, with a laugh. She backs candidates such as John Chiang, California's Democratic state controller, whom she views as a fiscal conservative.
In most states, though, the Tea Parties' activism is aimed squarely at opposing mainstream Republicans such as U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is up for reelection in 2014. By then, Joe Dugan in Myrtle Beach points out, the state's four conservative freshmen Congressmen will have held national office for four years and be ready to mount a challenge.
Similarly, activists in Georgia say they have some challengers in mind for Republican U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss in 2014. Georgia Tea Party supporters flexed their muscle in May when they rejected Governor Nathan Deal's choice for chairman at the Republican state convention and elected their own candidate.
Tea Party groups in many states are also forming political action committees, or PACs, to raise money for candidates. For instance, the Southwest Michigan Patriots have formed TeaPAC to bankroll rural get-out-the-vote drives.
"There are donors out there who'd rather give to the Tea Party than to the Republican Party because the Republican Party doesn't spend it right," said Patriot leader Gene Clem. TeaPAC is soliciting corporate donations and would like to partner with Brighton, Michigan-based RetakeOurGov, which has its own modest PAC for donations to state and national races.
Some Tea Party groups have decided not to endorse or officially campaign for candidates, although individual members are free to do so. Instead, they vet candidates, educate the public about their voting records and lobby lawmakers about upcoming legislation.
They also work directly on the issues that matter most to each group - be they taxes, immigration, collective bargaining rights, gun laws, healthcare reform, voter identification or access to abortion.
Paradigm Shift
The Tea Party's growing electoral savvy was on display when Ohioans went to the polls on November 8.
National media focused on a multi-million dollar proxy battle between Republican Governor John Kasich and labor groups over collective bargaining rights - a fight labor groups won by a landslide - and paid little heed to another item on the state ballot: The Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment.
Placed on the ballot by Ohio Liberty Council, a Tea Party umbrella organization, the measure amends the state constitution to forbid a so-called individual mandate, which would require every individual to have insurance - a central feature of President Obama's healthcare reform.
With a $700,000 budget the Council hired a small professional campaign staff for three months, went door to door statewide and hit the phones. The amendment won by a two-to-one margin.
The win was dismissed as symbolic because federal law supersedes state law, but that misses the point, said Chris Littleton of the Ohio Liberty Council.
"We showed what boots on the ground can do," he said. "This was never about superseding federal law. This was about boosting our case when Obamacare goes to the Supreme Court."
The Court will hear a challenge to Obama's healthcare reform during 2012.
The Ohio healthcare campaign demonstrated "a degree of sophistication a lot of movements have never achieved," said Carlton College's Schier. "People should take note."
"Unite or die"
In 2010 Indiana was a poster child for the Tea Party movement's dysfunctional electoral debut. Groups across the state backed four different conservative candidates against Dan Coats, the establishment Republican Party candidate for retiring Senator Evan Bayh's seat.
Coats won the primary with 39 percent of the vote. In 2012 Tea Party activists are targeting Senator Richard Lugar, and they won't make the same mistake again. Conservatives dislike Lugar's votes for the 2008 bank bailout, his co-sponsorship of the Dream Act - which would have created a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who serve in the military or attend college - and above all his confirmation of President Obama's two Supreme Court nominees.
"For a long time Senator Lugar did serve us well, but he has drifted too far to the left," said Monica Boyer, the co-founder of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate.
Most of the state's Tea Party groups met in January and agreed they needed to coalesce around one candidate. In September they organized a statewide convention and held a straw poll to choose Republican State Treasurer Richard Mourdock as Lugar's first primary challenger since 1976.
Conventional wisdom holds that Lugar should win because of name recognition and the $3.8 million war chest he had at the end of the third quarter, dwarfing Mourdock's $290,000.
"We know this is going to be a hard fight," said Greg Fettig, a landscaping business owner who co-founded Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate with Boyer.
"But if it were easy, everyone would be doing it."
Brian Vargus, a politics professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said to beat Lugar the Tea Party must "mount a tremendous ground attack."
Volunteers for Mourdock have been knocking on voters' doors statewide since October. Lugar's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Aiming at the Senate in 2012
In mid-November, Boyer and Fettig met Tea Party leaders in DeWitt, Michigan, to describe how they had united against Lugar. Ten Republicans have filed papers in the race to run against Michigan's Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2012. This meeting was billed as a first step toward getting together behind one of them.
Wrapping up an impassioned speech, Fettig got a standing ovation when he said, "To quote our Founding Fathers, unite or die."
The speech convinced Wes Nakagiri of RetakeOurGov of the importance of getting together behind a single candidate. "I think our group could accept our second or third choice if that's what it took," he said.
Twenty-three of 33 seats in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate are up for grabs next year. Republicans need to win only four of those seats to gain the majority, which has made Senate races a primary focus of Republican Party activists around the country.
"Republicans are not sure yet they can beat Obama, so they're focusing on the Senate," said Republican strategist and CivicForumPAC chairman Ford O'Connell. Last year his PAC supported the successful campaigns of Florida Governor Marco Rubio and Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey.
Now, in states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, conservative donors are waiting to see if Tea Party groups can coordinate their efforts, O'Connell said.
"If they can unify behind viable candidates, more money will flow to those candidates," O'Connell said. "The big question is, can they get there?"
And if they can, the next big question is what happens to the Grand Old Party. If Republicans hold the House, win the Senate, and perhaps even take the White House, that will set the stage for a Tea-Party driven "bloodletting", predicts Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report newsletter.
"What many people don't understand," Tucker Carlson, the conservative editor of the Daily Caller, said, "is the Tea Party is a pure populist movement against the Republican establishment."
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Tea Party is brewing up for a fight against Obombo and his liberal demos
for a defeat in 2012!!!! It's gonna be a celebration!
Chuck Grassley is not a liberal or a Democrat. Tea Patsies want to take him out. Fine, take him out. Replace him with a Christine O'Donnell or a Sharron Angle or someone of that ilk. If Tea Patsies beat establishment Republicans, AND they HONESTLY present their programs in the general election, the Democratic Party will prevail by a large margin.
Tea Party is so yesterday. We know they are nothing but corporate patsies, trying to protect the 1%.
Ervin,
I wouldn't get too happy, the tea party will be tea bagged remember OWS, they aren't going anywhere and we see what the tea party wants is pure obstruction in government. We have opened our eyes to the tea party and the gridlock that their candidates created in the congress. We need solutions not my way or the highway politics.
Obama/Biden 2012
Gee Ervin, your serious and mature attitude toward moving America foward really makes me want to join the ranks of illiterate, angry, dishonest, name-calling traitors that make up the Tea Party.
*not*
Tea Party dying as you read this. They are the party people have in mind when they say the current Congress is the worst in history! They are a disease on America's backside. Blingrich is the perfect representative of them and will bring their ultimate demise when he is defeated in a landslide to Obama!!! Amen.
The "Tea Party" stands for FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. If we don't have the money to cover our bills we need to stop spending so much. Even my 4 year old daughter understands the concept of living within your means.
Ron Paul 2012.
Whether or not you agree with the ideas of the Tea Party or OWS, everyone must admit that it is problematic that third parties are frequently excluded from debates, and, in effect, from participating in elections at all. The Reps and Dems have become so powerful and entrenched in our government that they have essentially made it impossible for a legitimate third party candidate to emerge. This is mostly done through election rules, such as balloting rules, and through campaign financing rules that allow these parties to essentially economically bully any third party candidate out of a race. This is not the way our government was intended to operate - our founding fathers were against parties in general, much less the prospect of having only two candidates to chose from. Making matters even worse is the fact that, in order to continue to be supported by the party with which they affiliate, and the organizations that support that party, our elected officials are essentially forced to focus only on the needs and desires of their party, not their constituents. Likely because of that, politicians now treat governing as if it were a sporting event where the Republican "team" is pitted against the Democrat "team," with each side simply trying to defeat the other side as opposed to coming to a rationale compromise that is in the best interests of the entire country. This must all stop!
I encourage everyone to check out the American Overhaul Act at www.americanoverhaulact.org. It contains a set of proposed Constitutional amendments that are designed to correct these systemic problems that are plaguing our current government:
- Congressional Term Limits: A maximum of two four-year terms in either House or Senate, and twelve years total in Congress.
- Federal Campaign Finance Reform: The majority of funds any candidate spends on a federal election campaign will come from a federal election campaign fund. These federal election campaign funds will be doled out equally to all candidates running for a position (candidates must meet certain predetermined minimum requirements), and at least three candidates for any seat must receive funds. Further, candidates will only be permitted to accept campaign donations from individual constituents, not companies, organizations, or political parties.
- Congressional Size Limits: Membership in the House of Representatives will be permanently fixed at 300 members.
