Tea Party Convention

[Darkness]

The Tea Party movement finally had their large official convention. You can read about it, here. The scary thing is that the Tea Party movement is transforming itself into a serious political force instead of a bunch of crazy people shouting in the streets; as President Obama so elegantly put it, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." What amazes me or not is that the Tea Party people really think they are fighting for a non-partisan agenda, when all they are really doing is working to get the Republican party back in power. You thought Republicans were going to sit around and do nothing after 8-years of power?

 

[Baydwin]

What I'd like to know is who the March Hare is at these conventions, and if the Dormouse's teapot if real, or metaphorical.

 

[Kathryn]

Your biggest mistake would be to underestimate the intelligence or power of the independent voter in the United States.

 

[Darkness]

Your biggest mistake would be to underestimate the intelligence or power of the independent voter in the United States.

What does independent voter really mean? I am not as concerned with official political affiliation as I am with political ideology. The tea party members are right-wing radicals. The tea party peoples are independent only in that they are so far right that even mainstream Republicans reject them. Maybe Americans have to learn the hard way that laissez-faire economics is just as radical as Marxian economics.

 

[dust1n]

The Tea Party movement finally had their large official convention. You can read about it, here. The scary thing is that the Tea Party movement is transforming itself into a serious political force instead of a bunch of crazy people shouting in the streets; as President Obama so elegantly put it, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." What amazes me or not is that the Tea Party people really think they are fighting for a non-partisan agenda, when all they are really doing is working to get the Republican party back in power. You thought Republicans were going to sit around and do nothing after 8-years of power?

There is a hilarious thing and a terrible thing to be said about it:

Hilarious... right-wingers think that these particular protests actually mean something, or that it is going to be any influence what-so-ever. 30k people showed up in about 40+ cities to protest. 60k people showed up in one city to protest Bush's Inauguration.. and you can see how much came of it.

If they were actually doing anything, influencing decision or threatening to make any actual change, the police would have been bashing heads like any other decent protest.

Terrible... since Obama has been in the office, the left has had virtually no protest that has matched the numbers of the tea parties, which is an embarrassment considering the Left is supposedly notorious for this.

 

[T-Dawg]

What amazes me is that the Tea Party has any supporters.

I mean seriously, even if I respected their political views, they just go about it so stupidly...

I mean seriously, they can't even speak their views coherently in most cases. Where is their support coming from?

 

[dust1n]

What amazes me is that the Tea Party has any supporters.

I mean seriously, even if I respected their political views, they just go about it so stupidly...


I mean seriously, they can't even speak their views coherently in most cases. Where is their support coming from?

To answer your question, FOX News. That's... basically how they got so many people out there. However, pretty sad they beat the number of communists or socialists protesting this year or last year.

 

[Reverend Rick]

You thought Republicans were going to sit around and do nothing after 8-years of power?

The tea party, (taxed enough already) is going to get CONSERVATIVES not Republicans to rally around the base. They will get the Blue Dogs to join them and kick out the RINOS (republican in name only).

The tea party is far right of the republicans. It is a grass roots movement not AstroTurf. The left tries to portray them as bat poop crazy, when for the most part, they are patriotic good hearted people who have every right to be conservative.

It is their goal to win as many mid term elections and take over the majority of the house and senate.

 

[Father Heathen]

Your biggest mistake would be to underestimate the intelligence or power of the independent voter in the United States.

What we need to avoid underestimating is how ignorant and uninformed the average voter tends to be. These people don't even know what terms like communist, socialist, fascist, etc. even mean and yet toss them around wrecklessly. If these people were honestly worried by big government overspending and overstepping boundaries, where were their protests during the Bush administration?

 

[Father Heathen]

The tea party is far right of the republicans. It is a grass roots movement not AstroTurf. The left tries to portray them as bat poop crazy, when for the most part, they are patriotic good hearted people who have every right to be conservative.

