Conservative author Jonathan Kay went to the Tea Party in Nashville and discovered he was surrounded by lunatics:
It’s a charming act, which makes the tea-party movement seem no more unnerving than the people who spend their weekends reenacting the Civil War. But the 18th-century getups mask something disturbing. After I spent the weekend at the Tea Party National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., it has become clear to me that the movement is dominated by people whose vision of the government is conspiratorial and dangerously detached from reality. It’s more John Birch than John Adams.
Like all populists, tea partiers are suspicious of power and influence, and anyone who wields them. Their villain list includes the big banks; bailed-out corporations; James Cameron, whose Avatar is seen as a veiled denunciation of the U.S. military; Republican Party institutional figures they feel ignored by, such as chairman Michael Steele; colleges and universities (the more prestigious, the more evil); TheWashington Post; Anderson Cooper; and even FOX News pundits, such as Bill O’Reilly, who have heaped scorn on the tea-party movement’s more militant oddballs.
One of the most bizarre moments of the recent tea-party convention came when blogger Andrew Breitbart delivered a particularly vicious fulmination against the mainstream media, prompting everyone to get up, turn toward the media section at the back of the conference room, and scream, “USA! USA! USA!” But the tea partiers’ well-documented obsession with President Obama has hardly been diffused by their knack for finding new enemies.
I’m not sure how this could be, when Reason magazine has spent months informing me these are just average (gun-toting) Americans upset by too much government. Personally, I see a number of elements to the tea party:
1.) Republican operatives bankrolled by the usual suspects, with the sole intent of using the tea party to advance the GOP and corporate agendas and to regain political power (FreedomWorks, DeMint, Palin, etc.)
2.) Cynical operators like media operations, talk show hosts and glibertarians and snake oil salesman who see a way to raise their profile and raise a buck (Fox news, PJTV, Breitbart, Glenn Beck, Reason, all the little for profit hucksters starting their own tea party funds). To a lesser extent, I would throw in the hundreds of cynical “new media consultants” the GOP seems to burp up on a daily basis.
3.) Straight up Birchers, birthers, flat-earthers, racists, militiamen, Patriot movement members, and that motley crew of scumbags and lunatics.
4.) A very small group of folks who honestly are very upset about government spending, but manage to never care when the GOP is the one doing it. They probably make up the smallest chunk, but you can pick them out quite easily- they are the somewhat sane looking people that the folks from the three previous groups try to hide behind every time the cameras are on.
At any rate, the fact that the Tea Parties have gotten this far with their incoherent and often times hypocritical message (to say nothing of the lunatics and racists and militia types) is a sign to me there is no amount of bullshit our media won’t swallow. The fact that it is allegedly a “populist” movement that was inspired by a tantrum from millionaire tv financial personality and a Brooks Brothers mafia on the Chicago trading floor, upset over meager plans to help troubled mortgage holders in the wake of a near trillion dollar bailout of the the wealthy elite who pay Rick Santelli’s salary, just ups the humor value in this theatre of the absurd. Nothing cracks me up like an angry peasant mob screaming for the repeal of the estate tax and ending the capital gains tax.
A sad state of affairs.
Notorious P.A.T.
Don’t forget about the religious nuts! They deserve mention too.
General Winfield Stuck
since you are behaving yourself, I will Jane this thread because I am evil.
And see if I can flush Jsf outa his spidy hole.
Cat Lady
I’m pretty sure you meant won’t swallow.
Otherwise, yeah, you’re right and Thomas Franks and Matt Taibbi think you’re right too.
Dr. Squid
Group #3 is the group that squawks about smaller government while calling the FBI on anyone who expressed dissatisfaction with their hero GeeDubya after 9-11.
Robin G.
I would’ve loved to get ahold of one of these nutjobs back when I was in debate. Force them into a structured environment, give ’em a good cross ex, and they’d wet their pants and cry. Fun times.
Robin+4
beltane
Underlying it all is a shockingly servile mentality. If I had my own business I’d like to hire some of these people just to enjoy the sadistic pleasure of docking their pay if they went to the bathroom or because they had bad breath or crooked teeth. If they complained, I’d call them commie socialist pansy union supporters, accuse them of stealing from me, and force them to resign so they couldn’t collect unemployment. Oh, but I’d tell them that I was praying for them.
It’s a very stupid peasant who fights for the “right” to be abused by his lord.
General Winfield Stuck
But if the media weren’t there how would anyone hear their screams?. not thought through idea #3058.
The Populist
Ron Paul is being teabagged in his district. I would be shocked if he loses the primary but it’s funny to see it.
JenJen
Speaking of these freaks, did everyone see that Fox News segment where they bury Al Gore’s book in the snow to make some kind of stupid point about climate change?
Well, I absolutely love Jason Linkins’ response: “Hey, I buried a book in the snow, too!”
The Populist
@Dr. Squid:
Not only that but they would denounce anybody who would DARE question the President.
Gee…talk about hypocrites.
El Cid
You have made me uninteresting in wearing my tri-cornered hat with teabags stapled to it.
beltane
@Robin G.: I’d dispense with the debating. They’ve been so brain damaged by Fox News that it would all go over their heads. I’d prefer to make them hoe up potatoes in the hot sun. They look like they could use the exercise.
I wish we had a great writer or even filmmaker who could give these people and the society that produced them the treatment they deserve. European cinema used to excel in this kind of thing, not so much anymore.