- Congressional Compensation: Congressional salaries will be fixed at four times the median household income. Additionally, health insurance will only be provided to members while they are actually serving in Congress (no lifelong healthcare) and pensions for members of Congress will be eliminated.
- Elimination of Party Favoritism: This amendment will require the elimination of all laws, rules, or regulations that favor or disfavor, either by inclusion or exclusion, any elected official or candidate for an elected office, based upon affiliation with any political party, or lack of affiliation with a political party.
- Federal Budget-Deficit Reform: The total amount of federal government spending generally must not exceed the amount of money collected by the federal government. There will be exceptions to allow for extra spending in times of national crisis, but the excess "crisis" spending will be limited in amount and duration, and must be corrected by an equal amount of underspending in the years that follow.
These are the types of changes that are needed to return our government to its intended purpose: having representatives that are focused on the needs and desires of American citizens and who take actions that are in the best interest if the country for the long-term. I encourage everyone to go to the American Overhaul Act website at www.americanoverhaulact.org. And, if you agree with these proposals, please support this Act and share it with your friends, family, and elected officials – it will take a lot of continued support to get these amendments passed so that we can make a positive impact on the future of this great nation!
Tea Baggotry must die - so sayeth we the people
The chances of successfully passing Any constitutional amendment is small, the chances of passing 6 of them is almost non-existant. Good luck with that.
Well, so "sayeth: you the person. We the people want a balanced budget, sound money, peace and prosperity.
Ron Paul Tea Party Money Bomb starts at midnight. Donate at RonPaul2012.com
It appears that a large portion of the teaparty has its lips latched firmly upon the public teat. They hate government but are fully dependent upon its largesse. They scream about socialism while cashing the check. If someone gives them their wish and cancels all social welfare programs they will freakout.
"The "Tea Party" stands for FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. "
You ought to start a new party called the FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY party because what the Tea Party has become ain't that. They are willing to make Blingrich the leader, a man who has NO problem wasting oodles of money at Tiffany's or with your Tax money!!
And the Tea Party now is the party of NO, no matter what - how much frickin sense does that make??? Just because Obama is for it!! never mind it might help the country!!! Unpatriotc Tea Baggotry!!!!!
And the Tea Party is anti-science, anti-education, anti-history ---- AN ABOMINATION TO THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD WHICH WAS MEANT TO BE A SHINING EXAMPLE.
Be gone Tea Party - the classic FAILED experiment.........
@Amused in the Midwest: We recognize the difficulty in getting amendments passed - we are not blind or naive to the fact that this is a difficult goal to accomplish. However, if we take no action there is a guaranteed result: nothing will ever change! With that said, one cannot take a defeatist attitude by saying "this will be difficult and the chances of succeeding are small, so I'm not going to even try." It is that type of defeatist attitude that is allowing these types of governmental problems to persist. As American citizens we have the right and the ability to try to change our system for the better, and we need to exercise that right. That is why I am encouraging people to support this Act, despite the fact that it will difficult. What do people have to lose? If it does not work, you have lost nothing, but if it does work, the whole country gains big! So please check out the Act at www.americanoverhaulact.org and, if you agree with the proposals, support them and share them with your friends and family so that we may gain the support, momentum, and force that we need to get these changes adopted!
"a fine tuned machine"...looks more like a 30 year old Briggs and Stratton lawn mower! Delusion is a powerful thing when perpetuated by lies and deceit. I cant wait for November 6, 2012 when all the air comes out of the TP balloon!
The TeaRetards are loose nuts destroying this Nation, the time has come to remove all these "A$$HO!ES" out. Stop them from hiding behind the GOP like little rats, start your own party you Koch Baggers.
Angela -
Perhaps you forgot when Obama said to House Republicans "I won. I don't have to take your ideas." Or perhaps you forgot when Obama addressed a joint session of Congress with his "Jobs Bill" and wanted it passed "right now" and refused to have it broken up into smaller pieces. Even Democrats (and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) voted against it. Saying the Tea Party is obstructionist and not willing to compromise while you back the re-election of Obama/Biden is hypocritical. Obama and his team are just as guilty of obstruction and partisanship. All of them do it. That's why most Americans don't vote party lines - they are smart enough to realize this.
I agree partially, OWS isn't going anywhere. They are stagnant and they sure as heck aren't organized enough to elect anyone come next November or even be a real factor in the election. Sure, their anti-Wall Street anti-corruption populist message resonates, but they haven't been able to turn that into anything concrete. Politicians are forced to run away from them because of the recent violence and unlawful behavior. Most of the money they have raised has gone to provide necessities for their tent communities, not to campaigns or issue endorsements, which promotes their ause.
The Tea Party on the other hand is dynamic, forcing Politicans to have to contend with them and either endorse their cause or reject their cause. Their grassroots effort for 2012 is very similar to President Obama's in 2008. They present a clear choice against the establishment. I may not agree with some of the Tea Party's stance on issues, but I respect their efforts.
Approximately what percentage of tea party members are or have been members of the klu klux klan?
Being well funded by the Koch brothers and Dick Army is not the same thing as "dynamic." If the Tea Party had any ideas that would IMPROVE the lives of Americans (not just the 1 percent the TP'ers dream they may sometime be), that would be something. But they don't. "NO" is not a plan. The whole idea of being "against the government" is illogical, because WE are the government. Yes, it is difficult to effect change, but part of that is because WE allow the gridlock to exist. The Party of No people elected in 2010 accomplished NOTHING. Two years - wasted. Use of the term "Tea Party" dishonors the REAL Boston Tea Party participants.
LOL at all the Democrap OWS Colostomy Baggers. Go @!$%# on a police car today!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046586/Occupy-Wall-Street-Shocking-photos-protester-defecating-POLICE-CAR.html
Talking about F...cking Retards
What, why don't you quote the inquirer too is just as reputable as the UK's daily mail.
But come on people the Tea Party has such a wide variety of individuals and cultures it has to be representative of the country right (sarcasm) for the mentally deficient far right.
the farther you move from center the less people will work with you and vica versa. I haven't seen one positive outcome of the Tea Party outside of showing they can organize.
See what I mean about Retards....How in the hell can you quote photos of the OWS Douchebaggers? You can try to discredit the photos all you want just because they aren't on your State Run Media but everyone knows OWS are the Pigs on display.
NO wonder the BSDNC calls OWS a "Movement"......LOL
No, the Teapublicans stand for "Cut my taxes", remember their "Taxed Enough Already" slogans? They want all the benefits of big government for themselves, and a small or nonexistent government when it comes to regulations that might restrict their greed. When the Republicans controlled Congress and the Presidency from 2001 through 2008, they racked up record deficits with their tax cuts and "borrow and spend" policies.
It's all about what's in it for them. "Fiscal Responsibility" really doesn't enter into it. Don't believe me? Then ask any Teapublican if they'd be willing to raise taxes in order to pay down the debt, or raise taxes to balance the budget, or even merely raise taxes just enough to pay for our military, and you'll have your answer.
Warren-722867
Out of over 1,400 groups, you point out two who are not even directly affiliated with the movement but have merely endorsed the movement. And you have no evidence of their funding, just speculation. If you had read the story above, you would have known about the unpaid volunteers targeting specific areas to get their message out. That is dynamic and irrefutable. Koch and Army aren’t paying those people, but I guess that’s the only argument you really have to explain the success of the TP. What about the funding of OWS? Even with big money from Hollywood and Soros, they are still stagnant and still will not have any impact in Nov 2012.
Obviously you don’t understand the TP or what their goals are. They are not against government, they just want a smaller government, big difference. According to polls, most Americans support that philosophy. As for ideas to improve the lives of Americans, they have plenty. Reform the tax code. Reduce taxes. Eliminate wasteful government spending. Balance our budget. You may disagree with how they want to accomplish these goals, but its hard to argue these ideals would NOT improve the lives of Americans.
I agree, we do allow gridlock and petty partisanship to exist. And as citizens, we should demand better. However, its been going on a lot longer than since 2010 or 2008, or even 1900. Blaming just the TP and ignoring the disaster both Republicans and Democrats have created and allowed for generations is short-sided to say the least.
What?-3106699
Your comment and use of the word retard (like others above) is not only ignorant, its highly inflammatory. As a volunteer for an organization that assists people with mental disabilities, you have no idea how hurtful or pathetic your flagrant use of the word is. People with mental disabilities are loving, caring, valuable members of our society and they should be treated with respect. Please think before you speak or type next time.
I see the liberal propaganda machine is out in full force today. Interesting the Tea Party is light years ahead of their 2010 victory but somehow they are old news, on their way out, delusional, owned by the bogey man, etc. Dream on guys, dream on. If you think last Nov was a shellacking you ain't seen nothing yet.
