2010 Themes: The tea party effect
[Posted by Karl]
At The Hill, Aaron Blake produces a useful list of themes for analyzing the 2010 midterm elections. The first theme on this list asks, ” How real is the tea party effect?” (The real first theme should be the economy, which ends up fourth, but I digress.) Blake makes his discussion about conservative enthusiasm, but the tea party effect is broader than that.
On cue, David Brooks arrives to carp about — and fear — tea party sentiment. Unlike Blake, Brooks recognizes the movement is not purely left-right, even as he condescends to it:
The public is not only shifting from left to right. Every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year.
The educated class believes in global warming, so public skepticism about global warming is on the rise. The educated class supports abortion rights, so public opinion is shifting against them. The educated class supports gun control, so opposition to gun control is mounting.
The story is the same in foreign affairs. The educated class is internationalist, so isolationist sentiment is now at an all-time high, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The educated class believes in multilateral action, so the number of Americans who believe we should “go our own way” has risen sharply.
***
The tea party movement is a large, fractious confederation of Americans who are defined by what they are against. They are against the concentrated power of the educated class. They believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
Curiously absent from the Brooks column is any sense of what caused all of this. Primarily, it is caused by the real and perceived failures of the educated class, from Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill. There has never been much political momentum on the issue of global warming (the Senate pre-emptively rejected the Kyoto treaty on a 95-0 vote) because of economic concerns. Thus, it is not surprising that the public becomes less interested in such action amid a serious recession. If the public has become more pro-life, it may be that the now commonplace technology of sonography has graphically brought the reality of the issue into more and more families, while the supposedly educated class adheres to old dogma. If the public is more concerned about their Second Amendment rights, it may be a reaction to the fact the party in power tends to infringe on them. Indeed, the public reaction on all of these issues may be seen as a reaction against an agenda that lacks a mandate (more on that below).
If the public is more isolationist, it may be a reaction not only to our nation’s present difficulties on various fronts of the war on terror, but also due the efforts of Brooks’s pals in the educated class. Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency on the counter-factual claim that the “surge” in Iraq was a failure, that the US should renegotiate NAFTA, and so on. If the public is turning against multi-lateralism, it may be because the first year of the Obama administration is teaching them that getting rid of George W. Bush has not made our allies noticably more supportive, or our enemies less interested in killing us or obtaining nuclear capabilities.
Democrats hold power today primarily because the largely apolitical middle perceived (sometimes fairly, sometimes not) that Republican government mismanaged the war (and the response to a national disaster) and allowed the financial sector to melt down on their watch. Obama campaigned as “Change you can believe in,” but his administration is stocked with the very people who caused the financial crisis in the first place, dithers for months in making war plans, and first responds to a failed terror attack over Detroit by proclaiming “the system worked,” when it obviously failed. It’s no wonder that voters have turned against the administration, Mr. Brooks.
Of all the issues Brooks mentions, the ones most driving the tea party movement relate to excessive government spending, deficits and debt. Though these are increasingly important on a policy level, I suspect they are also symbolic to many in the movement of dysfunctional government. Pres. Obama must recognize the political danger posed by this voter bloc, if his recent rhetorical conversion to deficit hawkishness is any indicator.
However, if Obama tries to sell himself as a deficit cutter in his State of the Union speech, it may strike the angry middle as not merely incredible, but insulting. For everything that was wrong with the Clinton administration, they did consistently try to position themselves as concerned about the deficit. And Clintonites had at least convinced themselves that they were concerned about the deficit, with James Carville jokingly griping that he wanted to return in his next life as the bond market. In contrast, as Allahpundit wrote:
Imagine how total The One’s belief in his own ability to B.S. must be that after the stimulus, TARP II, the nationalization of GM, and ObamaCare, he’s actually planning to sell himself as a deficit hawk — while still pushing for cap-and-trade. If he gets voters to buy it, it’ll be a mind trick on par with the “these aren’t the droids we’re looking for” scene in Star Wars.
Given Obama’s current approval ratings, pulling off that feat seems unlikely. The previous Man From Hope started his administration focused like a laser on the economy, and burned enough political capital that his healthcare reform effort failed. The current Man of Hope expanded Bush-y bailout policies and burned his political capital on healthcare reform. If the economy makes a significant upturn in the first half of this year, Democrats may yet be saved in the midterms. But Obama will likely fail to tamp down the Perot-esque bloc as much as Clinton ultimately did.
–Karl
… educated class believes in global warming…
and the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus
… educated class supports abortion rights …
and hide it eugenics foundation
… The educated class supports gun control …
and slide around the constitution with emanating penumbras and judicial activsm.
… The educated class is internationalist …
and longs to be one with the European “intelligensia” and unelected EU bureaucrats
…The educated class believes in multilateral action…
because they prefer political correctness to common sense and lack the cajones to actually stand for something – and maybe make a mistake without the cover of “everyone else was doing it too.”