Dave Fud
If the media isn’t there to hear teabagger screams, did they really scream?
General Winfield Stuck
I don’t think for a second these pea brains care a whit about bailouts and deficits. They are just protesting Black Tuesday.
The Populist
@Robin G.:
Well, it would be fun. They are all similar to that woman (Pam Gellar?) who was calling out Ron Reagan on Joy Behar’s HLN show.
See the transcript here (subject was Palin and this was between Behar, Reagan, Gellar and Stephanie Miller):
sputnikgayle
sorry to interrupt thread with a comment that I am hopeful will allow me to access the site again. Love this place.
Mark S.
I call dibs on a hot Swedish female guard.
I pride myself on knowing about most conservative conspiracy theories, but that one’s new to me.
Comrade Luke
Perry-Palin in ’12?
Svensker
@The Populist:
But why is Pam Geller even ALLOWED to be on anyone’s TV? She is batshit crazy and a filthy racist. If David Duke EVER said about blacks or Jews what she says about Muslims, he would have been shot. She gets asked back. Color me disgusted.
rob!
This whole tea-bagger thing, sadly, seems to seeping into the greater culture, making inroads with people who would never go to a Tea Bag convention, but nevertheless seem to believe the bullshit.
My sister, always a fairly moderate person, has begun sending me these emails about how the government wastes our money, taxes us too much, etc. Its as though NONE OF THIS ever occurred under Bush–we just started taxing people on Jan. 21, 2009.
I never got emails like that from her during the 8 years of Bush, but the minute Obama’s in office, all of a sudden she’s concerned with government frittering away our tax dollars.
It makes me sad, because she’s my sister and I love her, but I think part of her has gone totally bonkers.
General Winfield Stuck
@The Populist: LOL talk about self immolation, Pam does it with aplomb.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@beltane:
The White Ribbon
Mike Kay
John Cole:
I hope you saw this on CBS Sunday Morning:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/07/sunday/main6183037.shtml
In short, the teabaggers are just another dysfunctional freak show, no different than “Celebrity Rehab” or “Jersey Shore”.
I don’t think they’re of any importance. They all stood in the rain and voted for Palin and Obama still won Indiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. They’re simply a rerun of the freak shows that screamed “kill him” at Palin rallies.
freelancer
@Comrade Luke:
God willing and maybe then we’d get some actual domestic policy, like education.
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/morans-republicans
mcd410x
DougJ, you left out the Tebow faction: I think Sully is right when he says the Ester/Palin/fundamentalist wing dwarfs the small goverment folks. Sarah’s going to die for our country.
The Populist
Hehe, Roy Moore still out there talking nonsense? Wow. Next thing you know Gary North will be leading the teabaggers to demand that we go back to stoning people.
Mike Kay
@rob!:
who did your sister vote for?
maus
And those are the MAINSTREAM members.
The Populist
@rob!:
Amen…I have tons of friends like that. All reasonable people who have come to believe that the problems all occurred on Obama’s watch. None would hear it when you tried to point out the problems building when Bush was in charge spending away their children’s money.
El Cid
Ask these TeaTards what happens after you “STOP ALL DA SPENDIN'” and “CUT THA TAXES”. Ask them how they manage to restart the economy.
No, never mind. Don’t. I’d rather spend time debating with “Hollow Earth” theorists, who are more committed to rational arguments.
suzanne
I’m telling you. Give ’em Texas. Then build a big wall.
Litlebritdifrnt
@The Populist:
I about pissed myself laughing at that today when I saw it, and you beat me to it posting about it. May it go down in history as the fucking dumbest thing ever said by a blogger on tee vee, may it be hung around the bitches neck like the albatross it is forever. Anyone else notice that the wingnut (in her case) debate method is to basically scream over everyone else in the conversation. While the calm lib response is to evicerate her points with about two well spoken words?
El Cid
You say “Bircher” like it’s a bad thing. Damn it, Jim, these people saved us from the international Communist and fluoridation conspiracy. Except not that last part.
Robin G.
@beltane: Oh, no, they wouldn’t understand *why* they were losing. But look at Obama and the House Republicans — they didn’t really understand how it happened, but they knew they were beung humiliated. In a structured envurinment, even teabaggers would understand when they’re being embarrassed. It’s all in the attitude of the other person. So — fun!
Robin+5
beltane
@The Populist: Sheesh, Pam Geller sounds like the type of lunatic who would shout racial epithets at the pita bread at the supermarket deli counter. I hope she never uses public transportation; it would suck to be trapped in a subway care with her.
New Yorker
Let’s not forget the cheerleaders for this movement at places like Commentary and the Weekly Standard. Because when right-wing populist movements have rallied around paranoid demagogues throughout history, urbane wealthy intellectual Jews (like those who write for Commentary and the Weekly Standard) always do so well!
Platonicspoof
With the advantage that Republicans can let their proxies take the blame when fact-checking, obvious racism (‘literacy’ tests), etc., eventually catch up with the TP’ers, since the teabaggers claim they are neither Republicans nor Democrats.
Edit: Anyone having a problem submitting comments, allowing active X controls might help.
Bubblegum Tate
This only proves that Jonathan Kay is a stealth LIEbrul who hates Murrica and loves Hitler!
rob!