Those that ignore last Nov 2 are doomed to repeat it.
Silver Flyer -
Perhaps a better question would be how many democrats are or have been members of the KKK?
Considering Sen. Byrd and George Wallace - the staunch democrats that they were - I think you are being blinded by your hatred of anything conservative to see the truth for what it is.
Bring it on Teabaggers. THe nation knows exactly what you did the last time.. Absolutely nothing. I can only hope that America remembers this next year.
Tea party readies for battle.
Geez hasn't the tea party inflicted enough damage on this country, I guess they won't be satisfied until the 1% own 99% of everything.
Hey tea party nitwits you're going down in 2012.
The tea party is getting ready for battle by:
Filling up their oxygen tanks
stocking up on poly grip and depends
Washing their confederate flags
Gasing up their oversized 1980-something pick up trucks
Those who can read will be in charge of making ill-informed or just plain ridiculous signs that will mislead the public
Making sure they have plenty of gas, wooden crosses and white sheets
Thinking of reasons they hate Obama besides the fact that he's Black
Taking a bath
You need a serious history lesson. But since you show your Tea Party roots I doubt it would stick. Wallace ran for President as an independent. He had no support for his nonsense in the national Democratic party. His support existed only in the south were Democrats during that time were rapidly bailing to join what has become the modern Republican party because they did not like Democrat's support of civil rights. Google it, check it out, historical fact. People wonder why Republicans are often accused of racisim. One only has to look at the events around this time frame to determine the root of why.
Please, Tea Party, give us more Christine O'Donnells and Sharron Angles. Their ilk is irresistible.
And try to get Newt Gingrich as the nominee, too!
Please! Work your little hearts out!
And for heaven's sake, don't think too hard about this post. I promise you there's no hidden meaning.
Dem in Texas: "Taking a bath"? What universe are you living in?
Look, many of the TP bathe. They don't all drive pick-ups. I bet some of them drive Prius, because they behave as if their brains had been shattered into non-communicating fragments. They can think, "Driving a Prius is good because it saves me money" and "Any attempt to close down the Koch Bros. is bad" at the same time, and see no contradiction. They can't see contradiction.
If they subscribe to GUNS AND PATRIOTISM (yes, it exists--I subscribe) they've just been subject to an attempted solar-energy scam, which some of them may subscribe to, which will lead them away from fossil fuels. The thesis is that fossil fuels are an evil device of the electric company monopolies. Well--I agree. Hooray for crime!
Their problem--and the problem with all Conservatives--is that they don't understand cause and effect. They cannot connect fossil fuels=global warming=flooding-storms-destruction=the death of the human race. They cannot accept the equation fracking=pollution of the drinking water=making human life unbearable.
Um, but even if they understood the "destruction" aspect, they wouldn't work against it. Conservatives love destruction, of anything, for its own sake. Is there enough oil in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge to keep the home fires burning? Probably not, and Alaskan oil gets sold to Japan anyway. No, it is the destruction of something pristine and irreplaceable that excites Conservative sympathies.
And they are uneducable. You can present them with irrefutable facts, and it will make no difference. They operate on the basis of their ideology and prejudices, built into them by their genes or beaten into them by their parents. You would be interested if you researched, as I have, how many Conservatives were beaten by their fathers.
I wish us luck.
Teabaggers. We Know What You Did to The Debt Ceiling Last Summer.
Don't think you won't have to pay for your overstepping your office. Don't think we won't hold you accountable for violating your oath to the Constitution in favor of your oath to dirty lobbyist Grover Norquist.
@CM-6969 There is no reason to raise taxes. The government steals enough money from the citizens as it is. The way to get this country back on track is to CUT THE F*CKING SPENDING! Why can't people understand this simple concept. The best way to start is by reducing the bloated military budget. Close the bases over seas, bring our troops home and secure our borders. With our troops stationed in the USA their paychecks (tax dollars) will be spent right here at home! What a concept! Our money won't be spent in Germany, Japan, South Korea, etc..
There seems to be such a deep divide in our country I doubt that the Republic will last much longer. It's going to be the educated people who work hard and pay taxes VS the uneducated welfare drones that pay little to no taxes. I had better stock up on guns and ammo before that Constitutional right is taken away.
The tea party are just obstructionists. If they get any more powerful, God help us all. But here is aan idea they will even have trouble opposing. And it will result in a booming economy...all that is needed now is improving housing market. All it will happen. All that is needed is a temporary requirement that lenders allow mortgage assumptions, irrespective of the appraised home value. If a buyer with equal or better credit than the seller wants to buy the sellers home, the lender would allow the buyer to assume the mortgage. Then the buyer would not have to come up with these big down payments. For example, if a seller owes $210,000 on a home with a $200,000 appraised value and a buyer may want to acquire the home for $210,000 if he doesn't have to come up with the $50,000 that lenders would require in a traditional transaction. The seller could sell, the buyer could buy and the lender is in the same position (no worse off). And it doesn't cost the government a penny. The housing would be fixed, and the economy would boom. Horray for the USA!!! And how will the tea party oppose this idea?
You have posted this all over the place. Id rather be a constructive obstructionists than a nasty , dirty, worthless, low moral idiot that thinks its his right to "occupy" anything they choose. Plus with your plan your not selling or buying , just moving a problem from one place to the other with a bunch of meaningless paper work.
Well then, stormy, I suggest you start being "constructive" then. Turning off Fox News would be a step in the right direction, since you seem to believe everything you've been spoon-fed about the OWS movement.
The Tea-Retards are loose nuts destroying this Nation hiding behind the GOP name like little Rats, Start your own party you losers.
Uh oh, more people mobilizing and demonstrating. Gonna have to pull out the pepper spray, and start arresting some people. Lord knows these Teapartiers are crazier and more dangerous with their skewed beliefs and guns, than some college kids protesting low wages and lack of jobs from Wall St. Plenty of Teapartiers on record as threatening the president and left wing policitians. Maybe this lot needs to be rounded up and arrested.
You must be one of those educated in the last 20 years, that have no morals and no idea how to even balance a checkbook. You believe you are entitled to do anything you want and no one should stop you. You do not understand basic economics. The current "owner" of the house signed an agreement with the mortgage lender. They cannot change the terms just because they want to, that is known as FRAUD. You can be sent to jail for FRAUD. By the same token the mortgage lender cannot takeover the property unless the "owner" fails to meet their obligations as spelled out in the original agreement. If they do takeover when the owner did meet their obligations as spelled out in the original agreement, then the mortgage lender must provide compensation to the "owner".
Cygnus - the article clearly states that there will be less protests, not more.
You've got to love that the media slaps the most offensive sounding headline on the article they can think of:
"Tea Party grassroots army readies for battle"
And yet include the picture of the person holding the sign mocking the AP as "Always Partisan".
Are they trying to prove just how correct he is? or are they too clueless to notice or care?
Tea Baggers are behaving a bit like, dare we say it, "establishment". Is the Republican party being replaced by..... the Republican Party? Evidently. Karl Rove and Dick (aptly named) Armey are in the drivers' seats of the teabaggers, who are now bowing to "organization" and supporting "electable" candidates. Some revolution for change ya' got goin' there 'baggers! Good job! Way to bring about "change". Keep electing those Washington "insiders" you were whining about. Where are the "darlings of the party"? What has happened to Palin, O'Donnell, and Angle? Oh, yeah, they didn't get elected to anything. And Bachmann - no she won't be President, sorry to break it to you. None of these loons are "electable". So you are stuck with established career politicians. How's that anti-intellectual movement working out for ya? (Wink, wink).
In related news MSNBC continues it's stellar "journalism". (sarcasm)
MSNBC apologizes to Mitt Romney campaign over ‘irresponsible,’ ‘incendiary’ KKK
segment
"Chris Matthews said on Wednesday. "It was irresponsible and incendiary of us to
do this and showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize, we really do, to
the Romney campaign.""
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/msnbc-apologizes-mitt-romney-campaign-over-irresponsible-incendiary-151912768.html#more-25992
I guess my biggest shock in this article was the "5 point grading system"...
I wasn't aware that the averege teabagger could count to 5...
Though the Occupy movement is trying to avoid being hijacked the way the Tea Party movement was, there are some things Occupy should do that Teabaggers do, such as applying real pressure for real results by scoring political representatives, for example, BUT remain different, like remaining patriotic and keeping the American flag in their marches instead of the Gadsden Flag, for example.
Ultimately I laugh at Teabaggers who "ready for battle" as if a minority of old, white (and often fat) people are going to use their second amendment rights. The 99% concept is far more inclusive so Occupy outnumbers the tea Party by a lot, and their message is real--not fallacious reasoning--which appeals to a wider range of people including young people, organized labor, etc. that could kick Tea Party butt in a "battle." Be careful with those fighting words conservatives...