And by the way it is not the “educated class” -it is the political class in general and especially those who excrete political correctness with every breath .
quasimodo (4af144) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:11 amIt’s the out of control government spending …
bill-tb (541ea9) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:14 amEvery single idea associated with the “educated class” has grown more unpopular
Glad to know my BS and MD are meaningless.
Wasn’t it the “intelligentsia” in France that was happy to cooperate with the Nazi’s (as in eugneics as quasimodo reminds us above)? Not to make any comparisons, but there is that well known statement about history repeating itself.
Is Brooks blind, intellectually dishonest, deluded-by self or others, or what??
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:20 amThe Donkey is the perfect symbol for this administration, especially with a white flag on a stick in its mouth.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:27 amThe teaparty movement is not a group who are AGAINST things. If Mr. Educated Class would get his head out of his ass and look, he’d see we’re FOR:
God
Guns
American Oil
Strong Defense
and the AGAINST part is:
No Illegal Immigration
Less Government
Less Taxes
Less Abortion
Thank, ‘educated class’ for getting us into the current shithole we find ourselves. You know, I hear that someone is Ivy League educated now and I cringe.
Metallica (e4735c) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:34 amThey’re already having their tea parties in Iceland, complete with torches, to protest a proposal for Iceland to bail out Dutch and British bankers. (The measure was vetoed.)
Of course, once they have torches, they can always order the pitchforks from Amazon.com.
Official Internet Data Office (eb2f3c) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:40 amReplace “educated class” with “indoctrinated class” and it makes more sense.
Marko (dd04a9) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:45 ami’m all in favor of gun control for everyone:
1. proper grip
2. good sight picture
3. breath control
4. smooth trigger squeeze
i just don’t think it requires more laws so much as more training and practice.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:48 amA woman caller to Mark Steyn – filling in for Rush, again – said that Brooks’ use of “the educated class” should be edited to “the arrogant class”.
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:51 amI seem to agree.
Plus, the old antidotes still work:
Mock, scorn, satire, parody.
I wish that next time one of the MSNBC clowns calls people teabaggers, the guest would note that it is preferable to be the teabagger than the teabaggee.
Not that one of their uber-leftist guests would ever interrupt their daily giggly hate-fest.
JD (345b57) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:53 amComment by redc1c4 — 1/5/2010 @ 11:48 am
More range time coming up this Thursday, thank you very much.
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:55 amPlus, in the words of Col.Jeff Cooper, effective self defense requires a caliber containing the numeral four (preferrably a starting number in ascending order)!
Comment by JD — 1/5/2010 @ 11:53 am
I don’t even want to know how you would know the difference.
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 11:57 amJD is right: ’tis better to give than receive…. %-)
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:15 pmI think his use of the term educated class fits perfectly, with the tense being especially important.
Their growing problem is those of us (let’s call ourselves the “continuing education” class) who learn from history, expect results to back up theories, and aren’t hesitant to criticize those who value being in power over having core principles.
phil (f85eb1) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:16 pm“And Clintonites had at least convinced themselves that they were concerned about the deficit, with James Carville jokingly griping that he wanted to return in his next life as the bond market.”
I wonder what the teabaggers would think of a good dose of clintonista deficit reduction now.
imdw (e66d8d) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:30 pmThe Clinton “deficit reduction” was marked by unrealized expectations of the dot com bubble not bursting.
JD (345b57) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:35 pmApparently imdw is a teabaggee.
JD (345b57) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:36 pm“The Clinton “deficit reduction” was marked by unrealized expectations of the dot com bubble not bursting.”
It was also marked by starting right after 1992.
imdw (ee9fce) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:42 pmgood question imdw: why don’t you ask your top what they think?
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:42 pmOne small quibble Karl, BO in 2008 ran as deficit hawk. All the D’s did in order to point out how out of control the R’s were. He was as full of crap then just as he is now.
P.S. I know a racist when I see one, unlike Charles Johnson, and JD is a racist!!!!
BT (74cbec) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:47 pmKarl:
I’m not a tea-partier, though I sometimes caucus with them; but from my observation, they’re not against what Brooks likes to call “the educated class.”
That’s a misleading term, for it deliberately and with malice aforethought excludes many educated people who don’t have degrees in “peace studies” from the Kennedy School of Government or lit degrees from Yale, people who aren’t educated enough to believe in five-year plans.
(The “educated class” surely wouldn’t include Francis S. Collins, for example — author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief and former director of the Human Genome Project. I’m not sure it would even include David Brooks.)
While many TPers don’t have the specific vocabulary, what they (and I!) actually oppose are the self-anointed keepers of “the Vision.” The book which perfectly limns the group they (and I) truly loathe is Thomas Sowell’s masterpiece, the Vision of the Anointed: : Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy.
Dafydd
Dafydd the Pedantic (96b517) — 1/5/2010 @ 12:54 pmI wonder what the teabaggers would think of a good dose of clintonista deficit reduction now.
You do realize this would, by implication, go hand-in-hand with Gingrichian deficit reduction as well, correct?
The President may propose the budgets and sign off on the final document, but Congress is the one that says where the spending is going to be allocated, if it gets allocated at all.