@Mike Kay:
I don’t know. I always assumed it was Obama, but not too long before the election she said stuff that troubled me, some stuff that I think was probably even rooted in racism.
It disturbed me so much I never outright asked her, because she’s really difficult to talk to when she’s angry, and every time the election would come up she seemed angry.
My parents, age 77 and 65, under Bush went from lifelong Republicans to Anti-Bush voters in 2004 to fervent Obama supporters (and even volunteers!) in 2008, so watching my sister “turn” has been upsetting to all three of us.
It really is as though this country was perfect until the black guy took over–that seems to be the sub(?)text to all the emails I get from her. Its frightening.
demkat620
@Robin G.: You completely miss the point. You can’t cross examine them because in their minds the only “facts” are what they believe to be true.
Ever really watch Buchanan on any of these shows? It is illuminating. Every time one of his arguments gets refuted he just says okay well how about x or y or z? He justs moves on. He never acknowledges that he is wrong, he just moves on to the next greivance.
Have you tried talking to one of them? I have, it makes your hair hurt. No matter what you say the answer is either Al Gore is fat or because shut up that’s why.
They lost any ability to think critically a long time ago. You can’t cross examnie that or argue with that.
danimal
@suzanne: Can’t we give ’em Louisiana and build a big wall. Cuz big parts of Louisiana is below sea level and global warming isn’t happening, so they won’t need to worry about rising sea levels, if you follow me…
Robin G.
@The Populist: Awesome.
cs
I’d suggest group number 4 be split into parts A and B or a number 5 added.
Part A would be the somewhat hypocritical but still relatively sane Republicans as you described.
Part B would be the Ron Paul / American Conservative Republicans / Libertarians who were genuinely upset about the GOP’s massive spending, constitutional violations, and wasteful wars. Though you can’t include this group in the tea party for much longer as many of them are deeply disgusted that an empty-headed pro-war shill would be allowed to insert herself into a leadership position.
I personally like group B, even if I disagree with them on many policy issues. Had they managed to maintain leadership of the grassroots effort and transformed the GOP, it would have been for the better of the country.
SiubhanDuinne
@General Winfield Stuck #7:
For an awful moment there, I thought that said *+ 3058*. Please don’t scare me like that.
Siub +1
El Cid
Well
It took a while for the 1960s flower children’s plot to trickle up.
Not a lot of people know, but famous financial system deregulator Phil Gramm used to live in Haight-Ashbury and followed the folk circuit.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
This is the plot of Left Behind.
Mike Kay
@rob!:
It sounds to me like she’s a right-wing radio listener or Fixxed News viewer. I say that because they’re were completely silent about the deficit and earmarks when Bush was flying $12 billion dollars in cash, shrinked wrapped on pallets to Baghdad. Remember, Cheney famously said, “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1
Now that administrations have changed, the right wing propaganda outlets are a tissy about deficits.
That fact that she has now become sensitized to deficits suggests she’s simply repeating what she hears on Fox Noise.
El Cid
@beltane: I’d agree except for the “sounds like”. You should see some of the videos, many of them self-video’d, of her on her website. Which I encounter every now and then from those brave enough to venture there directly.
Robin G.
@demkat620: Yes, I have, and no, they don’t understand the facts. But they *do* understand when they’re losing control of an argument. That’s why they start to babble and crosstalk and get all the people around them chanting. In normal day-to-day it’s pointless to engage them; pin them down in structured policy debate, though, with timed speeches and a judge you have to convince, and they’d not only lose, they would know they were losing as it happened. It wouldn’t make them think they were wrong, but they’d know they’d failed to sell their ideas. It makes me happy to think of.
Robin+6 (whee!)
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Damn “s” word has me in moderation.
Isn’t that the plot of Left Behind?
rob!
@Mike Kay:
You may be right. Its very depressing, and even a little scary.
I have an older brother who’s an uber-right winger, always has been, but you can actually debate him because he doesn’t get angry. But my sister just sort of clenches her jaw and gets quiet, and you know no further info is making it in to her brain, no matter how truthful and/or logical.
It makes me scared that Palin…not will win the White House in 2012, I simply don’t think that’s possible, no matter how bad Obama does. But I’m scared people like my sister–people from blue states–will keep Palin popular and out there, pouring her poison into the public discourse.
DonBoy
New enemies? That move is from both the 1964 and 2008 conventions, as amply documented here:
rootless_e
One of the repeated themes of European history is that summoning demons is pretty dangerous.
Brett
Interesting Newsweek article. The most bemusing point to me was that they had Ron Moore, fundamentalist, publicity hound, judge-fired-by-his-own-fellow-judges-for-disobeying-the-law extraordinaire.
I mean, seriously, do any of these fuckwits just disappear? It’s like they float around on the Wingnut Welfare Circuit, racking up every-decreasing speaking fees.
darryl
Just within my own family, I know kook relatives who would have been kooks back in the day, but didn’t have an electronic network to send themselves idiot hoax emails like this one I received just this week,. or let them spend all day in Alex Jones land, or their gun talk discussion boards. (Anyone know anything about GlockTalk? Some of my relatives are obsessed with it.) The internet really does empower us. But it also empowers those of us who are really stupid, to be even extra-powerfully stupid.
jl
Unfortunately, I think there is truth in Bill Clinton’s saying to the effect that when things are not going well many prefer strong and wrong to weak and right.
Not sure whether or not this was meant cynically by Clinton.