Throw the Teapublicans out -- Obama/Biden - 2012!
Teabaggers..
what a joke.
a weak attempt to revive a dying conservative ideology.
yeah, lets praise them for winning town board seats, or school board elections. oooh. great idea.. dummies, don't have anyone smart enough to win a serious election so they barely win small town stink. they are a real threat to national government. what a joke.
just the fact that all a republican candidate has to do is claim to be ''teaparty'' and all you baggers fall in love with his validation of your joke existence.
Bag heads will never be anything more than late night talk radio listening racist hicks who are clueless to the rest of the universe.
nice flannel, joke.
pjam09 -- It is stellar journalism to retract incorrect statements or reports. When will FOX Noise retract all the incorrect charts they've been using?
I always wanted to Occupy a tea party, and now it is 2.0 I just can't wait.
The Occupation is now in it Vally Forge mode right now, it will be a cool thing to have us and the Teabagger coming together. It should be very interesting.
Until we meet! Grins!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"The T-Retards are the grassroots of all evil"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As a hard-core "lefty", I applaud the right and far-right efforts to "grade" the Republican candidates in order to find one who meets all the criteria. There is no perfect candidate, as we Democrats already understand. Keep making pledges to the sketchy people out there who are outside the democratic system, keep making pledges to your party, keep up the litmus testing, we Democrats love it. Republicans have no idea how foolish all of this makes them look, and certainly have no idea how many centrists there are who would vote Republican except for the weird "pledges" and "tests". Why do Republicans try so hard to squash free thinking? Everyone must march in step or you can't play with us. That's all good for Democrats and the preservation of the democratic system.
@Magnificent,
It's ironic that you claim the Repubs are squashing free thinking when it's the Demos that are bending to all of the minorities and limiting what the majority can do or say. It's also the Demos that are trying their hardest to get as many people dependent on the government as possible (i.e. taking away your freedom).
Although I'm not affiliated with the Tea Party, or either political party, I will say that you liberals are making a big mistake by under-estimating the TP thinking that they're uneducated, ignorant and stupid. It's the worst mistake anyone could make at the start of a battle. :)
Alex, tis you that is confused. I recall Cheney as VP telling us what to think about the war and if we disagree then we are not American. And no, Democrats are not trying to make people dependent upon the government, in fact programs that allow people to become self-sufficient are continuously under attack by Republicans - take for example the current assault on public education. Republicans sway with the wind, while Democrats are fairly steady in our basic ideology - government works for the people, not vice versa. Republicans support, many without even knowing it, oligarchy, to be ruled by less than 1% of the population. Republicans talk about "term limits" when influential Democrats remain in office longer than Republicans would like. And I don't believe it is Democrats scrambling to change voting registration laws in order to keep a large segment of minority people who are likely to vote Democrat out of the voting booths - legally. Disenfranchising millions of people nationwide in an attempt to keep Democrats out of Washington is the most UnAmerican scheme undertaken since Reconstruction. Jim Crowe rears its ugly head in the 21st Century. Way to go Republicans! Do NOT come back with the lame-arse excuse that the new voting registration laws keep "illegals" from voting because there is absolutely NO data to support this idea - it is red meat for the ignorant.
Ah the sweet sound of tolerance that eminates from the Lefties ... You just got to love it!!! Hypocrites of the highest order.
... just keeping my powder dry ...
TEA PARTY = Tax Evading Americans Party and still mentally unstable !! They thought your were supposed to smoke the grassroots istead of becoming the grassroots and now they're to high to even make any sense out of non-sense!!
"there are some who say:" the dont tread on me flag, tea shirts, and all their other ghee-gaw are all made in China. what's with that?
The Tea Party the same group that gave you the WORST CONGRESS IN HISTORY. Here come the wacky nut job\ army the Tea Party or should they be called the Pee Party. Heck they don't even have an American flag just some stupid looking yellow rag on a stick with a snake on it. Maybe they should be called the snake Oil Party
J the J#2.12: The "Tea Party" is many things, yet, if it is a joke it is no laughing matter*. This is a very organized group of very rich people who have set out to exploit the ignorance, bigotry, general sorriness, and valid dissatisfaction of all classes of people. These are the underpinnings of this group. At the base level, all can voice their particular concerns, whether on substantive issues or psychotic imaginings, and be embraced as "pillars of the movement". Of course, as is usual, the upper levels then hone all this into political dictum's and push them as a means toward the sole purpose of their ends, which, by the way, is pure, unadulterated oligarchy. Grover Norquist, Kock brothers etc are prime examples who head this pitiable mass of self serving Serbs.
*Samuel Clemens
Twilight for the GOP. The Teabaggers are the best thing to come along for the moderate, progressives, and left. The Republicans are feeding on each other and, in the end, will be dust. Too late for the "old guard" GOPers to regain control (see: Lugar in the Teabagger crosshairs).
Astonished - I think we lefties are tolerant of ideas supported by some semblance of fact. We are not very tolerant of ignorance and unabashed idiocy. Maybe I'm speaking for myself....
Stay at home moms campaigning for lower taxes. What a @!$%#ing joke.
Don't take these Baggers lightly. They may be right wing loons but they are as determined as anyone can imagine.
When campaigning they will lie, cheat, steal, to win office. But once in office they will rear their ugly heads.
They will campaign on being fiscally conservative, but once in office they are out to implement the most draconian social morays, you can imagine, and take this country back 100 years.
Just look at what has happened in Wisconsin, Virginia, S Carolina Ohio and many other states.
They have a religious Dominism agenda that will curl your hair. These crazy's are bent with extremism and are dangerous to your social freedoms.
They believe social laws should be biased on Biblical principals, and there should be NO exceptions.
Many of them want the Constitution trashed and rewritten. Don't think I am fooling,...i'm not. What you see on the surface is only the tip of the iceberg.
They are hell bent on their agenda and plan to change life in this country as we know it.
If we take these crazies lightly, we will pay a dear price for it.
One only need to look at the congress and how they have polluted the US Congress and the damage they can do.
They must be stopped at every turn and exposed for what they are before they get a chance to be elected.
Tea party readies for battle.
Geez hasn't the tea party inflicted enough damage on this country, I guess they won't be satisfied until the 1% own 99% of everything.
Hey tea party nitwits you're going down in 2012.
The tea party army is poised to continue its assualt on American values while using traditional American symbols to oppose precisely what those symbols originally stood for.
the problem is the guys that were elected in 2010 became politicians, the very thing the TP is against. They did nothing to lead the country, run the country or help America. In the name of lower taxes, less government and Free Markets nothing got done!
Why do people run for office? Why do they give up well paying jobs for the pittance paid to be an elected official?
ALL politicians are two faced, lairs, prepared to say whatever it takes to get elected, so they can start milking the gravy train for as long as they can.
Case in point our politicians can legally trade shares on "insider knowledge" (Something they tried to prosecute Martha Stewart for) but they are voting against banning this "perk" Disgusting people.
Term limits is one answer
"the guys that were elected in 2010" are now being voted the worst Congress in American history!!
Get Teabaggots out of Virgina (southern VA is where they thrive) and out of the U.S. for good!!!!
Robert, you can't lead from the bottom of the totem pole. While I don't agree with the TP, the problem lies at the top of the pole, both parties. Until the leadership is eliminated, Boehnor, Cantor, McConnell, Pelosi, Reid, Hoyer, etc., there will be no moving forward with solutions.
Most of the leadership has been in office since the mid-80's, they are the problem.
If you really want to get rid of them then you need to adopt their tactics. Go to your local party meetings, get involved and start talking to people. Whining about tea baggers on here and other blog sites is not going to defeat them and the only way they are going to be made to go away is in massive and I mean massive defeat. These are not smart people and they are not people who are going to take no for an answer. You won't change their narrow minds so you are going to have to educate others as to what they are up to and why it is bad for the country. It's easy to whip people up by grumbling about what it wrong, just look at what they did in 2010. However it is much harder to actually have a solution that will work and we know that they do not have that. Get with your local party group and start working on one and then start spreading the word. But if all you have to offer is coming on here and whining about Tea you're going to be very unhappy in 2012 when you realize that, yes, Americans ARE apathetic enough to elect these people without realizing what they are doing. Don't let history repeat itself, work.
really have no interest in ''changing anyones mind'', sheep are sheep, they are that way because they lack the mental capacity to think for them selves.
change their mind, and your forced to spend the end of your days telling them what to think. Its too small a group to care about how they think..
they've already surrendered to the fascist propaganda, not interested in de-brainwashing someone.
if you haven't figured it out on your own by now, then sorry.. ill just talk about them on-line..
