[billiefan2000]

Tea Partying

Fifteen hundred or so Tea Partiers congregated at Lake Zorinsky yesterday before the cops closed down the New York State Thruway er, the entrance to the park, because there wasn't enough parking. There was likely little brown acid shared, but the folks there did get their fill of people yelling and rapping at them. (Wait...what?)

(You gotta think the fifty year-old white guys were saying, "This is an April Fools joke, right?")

Anywho, let's first hit a video from KETV about the whole gig (said rappers at the 1:35 mark). [Not embedded, opens a new page.]




Then there is KMTV's piece on the party where we see Rep. Lee Terry out and about with the gang. Note Lee playing the fine line between mingling with the crowd and chucking crates of tea into the lake.

And then (at the 1:30 mark) Dave Roberts has a quick interview with Mike Sakalosky, who is challenging Terry in the Primary. (Wait...who? MikeSak.com? Oh well...)

Watch here:




It will be interesting to see where this movement goes in the next few years. Arguably we've seen it before with Ross Perot (Dan Quayle in the Wash Post on that issue today) and Ron Paul. But will the Tea Partiers bust off and try to form a new party? Or will they really get themselves organized and try to influence the Republican Party, a'la the Christian Conservatives in Iowa back in the 90's.

Or can they get organized? There is no doubt passion amongst the people who are following this latest movement. They make many good points about the direction of the government and they have made a lot of noise. Can that turn into votes?

Hmm.

Well look at it this way: Often times groups hope to get their message across with free media. Posting videos on YouTube that will never actually make it to TV. Holding protests with small numbers, just hoping that the press takes notice.

Well, the Tea Partiers have accomplished some of those lower goals already. So will they have influence in the bigger scheme that they hope? If they do it right, they may.

Put it this way: If they simply back the Mike Saks of the world, and stop there, they're going nowhere. What will they do if/when Mike fails to make it past May? Go for a third party to ensure the Democrats take over? (How has that experiment in the White House gone so far?)

We've seen these folks with a lot of passion and home made signs lately, but here's the question? What is the next step?

It's a legitimate question, and one that we would throw out to the commenters here on Leavenworth Street. (And let's stop with the banalities of "take back our government!".) What are the actual goals, and where are you/they headed.

We want to know.


Leavenworth Street - the talk of Nebraska politics: Tea Partying

[John08]

The Tea Party is almost a militant front for the GOP. Plenty of their signs have included threats of violence (some saying they didn't bring guns - this time, some saying saying that a browning can solve americas problems, and so forth), and some of there acts have been violent (throwing rocks, attempted murder, so forth). This is a tiny minority of the movement, I'd say about 1%. But that's 1% is higher then the militant front of the DNC or any third party.

A pseudo-violent nature aside, they're not even a legit movement. They're largest complaint is the 'healthcare' bill. The bill a horrible joke, but I would much rather have it then the Patriot Act. They didn't complain about it being passed, or it being re-passed by Obama. All they care about is the ****ing healthcare bill. And here's a thought for you: The Healthcare bill is unConstitutional on the grounds that the only time the Constitution mentions anything anywhere near creating 'universal health care' (which this bill does not do) is a small section buried somewhere in the middle of the Constitution called the 'welfare clause'. However, the Patriot Act directly goes against the very word of the Constitution.

Like I said, I don't support the bill, but the way they're complaining is a joke. The Constitutionality is almost a non-issue since 95% of what the Federal Government does is technically unConstitutional, and alot of it is stuff no one complains about, because it's important. Congressional Districts for instance are unConstitutional, but no one is calling Obama a fascist because of that.

[Omahahonors]

While a legitimate movement, they instill a lot of fear for me and the future of this country.

Some of the things they say, the signs they carry and how they send the message is only inches away from a liberation army.

I am frightened for this nation.

[RedJacket]

They're a Hate Group. Unemployed White Hate Group.