Anyone who honestly thinks Obama is going to do a 180 and become a deficit hawk with Pelosi and Reid still in charge is delusional, especially when California and New York kick off the Great 50-State Bailout of 2010-12. If the last year is any indication, they’re all going to be like crack addicts saying “one more hit is all I need!”.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:09 pmIt’s not that complicated.
The average American has never had a problem detecting bullshit. The Tea Parties are just simply a reaction to the high levels of it.
You don’t need a BS or an MBA to smell shit under your shoes. It does seem to prevent you from smelling it, though. Maybe it’s that nose too far in the air?
The rest of us are putting on our boots and getting the shovels. We’ll clean up after them. Just like always.
http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_with_Bill_Whittle/They_Stole_Our_Future%2C_But_They_Cannot_Break_Our_Will/2907/
Jaynie59 (18e5d1) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:12 pm“The Clinton “deficit reduction” was marked by unrealized expectations of the dot com bubble not bursting.”
It was also marked by starting right after 1992.
Comment by imdw
Your ignorance is surpassed only by your mendacity. Take a look at the stock market and the rest of the economy and you might notice something that happened in 1994. I will say I made some money in gold stock when Clinton was elected but I don’t think that was what you had in mind.
The tea party people I am acquainted with are pretty libertarian. The principle concerns are taxes and deficits.
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:16 pmDear Mr. Dafydd:
Mr. Sowell has a new book out, that I can promise that Mr. Brooks has not read:
http://www.amazon.com/Intellectuals-Society-Thomas-Sowell/dp/046501948X
Something else that should make Mr. Brooks’ ears burn a bit:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/sowell-223772-intellectuals-media.html
One of Mr. Sowell’s favorite quotations comes to mind:
Sound like some folks we know?
Also, I enjoyed your fiction!
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:18 pmAnd gosh, imdb, what nice language! You and our veddy veddy proper friend Myron sure like that term “teabagger.”
I wonder why?
It sure makes your argument stronger, and makes people much more impressed with your wisdom.
Actually, it shows your true agenda: nothing but empty headed trolling.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:20 pmThe “teabaggers” that imadumbass knows have no interest in whether or not the government is running a deficit, nor how large that deficit is – they have other things that dominate their thinking (if it can be called that).
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:42 pmNor, does he have any memory of the deficit trend line in the 90’s, and how that trend reversed itself beginning with the ’96 FY (the first Post-Contract With America budget).
“You do realize this would, by implication, go hand-in-hand with Gingrichian deficit reduction as well, correct?”
If gingrich wants to tell the teabaggers he’s responsible for the 1990s fiscal policy, he can go ahead. I still don’t think they’re going to like it.
imdw (a29cab) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:52 pmAnd there goes that classy imdw again!
So…folks…what do you think “imdw” stands for? I mean, if this character gets to be all crude and insulting, by all means, make fun of him.
Since he isn’t interested in honest discussion, and just crude name calling.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:54 pmBesides, anyone who starts out a sentence with…
…deserves what he gets.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:55 pmWhat a disingenuous douchenozzle.
JD (5a4feb) — 1/5/2010 @ 1:56 pmComment by imdw — 1/5/2010 @ 1:52 pm
In other words, you’ve got nothing. Again.
Seriously, why do you even try?
Another Chris (2d8013) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:08 pmIs saying ‘teabagger’ any different from calling Obama an N-Word or porch monkey? or Palin a C**T? Seems like this is disgusting and hostile and purely irrational attempt to laugh at people you hate, for nothing they’ve done. OK, IMDW can repeat vulgar slurs, and knows it irritated people. I take it he’s not a very good person, and doesn’t understand how he’s really only demeaning himself.
It’s not like I’m making Obama look bad if I call him a racist vulgarity. I’m making myself look like a tiny and stupid piece of shit… like IMDW is making himself look.
It’s fascinating that the left is doing this. The worst IMDW can do is point out that many prominent republicans also were fiscally undisciplined. But in doing so, he’s only agreeing with the TEA party. He’s proving them right, but he’s too busy talking about scrotums and sexual assault jokes to notice.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:12 pmThey believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy — with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation.
I do believe that one of the voices of the oligarchy appears to get it. Looking in the mirror and seeing one’s self as others see you is always difficult, give him a couple of years and maybe he really will.
htom (412a17) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:23 pmThe deficit is big. The president is little.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:26 pmWell played Mr. Feet.
Old Coot (d2bd0f) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:34 pmDavid Hogberg reviews Mr. Sowells book over at NRO The Divine Right of Intellectuals
LarryD (feb78b) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:40 pmQueers will misuse language, like they misuse their anuses. “Gay” did not mean “queer” for most of the time, either.
nk (df76d4) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:42 pmActually, “queer” did not mean what it does now, too.
nk (df76d4) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:44 pmAnderson Cooper said “It’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging”.
