Posts Tagged ‘Tea Party’

The Hill has a strong article on the challenges facing John Boehner. The Republican majority in the House has been strong and unified, making Speaker Boehner’s job easy. They all wanted to repeal health care reform. They all wanted to make cuts. But now he’s faced with the vote to raise the debt ceiling, and the new guys may not go along.

If we don’t raise the debt ceiling and the government defaults, things could get ugly. Tim Geithner warns that interest rates will rise, house values will fall, and payments will stop for military salaries, Medicare, and Social Security. Some Republicans think he’s being melodramatic, but even Boehner said not acting is not an option:

That would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for the worldwide economy. Remember, the American people on Election Day said we want to cut spending and we want to create jobs. You can’t create jobs if you default on the federal debt.

The period of agreement will end, as Michele Bachmann and some number of members of the Tea Party Caucus will refuse to vote to raise the limit, regardless of spending cuts attached to it.

There could also be another disagreement between some Democrats. Those that don’t want huge cuts because they worry about the affect of such cuts on the economy will likely be unhappy if a deal similar to the Bush tax cut extension is made that gives Republicans a lot of cuts.

Boehner called this an “adult moment.” I think that sums up what this is going to mean for many of the Republican newcomers that had huge ideas of saying no to any debt and spending. It sounds good, but in practice it just isn’t that easy.

I think it’s similar to how Boehner promised $100 billion in spending cuts then proposed $32 billion in spending cuts. If they’re talking about getting the debt under control, this is a feeble attempt. It seems well and good to say, “Let’s cut $100 billion” (with pinky to mouth), but once you set out to do it you see it is a very difficult process.

Following through on bold talk isn’t always the best move, and we’ll see if the newbies are adult enough to realize this.

Enjoy what should be an interesting amount of showdowns.

Adam Feser

I’ve gone over a few of the states in which the Tea Party has made certain GOP victory a whole lot less certain. Salon has a great overviewof the states in question and just how the candidates have made their races close.

I don’t think this lends itself well to summary so I’ll just let you check out the link and read the article.

Question: Which candidate has the most chance of losing? Which candidate’s actions were the most questionable (and I’d include Jack Conway’s actions in this group)?

Enjoy a tense few weeks.

Adam Feser

It looks as though the Tea Party has, yet again, managed to lose a seat that they should have (or at least could have) picked up. They nominated Christine O’Donnell in Delaware. Her odds are not good.

O’Donnell has tested 26 points lower than Mike Castle (the nominee she toppled) against Chris Coons (the Democratic nominee). It amazes me that Delaware Republicans are willing to lose this seat in the name of extreme conservatism, but I am thankful for it.

When Republicans gains this November are more modest than they hoped, both Republicans and Democrats will have the Tea Party to thank.

Enjoy T Magic looking like a phenom.

Adam Feser

For nominating Angle. This is what you get.

Enjoy the Tea Party giving Republicans defeat in the face of victory.

Adam Feser

This site is awesome. It puts actual quotes from various Tea Party and right-wing types into Jesus’ mouth. It shows just how lost many of these people are. Seeing Jesus say, “We’ve already donated to Haiti, it’s called US income tax” is just weird. Because you have to know that is the opposite of what the J man would have said.

There are a lot of pages (they say a lot of crazy things), but scroll through some of them. The fun part is that if you click on the quotes they link to a page revealing who actually said it. It’s a fun guessing game.

Enjoy Christians saying summer school lunches for the poor are a bad thing (Limbaugh said they should dumpster dive).

Adam Feser

A speaker at a tea part rally said, “Barney Frank has been more honest and brave than you. At least we know about Barney Frank, nobody’s going to hold it over his head.” Moving on, he stated, “Look, I’m a tolerant person. I don’t care about your private life, Lindsey. But as our U.S. senator, I need to figure out why you’re trying to sell out your own countrymen, I need to make sure you being gay isn’t it.”

He’s obviously a tolerant guy, but he just needs to know if your gayness is ruining the country. Because obviously being gay makes you a horrible person that will sell out your country.

They also put out a press release:

The national border security organization known as Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is officially calling for US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to make his homosexual lifestyle public knowledge in the interest of political integrity and national security…

“US Senator Lindsey Graham is gay and while many people in South Carolina and Washington DC know that, the general public and Graham’s constituents do not,” said William Gheen President of ALIPAC. “I personally do not care about Graham’s private life, but in this situation his desire to keep this a secret may explain why he is doing a lot of political dirty work for others who have the power to reveal his secrets. Senator Graham needs to come out of the closet inside that log cabin so the public can rest assured he is not being manipulated with his secret.”

So there is some conspiracy to hold Graham’s gayness over his head and make him a liberal traitor? Obviously.

Enjoy the tolerance.

