Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on November 2, 2010 at 6:11pm

Hi Binker -

You're right. Calling Bush a Nazi*** is over the top and had I seen whomever was burning him in effigy, I'd have been the first one to say "Dude, way uncool." But racist? No. If it was a group of non-whites burning a box of soda crackers to represent Bush, that would have been racist. But general burning in effigy has no specific ties to whites. By contrast, white people lynching a black person, represented by a monkey, has very specific, racist symbolism behind it.

You say one person holding a racist sign does not represent the entire group. Where then are the videos of the rest of the crowd coming down on that person saying "Dude, uncool?" Why is the blogosphere and conservative talk radio not bubbling over with people condemning such imagery? Because mostly what I'm seeing is the rest of the Tea Party actively cheering such imagery on.

If Tea Partiers are genuinely concerned with the economy and taxes on the lower and middle classes, where were they during the 8 years Bush was taking us from a budget surplus to a trillion-dollar deficit and raising taxes on all but the rich? Why did they only come out of the woodwork after Obama gets elected and lowers their taxes?

2008. 2 candidates for president. One's birth certificate shows he was born in the United States. The other, a third world country (Panama). I've seen both and neither looks any more or less fishy than the other. Why then did the Tea Partiers latch onto the US birth certificate as being "fake," but never once question why someone born in Panama was eligible to be president? Other than one of them was black with a non-christian name?

Your comment that you "will probably not see SSI" sounds like a complaint. You do realize it's one of those social programs the government is trying to shove down your throat, right? The Social Security Insurance program is actually operating at a surplus, does not add to the deficit, and funded well beyond the date you will become eligible. Unless of course the Republicans successfully put it in the hands of private, for-profit corporations. Do I take this to mean when you do start drawing SSI checks you will refuse to cash them in protest of government social programs?

In the same post you note that you are not on Medicare. If you were, would you suddenly be "for" government-run health care? If your support of a program is not directly tied to whether or not you personally and directly benefit from it, then how was that comment relevant?

On Christine O'Donnell; you do understand the masturbation connection right? That she is a fundamentalist Christian who's pet project in the past has been to advocate that masturbation is evil? In that context, I would proudly slap an "I masturbate and I vote" bumper sticker on my vehicle. As would most Liberals I know. So yes, whomever carried that sign does speak for most of us.

I do think my favorite sign was "I hate taxes. But I like roads, schools, libraries, fire departments, traffic lights and some cops. So I pay my taxes anyway."

That and "I spellcheck my political rage."


***And to be fair, Conservatives, with their higher values of Authority, Loyalty and Purity, inch closer to the the ideals of Facism and the Nazi party than Liberals, with higher values of fairness and harm/avoidance of harm.

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Permalink Reply by Linda on October 10, 2010 at 10:51pm

I don't know too much about them. All I know is I've been hearing on CNN and Fox news that they mostly are concerned with America's financial future. They think government is getting too big and spending too much. I get the feeling that their message boils down to "hurt a little now" versus "hurt a lot later". I think the controversy is "who are these people who are going to hurt now"? The poor, elderly, minorities, the middle class? Oh the rich, who gives a damn about them. So fucking what - they have to sell some properties or whatever. But I think the Tea Party members think that if you try to tax the hell out of the rich people, it ends up hurting everybody including the poor much worse than if you did not tax the rich so much.

Hell if I know who is right and who is wrong. I don't know who to believe anymore.

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Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on October 27, 2010 at 6:13pm

All I know is I've been hearing on CNN and Fox news that they mostly are concerned with America's financial future. ... I get the feeling that their message boils down to "hurt a little now" versus "hurt a lot later".

I'd believe that if they formed during the 8 years that Bush was taking us from a budget surplus to a trillion dollar deficit, while cutting taxes for the richest and raising taxes on the poor.

But no; a black guy gets elected and then and only then do they notice there's a trillion dollar deficit and blame it on the black guy. They have bitched now for two years about "Taxed Enough Already," while ignoring the fact that our average taxes have been lower the last two years than any other time in the last 50. Of the last several presidents, the republican ones have far outspent the democrat.

They claim to be concerned about the financial state of the country. But their actions say that's just a facade.

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Permalink Reply by Linda on October 27, 2010 at 6:36pm

Jerome - Oh boy, oh boy. Sometimes I don't think I'll ever figure all this stuff out. Both sides make good points.

