Here’s another awesome piece of news about the rocket scientists in the tea party movement:
Of all the very information that came out of the recent CBS News/New York Times poll, one question stuck out, that of taxes.
Here’s the poll question: “In general, do you think the Obama Administration has increased taxes for most Americans, decreased taxes for most Americans or have they kept taxes the same for most Americans?”
The answer:
• 24 percent of respondents said they INCREASED taxes.
• 53 percent said they kept taxes the same
• And 12 percent said taxes were decreased.Of people who support the grassroots, “Tea Party” movement, only 2 percent think taxes have been decreased, 46 percent say taxes are the same, and a whopping 44 percent say they believe taxes have gone up.
The power of the wurlitzer. Taxes were decreased for 95% of the country.
It really is quite amazing what you can do with a group of people who are completely uninterested in the truth, unwilling to believe anything that comes from someone other than Rush or Glenn Beck or an “acceptable” source of information, and who have a vested interest in believing what they want to believe, reality be damned. It is why they can freak out about the stimulus bill as 800 BILLION IN PORK when damned near half of it was tax cuts and another 250 billion of it was simply money to prop up holes in state and local budgets.
jeffreyw
Freedom of speech means freedom to lie. Supreme Court says Fox news is under no obligation to tell the truth.
DBrown
But Palin has a retard baby (this is humor, so the use of retard is OK-DOKY, right at you) and cut and ran from Alaska barely halfway through her only term – these things prove that tea baggers are right about everything.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This is like HRC. Something called “the health reform bill” or “ObamaCare” or “Congress’s plan” polls badly. The specific of the bill poll quite well. The Obama WH bears part of the blame, the Dem Party as well, but far bigger blame goes to a media establishment brings Mary Matalin or Erick Erickson or Ad Nauseum on to shriek lies, half-truths and fantasies and never calls them on it. Because that would indicate a (gasp!) liberal bias.
demo woman
John, If I interpret your comment properly you are calling the tea baggers fuckin retards. You are beginning to sound a lot like Rahm..
I do wish that they asked whether or not Bush gave them a tax cut. lol
demkat620
Inchoate rage that’s all this is, cause a black guy won.
Nothing more.
MikeJ
It’s very impolite to say that people are lying or stupid. Saying that others are murderous communists who want to set up death panels because they hate Trig Palin is ok though.
madmommy
We’re so very, very doomed. These people are insane. And frightening. And they’d be very happy to have everyone be just as divorced from reality as they are.
Ugh.
Citizen Alan
Calling teabaggers “fucking retards” is a gross insult to people who are both mentally disabled and sexually active. The teabaggers have deliberately chosen gross ignorance as a lifestyle choice and are proof positive that the film “Idiocracy” was the most prescient movie ever made. I think god I don’t have any kids who will have to grow up in the dystopian nightmare these mongoloids are going to transform America into before they’re done.
eemom
forget the literacy test for voting. What we need is an ass-finding test for poll respondents.
Cat Lady
Teabaggers are FAIL: Check
Media FAIL reporting results favorable to middle class: Check.
Democratic message FAIL with 3 word bumper sticker slogans: Check.
Wingnut truth FAIL amplified in Wurlitzer: Check
Narrative: Obama FAIL.
geg6
Our president is black, black, black, blackety black, black. Nuff said. There is no more to it than that. Proof number 1? BOB is a Teabgger. End of discussion. Me? I am watching super cool speed skaters. You should, too, John. Much better for the blood pressure.
demo woman
Since we are writing about retards, tomorrows NYTimes magazine has an article about the state of Texas’ school board and changes they are making to history and science books. It’s enlightening and scary.
benjamin
I find this post to be condescending.
Jody
They are exactly the reason this nation’s in such bad shape. It’s why we have a party of christopathic lunatics and one that figures the best route is always the one where you split the baby.
El Cid
This goes along with all the polls which indicate that people think that welfare takes up 70% of the federal budget, the other 50% is foreign aid, and another 25% is paid out to that lady who burned her lap with hot McDonalds coffee.
And also all the jackasses at both grassroots and TV pundit level who think that what created the recession was ‘too much spendin’ and what will fix the recession is ‘stop all the spendin’, and also tax cuts.
Bill E Pilgrim
It’s Willie Horton in economic terms. It never stops.
The subject matter is almost inconsequential, if Fox tomorrow started repeating daily that Venutians were beaming microscopic flotillas of invading warships into our water system, you’d soon have hoards of angry people tearing up the pipes.