But, if taken as an unfortunatel reality that must be accounted for in politics, I think there is truth in it.
What Clinton meant, who knows? He is just the author of the saying, and half the time authors do not understand what they are saying anyway.
D-Chance.
Well, since no one else will bring it up…
RIP, Charlie Wilson.
Good Time Charlie was one of the most colorful personalities in DC congressional history… heavy drinker, womanizer, druggie, and one Hell of a politican. Godspeed to a uniquely special individual.
The Populist
@danimal:
I stick by my offer of Mississippi and Alabama, walled off for all the psychos to go live in. Lots of room, lots of trees to cut down and if global warming doesn’t exist (they say!) then they have no worries about increased hurricanes and rising seas.
If they get the two states, they must hand over any US military and intellectual properties in exchange for government lands, bldgs, etc.
KG
I have to admit, I’m a bit fascinated by the Tea Party movement. Having been a part (albeit on the edges) of the Conservative Movement in the recent past, I honestly don’t understand the shift. My only theory is that a very big portion of the movement became consumed in their quest for power, and with a lack of ideas or a basic understanding of their alleged philosophies beyond the broad strokes, they became willing to latch on to any shooting star.
I find myself arguing with my conservative friends (if I dare engage in political discussions with them) almost as much as I argue with many of my liberal friends. It’s almost surreal, how people who use to seem very rational have become unhinged – they haven’t realized it yet, but they’ve become everything they use to oppose.
darryl
I have to echo this. If Cheney had run in ’08, and won, and the exact same policies w/r/t the bailouts and deficit were in place, I don’t think the tea party movement would’ve happened.
“We want our country back!” they yell. “-From the darky!” is what they mean.
Origuy
Must have been this bunch.
JenJen
@darryl: Exactly right.
The Populist
This is interesting:
Notorious P.A.T.
cough cough, grumble grumble
birthmarker
This is what I think of John’s little list…
1) Check
2) See number 1
3) Useful idiots for number 1
4) Could go either way…
BTW John, this post is one of the best, most cogent summaries of the entire political situation I’ve ever seen. Continue on. It really is as simple as number 1. The rest is noise.
P.S. When did we start drinking on Wednesday nights? Did I miss the memo?
Corpsicle
@rootless_e: Awesome
Bill E Pilgrim
No one wants to really admit what you’re getting at with the last part, but this thing was basically just invented by Fox News. I mean all of those disparate groups that you list, they wouldn’t have coalesced into anything pointed and getting air time like this if it weren’t orchestrated by Fox.
It’s like that scene in a Hard Day’s Night with George Harrison where they’ve already decided what attitudes they want to market, and then go looking for a representative of a supposed “movement” who embody it.
Okay and if that doesn’t win the obscure reference award, oldster department, nothing will.
If we’re lucky they’ll actually split the Republican vote. If we’re not lucky, god help us.
I said for years, letting the corporations mainstream right wing hate talk radio onto television with no oversight was a bad mistake, one that would have dire consequences. And here we are.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T
Was it someone here who recently recommended Diana Joseph’s collection of high-snark essays *I’m Sorry You Feel That Way*? I want to thank whomever it was, ‘cuz I am laughing myself silly! Most likely will be awake into the wee hours (“just to the end of this chapter”).
Dr. Squid
@The Populist:
I know, I know. The hypocrisy is in their willingness to bring the boot of government on the necks of anyone who dare disagree with them while simultaneously pretending that they want smaller government.
Montysano
HTML/Wordpress fail
Bill E Pilgrim
@rootless_e: The other problem is that once its run its course, the people who raised the demons were consumed by them too and there’s no one to even hold accountable. Or few.
To paraphrase Plato: Only the dead have seen the end of paranoia-mongering.
FMguru
At any rate, the fact that the Tea Parties have gotten this far with their incoherent and often times hypocritical message…is a sign to me there is no amount of bullshit our media won’t swallow.
Incorrect.
It’s a sign that there’s no amount of right wing bullshit that our media won’t swallow. Even the most tepid liberal activism is subjected to endless hysteria, fact-checking, criticism of its tone and decorousness, and “balance” – when it isn’t just ignored.
Thousands of people show up to YearlyKos, media laughs, nut-picks, asks “where are your pajamas? isn’t it weird not being in your basement?”. 700 paying nimrods – half of whom seemed like professional movement people – show up to TeaBagCon ’10, and it’s the next Great Awakening or the Second American Revolution.
JGabriel
rootless_e:
That’s a pretty common theme on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, too.
.
The Populist
@Bill E Pilgrim:
It will backfire. Most regular people will see the screaming, seething masses and shun them. Outrage only lasts so long.
Young people will be turned off and I think their true face will soon show through. All it takes is one of these fucks to kill, mame or blow up something or someone and then they lose the overall debate.
Notorious P.A.T.
@danimal:
Haha ) that’s great.
I vote for Florida instead. It’s in almost as much danger and doesn’t have New Orleans.
Robin G.
@birthmarker: I’m drinking because I’ve shot my system to hell and alcohol-induced-numbness is the only way I can make my stomach accept food. As for anyone else — no idea.
birthmarker
Cheers, Robin G. Feel better.
darryl
@JenJen: I have always lived in the Deep South, and I wonder if people who live other places understand the mentality here that white men must always be in charge because women are emotional and PMSing and bitches and black people are typically dumb and worthless and looking for a handout–White men are the only rational, upstanding, hardworking, intelligent people. It might strike people as science fiction but that is a real, palpable mindset here. And I look at the tea party freakout when Obama gets elected and it’s obvious to me what the underlying mindset is.