And when he did, his program had about twice its present audience. And the only impact its had on the TEA movement has been to galvanize them. Many of them would probably have lost interest but for the pure rage directed at them. The TEA movement isn’t for any specific government solutions. They don’t have a health care proposal or a stimulus alternative. they just want to get the crooks and monsters to stop stealing our children’s wealth and intruding further and further into our lives.
And they have such an easier time being against something when they are viciously slurs with vulgarity. Without Anderson Cooper attempting to dominate them with jokes about sexually assaulting TEA protestors, they wouldn’t be such a powerful influence.
Glenn Beck is so much more powerful now than he was when the left started attacking him. IMDW said he raped and murdered a child (a common astroturf attack), the White House lied about his program. And then people paid attention and Beck made a total fool out of the left (and I don’t like Beck at all). This style of smearing and slurring attracts IMDW because he is a pervert and he really doesn’t understand that when you give the person with a better argument lots of sympathetic attention, you lose.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 2:52 pm“The worst IMDW can do is point out that many prominent republicans also were fiscally undisciplined. ”
And the best would be to point out that Clinton’s fiscal discipline would be disliked by the teabaggers. Does anyone not remember 1993?
imdw (6951c3) — 1/5/2010 @ 3:33 pmThere he goes again. So classy.
Every time he says “teabagger,” I’ll start thinking of the definition of “imdw.” Here is a hint. It starts with “I’m a…”
And every time he writes it, he is just demonstrating that he is an ignorant little troll.
After all, what does he seem to know, other than how to be annoying? And seeming to have a fixation on gay habits. But heck, there isn’t anything wrong with that, is there?
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 3:39 pmNorth Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan Not Running for Re-Election
AP
Byron Dorgan, who was first elected to the Senate in 1992 after serving a dozen years in the U.S. House, said he reached the decision after discussing his future with family over the holidays.
As if he had one left in politics!
The first intelligent one.
Or maybe the second, one jumped ship the other day too right. Heard his hometown staff locked up the office too!
11 Months left before the BIG FLUSH!!
TC (0b9ca4) — 1/5/2010 @ 3:45 pmI remember 1993… that’s when the GOP took over and had a boom economy, right? All the way until 2006, when the democrats took over and the economy started to fall apart again.
Yeah, that indeed is the best you can do, IMDW. That’s your idea of an argument, in your own words. Nothing but snark. Bill Clinton didn’t balance the budget a single time. The GOP did. Bush didn’t spend out of control in 2006, the Democrats did.
While the GOP has plenty of K street losers and porky losers, and the TEA party is a tremendously fair analysis of the widespread problem, looking over the facts proves just how out of touch democrats like IMDW are. They think they can joke about rape and vaguely insinuate that Bill Clinton did something. Democrats like imdw think trying to dominate the discussion with sexual assault jokes will distract us from the failure of Bill Clinton.
No doubt, when the GOP in 2011 gets things much closer to sanity fiscally, imdw will give Obama credit. No doubt at all. And by then, he will have some other sexual smear. He’ll probably accuse Sarah Palin of raping farm animals or something. That’s how many democrats work… that’s the attitude that get people to support Obama today.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 3:53 pmDavid Brooks’ “educated class” thinks you are all stupid and knows what is best for you, hence all the big government nanny state solutions. People with educations in this country are not a monolithic thinking bloc. Brooks should use a more appropriate term such as “illuminati” to reflect the vision these arrogant assholes believe they have as they recycle tired old liberal plans.
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/5/2010 @ 4:34 pmMental midgets like imdw just don’t get it. I was screaming mad at George Bush the last 2 years of his presidency, and his spending almost made me postal. Then came TARP, and my blood pressure could not be measured. Then Santelli spoke on the floor of the Exchange and said every single thing I had been thinking. I have supported the Tea Parties since, and don’t plan to look back. And, for the record, I was pretty okay with Clinton, since he had a Republican congress to reign him in. What Hillary couldn’t reign in with Bill made me no mind.
sybilll (e7f84e) — 1/5/2010 @ 4:35 pmEven if the economy revives in other regions of the country, ain’t no way on God’s green earth that the Midwest will bounce back in time for the midterm elections: look for Ohio among others to swing back to the GOP.
Luthien Golden (2f6891) — 1/5/2010 @ 4:54 pm“I remember 1993… that’s when the GOP took over and had a boom economy, right?”
That would be interesting as 1993 wasn’t an election year. But I do remember the clinton years as pretty good. A little too good — there were some seeds of the boom we saw in 00’s planted in the 90’s, and we shouldn’t have let that happen.
imdw (aab510) — 1/5/2010 @ 4:57 pmAll: I ask you to recall that the tea party protesters are the ones who first embraced the notion of tea bags. They mailed tea bags to people and held up signs with messages such as “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” It revealed right from the start how out of touch the movement is with modern times. That’s the actual joke, btw, not just the cheeky sexual reference.
I think the teabaggers are like the Boers were in South Africa. They are panicking as a society they no longer understand leaves them behind.
I wouldn’t put violence past some of the teabaggers, as they watch their efforts to stop change ultimately fail, starting with imminent passage of this health care bill.
