On Teabags

The Teabaggers of today have turned the motto of the revolution on its head. Rather than protesting against "Taxation without representation", the 'baggers are protesting for "Representation without taxation". So sad. A total misunderstanding of the purpose of our government.

9/12 crowd estimates - more lies from the far right

Everyone who is a professional in counting crowds has provided an estimate of 100,000 persons or less attending this event. All of the estimates you are using were made by people who have no experience or expertise in estimating crowd sizes.

The only reason the size of the crowd matters is because there has been so much duplicity from the TP crowd regarding attendance. The only credible sources are the independent sources, which universally reported attendance of 100,000 or less.

I really don’t think you do yourself any favors by pretending that this gathering was massive – it was large, but it hardly indicates any sort of significant electoral shift. This gathering of fringe elements serves to remind progressives that we must remain vigilant – but overstating the size of the crowd only proves how little the right cares for factual information.

Tea Party Movement - Astroturf on the Mall

Characterizing the TP movement as grassroots is laughable, but surely politically expedient. On the other hand, the right has certainly engaged in direct action in the past. Driven by greed, paranoia and racism, the TP movement clearly is a vehicle for GOP racism and lies be promoted without sullying the Republican brand.

I’ll grant that some protesters are genuine, but the movement itself is not. This is a corporate protest, and calling it grassroots only shows how desperate for relevance the right has become.

Tea Party Cancellation

This is just a simple case of a business owner defending his interests. Simon apparently has a legal right to refuse access to this property, and that right trumps the protest.

The Tea Party should be held on property that belongs to the public. The irony would only be too delicious.

Tea Parties - Back to the Dark Ages?

The consequences are predictable and could be catastrophic: a collapse of faith in the leadership classes, a massive anti-intellectual uprising, the beginnings of which we may be already witnessing.

Now I understand the Tea Party movement. It is simply the advocacy movement for a return to the Dark Ages. Thanks for making that crystal clear!

Tea Party Fever

I still don’t see any clear description of what the Tea Parties represent aside from a protest against government taxation. Meeting on tax day and using the tea party metaphor make that connection pretty clear.

Obama & Co. can’t really be faulted for spending - it is exactly what they promised to do. What the Tea Parties seem to me to represent is a frustrated fringe of the GOP that is politically disenfranchised and unable to contemplate cooperation with Obama.

Tea Parties apparently have been all about tax cuts for the rich and cutting government spending on social programs. These are not popular policies with voters. I encourage the Tea Party movement as a way to expose the shallow, naive and incomplete policy program that the GOP has been flogging since 1980.

A Tempest in a Teacup

I’m not sure where Jennifer learned the definition of “massive”. This outpouring was anything but. Take Columbus, OH for example. 7,000 show for the Tea Party - but 60,000 showed up for an Obama rally in November. The Tea Party attendees were even outnumbered by McCain turnout (10,000), which was never termed “massive”.

This was a modest protest, over-hyped and overplayed in the media, and truly nothing to get excited about unless you are part of the 24-hour news cycle.

Tea Party Pooper

Have fun at the “Forth of July” event. I’m glad to see people being politically active, but not expecting these events to make any significant impact. Idaho is a very reliable state for Republicans that is moving slowly toward supporting Democrats as demographics change.

What strikes me as rather silly is pretending that there is some similarity to the original Tea Party in Boston. There is no taxation without representation to object to here, and the tax rates for most Americans have just been cut. The lack of a focus for these events is very clear - there are many different agendas represented, and the only common theme is that the GOP is out of power.

Unless the GOP can articulate a common theme, a central message, or at least a general idea of where they want to take America, there will be no impact on electoral politics from these Tea Parties.