DonkeyKong
“You know, I tried to talk about good roads and good schools and all these things that have been part of my career, and nobody listened. And then I began talking about niggers, and they stomped the floor.” -George Wallace
Just replace niggers with the nigger and you realize those people never change.
cat48
@geg6:
I so agree…….blackety, black, black!! They had their 1st rally on 4/15/09 and there were signs–misspelled, but they had them. This shit started before they started working on health care. “I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!!!” (with a white prez, please).
Brachiator
I’ll go you one better. I know people who have prepared their federal tax returns, see with their very own eyes that they have a larger refund than last year, and still blame Obama and the Democrats for raising taxes.
And the Democrats don’t have the brains to put out a message saying something as simple as “as you get your taxes done, note that your refunds are bigger, you get more from child tax credits and EIC, your unimployment compensation is not taxed as highly and the vast majority of you got tax cuts. The Republicans not only opposed these measures, they are committed to the idea that only the rich deserve a break. Thank you and good night.”
Chad N Freude
Someone in an earlier thread pointed out that the Federal tax decrease can be (and was in his case) more than offset by increases in state and local tax increases, reducing net take-home in spite of the Federal decrease. Some people do not take the trouble to look at the breakdown statement that their employers give them with their paychecks (and some don’t get such statements with their checks), and they are not all as astute and attuned to the nuances as we Balloon Juicers are. I think we can cut them a little slack here; a net decrease in take-home pay sure looks like not a tax decrease, and Federal tax is at the head of the blame line.
bemused
@madmommy:
They are quite delusional each in his/her own unique way.
The Wapo poll showed 2/3 americans didn’t know much about the tea party even if more than that, 45%, kind of agreed with the tea party at least on some issues. Palin’s popularity is definitely waning. Heck, even Michael Savage thinks she should not run for prez. The more americans have seen of Palin, the less they like her. I think the same thing will happen with the tea party groups. How many are there now anyway? They’re not one big happy family, that’s for sure.
El Cid
The latest Research 2000 polls on Obama’s popularity — broken down by region:
******************************
BARACK OBAMA
…………………….FAV…UNFAV…NO OPINION
NORTHEAST………89……8………..3
SOUTH… ………26.. .70……..4
MIDWEST…………..61….37………..2
WEST………………..60…..38……….2
REST OF USA……..69……29………2
******************************
You’d think this might be a key piece of information that the shit-heels in the major news media might notice and mention when they’re discussing Obama’s popularity.
The South is the only region in which a majority sees Obama as unfavorable. He’s astoundingly popuar in the Northeast, and strongly popular in the Midwest and West.
I don’t think I’ve seen an article on Obama’s approval rating mention this as a factor yet.
Bill E Pilgrim
I think there’s racism, but that’s just what they’ve latched onto this time. By “they” I mean Fox and the others who stir up these dupes.
Bill Clinton wasn’t black. And nothing about the coup against him was basically racial. I mean, the motives for it may have been, but not the attack. But tell me that was any less virulent, they ended up with him in the impeachment dock.
They’re just complete mercenaries who will do anything, invent anything, use whatever slime and dirty tricks they can get their hands on.
That’s why we’re all so frustrated, you more with just the Democrats as a whole but me and a lot of others equally with those in the White House. None of them seem to quite really grasp what they’re up against, in some fundamental way, and it’s just bizarre.
Chad N Freude
@Chad N Freude: Before the slings, arrows, and snark start raining down, what I said above does not excuse the Gov’t or the Democratic Party from trying to educate the populace. (And good luck with that.)
MikeJ
As much as I agree that the teabaggers really don’t like black people, I doubt that they would be any more sane had Clinton, Edwards, or Jesus himself won.
Joshua Norton
%100 of Teabaggers think the Gov’t should be smaller and do less for other people.
%100 of Teabaggers think the Gov’t should do more for them.
Chad N Freude
@El Cid:
That’s because it’s not important.
Chad N Freude
@Joshua Norton: True. That’s why they don’t want the Gov’t to take over Medicare.
El Cid
@Chad N Freude: Well, it’s pretty important statistically, so, if you’re going to talk on and on and on about Obama’s approval ratings, and how this or that level means this or that, you might want to notice that the average approval is being dragged down by Southern reactionaries. Just sayin’.
Kryptik
Meanwhile, the joke’s on us folks shouting into the wind about how everything that’s accepted as gospel truth is about as close to real as Street Fighter is to real life fighting.
Hell, that may as well be our new tag for the depressive futility that’s been the theme today: Shouting Into The Wind.