The heavy concentration of teabaggers in my beloved south is a surprise to no one who really knows the history of this country. Jimmy Carter took a ton of abuse for saying what everybody knows about their motivations, though he spoke in overly broad terms. They are not all like that, I acknowledge.
But Lord only knows what familiar demons will be unloosed when the immigration bill discussion gets going in earnest. Teabagger rhetoric will get potentially very ugly and will help hand Hispanic and Latino voters over to the Dems for two generations (as if Republicans are not already doing an excellent job of that. And no, Marc Rubio ain’t gonna save you.)
Beyond their obvious entertainment value, the teabaggers represent an unsolvable problem for the GOP, as recently evidenced by the decapitation of the head of the Florida GOP, a Crist man. I tend to like unsolvable problems for the GOP. I support anything to keep the Party of No engaged in internal struggle and away from the reins of power, where they can to do real damage, as we saw when they had total control for 11 years.
Penultimately, Anderson Cooper’s remark on teabagging was classic.
Finally, put me in with AD’s remark, who noted how much JD knows about the technique of teabagging. I think I understand JD better, now, especially all of his defensive fuming.
Yours,
Myron
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:02 pmDear Myron:
It’s so rude for you to talk with your mouth full.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:04 pmAnderson Cooper is a picklebiter.
nk (df76d4) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:08 pmEric: You’ve had sharper comebacks. Try again, my young Padawan, as I take a break for dinner.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:09 pmWhatever you think “dinner” means.
You really are quite a vulgar poseur, you know. And everyone here sees it, except folks like imdw.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:12 pmMyron, liberals are referencing the sexual assault type of tea bag when they make their teabagger comment. You know it. I already quoted proof. You ignored that.
Also, you’re wrong… the TEA protestors are not the same as the group of folks sending tea bags. Different groups… both using Tea.
Yes, many good people simply were naive to what “tea bag” means to democrats. While not the TEA party, these people did use the term teabag to describe their efforts, before they sadly lost a bit of naivety when the democrats reacted with glee that they didn’t know about guys sucking eachother’s scrotums. Nice group of democrats you all are.
Anyway, they clearly do not use that term to describe themselves. That’s not who they are. That’s an attack, always used to smear them and irritate them and attempt to dominate them.
It’s like how some blacks in the 1860s used the term “Nig**r” to describe themselves. They learned that was offensive, and now, if people call them that as an attempt to demean black people and say ‘well, some blacks have used that term’, they are liars.
imdw doesn’t care that some old lady sent a tea bag to someone a year ago. He cares that people don’t want to be associated with shoving balls in someone’s mouth. Anyone who doesn’t admit it has no honor.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:13 pmBy the way, I just went to the Urban Dictionary and looked up “Myron.” Personally, I think definition #2 is apt.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:15 pmMoron declines to accept that the use of the tea-bag is a modern symbolism representing the hoisting of chests of tea over the gunwales of those ships laying-at-anchor in Boston Harbor.
Just as I dangle that little bag of Mr.Lipton’s finest from the bayonet mount of my U.S.Rifle, Cal.30, M-1.
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:19 pmWhat’s really funny is that the GOP has no hope of beating the democrats if the Tea Party folks (a freaking huge group of moderates and conservatives who don’t like the GOP much at all) aren’t persuaded to support the GOP.
Somehow, someone needs to polarize those TEA partiers to vote for republicans. Now, how would you do that? Well, maybe Palin will ask them. Maybe the GOP will make a new contract with America. And of course, the liberals who are deeply insecure about the failures of hope and change will try to dominate them with vulgar slurs. This group of people, the imdws, were the ones burning crosses in yards, smearing fake slurs an Tawana Brawley, shooting at Lincoln, posting Loose Change videos, spitting on Veterans, lying about whether they spat on veterans, burning flags, standing on flags, and on and on.
the imdws are a force of nature. They will always be there to push people against evil by showing just how ugly the democrats are.
Little old lady marching to save her grandkids from massive deficit spending? imdw calls her a teabagger. That will be the reason TEA partiers vote for the republicans. Lord knows the GOP isn’t getting the job done without imdw’s help.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:20 pmDustin, don’t forget to include that artiste of vulgarity, Myron. He is the Quentin Crisp of the Snotty Left.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:23 pmOh, of course, the thugs always like to band together. it’s not imdw I’m concerned with. Like I said, that type of horrible huckster hatred is a force of nature that has infected our peoples since we were swinging from branches and eating bananas.
It’s the guy who interrupts his son’s violin solo with a loud fart and a laugh. It’s the guy who sees grandma take a stand against generational theft and makes a joke about her sucking someone’s testicles. He doesn’t do it because it will work. He does it because he’s broken, and this is best way he’s found to deal with the anxiety of being inferior.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:30 pmThat is the thing that is sad, Dustin. These folks seem themselves as so very worldly and sophisticated. And they are vulgar small minded twits.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:39 pmWasn’t Myron the troll who announced that he had to “bounce” before he took off a couple of weeks from posting? Right after criticizing someone else as being an undergrad or something similar?