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by think first

They're a Hate Group. Unemployed White Hate Group.

they arent all white

implying all tea party folks are white folks, makes you mis-informed



YouTube - Pastor Speaking at the 9-12 DC Tea Party Protest

[dsrich98]

Originally Posted by think first

They're a Hate Group. Unemployed White Hate Group.

This is a gross generalization. Not a very helpful comment. It's clear you just don't like them. I don't like them either, but I least tried to apply a critical eye to their movement and issues and write a post that was not as biased as this one.

[billiefan2000]

dsrich98 glad you are more rational and fair than other tea party critics


we need more rational folks and less crazy folks on both sides of the political spectrum

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by dsrich98

I think I understand what you trying to say here. But I would ask, where are we supposed to be looking for new opportunites? The world is more or less settled now. And it's interesting that you would cite traveling to the moon as an example of the America that you love. Wasn't that a huge government funded expenditure? Where's our sense of adventure supposed to lead us? To settle the ocean floor? Build a starbucks on the Mars?

The innovation now is to find clean energy, or a solution to global warming. These are the challenges of the 21st centruy. We are looking for new technology now. The scientist working on bio-fuel, wind power, solar power. these are the real pioneers today. The American dream is alive, it just is pursuing a different goal than it did in the past. To pin our goals on the goals of our forefathers would be folly. We live in a completely different world than they did. There are elements of their dream that are timeless, and elements that would be foolish for us to dedicate ourselves to in this day and age.

Certainly we must be wary of raising taxes so high that we are punishing investment and innovation. But we are nowhere close to that right now. The taxes that are being talked about right now would put us back to the level that we had under Reagan. And still far lower than we had in the 40's and 50's, which seems to be the time period eveyone gets all gushy about.

I would agree we should not just seek a sense of security. That is why we should not be giving so many of our civil liberties and nation's fortune away in this battle against an enemy that we can't truly defeat. I believe we are at much greater risk of losing our freedom and fortune to this battle against terrorism, than the idea that we would provide healthcare to people who can't afford it.

Very, very well said.

[McBain II]

Are they legitimate? Well how do you define "legitimate"?

The only argument I can see for them being legitimate is the fact that they're a bunch of citizens getting together expressing their views. On the flip side, they are grossly misinformed on a variety of issues. They would like you to believe they're just a bunch of everyday Joe's with no political affiliation, but they have major Republican backing, support Republican candidates, spout Republican or Libertarian ideals and decided to show up when the Democrats were in power.

Ultimately, they're not going to have much impact on American politics. From the various sources I've seen, mainstream America doesn't hold the tea party movement in very high esteem and they just suffered a crushing blow with the passage of HCR. Hell, I just read a real interesting piece that talks about how they're greatest impact maybe to fracture the Republican party as the moderates flee from the movement. They're potentially going to hand the Democrats a virtual permanent majority and they don't even realize it...although the GOP does.

Also I don't want to derail the thread so this will be my one and only post regarding HCR specifically, but I just don't understand the griping about it being "rammed through". We've been talking about HCR in this country since before I was born, it's been fought out in Congress for over a year now and Obama went to great lengths to get bi-partisan support. Really, what more do you think should have happened? Maybe we should take another decade talking about it?

A rather large majority of the American population (myself included) voted for Obama based on his campaign promises, a major part of which was HCR. He had an obligation to follow through on those promises to the best of his ability and when it became clear that the GOP (the minority party mind you) had no interest in a good faith working partnership, he side stepped them and delivered on another campaign promise that he made to the majority of America that voted for him.

I also don't think it's going to result in this Republican resurgence that the right wing has deluded themselves into thinking will come. America already voiced their support for Obama's policies and for every Joe Republican who finally decides to visit the voting booth because of HCR, there will be at least as many Joe Democrats who show up to vote Obama since he finally showed that he wasn't going to let the GOP obstruction machine bend him over anymore.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by billiefan2000

they arent all white

implying all tea party folks are white folks, makes you mis-informed

88% of tea partiers are white.

Finally! Tea Party Demographics break down. - Political Hotwire: Political Forum