Jason Bylinowski
Thanks for referring us to that great Newsweek article, John Cole. I’m sure it made absolutely no traction whatsoever in the grand scheme, but knowledge is power, and all that. It’s so nice to hear some honest critique OF the right FROM the right; it is seldom done but much needed.
I hear your critique of the media from pretty much all corners these days, & whether it’s a GOP, Dem, or a Glib blog, you can be sure that someone is complaining about the low quality of the media. The thing is, we have seen all this before in America (the most recent being the age of Yellow Journalism, I guess, but I’m no historian) but so far as I know there has been very little consequence for today’s media.
Serious question: Do you think this intractibility of this phenonemon has its roots in the corporate structure? Please note that I am not anti-capitalist in any way whatsoever as I build this tiny case.
Obviously, in the old days of small media companies, a single lawsuit or boycott could singlehandedly wipe out any shitty standards of reporting. It was perhaps a more harsh environment because of this, but one that had accountability. Nowadays, you have either companies like GE, who aren’t even really a media company at all but who realize the value in holding the reins, or you have a media empire like NewsCorp, who are more than willing to keep unprofitable entities afloat in order to more properly abuse the sensitivities of its readership.
Now, if there’s any validity to my little argument, the desperate question that seems to arise is a vital one: if these companies are free to dissemble, to distort, or simply to ignore the news as they see fit, then how in Hades is this anything but awful for the health of society? Even though it’s not going to happen in the current political climate (or any other climate, let’s be honest), I do believe the only remedy for this is to regulate the media by de-conglomeration. The problem with that, though, is that none of these smaller companies would be fit for survival in the market as we know it, which leads to another fairly awful step, the subsidization of the media. I mean sure, I like NPR a great deal, but if everyone had the same funding, the government would then be awfully tempted to start pulling rank on negative coverage. Am I an insane closet-righty for thinking that? I really just don’t see any other outcome.
tgeb
Fuck you Populist. Mississippi has the highest % black population in the country. I think you should be jailed preemptively for wishing that kind of slaughter on a million people.
And seriously, fuck all of the “give the wingers x state” jokes.
darryl
@Robin G.: Drinking booze and coffee in great excess wrecked my stomach. Zantac or Prilosec once a day works wonders though. Highly recommend that stuff.
darryl
@The Populist:
Florida is crazy. Deeply, deeply crazy. But in a much more nuanced and interesting way than the stupid degenerate Tea Baggers. Though the northern part of the state is high in Tea Bag concentration.
Bill E Pilgrim
@The Populist: I assume so too. But for sheer goose bump-raising, read this.
Caveats abound here, he’s only looking at a nomination win, and if she did manage to get it then we can assume she’d lose the general big time.
On the other hand, Nate’s a pretty accurate guy with these things and the fact that he’s even looking at it is hair raising, like some political version of those simulated end of the world war game scenarios.
And if she did manage to get it, some day, all it would really take is some dickhead like John Edwards as the other candidate, one big enough skeleton falls out of the closet at the wrong moment and that’s all she wrote.
All highly unlikely I agree. It’s interesting though, sort of like reading a bad ghost story.
Notorious P.A.T.
@tgeb:
Sorry about that. It’s a little over the top, to be sure. Just a joke, but yeah maybe a bit much.
J
What about the Trilateral commission? Surely they have got to be at the bottom of the conspiracy to…well to do whatever it’s a conspiracy to do. And don’t tell me they don’t exist anymore; that’s what they’d like you to think.
The Populist
@darryl:
Yet the majority of poor people in these states are white. So when I hear that I have to ask if the status quo truly works?
Interesting, if you are poor most likely you are dumb or barely educated. Even if somebody beats the odds and decides to educate themselves their upbringing still gets in the way.
Yep, white men down there have made so many wonderful decisions over the last 100 years. Corruption is rampant, no doubt. Maybe these white men aren’t robbing and stealing from liquor stores or each other to survive but they are much worse…they steal from the people to make themselves richer. Just ask Haley Barbour.
SiubhanDuinne
@darryl #82:
North Florida = South Georgia. It’s easy.
Notorious P.A.T.
Oh, I meant to post this earlier. here’s our picture of the day:
Another moron protester
darryl
Well obviously the Trilateral Commission is involved. I mean, duh. That goes without saying.
El Cid
@tgeb: Exactly. I’d give them some tiny, shitty portion of Georgia, but no fucking way have the reactionary rightards merited the whole fucking state.
darryl
@SiubhanDuinne: Having lived in both, I agree.
oldfatherwilliam
@El Cid:
Did you know that Ann Coulter claims to have bee a Dead fan?
The Populist
@tgeb:
I never wished slaughter on anybody, don’t put words in my mouth. Show me where I wished death on African-Americans. Wishing jail on me for an OPINION is pretty low of you.
Don’t be idiotic. Read what I said again. If you’ve seen my posts around here, you know where I stand on many issues. Say we hand off those two states to the ‘tard teabaggers…I would be more than happy to see anybody (blacks especially) move over to the rest of the USA.