Jake Reyna
Agreed!
NewtISaPig,
Actually the worst are the remaining spenders that weren't replaced last time.
umm no..? the worst is every single one of them in that congress. the worst..
if the Tea Party would come up with some ideas other than cut all social programs and cut taxes for the top 2% they would be more effective ... 2 people I know personally ..that originaly were supporting the TP in this area have dropped out .. ideology a side ..they, like me .. believe the only way gov can work is with all the people working to improve America ..that means giving all ideas and all proposals a fair chance to be debated in front of the American public .. just saying NO dont cut it ..
I agree Robert; I am also offended when the TP is referred to as a conservative movement.
"Grassroots."
Toasty,
Yeah the 'occupiers" just smoke the grass.
The teapubs just shill for the corporate elite. Who do you think funds them?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/2011/02/02/tea-party-funding-koch-brothers-emerge-from-anonymity
Fools.
Who funds them? Iran.
These people have the blood of U.S. servicemembers on their hands, and they still have the sick audacity to call themselves patriots. I wouldn't touch these disgusting people with a ten-foot pole.
LMAO..... they are your neighbors! Do you say that to their faces?
Yes. They don't like it, but they're all really old, so they rarely remember.
Yep. Gotta tell the truth (which I know is a foreign concept to teapubs).
Lib 50 you fail to note that the funding is about 1/2 funds these three tea party groups. The other tea party groups receive nothing.
Then again, it is not different than George Soros funding media matters, move-on.org. The really fun thing about Soros is that he funds environmentalists who try to shut down competetors to his own oil interest.
They're still organized and run by corporate interests. Receiving no funding from them means they're just being played like a fiddle for free.
Then you should also accept that George Soros who sends funds about 20 Liberal causes is doing the same as the Koch brothers.
Running their every move.
Clearly you have no idea what it takes to be a multi-millionaire running a large business.
Toasty, how does the Tea Party have U.S. Service Members blood on their hands? What a foolish statement.
Their party wasn't around when we entered Iraq or Afghanistan. Last time I checked, supporting our troops doesn't equate to having blood on their hands.
There are legitimate arguments against the Tea Party but when you spew something like this, it only makes your distain for the Team Party seem irrational.
ugh,
dirtbaggers
scumbaggers
cockbaggers
what a joke..
see, and this is what we are all talking about.. classic example of how dumb the teasuckers are..
this is the reason noone takes them seriously, they all just don't even know their own history..
what a dumb bunch of carrots.. man, and you think by now they would atleast, by now, think about what they say..
how long has the teaparty been around? ha, just because Fox only started their fake max coverage of the lard-ass teabaggers, doesn't mean that the movement just started. dummy.. what a dummy..
Seriously, did you not even bother to follow my link, ITTDDY?
the people that can Occupy Wall Street and other places in America need to get off the streets and into town hall meetings ..the way the TP did ... at town hall meetings they can make their demands heard and get the attention they deserve
Toasty - was the link in this post? My phone is not showing any links in your posts on this thread at all. I double checked just in case I missed it. Please message send it to me directly if you can. I would like to read it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-02/koch-brothers-flout-law-getting-richer-with-secret-iran-sales.html
J the J -
Can you carry on a conversation without insulting someone?
I'm not a Tea Partier and I never claimed to be one. My Mom is one and active in her local TP group, that's why I know something about them.
I love how you call me dumb 4 separate times but never give an actual example of how I was wrong in my post. Obviously by your post, its too difficult for you to use spell-check or properly punctuate a sentence. Perhaps its too difficult for you to find an example to back up your claim?
DBAkron:
Interesting. I would surmise that any "multi-millionaire running a large business" wouldn't be here wasting valuable time blogging. More likely out making extravagent purchases with their GOP-sponsored "welfare for millionaires" tax breaks.
Ok Toasty, I read the article.
Obviously there are quite a few transgressions by Koch Industries that need to be investigated further. While I find the report startling, sadly Koch is certainly not the first or only company to do this. Many major U.S. companies have been exposed using similar business practices.
I still however believe your comment about the TP is disingenuous and a huge leap of conspiracy. So Koch has supported the Tea Party. They didn’t begin the movement. They don’t represent it. Most TP people aren’t out protesting at TP rallies or voting to walk lock-step with the Koch brothers. Probably most don’t even know who they are. I believe with the exception of the fringe people, most Tea Partiers really believe in the philosophy of smaller government, plain and simple. They think that’s what is best for the country.
By the way, General Electric was busted for the same thing – selling and trading with Iran. They only discontinued it after repeated pressure in 2008. Koch discontinued their business with Iran in 2006. GE has also ran into very similar issues that Koch has had with falsifying documents and being fined for not complying with regulations. Please see the NY Times story on this. Their CEO, Jeff Emmelt, has been in control since 2001. He oversaw their operations trading with Iran.
If you are going to jump to the conclusion that because the Koch brothers support the TP and Koch was trading with Iran leading up to the War on Terrorism, the TP has U.S. Soldiers blood on their hands, what do you conclude about GE? GE’s CEO that oversaw the Iran sales is the Jobs Czar for President Obama. He also was a huge donor to his party. Using your logic, President Obama also has U.S. Soldiers blood on his hands, right? Maybe you also think his Presidental campaign was funded by Iran. Or is it just Koch that you are worried about?
I’m worried about all of them. Unfortunately, some major corporations such as GE and Koch believe they can skirt the law. Most of the Politicians on both sides are connected to these CEO’s. Its good to expose all wrongdoing, especially when it concerns dealings with suspect governments such as Iran. No one should get a free ride. But exposing one side and not the other is just biased.
The Koch brothers don't just support the Tea Parties, they CREATED them. There is no way to separate the Koch's from the movement.
Thankfully the Tea Party came into being when it did!!! Now we are able to address the flaws in, our system of government and holding our legislators accountable.
The Tea Party has also force soros, van jones, and obama's anti American progressive's hand. We are headed for a very unsettling times
While, we haven't heard much lately about obama's ows idiot's they will continue to grow. these idiot's will be taken over by andy stern's seiu and the violence will will become out of control.
obama has two shots at remaining in office;
1. Have his unions create so much havoc that obama will have to invoke martial law?
2. Go to war? (not far fetched)
too much FOX NEWS man....lol....also ease up on the meds....
Amen
@ Gary.......Huh?
You mean "thankfully the Koch brothers created the Tea Parties when they did." This is not a grassroots movement, it was 100% corporate-created and -funded from the very start.
Gary K,
We see who the idiot is plan as day.....YOU! Go crawl back under the rock you came out from. OWS are people voicing their concerns but there is nothing wrong when the teabaggers strong arm republican candidates and hold them hostage to their ideology? This isn't Mayberry chump!
Gary K - It's easy to hurl inflammatory statements but please back it up. What is anti-American about President Obama? What policies did he put in place that are anti-American. Please don't say Obamacare because you will show your ignorance. In fact the Affordable Health Care Act keeps in place the private for profit health insurance stucture. Even the health care exchanges will be with filled with private for profit insurance companies. Are you suggesting that Medicare is un-American because Medicare is the boogyman of government run single payor healthcare that all you TPer's are so afraid of. So go ahead let's see your hand of anti-American policies this president has come up with.
Wow Gary, you should seek some serious help. Obama's getting us OUT of Bush's war. Take off the aluminum foil hat (to keep the government from reading your mind) and try to learn something.
To ya'all LMAO!!! I refer to obama as an anti-American progressive based on his being mentored by Frank Marshall Davis and his associates such as:
george soros, anthony van jones, valerie jarrett
andy stern, cass sunstein
bill ayres, bernadine dorhn
and let's not forget ole rev wright
just a few for an example.
And obama's ridiculous spending and lack of leadership!!!!
I already been called all the names you can come up with but go ahead if you wish, as you will be unable to disassociate obama from the above named individuals, Thank You!!!
Gary K-2697770 Comment collapsed by the community
Thankfully the Tea Party came into being when it did!!!
========
.........Well of your post about martial law, war, etc., proves you are capable of very rational thought.....yep....sure does.
The Tea Party sure is a movement, I could not agree more. They are all a bowel movement.
"Tea Party grassroots army..."
--Yeah, brought to you by the Healthcare Mafia, religious fanatics and the Koch Brother Billionaire Club.
This army is easy enough to cut off . . . take away their alzheimer's medication.
Have you seem this group at a meeting? They seem only able to scream so as to cut off any rational dialog while foaming at the mouth over the most recent propaganda piece from FOX or another of Murdoch's media outlets.
It's rather sad. When the Republicans cut off their protected health care and put those death panels into place, maybe they'll be too far gone to notice.