They portray themselves as "bat poop crazy", and the problem isn't with people being conservative, it's with people being dishonest.

 

[dust1n]

What we need to avoid underestimating is how ignorant and uninformed the average voter tends to be. These people don't even know what terms like communist, socialist, fascist, etc. even mean and yet toss them around wrecklessly. If these people were honestly worried by big government overspending and overstepping boundaries, where were their protests during the Bush administration?

Because FOX News didn't say to.

 

[Reverend Rick]

If these people were honestly worried by big government overspending and overstepping boundaries, where were their protests during the Bush administration?

Good question FH.

I will say one thing, the tea party movement is going to force the republican party to become fiscal or face a mass exodus from the party. :yes:

 

[dust1n]

The tea party, (taxed enough already) is going to get CONSERVATIVES not Republicans to rally around the base. They will get the Blue Dogs to join them and kick out the RINOS (republican in name only).

The tea party is far right of the republicans. It is a grass roots movement not AstroTurf. The left tries to portray them as bat poop crazy, when for the most part, they are patriotic good hearted people who have every right to be conservative.

It is their goal to win as many mid term elections and take over the majority of the house and senate.

Real grass roots organizations like the American Liberty Alliance, or Top Conservatives on Twitter.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Your biggest mistake would be to underestimate the intelligence or power of the independent voter in the United States.

The independent voter elected Barack Obama and the independent voter can remove democrats from office during the mid term elections. :yes:

 

[Darkness]

The left tries to portray them as bat poop crazy, when for the most part, they are patriotic good hearted people who have every right to be conservative.

I do not doubt their patriotism or their good intent. I do not deny them the right to their opinions; however, opinions are not facts and many/most of their assertions are dead wrong. Do the tea party people honestly believe that Sarah Palin will be a fiscal conservative? Of course, even Ronald Reagan was a fiscal conservative if you do not count the massive increases on defense spending. I think it is safe to assert that they will not be slashing the military budget, so most of the cuts will probably be made on social services that feed all those whiny bratty kids and all those worthless poor people. We've had nothing but tax cuts and deregulation the last 30 years. The only fiscal conservative we really had in the past 30 years was President Clinton.

 

[dust1n]

I do not doubt their patriotism or their good intent. I do not deny them the right to their opinions; however, opinions are not facts and many/most of their assertions are dead wrong. Do the tea party people honestly believe that Sarah Palin will be a fiscal conservative? Of course, even Ronald Reagan was a fiscal conservative if you do not count the massive increases on defense spending. I think it is safe to assert that they will not be slashing the military budget, so most of the cuts will probably be made on social services that feed all those whiny bratty kids and all those worthless poor people. We've had nothing but tax cuts and deregulation the last 30 years. The only fiscal conservative we really had in the past 30 years was President Clinton.

America went from being the the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor under Reagan's administration... very conservative of them.

 

[Tiapan]

America has had its day make way for china.

Cheers

 

[Smoke]

America has had its day make way for china.

Basically. It would still be nice for those of us living here if the US didn't deteriorate into some sort of third-world theocracy, though.

 

[dust1n]

Basically. It would still be nice for those of us living here if the US didn't deteriorate into some sort of third-world theocracy, though.

Haha, I think it's safe to say whatever we become, we are still going to be pretty oppressed. That's just my guess though.

 

[Smoke]

I will say one thing, the tea party movement is going to force the republican party to become fiscal or face a mass exodus from the party. :yes:

I don't doubt that the teabaggers can destroy the Republican Party one way or another. But what's their motivation? Outside the party, they'd have no real power. It's possible they can, and will, swing the party their way, but will a teabagger party be nationally viable? I'm not sure.

I do know that the rise of a political movement that relies so heavily on nonsense and outright lies is not a positive development.

And I don't see evidence that they have a thorough-going commitment to fiscal conservatism. They hate social programs, but it's military spending that's driven us to this point.