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Definitely similar vehemence. But it’s hard to argue that there’s a ridiculous ratcheting of how extreme the rhetoric against Obama is compared to Clinton. I don’t think Clinton ended up having to field questions about his citizenship or whether he was a secret Muslim terrorist plant.
Chad N Freude
@El Cid: Snark meter adjustment needed, stat. I thought the sarcasm was apparent, but for the first time ever, I was wrong. I should have added that it’s not important because we are One Nation Indivisible.
birthmarker
It’s the permanent campaign. I don’t think the repubs care that Obama is black. But they will be glad to use that if it is effective. It’s all about the cynicism. It’s all about the 2010 elections, and the 2012 elections. It’s all about the census and redistricting. It’s all about a permanent corporate takeover. Have you ever noticed that the republican ideas (small government, low taxes, little regulation) are also very good for big business? Follow the money.
Chad N Freude
Good God! Dan Quayle says a simple majority is unconstitutional. And note that 51 votes is a majority in the House as well as the Senate.
Kryptik
@birthmarker:
But if the CEOs can’t afford a third summer home, how bad off do you think the rest of the country is!! Have some scale, man!! Now excuse me while I shine my monocle and open up another jar of caviar.
@Chad N Freude:
Please tell me that Quayle hasn’t become relevant all of a sudden, just because he’s a useful tool. He wasn’t relevant even when he was VP….hell, especially when he was VP.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Kryptik: It’s just different, not less. They tried to hound Clinton right out of office and damn near succeeded. It’s hard to make a case that that was any milder than what amounts to basically being called names. So far at least, I mean we may well get to that point again, who knows.
That’s sort of my point: the ones who orchestrate all of this will use anything, anything, if they think people will fall for it. Sex was as good as race, to them, if the result was actually impeaching and convicting a Democratic President, they’d take it.
The Republic of Stupidity
Sheesh…
Where’s B.o.B. to defend his chosen brothers & sisters-in-arms?
bcinaz
These days everybody is interested in the Truth, problem is nobody is interested in the Facts.
Republicans, including the teabaggers, are consumed with separating Truth from Fact.
“The Truth is, Barack Obama is a Socialist, and not an American citizen, he want’s to take away our guns, and let the terrorists in to take over the countty.”
The facts are that President Obama is a pretty conservative Democrat who was born in Hawaii; the second ammendment and gun rights aren’t much of a concern for him and he has been tougher and more realistic about fighting terrorism in one year than George Bush in 8.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Chad N Freude:
Ah yeeeeeeeessssss…
Dan Quayle… the man who couldn’t spell potatoe…
Otherwise known as The Insurance Policy…
I really think he should have insisted on being called…
It’s just so… sooo… Caucasian…
Chad N Freude
@Kryptik: Well, it’s not unheard-of for a VP to become relevant in an instant.
Chad N Freude
For all you Dan Quayle fans out there, he appeared on Fox News. So he is relevant, by definition.
Kryptik
@Chad N Freude:
Yeah, but that’s usually because either they’re running for president or just made into president. And usually not nearly 20 years after the fact.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Chad N Freude:
Looking up some of these, he really was a sort of genius.
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.
One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.
The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.
Kobie
These are the same mental midgets who, when they piss and moan about how they want “more liberty” and are tired of Obama “trampling on the constitution,” and I put it to them to name one right they’ve lost since Obama took office, they change the subject.
They’re sheep, following Rush and Beck. They’re brainless, spineless, dickless toads.
jwb
@El Cid: I actually find the results for the NE to be as incredible as those for the South.
Brachiator
@Chad N Freude:
This just ain’t necessarily so. Depends on the state and other facts and circumstances. In California, married couples with lots of kids are hurting because dependent exemptions and child dependent care credits were cut back dramatically.
In Tennessee and Nevada, on the other hand, there ain’t no state income taxes.
In Hawaii, all refunds have been postponed until after July 1.
Still, you got to be a mighty dense gooper to blame Obama for a state tax increase. But I have seen people do exactly that, especially if their state governor is a Republican that they like.
jwb
@Bill E Pilgrim: I agree with this: race is the instrument, not the cause.
jwb
@birthmarker: “Have you ever noticed that the republican ideas (small government, low taxes, little regulation) are also very good for big business? Follow the money.”
or that big business owns the media? Yes, you will rarely go wrong if you follow the money.
Cat Lady
@El Cid:
If you took out the polling results from the South re Obama’s popularity like Byron York tried to do for the polling results for blacks after the election, then his approval rate is like 75%. I’ll take that.