Captain Kangeroo and his merry army of medicare card carrying teabaggers complaining about government spending and keeping the guvment out of their healthcare...hey dummies 60% of all spending is providing welfare and healthcare to old people who did not earn these benefits, they earned a much lower benefit than they receive...damn socialists
LMAO!!!! the rachel madcow twist!!!!!
It really is funny. I'm a young person, so these people constantly accuse me of wanting handouts... As they steal my money to pay for their Social Security and Medicare. I take nothing from these old codgers, and they steal money from my paychecks, and yet they still think I'M the parasite.
Put the glue down...Your watching to much MSLSD..
“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
If I become really really rich, maybe I'll become a conservative. But let's face it, that's not going to happen, so I'll stick to the side that values human beings.
it's a funny thing about how people define themselves. I see Major sports players getting multi-million dollar contracts. Ask them if they are rich and most will tell you "No".
That's the irony, DB. They work against their interests when they do the bidding of billionaires.
Toasty you will become a conservative when you realize that the people who work are expected to pay for those who won't and we are all responsible for ourselves and not expecting a handout from the govt.
I'm young, Deb. I pay the social security and medicare handouts to the teabaggers. The same teabaggers who happily take my money are the ones accusing me of wanting a handout. Imagine that.
Come to think of it... I didn't happen to write you a check this month, did I Deb?
The TEA party has its act together.
The OWS are disorganized rabble.
Is it maturity or intellect that separates the two?
It's the corporate funding and control, to be honest.
I am going with ability to stay on the front page for weeks at a time.
Go back to bed.
Yes, the folk at MSLSD do their best to try and make the OWS relevant. MSLSD is trying hard to get the OWS legitimacy.
Unfortunately for MSLSD, the OWS folk are a bunch of disorganized weirdos.
Are you disputing that the tea party is corporately funded? Really? Have you researched how they were funded?
Jim three of the parties recieved about half of their funds from the Koch brothers. The others do not. To say they are corporately funded as a whole - no they are not.
They're not all corporate-funded, just all corporate-run.
Sorry to inform you steven b but its a well known fact that the Koch Brothers poor money into the Tea Party.... primarily funded by 3 of the top 5 richest men and corporation in the world..... try reading something other than Fox news for once. That is not grassroots by any definition.
please continue with the ignorance train its quite entertaining.
And Soros and the unions poured money into the OWS group. So why aren't you comparing that ???
"Those who think the Tea Party is on the wane are in for a gigantic surprise in 2012," says Debbie Dooley, co-organizer of the Atlanta Tea Party. "We have built a grassroots army and we will be a fine-tuned machine next year."
Well lady, you have had three years to have your fine tuned machine. hahahahah
"Wait till" is the TP Mantra.
Yeah, they said they'd take the senate in 2010. They also said they'd pass all of their undemocratic bills in 2011. But I'm sure THIS time they'll be right...
The 2010 elections wiped the floor with the Democrats.
You lost Governors, and got 'shellacked' the the House.
You lost your bulletproof majority in the Senate.
And, come 2012, you're going to lose BOTH the POTUS and Senate.
ROFL, case in point. The righties completely refuse to acknowledge the thrashing they took in 2011...
@Steven B
And judging by current poll numbers, there is a lot of buyers remorse. Look at kasichs poll numbers, Walker's numbers, Corbett's numbers. Scott's numbers. Snyder's numbers, even Chrsitie's numbers.
Toasty - given the current environment, the Republicans will maintain the House, and should take a majority in the Senate. The only "Republican" Seat in real jeopardy is the Brown Seat in Massachusetts. He may get challenged for the nomination of the party.
I guess November 2011 didn't really happen... It's strange, because I remember it so very clearly.
November 2012 is still 11 months away - plenty of time for all brands of "Republican" to implode. The 99% are very unhappy. Even Paul Ryan evidently has managed to understand the mood of the nation, at least that is my take on his rather concilliatory move to the left regarding his attacks on Medicare. Expect to see more movement to the left as the tea bag right digs in and becomes even more anti-American. Despite what a few of the tea-people think, it is becoming more and more clear that the MAJORITY of Americans are center and center-left. Keep moving right all you righties, makes the election much easier for real Americans who value the protections guaranteed to us by the Constitution.
The big clue to the fear the right has of the left is the mad rush to manipulate voting laws in order to disenfranchise segments of the population that tend to vote Democrat. A transparant and unquestionably unAmerican thing to do. McCarthyism/Communism at its best, American democracy at its worst. How proud you Republicans are of your new anti-American laws!
AA, I hate to break it to you, but all those little "facts" you copied from World Net Daily are completely made up. Someone pulled them out of their ass, and you just swallowed it whole. Well done.
Rick,
Come on... You may as well be speaking to a concrete wall. I say give them all they ask for... then they will realize who is being affected... You can't teach stupid :)
The Tea party is not going anywhere...We are listening, learning, and paying close attention to what our representatives are saying and doing...And we do this and go to work everyday...we changed Government last November and we'll do it again in 2012.....We are the backbone of America..It surely is not the bongo playing ocutards that will determine the direction of this country. the Tea Party is a mix of Republicans, Democrats and Independents. That is as grass roots as it gets...
Amazing how the Teabaggers go on and on about 2010... And somehow miraculously forget the thrashing they took in 2011.
I look forward to chatting with Toasty next year.
Can't wait to hear what you'll invent to compensate for the losses the Democrats will have.
I sincerely hope the Tea Party emerges as the moderating influence for the Republican party. I'm a registered Republican, though I've never voted for a Bush.
I also don't hate gays, and think they should be allowed to marry those they love regardless of sex or gender.
I also believe in a woman's right to choose abortion
And I'm an atheist.
OK, I DO have guns - lots of them.
But increasingly, I can not, and will not support the conservative agenda of theocracy, restriction on abortion rights, and institutionalized hate of GLBT.
But I'm also NEVER going to vote FOR a Democratic party candidate that increasingly sees my personal success as its private piggy bank to raid as it sees fit to give away (a) to corporations so they can fund their CEO's compensation, or (b) give it to those who have not, aren't now, and likely never will produce any benefit for society or themselves.
Tea Party - your work is cut out for you, and I wish you well.
What thrashing Toasty.......Everyone knows about the Thrashing democraps took...But were unaware of the thrashing you speak of...enlighten us with your drivel...
Uh, Gaffer? The Tea Party isn't moderate. The only way they could influence moderation is through a backlash against the Tea Party Movement.
Got to agree with Toasty. Moderation and Tea do not mix. However their infrastructure consists largely of a bunch of cotton tops who have no idea how to fix anything, they just want to return life to a time they understood. They do not understand that genie's do not go back in the bottle.
Scott, the anti labor movements in both Wisconsin and Ohio have been shot full of holes. An overwhelmingly Republican district in NY sent a Democrat to congress a couple of months back, etc. Each place in 2011 where moderates or Democrats have had an opportunity to undo the extremist policies that were implemented by the 2010 crowd they have succeeded. You will see more of this in 2012 as the thinking people come back to the polls having learned the lesson that they may not like what Obama accomplished but the alternative is destruction and they cannot sit at home again and ignore the election.
Why do you liberal see so much problem with limited government?? Why do you want more government intrusion into your life??? Why don't you want people to have some personal responsiblity???
By bashing the one group that is trying to stop the US giveaway they are trying to protect your future from those who want to destroy it and yet you think the Democrats are the heros.
Because there is nothing "limited government" about the Tea Parties, Deb. They've proposed some of the most radical, anti-democratic measures this country has seen in a generation.
The Tea Party is just trying, again, to blow smoke because they're running scared since the arrival of the Occupy movement. They should be! They keep telling everyone how they'll succeed in the next elections. Ha ha. Their day has come and gone! The middle class is back and this time with a vengence!
Why don't you TP'ers listen to all the facts and see a bigger picture like God woants you to?
Moron...You expect us to believe the Ocutards are middle class America.......
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a ...mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
-Author Unknown
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency."
English = "a man like Obama"
Tea Party = "black guy"
I didn't check Google translate, but I'm pretty confident.
Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative. -John Stuart Mill
"The danger to America is not Conservatives but a citizenry capable of entrusting a group like them with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Conservative presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to support such greed, corruption and ignorance in their president.The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Conservatives, who are a ...mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the petty and narrow minded should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made greed and Fox News their masters.
The Republic can survive a Conservative, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who sold their soles and brought us the Tea Party."
Works Both Ways.
Yes the conservatives trying to limit the dems spending problem are the bane of society.
When will you people wake up and realize this country is out of money and all the taxes in the world are not going to help????????????
Cut spending, Flat tax with no deductions for anyone and no more foreign aid.
Hasn't the Tea Party created enough problems for our country? Just go away already.