Heck, they can’t even get their fabricated stories straight.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:40 pmJust to be clear, Myron is referring to all of you as people that like to place your scrotums in someone else’s mouth. And he does so repeatedly. Shocka from a Leftist and someone who works in the media.
JD (aeb697) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:52 pmYes, JD, but doing what in the media? And these days, how does that differ from the insults he spews?
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 5:55 pmIs a Fluffer considered to be a media person?
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:05 pmThey seem to have an inordinate fascination and awareness of that practice. It does show what they really do think of the Founding Fathers to associate
ian cormac (cd6b99) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:31 pmthat particular formulation with patriotic dissenters
liberals are referencing the sexual assault type of tea bag when they make their teabagger comment. You know it. I already quoted proof. You ignored that.
Dustin: Did I? Do you mean when I wrote: “… not just the cheeky sexual reference” I was ignoring that it is a sexual reference?
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:38 pmLeftist peoples that work in the media hate you people, and calling you people who like to dip your scrotum in other people’s mouths is just one way in which they prove it.
JD (428a42) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:46 pmDustin: Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, specifically your plea:
Somehow, someone needs to polarize those TEA partiers to vote for republicans.
I have actually given a lot of thought to this issue. Now, of course, my analysis will be somewhat thrown off b/c I do not wish for any such thing to happen (see comments in my initial post above). And I am honest enough to admit I cannot completely eliminate that bias. That’s where you’ll have to help me.
But I do not see any real union between the GOP and the tea partiers happening. The reason is this: The Republicans and the tea party movement agree on opposition to President Obama and a few other things, such as say, less government involvement in people’s lives.
But they have a fundamental split. Namely, the tea party movement, along with the right-wing blogosphere and talk radio, believe that the GOP went off track by becoming too much like the Democrats. They believe the party is not conservative enough. I’d wager that’s the going opinion on this blog, but I don’t know for sure.
The party intelligentsia, however, put the blame for GOP losses elsewhere. They look at the northeast — where there are no Republican congresspeople — and conclude that the party lost the middle, independent voters b/c it became too conservative.
I saw on DVR, just a few minutes ago, a simple illustration of this split. Chris Matthews — a “favorite” of the folks here at Pontifications — was interviewing RNC Chair Michael Steele. Matthews was reading back to Steele the index of Steele’s new book, which the chairman positions as a primer for a Republican comeback against Obama. Matthews read the “P” part of the index which included such proper nouns as “PBS,” “Pelosi, Nancy” and “public option.”
Then Matthews noted the glaring, missing P from Alaska: There was no entry for “Palin, Sarah.”
The Republican party chairman, in a book about the party’s path to coming back, had neglected to mention arguably the single most influential (living) figure in the party today and a heroine to the tea party movement.
Now, Dustin, I know you to be a fan of Sarah Palin, and you know me to be not so much a fan. But even I can see that Steele slapped her in the face. She deserved to be mentioned on two counts. First, because of her influence, as referenced above. But second, she will figure into any plans for a GOP comeback, positively or negatively, whether the party regulars want her to or not (recall NY-23).
Steele hemmed and hawed but the omission spoke volumes about the bridge that will have to be crossed between the GOP establishment and the tea partiers. I don’t see that bridge being crossed in 10 or 11 months, if ever. I think a third party is a likelier result.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:56 pmI hope Myron has brushed his teeth.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 6:58 pm… don’t forget to include that artiste of vulgarity, Myron. He is the Quentin Crisp of the Snotty Left.
OK, Eric: You finally got a laugh out of me. I’ve been called many things, but never either one of these. 🙂
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:04 pmGood Lord, I hope you trolls get paid by the letter. Have temp jobs standing on the corner waving ACORN flags dried up that much? I read your lefty websites, and the fact is, the Tea Party, and Sarah Palin scare you shitless. And, they should. You can use your semantics on who said *teabagger* first, but frankly, my 77 y/o mother, and 17 of her close friends (amongst the 1600 others) that attended the last local Tea Party, don’t even know what *teabagging* is, and if they did, would tell you to Kiss Their Grits.
sybilll (e7f84e) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:07 pm“Just to be clear, Myron is referring to all of you as people that like to place your scrotums in someone else’s mouth”
Is there someone with a scrotum that doesn’t get a pleasurable sensation from this?
imdw (00bfab) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:15 pmSomething tells me otherwise, Myron, about both titles.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:17 pmSteele is a token and representative of everything that’s wrong with the GOP.
nk (df76d4) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:18 pmMore like the offspring of an unholy coupling between Quentin Crisp and Gore Vidal… oh, wait…
GeneralMalaise (68a574) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:19 pmMyron, some damn good points, I admit. It should be hard, perhaps it should be impossible, for the GOP establishment to earn trust again.
Unfortunately, the 2 party system allows such establishments to persist. All the GOP needs to do is be more trustworthy than the democrats, and vice versa, until we get so pissed off that a third party is truly viable.