Adam Feser

For those more interested in facts than falsehoods and fear mongering, you may want to try out The Other 95%. The group has formed as a response to people that protest tax increases when they’ve actually received tax cuts. Here’s a paragraph from their page describing the group:

American politics have been hijacked by the noisy lies of the teaparty fringe. They complain about being taxed too much, but do they even know that 95% of Americans received a tax cut from Obama [1]. And this time the cuts didn’t go to just the super wealthy few [2] like they did under Bush, but to folks like us just trying to get by. We can’t let the tea partiers drown out the truth about Obama’s tax cuts. Instead, let’s make sure that Americans get the facts – not just the hype.

I suggest going to their site and checking it out. If you aren’t one of the 5%, you may enjoy it. Here’s a video of a sign proclaiming the facts in the center of a tea party rally. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of fearful, misinformed people with a sign right in the middle of them telling them why they’re wrong.

Enjoy it while it lasts, Twins fans.

Adam Feser

New Update:  They have had to assign extra security to several members of Congress.

Update:  I almost forgot to include the fact that a few representatives have received faxes with pictures of nooses.  That’s right, let’s send nooses to members of Congress that want Americans to have health care.

I wrote earlier about how childlike the response to health care of Republican elected officials has been, and, of course, the “patriotic” citizens opposing reform have been even worse.

There have been at least ten threats against Democrats that voted for reform. One congressman’s brother actually had his gas line cut after a tea party patriot posted his address thinking it was the congressman’s. A brick was thrown through Rep. Louise Slaughter’s office. Click on the link for a list of threats.

This is on top of the earlier intimidation tactics of “patriots” directed at Democrats for reform. They yelled racist and bigoted slurs at the elected officials as though it was a completely natural thing to do. Former civil rights activist and current member of Congress John Lewis had a group of tea partiers chant “nigger” at him at least 15 times. Black Caucus leader Emanuel Cleaver was spit on. Majority Whip James Clybourn said, “”I heard people saying things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus.” Barney Frank was called a “faggot” by the noble protesters.

I’m sure there was a lot more going on, but you get the point. Why on earth would I respect the opposition of a bunch of racist douches that probably have no idea what they’re protesting. These are the same people that protested taxes when they paid less. These are the same people pretending to hate Obama’s policies (of which they know nothing other than what crazy people like Glenn Beck told them) when they really just hate that we have a black president. That racism that so many assumed was rampant in the group came out in spades as they didn’t get what they wanted.

The reaction isn’t a representation of how much America hates this (as Gallup showed, they like it), it’s a representation of how childish and horrible much of the opposition is.

When I joined in a protest, you can be damn sure we didn’t yell backwards slurs. And you can be damn sure it was because people were dying, not because someone was getting health care. And you can be damn sure it wasn’t because we were worried about how much money we would have (though the majority of protesters hardly fall in that top bracket).

I still haven’t heard from those that oppose this bill – are you proud of the actions of your elected officials and the protesters?

Enjoy the kicks and screams of one big toddler throwing a tantrum.

Adam Feser

Tancredo was the opening speaker for a Tea Party event, and he let the craziness out.

That’s right, millions of American citizens are apparently too dumb (or not white enough) to meet Tom Tancredo’s standards. I’m not sure if he knows, but he’s talking to some people that believe Obama is as bad Hitler, that the government wants to kill people, and that the government should keep its hands off of Medicare. I’d hardly say he is at a Mensa meeting.

But does he seriously wish there was a literacy test? Does he realize they were a racist tool to deny suffrage to blacks? Did he or a speechwriter write this thing, proofread it, and say, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I want to say.”

Tancredo is no fan of the “committed socialist ideologue” Barack Hussein Obama, but he also rejoiced that John McCain lost. I guess he was rooting for Nader?

Another target of his speech is the “cult of multiculturalism,” because some people just don’t act white enough, I guess. Because we all know that every immigrant group that came here adopted the culture of Native Americans, I mean the English, I mean Europe. Or perhaps Tancredo is just being an idiot.

Enjoy watching Tancredo be embraced by the Tea Party for this.

Adam Feser

The Tea Party movement has had its problems, and their convention seems as though it may have one. Representatives Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn have pulled out as speakers. Their offices said it was because they aren’t sure how the proceeds from the event can be used.

The event is being run by Tennessee lawyer Judson Phillips, and he says he hopes to turn a profit. This, along with Palin’s $100,000 speaking fee and the ticket price of $549, has many tea partiers boycotting the event.

I realize politicians get paid large amounts of money to talk, but this seems like an odd decision. This group is protesting what they deem to be pointless spending, and they are willing to spend $100,000 for a woman who was governor of Alaska for a few years. In addition to that, they expect people to pay $549 to hear what they already know she will say and likely agree with.

This isn’t the first split for the partiers, and I doubt it will be the last.

People have questioned their “grass-roots” status since its inception (many called it astroturf and others question how Fox News was a huge promoter) and I doubt this will help their image.

Enjoy Parks and Recreation tonight. Also, Archer is on FX tonight and is an awesome show. Check it out.

Adam Feser