C’mon…I can’t tell if you are spoofing me, but do NOT call me a racist.
Cheryl from Maryland
Please keep Louisiana because of New Orleans and Florida because of Sarasota and the Keys.
The Populist
@El Cid:
Not against that at all. Tgeb needs to realize that my comments about MS are directed at the likes of the Bubbas, not the black population. Sheesh.
SiubhanDuinne
@Notorious P. A. T. #88:
Morans, scholers. I am reminded of a once-seen-never-forgotten rear window decal I saw once:
The Populist
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Arkansas?
darryl
@The Populist: Not in the Southern Christian Winger mentality. In that mindset, nearly everybody who is white is a hard working christian patriot with integrity, nearly all blacks are worthless welfare cheats who are mentally inferior, nearly all hispanics are illegals who are destroying our hospitals with their emergency room bills….
Shit, dude, I had a relative tell me at this past thanksgiving that social security / medicare was going broke because for every one (white) worker paying into it, there were 3+ illegal immigrants taking money out of it.
darryl
@Cheryl from Maryland:
I lived for decades in Florida in several places and am about to move to St. Pete in a month or two. If there was a conservative/liberal national split, the whole of Florida wouldn’t go one way or the other–Florida would be split horizontally somewhere around Orlando, with everything below joining the liberal country, and everything above joining the conservative country.
The Populist
@darryl:
I know Darryl, I know. Fact: some of the hardest working people I’ve met from the South are black. White people make up the largest percentage of welfare users in the south…that’s the ironic part.
I get what you mean. They need an enemy to feel better about themselves and anybody darker than them is it.
Robin G.
@birthmarker: Thanks :)@darryl: This was an accidental med combo fuckup. Everything’s straightened out now, except my stomach has decided it’s happier being empty. But I just successfully ate a bowl of miso soup, a serving of rice, and a few pieces of tempura tofu! I feel uncomfortable, but it’s staying down! Success!
Also, reading Sarah Palin quotes mid-sake is deeply funny.
JGabriel
Origuy: I’m afraid my taste in Star Trek references is far more tasteless.
.
El Cid
@The Populist: No, at this time I hadn’t even gotten to the point about the Southern African American population.
I was just talking about the rightards simply not deserving much of anything.
But, one could make an argument about a trade-off. If the secession types could make a good enough offer where they get one state, or a couple of contiguous state regions, in exchange for our nation finally being able to leap forward a couple of centuries in political development without the reactionary Southtards to hold us perpetually back, it’d be damn well worth discussing.
birthmarker
Can we keep Florida for Sea Grove/Seaside and Sanibal/Captiva?
And Alabama for Fairhope/Point Clear?
And Mississippi for Bay St. Louis and environs?
Notorious P.A.T.
@SiubhanDuinne:
Hahaha! Double botch.
darryl
@The Populist:
I’ve tried telling wingers that most people on welfare are white. They just straight up refuse to believe it.
The Populist
@El Cid:
I agree. I think it would be fair to let anybody who lives in one of these states to live in America if they wish. I also think no matter what, the rightards do not get to keep weapons or nukes or anything that may be located on a military base. Our military will disarm and retreat UNLESS these tards want to pay for their services during a transition.
No matter what, the black population should be given a stipend to move anywhere they want in the USA and away from these tards. Say this fantasy of ours comes true, no matter what you let these tards take for a “country” it will uproot people of all races who want no part of these jerks or their racism.
darryl
To be clear, I’m not disagreeing with The Populist. I was merely talking about the perception vs what he was talking about, the reality.
Nylund
Is anyone else even the slightest bit surprised to learn that the one Republican they don’t like is the black guy?
The Populist
@darryl:
Me too. Funny, they will then cite statistics that say xxx percent of blacks or mexicans or whatever live on welfare. Gee, white percentages will always be lower solely because (for now) whites are still the majority in many places.
They can lie about it, but white people cling to soc-list welfare, medicare and other entitlements worse than anybody.
fasteddie9318
Here’s what I’m too dumb to figure out; if they’re suspicious of power and influence, why do they love the goddamned military so much?
Hiram Taine
@The Populist:
It happened in 2008 and the M$M tiptoed around the implications.
The Populist
@darryl:
Didn’t think you were…you and I are on the same page.
White people love welfare.
Black people work hard and are stigmatized by people who can’t see past the color of their skin.
Fact is that poor southern blacks and whites have a LOT in common with one another and it’s a shame that whites want to hold onto racial prejudice.
danimal
@darryl: I’ll be damned if that isn’t the stupidest thing I’ve heard today, and there’s plenty of competition. Immigration is one of the main reasons all the scaremongering over Social Security is so crazy. Immigrants (especially undocs) pay into Social Security and get very little out of it. Something you never hear from the conservative end of the spectrum.
The Populist
@fasteddie9318:
Because the military is full of people they can relate to. They don’t see the problems….only that a lot of their friends, relatives serve.
It is weird that they aren’t concerned with the military’s wastefulness and poor decisions.
darryl
Oh, yeah. The region would comprise most of the confederate states, principally north florida, arkansas, alabama, south carolina, mississippi, louisiana, georgia, tennessee, and probably the addition of kentucky. It would be great to ditch many of those people. The problem is, the liberal states would quickly share a big border with the third-world country Conservative Jesustan would devolve into, with all the attendant problems that involves.