But as soon as that happened, we’d be back to the 2 party system, and in a few years, we’d be back to the same set of jerks stealing from us. I think Palin’s sincere in her interest in cleaning house (though I don’t find her to be all that impressive beyond this sincerity… certainly not a serious prospect except that the GOP has an empty bench). I don’t think we’ll have many sincere house cleaners succeed in either party. Sad for all of us.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:20 pmAnd pushing the tea partiers into opposition to democrats instead of adopting their views (most of their views are compatible with most democrats) is as valuable to the GOP as birthers are to Obama.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:21 pmSteele is a token and representative of everything that’s wrong with the GOP.
NK: Thanks for illustrating my point. Unbridgeable gap.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:22 pmOh, I meant “nk.” Sorry for the all-caps.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:23 pmFine job, imdw! Classy and well reasoned. Truly a superbly vulgar specimen of your political ilk! Bravo!
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:24 pmNicely put, except less restrained and formal, and more prone (heh) to acting out.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:26 pmNow that’s an odd angle, tea partiers are opposed to pharaonic government, which is what the Democrats
ian cormac (cd6b99) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:30 pmare trying to imposes, structures that interfere with the citizen’s relationship with their doctor,
their family. small business, their church, which ignores the fundamental constitutional obligations of government like defense and security, and bungles
the rest
I live in Illinois, Myron, and our Republicans rob the public with a lot less class than Democrats. We call them the Combine.
nk (df76d4) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:34 pmPeople who like restrained government, responsible spending, and lower taxes like to dip their scrotums in people’s mouths, and are racists. People who call them teabaggers like to offer up their mouths.
JD (08ac3e) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:36 pmIs a Fluffer considered to be a media person?
Only to our little boy Moron, who’s expressed an endless fascination with sexual innuendo lately. Which either indicates his lack of same or something else better off unmentioned. But he’s moving up in the world – his next job is Head Fluffer on the biopic titled North Pole.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:52 pmUsing the appelation teabagger makes imdw and Myron teabaggees by all logic, so I hope they did floss and brush their teeth.
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/5/2010 @ 7:57 pmimdw and Myron should also probably revisit that classic SNL skit Schweddy Balls with Alec Baldwin, for their teabaggee pleasure.
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:00 pmI’ve been called many things, but never either one of these.
Oh, no doubt he got a big laugh out of that one – right after he furiously spewed out his cheetoes on his screen after miming the teabagger act.
Next our boy will look for the Jergens – it’s the obvious next step in this scenario.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:01 pmWell, at least imdw and Myron are in “good” company:
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/05/chris-matthews-every-single-teabagger-in-america-is-white/
My favorite bit is the riposte in the comments about the fact that there are some nonwhites among the TEA party protestors, but how about among the MSNBC talking heads?
Yes, that’s different, of course.
I’m sure Myron had to “bounce.” And imdw? Well, he is doing whatever imdws do.
Eric Blair (ddbceb) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:01 pmEric, I’ll bet you ten to one that our own little perv had no idea who Percy Dovetails was, until you mentioned it and he had to Google it immediately afterward. Kind of like David Brooks, but with much more doucheyness. But of course he still had a big laugh about it. I’m thinking his job “in the media” involves something about the lining of bird cages.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:04 pmActually, I’m thinking his character may be more ideally suited to the one that Dan Ackroyd played on SNL, the one called “Leonard Prince Garnell,” where he presented bad theatre and applauded wildly at the end of the performances.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:08 pm…or for a more real – life version you could try James Lipton, the ultimate gonadless wonder from The Actors Studio.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:09 pmuntil we get so pissed off that a third party is truly viable.
Dustin: I disagree only slightly with your take. If a third-party proves to be viable, I think a fourth-party will follow, once people see it’s possible. This is where the Democratic celebrating will end, b/c that fourth party will comprise the left who feel, as you point out, that the leaders are not listening.
The true left has accepted a series of compromise candidates. Clinton, though attacked by the right as a lefty, was really a pro-business moderate, who was about exactly where Nixon and other moderate Republicans were in the 1970s. (Recall that Nixon briefly pushed for a health care bill.) Hopes that Obama would be different have, thus far, not panned out, though I think he’s done an OK job facing tough challenges.
On a more personal level, I don’t see any logical reason that Ben Nelson and I are in the same party — we agree on very little.
I think there is a narrow window for breaking out of the two-party system. I still think it’s a long-shot, b/c of the obstacles you point out.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:17 pmI’d love it if that happened, but I don’t think it will. Too much money involved for a lot of people to let things go to 4 parties. I think that would be ideal, but it’s not an ideal world.
The Republican party was a third party, but not for long. It’s just too tempting to try to find safe moderate Frum ground.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:28 pmToo much money involved for a lot of people to let things go to 4 parties.
Dustin: You’re probably right. We can hope. At least we can agree on that.
Myron (6a93dd) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:33 pmWell, the democrats are going to be running against George W Bush in 2010.