No
Yep, Scott, that's about all they have contributed. "NO" to this, "NO" to that. Where are the jobs they promised anyway? Oh that's right. Their number one priority is to defeat President Obama. Nice platform.
In Harry Reid's desk.
Where's the 'summer of recovery'?
Where's the 'laser-like focus on jobs'?
Right now, Obama is quashing a pipeline that would employ 50,000 people.
Way to go, liberals!!
Jim the presidents 1 trillion dollars jobs bill was supposed to create JOBS...it did squat...But you keep voting for change you can step in...We sent our representatives last November to do just what they are doing...Stop the madness....You don't understand why we need to stop borrowing 4 billion a day to pay our bills...We are here to save you from your stupidity....I know you think Greece, Italy, Europe are diong great spending more than they take in...But we know better...I'm sure your credit cards are maxed out and you stay overdrawn in your checking account...Because it makes sense to you..it's how you were raised I guess...But we know better....And yes we will defeat this president before he does more damage than we...(you know the ones that know better)...can fix....
Hey Scott. Actually, my credit cards are paid off, as are my four cars and three houses. Yep, even liberals can be in the top 1% and still care about others. Keep up your hate. Great representative for the Teabaggers.
Steven #14.3
"Pipeline that would employ 50,000"
Why is it you teapublicans always feel the need to fabricate, exggerate or just blatantly lie?
Will you show any link that shows the number 50,000 Jobs?
At best - even the Repulican leadership states there may be 20,000 jobs and this is disputed - with a real time number of 1500-2000 to be added yearly.
Fabricating numbers to make a point makes you look not only uninformed - but small, very, very small with no shred of credibility!
Steven B:
Please do your homework. Your pipeline would not employ anywhere near 50,000 people, and at the same time would jeopardize the drinking water of much of the great plains when there is a leak.
Steve, I live where they wanted to put that pipeline, and yes we need jobs, we also need clean and safe water for drinking and farming, so you and your ilk can shove that pipeline where the sun don't shine.
The Republicans and T-Baggers yowl about "states rights", and I believe it was the state of Nebraska that said please no pipeline through our state, thank you very much for the offer. So "states rights" only counts when the issue at hand is something near and dear to the right, like banning birth control in Mississippi, and keeping certain minorities away from the polls because they might vote Democrat in several other states. Don't you just love Rightie interpretation of "rights"? A right is only a right at the convenience of the Right.
Amused In The Midwest
Steve, I live where they wanted to put that pipeline, and yes we need jobs, we also need clean and safe water for drinking and farming, so you and your ilk can shove that pipeline where the sun don't shine.
========
....I nominate you for best post of the day, and I nominate Steve for loser of the day.
Occupy to Tea Party: Come at me bro.
Were right in front of you.....quit running away
I dunno, all the pics of tea baggers I ever saw look like the biggest fight of their lives was a bowel movement that morning or trying to bend down to tie their shoes!
Stop pointing guns at people and cutting gas lines, and maybe they won't run. I'm sorry Scott, but the Tea Party Movement is violent, and their dwindling support is a direct result of this.
How many TEA party arrests?
How many OWS arrests?
The liberals keep kidding themselves, living in that fantasy world they've created.
JIM....I bet you would say tea baggers to my face......little punk
Flash bang pop pop. done!
Toasty...on the crack again I see...Name a violent issue that happened at a TP event....Right I see them crapping on police cars...Not pulling permits for protesting...Throwing bottles at police...walking around naked.....shooting heroin.....smoking crack...weed....meth....Oh wait..that the occutards....The TP protesters were the everyday working class...not the loser, moocher class that is OWS
You've never heard of Lauren Valle? How about one of your guys cutting the gas line of an elected official? Or when a particularly anti-tax teabagger flew a plane into a government building? Or when one of your guys went on a Glenn Beck-inspired rampage in California. Or when teabaggers in my state started threatening elected officials. Or threatened to murder their CHILDREN. Surely you remember when one of your guys murdered my neighbor and tried to assassinate my congresswoman.
And yes, I have MANY more examples of Tea Party violence and intimidation. You need but ask.
#15.5
Flagged.
Lots of links, nothing but one specifically linking to any TEA party folk.
Nice try, no cigar.
Now, would you like a list of verified acts of violence from the OWS?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/violence-mars-occupy-wall-street-protests-vermont-elsewhere-163738122.html
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/08/morning-bell-occupy-wall-street-gets-more-violent/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/occupy-wall-street-a-bloody-man/2011/11/18/gIQAi6mLYN_blog.html
I have a LOT more.
And, many of these acts are against legitimate law enforcement personnel.
Just another example of how the OWS lack maturity and any self-control.
Haha Scott, you say: "Name a violent issue that happened at a TP event". Re-read your 15.5 post. Sounds a little violent if you ask me. Who needs a TP event when you have Newsvine?
Really, Steven? I give you factual accounts and police reports, and you provide speculation? And you think that lets you talk condescending? Sorry kiddo, but you're going to need to do a lot better than that.
If I were the Tea Party, and I read some of the posts here (e.g, 15.5, and there are others), I would be predisposed to remark something like: "Scott, with friends like you, who needs enemies".
There are any number of reasons why many people have little respect for the Tea Party movement, among them, the kind of angry, radical people who support the TP (as evidenced in these posts), and in turn the kind of people they have supported: Palin, Bachmann, O'Donnell, Ryan, Cantor, etc. I supported the GOP for years, but I cannot support the new, improved GOP/TP. I firmly believe that if Eisenhower were living in this time and running for President, the TP would deride him as a liberal, leftist, and/or a RINO. Yes, he was a conservative, but a compassionate one, and I guess there are those today who consider that a weakness, too bad.
scott-2329078, you're online. Don't do this. 'To my face' hypotheticals are unrealistic, dumb, and bad for discussion. If you don't like someone's phrase, just write as much.
You're suspended for a day for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
That picture of Dugan sure makes him look like a preacher for Satan.
The hatred radiates from his dark countenance.
As evidenced by their posts on this page, leftists remain in denial about the Tea Party and the fact that liberals are the smallest segment of American voters.
Obama was elected because of 1) the historical aspect, 2) voters wanting change, 3) his promises to control spending.
Well we got the history and we certainly got change and non of that change was toward our good.
So it's up to the Tea Party to force Republicans to put up a conservative candidate to see that this incompetent community organizer is sent back to Chicago and that we take over control of the Senate.
Platitudes.
Sort of like "Hope and Change" right? You're an idiot.
Larry, the best candidates for the Republican party are at the bottom of the polls. Huntsman is more than qualified and would probably serve the country very well. I also like Buddy Roemer, he is honest and has a great deal of integrity - AND he gets the part about giving the elections back to the people and away from corporations. But your party is going after Gingrich? Romney? OMG, the circus continues. Cultural conservativism and the Republican obsession with women's wombs and what people do in their own bedrooms is destroying the Republican party and potentially our Democracy if one of these Republican gasbags gets elected.
lol @ "liberals are the smallest segment of American voters".... if i recall correctly... Obama won by a land slide victory.... were all the GoP voters on vacation? spoken like a true fox news viewer.
By pandering to minorities, intimidation by unions, voter fraud. Americans are awake now and Obama's poll numbers are in the tank. Doesn't look good...LOL
I would like to make a donation to the Tea Party, I have a 40' trailer full of adult diapers to send them. Tea party, cut me a break! Bought and paid for by koch bros & corporations and sponsored by fox news. Its the young who will make change, occupy occupy occupy!!!
jim..Leave your drivel for your bedroom walls......I have a 40" trailer full of common sense....that's something you could try to use....paid for by the folks that work and pay taxes...
It's george soros, van jones obama and seiu that makeup ows!!!
BTW haven't heard anything about these idiot's on Omsnbc lately?????
Scott
So the only people allowed to comment in your mind are those that "work and pay taxes"?
Not the retired, not the disabled, not the handicapped, not those unfortunate enough to have lost their jobs...
Let's guess - you are a teapublican who is striving to get across your party message "It is Our Country - for those we decide can participate".
You and your party message is clear - "Exclusion - Not Inclusion"
Better check Scott - your message has run it course!
The Tea Party rallied against the bank bailouts. They support less government intrusion in our everyday lives. They support a free market economy. They do not support Wall Street. They do not support "big business". Are there religious fanatics and other nutjobs in the organization - yep. Same as OWS. Same as Congress. Same as our entire country. Less government, more personal responsibility and free markets. It's really that simple. Some will agree with these principles and some will not. Most simply lob tired rhetorical bombs at the other party. Regardless of which side you are on, every single last person in Washington that is up for election should be voted out in November - regardless of party. We control our future. Quit the bitching and do something about it if you want change. If we keep electing the same morons over and over, who's fault is it?