The Populist
@danimal: Even dumber is how they whine about emergency rooms being overtaken by illegals (actually the facts are plain – poor people of all colors use E.R.s due to lack of insurance, ability to pay, etc) yet how would they know this unless a lot of them have been to ER’s due to lack of insurance or money?
The Populist
@darryl:
Yep, a whole new type of religious terrorist could be bred due to the likely poverty that will ensue.
darryl
Oh dude trust me, I know. I’ve tried explaining how the SSA keeps track of what you’ve paid in, how that figures into the amount you’re allowed to receive, etc. But I was roundly, hostilely rejected by people who couldn’t tell me the difference between Medicare and Medicaid.
Dumb, arrogant relatives–I haz them!
cleek
oh yeah. now you’re getting it.
the biggest complaint i have with the liberal bloggers i read is that they treat GOP mouthpieces as if they are arguing in good faith. as if the FOX hosts actually believe the nonsense they spout, as if Rove and Cheney and Beck and … actually switched positions on everything in Jan 2009 and now they need to be engaged and debated as if they have deeply-held policy positions which need to be logically argued.
the fact is, the people running the party know what bloggers are only beginning to realize: party politics is about advancing the party. period. there is nothing else. nothing.
they aren’t trying to defend logical positions. they’re keeping the base enraged. period. so what if today’s attack on Obama is 180deg from what they were saying about Bush? it doesn’t matter. the faithful know Obama’s bad and they know “conservatism” is good – the logical details that support the ful reversal of position are automatically filled-in. once you realize the audience is fully on board with the premise “GOP GOOD, LIBS BAD”, you can toss out almost anything and the faithful will figure out how it makes sense. it is religion.
FOX can say “white is black” and the GOP faithful will be able to fill in the logic to make it so. tomorrow they’ll say “black is white” and the faithful will intuitively know how to make it work.
it’s religion.
it’s exactly religion.
the people standing at the GOP altar know this, and they do what all good preachers do: they enflame the congregation and pass the collection plate.
it is not only cynical, it is 100x more cynical than most of the blogosphere has realized. it is snake-oil, traveling tent-revival religion – full of passion, devoid of meaning, intended to extract cash from the rubes. it’s a sham. they’re carnival barkers, traveling preachers, hucksters.
Jason Bylinowski
@The Populist: OK, you have made some great points about white people and welfare, but that said I’ll just meekly point out that the raw percentages of welfare recipients that have been discussed are not the ones to brag about. I live in the South, so I hear all the time that it is not those numbers that count, but rather these other ones, which state the overall roll count as a percentage of each population. Yes, there are more whites than blacks on welfare, but the black population still only comprises less than 20 percent of the US population. Not sure if I used “comprises” correctly, but fuck it.
Not sure what all this is supposed to signify, other than an acute awareness of the other side’s arguments.
Dials set to Stupid
The convention led to at least one new fan: David Broder has starbursts.
Comrade Darkness
@darryl: @darryl: 2 billion a year was coming into bad soc numbers. That’s just pure profit. But they cracked down on that, cuz, the republicans you know, they hate free monies.
birthmarker
Great comment cleek. I feel we libs misuse our forums (such as they are) by letting the repubs set the conversation. Every single day. Especially on Fridays, so as to control the weekend news cycle/Sunday talk fests. Notice how rarely the Thursday/Friday news dump favors the dems.
The only thing that gives me hope is that most of the voters saw the light in 2008. It can happen again.
Comrade Darkness
@sputnikgayle:
ATTENTION ATTENTION
Homepage bookmark
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=0
I seems to be working under all circumstances.
suzanne
@darryl:
They’d build a wall and arm it with Minutemen to keep us out, yanno.
I’m not even really joking. I honestly don’t know how to make common cause with these people anymore. Maybe it’s time for a divorce.
fasteddie9318
@The Populist
Well, yeah, that’s weird too, but I was thinking more along the lines that these people are suspicious of government power, but love the institution that’s responsible for most of it. I mean, where do they think the government’s power comes from? Obama’s scary voodoo magic?
darryl
@Dials set to Stupid: Oh what a fucking nimrod.
Broder:
I bet if I cared to search, this idiot has written columns about the Washington Generals’ full repertoire, including (blocked) layups, (blocked) dunks, (blocked) free-throw shots….
Mike in NC
One of the interesting things about the “nonpartisan” Tea Party movement we’ve been learning since their little convention is that they uniformly view the Republican party as not being conservative enough to suit their agenda. Go figure!
PurpleGirl
@JGabriel: OMG!!!!! That was very good.
El Cid
@Mike in NC: …and also, George W. Bush was too moderate and too intellectual.
different church-lady
Was it Tim or Doug who first referred to these type of people as “howler monkeys”?
tgeb
Ooh way to respond to allegations of racism with anti white propaganda.
Someone is protesting a little too much.
Liberty60
@fasteddie9318:
Shut up, that’s why!
Sincerely, Ace
Panurge
Ixnay on the onfederate-Georgia-cay, pls. I was born and live in Atlanta, which is, after all, essentially an island of Blue (or at least Indigo) in the Red South. (But then many of the South’s cities are like that.) MS, AL, South GA (south of the Atlantic Fall Line), and North FL should do. But then I have personal connections in Macon, Augusta, and Jacksonville, so I’m not even sure about that.