Hey. Did you hear on the news today Obama said "punish our enemies" referencing the unions or whoever (I'm not sure). Since when does a president speak in such a manner to his own citizens. He worries me A LOT. More and more.

Punishing our enemies. Oh, so if I don't believe in unions president Obama is going to consider me his enemy that needs to be punished. Nice, very nice.

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 27, 2010 at 6:43pm

I just listened to him saying that. he's saying latinos need to get out and vote, "punishing their enemies and rewarding their friends." at first listen it doesn't really strike me as crazy, not after the collage of violent rhetoric I've heard from conservatives in the last week. people saying they will exercise their second amendment right if people from their party don't get elected etc etc. from the negative articles i've read on the obama comment (i've only read 2, both conservative) they dont' mention the context in which he made those remarks

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Permalink Reply by Jason Spicer on October 27, 2010 at 9:09pm

Well, Nixon had an enemies list. And the War on Drugs is nothing if not a war on the American people. Still, that's not a comment becoming a president. But he was referring to political enemies and friends of Hispanic voters. That doesn't strike me as all that worrisome. When you look at Obama's policies and actions, he's not exactly radical left-wing. The primary effect of the Affordable Care Act is to force more people to purchase health insurance from private insurance companies. Obama is as pro-business as any other Democratic president has ever been, and it's not like he's engaged in the kind of political dirty tricks that Nixon and Rove are famous for. The only reason anybody thinks Obama is a left-wing radical is because the right has moved so radically to the right over the years. Used to be only the nutty John Birchers thought like the Teabaggers. Now pretty much the whole right wing does. Obama is no further to the left than Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt.

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Permalink Reply by ryan cameron on October 10, 2010 at 11:11pm

Seems like a big, in-cohesive group of ill-informed individuals led by fractious, opportunistic extremists in about 1000 different directions. Ask 10 tea partiers what the tea party is all about and you'd probably get 20 different answers.

I dont think they are any more scary than the vast ill informed public - and their existence allows many to vent their inarticulate and confusing frustrations with whatever they happen to be angry about at the time -which is a lot like internet commenters i suppose. (making me a poster child for the tea party? eeek!)

I've got it...the Liberals and "interleck-chewals" got the internets and media all leanin' left, so the tea party is like the internet fer the right wing -only it involves watchin' the tv and meandering around at various outdoor gatherings muttering incoherently.

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Permalink Reply by Maia Rodriguez on October 10, 2010 at 11:46pm

I saw a debate on CNN today in regards to the Tea Party. One question was whether or not they are racist (as they've been accused of that). The rebuttal was that 10% of the people attending the Tea Party conventions voted for Obama, so how could they be racist?

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Permalink Reply by Starscream on October 11, 2010 at 8:59pm

hahaha, so are they saying 10% of tea party'rs aren't racist? That's probably about right.

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Permalink Reply by Prog Rock Girl on October 13, 2010 at 9:21pm

I'm rather shocked that 10% voted for him, being that they're so well known for posters of Obama with a little square mustache.

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Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on October 11, 2010 at 1:23am

I only know a few Tea Partiers. Most of them work for the government. They support huge cuts in government spending in all areas of government - never thinking for a second the job cut to save money might be theirs. I've heard a lot of them are on unemployment and complain highly about welfare and government spending. I am not sure if they are racist or not, but they often seem really stupid.

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Permalink Reply by Abnormal on October 11, 2010 at 3:41pm

In the Florida primaries for the Republican ballot we had Rick Scott a multimillionaire running for Governor. Rick Scott made his fortune running a company called Columbia/HCA. This company ended being at the certain of a Federal investigation for unnecessary lab reports, falsifying reports to increase Medicare reimbursements, among others. The amazing thing is that, besides all of this he still made onto the republican ballot.

Rick Scott was never charged with any crimes, but if you are running a company you’d most definitely know something this large was happening right under your nose. This is the hypocrisy of the Tea Party they foam at the mouth with corruption in the government. But they worship these elites who run these corporations that are ruining America yet they run under the banner of an Grassroots movement when they are anything but.

If the Tea Party get their way and run the country the way they want. It’ll set back much of the progress and reform we have made. They’ll ruin the progress we made in balancing the economical disparity here in America, The rich will just get more rich and the poor will just keep on being poor.

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