And they note, they will probably lose the House, which I find shocking, given how huge their victory was in 2008. The voters gave up on the GOP, and somehow the democrats blew it by going so, so much farther than the people expected. Tax cuts for 95% of Americans and an end to racial and partisan grandstanding, while finally really getting serious about terrorism outside Iraq sounded a hell of a lot more moderate than what the democrats gave us.
Instead, we have deficits that make the Tom Delay + George Bush domestic spending boom look miniscule. We have uncertainty in business about the value of the dollar, future environmental laws, health care implications… we have no foundation of confidence to build a recovery on, and the people can feel it.
What happens in 2012… is Obama going to run against Bush again?
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:43 pmOf course, Bush could have done the world a favor by sticking up for himself a little better. Sometimes it is really frustrating that he was such a dismal communicator… and he really disappointed conservatives on some central spending points.
That and his crony habit really ruined things for the GOP worse than Obama’s ruining things for his party.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:46 pmMoron said:
Moron is the penultimate moron here and imdw is the ultimate moron here.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 1/5/2010 @ 8:59 pmIt took the Whig Party desintegrating to make the GOP the second party. Of course he is going to run against Bush again, he doesn’t havw an original bone in his body. Not that it matters as long as unemployment stays in the doldrums
ian cormac (cd6b99) — 1/5/2010 @ 9:01 pmComment by Dmac — 1/5/2010 @ 8:04 pm
“Percy Dovetails”?????
AD - RtR/OS! (9812f2) — 1/6/2010 @ 12:04 amDon’t you mean “Percy Dovetonsils”?
Ernie Kovacs put a lot of work into that character.
Typo – my bad.
Dmac (a964d5) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:48 amPercy Dovetonsils was the poet. Percy Dovetails was his cousin, the carpenter. (Yes, I made that up.)
nk (df76d4) — 1/6/2010 @ 6:52 amThe teaparty movement will have trouble getting national traction. As much as I agree with it – I agree with how I perceive it. Which is the underlying problem with it as well. The teaparty movement means whatever one chooses to perceive it as.
Corwin (ea9428) — 1/6/2010 @ 7:55 amThe media has focused on the few fringe elements. Others have highlighted GOP ties and try to make that link stick.
I simply see the movement as an underlying desire, by a large number of people, to seriously curtail the size and scope of the federal government (and all government/laws for that matter).
But who am I to say that is the correct definition or goal of the teaparty?
At this point, Tea Party organizers will need to craft a better message. They may need to even ask fringe elements to tone-it-down or leave.
It may mean several, similar but distinct parties will emerge with similar interests. But at a national level, they may throw support one way or another, but getting behind a new kind of candidate will prove difficult.
[Tea party] rhetoric will get potentially very ugly and will help hand Hispanic and Latino voters over to the Dems for two generations
That’s nothing compared to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have handed Muslim voters over to the Democrats for two generations.
Official Internet Data Office (2748b2) — 1/6/2010 @ 8:45 am“Educated” has become a meaningless term. I recently returned to college in middle-age, and felt the standards were absurdly low, and that most of my professors and fellow students were time-servers.
It looks to me as though Brooks, as a professional wordsmith, is choosing such irritating terms expressly to stay in the limelight. He’d rather be hated but noticed than ignored. We all know people like that.
As a tea partier, I don’t think he knows much about tea parties. Generalities about tea partiers are usually off the mark, but it’s probably accurate to say most are people who think for themselves and don’t swallow media BS. The ability to think independently used to be considered an important aspect of being educated.
jodetoad (059c35) — 1/6/2010 @ 10:22 amWho is David Brooks calling the educated class? I guess with a Master’s degree I don’t qualify. Oh, and courtesy of my education I don’t believe in global warming, I don’t support public subsidies of abortion (I think it’s birth control after the fact), I don’t support the intrusion of governement into every aspect of my life, and I don’t think that stopping people who look like illegal aliens, don’t have any identification and have trouble speaking English constitutes profiling. I guess I more closely resemble a tea-bagging redneck. If the “educated class” is responsible for the utter stupidity being displayed in Washington D.C. right now we should close all our institutions of higher learning and save the country!
PRM (310ebf) — 1/6/2010 @ 11:25 amPRM, no with a Master’s degree alone, you do not qualify. You need to go to the right school, with the right families represented, and most of all, have the right opinions, to be in Brooks’s class.
It’s not like George W Bush didn’t get an MBA from Harvard… but he’s not in the educated class because he’s not liberal enough. Palin probably has a few Yalies in her circle, or will, and that won’t matter either.
It’s an ad hoc argument. Brooks wants gun control, abortion rights, etc… if you don’t, you aren’t in the educated class. Of course, this is pretty weird… since he also says you picked the views that define you as outside the class only because you are outside the class.
You aren’t good enough for Brooks, but brother, you don’t want to be.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/6/2010 @ 11:31 amI don’t have a Phd from an Ivy and I believe in gun control….
AD - RtR/OS! (b6fff3) — 1/6/2010 @ 11:48 amOh, you aren’t talking about hitting what you aim at, are you?