K2000
Heads up… when I surf to your home page, it’s blank. I got here via a link on Daily Kos. Not sure what’s up with that… I deleted all cookies, history and cache, and I still can’t see your home page. I’m a daily reader. I’m using Safari and a Mac running Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6 I guess?) This is a recent development (last 2 days). Sorry if it’s been addressed elsewhere… I can’t see it.
Edit- now that I’ve left this comment, I can see the home page again. If I’m not mistaken, that’s happened before.
different church-lady
@Hiram Taine:
Well, of course they tiptoed around that: you wouldn’t want to paint that guy as a gun-toting crazy, would you?
VladCat
Soon Joseph Farah will sing “Rock the Casbah” and I can map another wingularity coordinate.
parksideq
@beltane: There’s a reason why Geller’s blog is the first hit on a Google search for “shrieking harpy“.
And for those that didn’t see her meltdown on Joy Behar, enjoy. Utter hilarity; it’s like she asymptotically approaches peak wingnut on live television.
Chris Johnson
Quite wonderful to learn that Ron Reagan never met his father :)
Ron Sr. does have a lot to answer for, but I credit him that in his day he’d have been able to see through Palin…
Platonicspoof
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Ten years ago I would have thought Bush’s Supreme Court election, 9/11, barely disguised pre-emptive war by the U.S. of A., public accceptance of torture and denial of habeas corpus, and Bush’s re-election, all in the space of a few years, would have been highly unlikely.
So thanks for the 538 tip.
John O
OT, but you can all eat me about the cutest little rescue mutt ever.
He’s fantastic. I know how John feels.
The Populist
@tgeb:
Go away…I see you are a spoof. Thanks for exposing yourself.
I notice you can’t debate the facts without insults. Nice try…thanks.
Oh and nothing anti-white in my posts. What I did is post facts. You can’t seem to handle them, now can you?
The Populist
@Jason Bylinowski:
Good points, Jason. I understand this when it comes to overall populations so I ask this: when rightie whiteys in the south whine about blacks on welfare, they point out the percentages. I get that and accept that there is a disproportionate amount of blacks on welfare in this country BUT why is this? It’s not laziness. I firmly believe it’s lack of opportunity and the ugly specter of race still causing issues.
Then again, the south, overall, has a disproportionate problem with education, employment and poverty regardless of whether it’s whites or blacks. I admit I can’t answer why this is…
Platonicspoof
@John O:
If you’re still around (I’m gone), repost pics soon. And more story?
Anne Laurie
@John O: Congratulations, John O! Dweezil looks like a sweetie; how old is he?
bob h
I’m guessing/hoping that the Teabugger movement will not survive a few months of +200-300K job growth, should we be lucky enough to get it.
brantl
Not true, only group # 2 the cynical manipulaters hide behind the not-batshit-crazy conservatives who just wish we were spending less money. The rest are vying for the front space, hence the freak-show feel to the whole thing.
billy baroo
key to site?
Jim Pharo
You must have thought the CIvil War was a riot, with all the poor white Southerns fighting, dying and killing for the right of a few wealthy slave-owners to stay wealthy, all at the expense of those doing the fighting.
Ha!
I kid, I kid. But the point is that these people are a dangerous influence — and I don’t mean the poor #4 people but rather the media, RNC, etc. In the hands of a compelling demagogue, these people could well lead us to catastrophe of the worst sort.
Darren H.
The “USA” chants at the media that we keep seeing remind me of an experience while working at the ACLU – December hit, and suddenly we were inundated with Christmas cards from angry conservatives in what I’d assume was some sort of Free Republic campaign.
I guess the idea was that as enemy soldiers in the war on Christmas we would be infuriated (confused is more like it) and that it would clog our intake process (the intake process was me, and of course, it didn’t inconvenience me at all).
What this taught me was that many Americans on the far right seriously believe that anyone who doesn’t outright endorse their point of view must be opposed to them, and must do so because of hatred of America. They don’t consider this hyperbole, but common sense.
Donald G
Well to St. Ronnie’s credit, even he was apparently horrified at Pat Buchanan’s speech to the 1992 Republican National Convention.
Really, the tea-baggers are merely the latest reiteration of the rageaholics and. crazies that swept Gingrich into power back in ’94. It’s the same social and cultural forces at play.
twiffer
@The Populist: what is sad is that, in a sane world, a lunatic telling someone they “don’t know” their own father because they disagree politically with him (incidently, isn’t this like, 80% of all people?) would be ignored and never asked for an opinion again.
alas, we live in the world of news as entertainment. a lunatic apparently makes for good TV. fuckers.
redoubt
@Panurge: Agree. I’m a damnyankee who lives in Atlanta and vacations in the Coastal Empire. Heavy military presence down here. (Gee, I wonder where that money comes from.) If Civil War II were ever to happen, I’m not sure Georgia, Florida etc. would be allowed to secede.
Bobby Thomson
The pushback against Jon Kay’s column has started:
http://www.conservativeblogwatch.com/2010/02/10/newsweek-tea-party-convention-full-of-911-truthers/
My money’s on Kay. He’s more quick-witted than any of these bozos.
Bubblegum Tate
Holy shit, the comments over at Newsweek read like the CliffsNotes for Behold a Pale Horse.
Little Dreamer
@darryl:
Apparently you’ve never been anywhere hear the Southwest coast (Naples/Marco Island) – nothing liberal about that area at all.