Tonal Crow
John, the poll you cite shows nothing if not the dominance of emotion over reason. This is why I keep harping on rhetoric, and the Democrats’ ineptitude at it. The GOP and their media wurlitzer have managed to get millions of people to *deeply* believe all manner of lies by appealing primarily to their emotions. The Democrats have managed to get millions of people to doubt all manner of truths by appealing primarily to their intellects.
This has got to change, and soon, or we’re doomed.
BTW, why aren’t Democrats building their own media wurlitzer?
trollhattan
In their own words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHItY5Anj3s&feature=player_embedded
Eleven and a half minutes of teh stoopid.
racrecir
Some Democrat should take up Tancredo’s literacy test and devise a civic literacy test as an example of a what modern test might be like. It would have questions like “Have taxes increased or decreased for most Americans?” It might have a few basics like “How many branches of government?” but would mostly be taken from Republican talking points.
Then the newspapers could talk about Tancredo’s idea for a test and have readers take the newly devised test to see if they would be able to vote. When a good number of conservatives find out that they would be ineligible, the media would have to explain what the correct answers are and why listening to Republicans could jeopardize your participation in elections under the Tancredo plan.
Citizen Alan
@Kryptik:
He was very relevant when he was VP. He was the dry-run for Shrub. If people are stupid enough to tolerate an absolute moron for VP, why wouldn’t they vote one in as president.
Brachiator
@Citizen Alan:
On the Kelvin scale, Sarah Palin is perhaps the closest to Absolute Moron.
And tea baggers love her. Also, too.
E_Joyce
The key to their demise is 2010. Need to get the voting age youth base and the 92% of the country disliking the current Congress to show up in the voting booths 2010 and release the legislative body of our government from the grasp of the good ole’ boys on both sides of the aisles. We need many more Al Frankens to run and be elected, men and women who are about what’s best for the country, regardless of political ideology. I am sick of the children in the adult seats and while #Palin, the teabaggers and partiers continue to rant about taking “their America” back, we need to be about taking our legislative government out of the hands of the corporations, lobbyists and political prostitutes.
KDP
@Chad N Freude: I think that was me. In point of fact, though, it wasn’t the state income tax increase that resulted in a net take home loss of $57 from a year ago (Tax increase in CA only lost me $5 per paycheck). It was the 38% increase in my health care premium to cover my spouse through work.
@Brachiator: Yes, my prior example was specific to CA, and only caused a $5/per paycheck reduction (2x month payroll). I certainly agree that in some regions state income taxes may not be a factor in paycheck reductions. And the yahoos from those regions have no excuse to think they’ve gotten a tax increase under Obama. As noted above, you only have to do your taxes this year to see the cash in hand benefits to the middle class taxpayer.
My income tax refund this year is quite satisfying. All told, I received $2900 of refund that is directly attributable to the tax benefits provided by the Obama recovery plan. The $2500 tuition credit and the $400 work credit combined to make up that big chunk o’ change. Direct, empirical evidence that the middle class has benefited from Obama’s policies.
Mumphrey
I don’t know how many people here saw it, but tonight I just read a wretched piece in last Sunday’s Washington Post–I really did try to read the whole thing, but I gave up about 2 thirds of the way through–called “Why Are Liberals So Condescending?“. The guy who wrote it says this:
I don’t know, Gerard, maybe it’s because creeps like Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, and every Congressional Republican spew lies to make idiot teabaggers believe things that aren’t so, like taxes have gone up for most Americans. Jeez, American liberals think American conservatives lie all the time because American conservatives lie all the time, not because we’re condescending.
wenchacha
Not only has Obama raised taxes on all of us, but he has taken away our guns. Every FOX viewer knows this.
Democrats just have condescending facts, so they can be ignored.
bob h
The Teabuggers are people for whom the American system has been less than generous, and they turn their resentment and wrath on those who are trying to help them. They empower those who will make their lives even more precarious, their American Dream more of a joke.
That is retarded.
Tom
Even sadder is that those people in the conservative movement who have shown that on occasion they have two working brain cells (like Cap’n Ed) will ignore this. They HAVE to ignore this.
If someone like Ed came out and admitted Obama actually has lowered taxes, it would be A) risking excommunication from the conservative movement for not being “pure” and B) undermining how they earn a paycheck. The customer is always right, and these wing-nut bloggers and politicians have created a beast that must be fed with their intelligence and their ability to think critically.
Mike
I’m not a Sarah fan, but I do despise hearing the word retard. In in satire, it stings because it attacks my child. Pick on Sarah Palin all you want, Just keep her innocent child out of the conversation.