That's a bit naive, don't you think? The Tea Parties were created by corporate interests; they're owned by it. That's why they always do the bidding of billionaires, even when it hurts the average American. They support Big-Government abortion bills and roundly support the suspension of the First Amendment of anyone who assembles with a message contrary to that of their owners. America realized this by the 2011 elections, why can't you?
Nonsense. The TEA party is a grassroots organization, not disorganized rabble.
I'm not supporting the Tea Party. Frankly, I could care less. I want them all out. Every last one of them has proven to be incompetent. You continue to miss the point and big picture here. You have bought the spin of left vs. right; conservative vs. liberal, and on an on. Focus for a moment - less government, less intrusion, free market. Package it however you like. That's the message. The other choice, more government, more intrusion, more attempt to control an economy and pick winners (Wall Street, banks, Unions) or losers (common folk, business owners, working productive people). I for one don't want these clowns in Washington making these choices for me. Do you?
@WakeUpAmerica: I for one don't want these clowns...........making these choices for me.
Toasty doesn't really want it either but like Feisty Redhead he's ran his mouth so much he can't back out now. There's a new day dawning.
There is no such thing as a free market. Republican corporatists have eliminated any free markets we use to have with their mega mergers and consolidations. Where there is no choice, there is no free market, and they go about the business of eliminating choice every day as they "increase profit and investor value". So stow the Free Market stuff it's nonsense.
I'm just correcting his misunderstanding about the Tea Party Movement. Nothing more and nothing less.
Amused - actually there is a free market. It surrounds us daily. You can go to any number of restaurants any time you want. They are all competing for your dollar. You can buy the Apple Ipad or the Kindle Fire - your choice. You can bank with Chase, or Citi or any number of smaller regional or local banks. You can buy GM, Ford, Toyota, Nissan - made here or somewhere else. You can buy cheap products at Wal-Mart or buy better products at higher-end stores. You can get an education or learn a valuable trade/skill and open opportunities for wealth creation or take your chances with low-paying, low skilled jobs. You can start your own business or work for "the man". How are all these horrible "republican corporatists" preventing you access to the free market? And, by the way, many of them are Democrats. It's sad, really, that you and so many others have bought into the spin and believe this non-sense. Take control of your life. Forget R or D. They are all worthless. Washington is the problem. There are no solutions there. YOU are the solution. Just do it! (sorry Nike).
Amused -
You're right. If we had an unfettered free market system, also known as laissez faire capitalism, we would have an exeedingly stark income / wealth distribution. It would be like we have now, only worse. Bigger companies are eating smaller companies, one after another, both on the local and national levels, and creating monopolies. Once they get big enough, they will run roughshod over the people.
Note that utilities, like the gas and electric companies, are restricted in what they can charge. This is necessary to protect the poor from being without these essential services. Unfortunately, insurance companies are not restricted in this manner. They are set up to maximize profits, and if you can't afford insurance, tough bananas.
Adam Smith suggested that capitalism, while noble in principle, is eventually destined to fail because of the cannibalism of smaller companies by bigger companies, driven by greed, will oversee a society composed of vast numbers of poor who cannot afford the products being made and / or sold by the mega-corporations.
Thus, we should be careful when we are being preached to about "free-market principles". This kind of boilerplate is a mainstay of corporate propaganda and the politicians that support (and are supported by) these type of businesses.
Tea Baggers are on the road to nowhere.Not only are they supported by the Koch brothers,but also by the Wit brothers,Dim,Half and Nit.
Ron Paul 2012
The TP doesn't represent most people, they are a fringe group that obstruct, divide, discriminate and separate people who aren't like them. They don't consider those that are struggling nor do they want to see most of the people realize their dreams for the future, they just want what they want when they want it even if it destroys others.....
Unrealistic ideals with very limited views. Their representatives, if this is what we are to judge them with, like Sharon Angle and the "Witch"..... I'm sorry, but honestly, get real about your candidates and open your eyes and get real about the issues. People need jobs, health care, education and the services we all have come to depend on.... everything costs money so if it doesn't come from trimming government waste, stopping all the expense of the wars, unlimited benefits for elected people.... it has to come from taxes (which by the way are the lowest they've ever been and are also the lowest in the industrialized world), the poor, homeless, uneducated and jobless are surging and you propose to what? kill them, let them die, make them even more desperate? All you will have will be a revolution as people can only take so much, oh I forgot, you have your Second Amendment Remedies, that's right, no wonder you're pushing these....
Bunch of discriminating racists and ignorant people, don't you know if this explodes, you'll also perish? Duh!
B Garcia- you certainly did an excellent job of representing the ignorance of the left.
Your marxist leaders count on the ignorance of people like yourself who know nothing about the Constitution, nothing about the principles of liberty, nothing about economics or global comparisons, and certainly nothing about the people you trash (Tea Party supporters).
Yea, Larry, when all else fails, bring out the "marxist" rhetoric. Those on the Right like to talk about the Constitution, but when it comes to personal freedoms they just throw it out the window. Those on the Right like to lecture us about "liberty" but its the rightwing nutcases that want to regulate every aspect of our personal life.
lol @ idiot box political thinkers.... sorry but when you start spewing Marxist rhetoric... your just showing your lack of knowledge because you can't even properly define the words you speak. If you could you would know calling anyone a communist, socialist, or Marxist in this political environment is absolutely absurd... meaning you get all your views from the only station that promotes tin foil hat lunacy.
TeaParty??? Just fox backed, ultra rich supported stooges to push the wing nut agenda. The big problem is many of these people don't know they are being used and think they are standing for something rather than being pawns for the rich and powerful.
The Teapublicans have a precedent: Germany in the early 1930s. If left unchallenged that is where America is headed.
Good point, Chemack56 -
I've been noticing this trend for a while. New we see Republican state houses trying to pinch voters who tend to vote democrat out of their right to vote. The right-wing propaganda outlets, specifically FOX News, and Rush Limbaugh (and others) spoon feed viewers and listeners with lies and distortions. There's a propaganda wordsmith named Frank Luntz who invents catch phrases that are very effective in drawing in unwitting listeners to the right wing view point. It's like the siren songs of Greek mythology. This type of propaganda is similar to that used by Joseph Goebels when the Nazis were taking over the Weimar Republic in the 1930s.
~~~~~~~~~~~~` "The GOP T-Retards are like a Cult"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tea Party and the 99% movements are both Grassroots efforts to get our 1% (and the government it owns) to be more responsive to the 99% of people who should be controlling the direction our nation heads.
Our government and the 1% pay far too much attention to the rest of the world and far too little to the United States.
Both groups are in agreement with the facts and if they were willing to hear each other talk, they probably even agree with many solutions also.
Give it a rest!
The "Tea Party" stands for FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY. If we don't have the money to cover our bills we need to stop spending so much. Even my 4 year old daughter understands the concept of living within your means.
Ron Paul 2012.
Give it a Rest Yourself
When Tea Baggers say "Fiscal Responsibility" it is a slogan, like "Things go better with Coke" it has absolutely nothing to do with their behavior
Tea Baggers are the extreme right wing of the extreme right wing republican party. Their notion of Fiscal Responsibility is what caused the economic crisis we are now in. Of the $14 Trillion deficit we currently have $9 Trillion was incurred by the very irresponsible republican party. And the additional $5 Trillion incurred during the Obama Administration was necessary to stave of the Second Great Republican Depression.
In fact for the last 30 years the irresponsibility of republicans has been the cause of our ever increasing debt.
1978-2005 Democratic Federal Spending Increase 9.9%
1978-2005 Republican Federal Spending Increase 12.1%
1978-2005 Democratic Federal Debt Increase 4.2%
1978-2005 Republican Federal Debt Increase 36.4%
1978-2005 Democratic Gross Domestic Product Increase 12.6%
1978-2005 Republican Gross Domestic Product Increase 10.7%
As you can see republicans spend more, increase the debt more and produce less.
You win the stupidest post of the day award; over two-thirds of our federal budget goes to programs initiated while democrats had control of the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. The United States spends more because of democratic legislation. Obama has spent more in three years than the first two presidents of both parties combined. Nice try, but a really stupid post.
TheRealMerridian:
Just because you write does not make it true - check your facts. The reason the US is in financial crisis - the 2 wars, 8 million jobs shipped to foreign countries, Wall Street and the 1%ers continuing assault on the middle class. Besides President Obama can not spend something he does not have!
TheRealMerridian
You really need to fact check yourself. Most of the Regulatory Agencies the GOP want to eliminate were put into place by the GOP and BTW, I have not bothered to check all of the %'s posted by johndevine but the actual dollar amounts are posted and the deficit is owned for the most part by the GOP White House