The Tea Parties

While the symbolism and popularity of the Tea Party movement is inspiring and well-executed. The lack of medica attention does put somewhat of a hamper on the goals of the protest. Media personalities, like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, put together 8-minute news features focusing on the double entendre of the word “tea bag”, do nothing but mock those who do not want to see their taxes go up. As much as protesters against the war get attention and access to those in higher office, this Administration appears more standoffish and set in their ways.

I think the use of caricatures to motivate people to work against their own interest is fascinating. Liberals have traditionally used the Yachting Jetting Corporate Schemer as their villian d’jour while conservatives have traditionally used “Welfare Queens” and Illegal immigrants for similar purposes. In every case, a cartoon is drawn and everyone rails at the injustice portrayed in the cartoon while the actual reality of who’s profiting and who’s getting ripped off by government policy flies under the radar.

The media is standoffish and set in their ways— a slobbering love affair I’d say.

The constant mocking of the Teaparties is only energizing us to continue to stand up for what we beleive.The Government is not listening to us. The Government is spending our money. We are tired of bailouts, tax cheats, higher taxes and broken promises. Porky Projects, waste and an attack on our liberties by a govenment that ws to put its hand in every aspect of our lives. Please give us the same respect you give to a group like ACORN thats has 10 protestors on a corner pretending to be bi-partisan community organizers. Let us have our moment in the sun. Agree or disagree we have the right to fight for our principles.

So basically, the GOP has no leader. Brilliant.

I think the main image problem for the teabaggers is that their protest smells of sore loserism. They are not protesting against taxation without representation or some other assault on democracy. Indeed, we just held a rather well-publicized election. Instead, they are protesting that “we need to take our country back.” In other words, “we lost and we are mad and we can’t wait two years for the next election cycle.”

Thanks, Jake Tapper for sort of covering the tea parties and suggesting that they are bogus. I am not planning on attending one, but I strongly suspect that there is a real issue here.

Karen- What exactly are you protesting? Do you even know are were you just looking for a reason to slam Obama?
Legit Tea Party protestors are also against the TARP bali-out under Bush/Paulson and the massive deficit spending created under that administration, as well.
Acorn has nothing to do with this. If you need a “Democratic” boogyman to your tea party – try moveon.org.

The level of success and impact of the tea parties can be seen by the reaction of the American left and Obama supporters. It meanders between selective rage, “The tea parties are not grass-roots, but funded by corporate interests!!! It’s just astro-turf!!!” to childish Beavis & Butthead-like behavior, “Heh. They’re tea-bagging. Heh.”
If this truly was not a concern of theirs as they often claim, they wouldn’t be paying so much attention to it.
As for doubters who claim this is nothing but a reaction against Barack Obama, they should think again. Obama’s absurd tax and spend plans was the icing on the cake. The same people attending and supporting these tea parties are the same people who railed against wasteful spending during the Bush years such as, No Child Left Behind and the ridiculous medicare prescription drug plan to the Wall Street bailouts. Instead of things getting better, people see it getting worse and have responded as a result.
One also has to appreciate the irony of people who were spouting, “Jesus was a community organizer!” now pooh-poohing community organization.

Most media has either ignored or ridiculed the protests. Mostly ignored. Or…’purposely muted on the subject’ may be a better way of putting it. Cmon, even those who detest those evil boogeymen conservatives can notice this. Can’t you? Anyway, I know my local Tea Party had no evil Republican men secretly pulling the puppet strings. Seriously, take off the tinfoil hats. Don’t try to belittle all 500 Tea Parties because a handful may have well-known conservative celebrities helping with them. You’re better than that.

By characterizing the growing voices of discontent in this country as a group of Joe The Plumbers ( or those who must be destroyed) the MSM continues to define itself as nothing more than a propaganda machine for this administration. It is not just conservatives who are alarmed at this administrations policies and spending, it is Catholics (who in two short months have participated in two orchestrated nationwide protests and petitions), it is moderates, it is independents. Do you really think you can destroy them all?

Where were the tea parties during Bush’s term, when the deficit was exploding?
Obama wants to return the tax rates back to what they were before Bush, closer to what they were during Reagan’s time. Were there tea parties to protest Reagan’s tax policies?
We are talking about a few percentage points in the tax rates, and only on the VERY WEALTHY! The “tea baggers” don’t seem to realize that the changes in the tax rates are not affecting them; they’re protesting in defense of the wealthy, who have reaping in the spoils of the economy for the past decades, while the middle class has fallen further behind.

Attending my first “protest” today in Albany, NY! Can’t wait. I’m fed up w/ high taxes (note, it’s high taxes, not the necessary taxes we should be paying) and wasteful spending, not to mention the huge deficits this spending promotes!! And it’s not just us conservatives going! One of my more liberal friends (who votes green) is one of the biggest promoters of the Albany event! Took my by surprise, really! It’s not a left or right issue! Everyone should be upset at higher-then-need-be taxes and wasteful spending by our government, which has been overreaching for years, under both Republican and Democrat control! Live Free or Die!!

Tabtwo:”when 2 million tax protesters show up in 200 locations the MSM calls it a failure.”
Um, when did that happen again? Maybe it’ll happen today – it should with the publicity FoxNews has been giving the “FNC Tax Day Tea Parties” (as they subtitled them on one of Beck’s shows talking them up). But at the moment you’re living in a fantasy land. 200 locations with 10,000 people average at each has not happened.

I migrated from a country where we had taxation up to 80%, so I had enough and migrated to US. I think many people here will do the same.
When you pay 80% to government by force, that’s called slavery.. and what to get back from government that we can not do it ourselves.

Obama the second coming:” I’m fed up w/ high taxes ”
To put it in context, can you state a time in the three generations when taxes were lower? Certainly not under Reagan at any time (at least if you’re rich – the current far lower capital gains tax more than offsets the higher top bracket rate for the top 5% of earners in the US).

I find these tea “parties” both funny and scary at the same time. Very few protesters have gotten anything right. There’s the “tax and spend” theory that is spouted off. Last time I checked, most of us are getting more money from the TAX BREAKS Obama just gave. Socialism you say? Well tell us you don’t want to use the fire departments, police departments, roads, public schools, medicare, or social security ever.
I have seen very little from the right when Bush put forth the tax cuts for the very rich costing us 4 trillion. Why would I want to give the rich who pay no taxes or people like Bernie Madoff tax breaks? At least the money this time around is going to the American people and not big business who rob us blind. FOX news is setting a dangerous precedent by promoting these parties instead of simply reporting on them. I feel that this stunt will come back to bite them in the end.

These tea parties are fake, where were the tea parties for the last 8 years?? A report from the Bureau of Public Debt of the annual federal debt outstanding at the end of the last 8 years:
09/30/2008 $10,024,724,896,912.49
09/30/2007 $9,007,653,372,262.48
09/30/2006 $8,506,973,899,215.23
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/30/2004 $7,379,052,696,330.32
09/30/2003 $6,783,231,062,743.62
09/30/2002 $6,228,235,965,597.16
09/30/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86

Unlike the days of Walter Cronkite and Douglas Edwards, today everybody over the age of 8 has a camera-phone that can memorialize what’s going on. So no matter how hard you shriek “PAY NO ATTENTION TO THOSE TAX PROTESTERS!” through the dino media, the world is going to know what really happened through millions of citizen photographers and Generation Y with its Binkie Phone Cameras.
Hoist by your own technology, kids. Heh.

You can’t blame the Republicans for wanting a voice. Since they don’t actually hold very many seats in government–after they got booted out of Washington by the busload the last two election cycles–they might as well get together, have some tea, and complain.

Appleby:”the world is going to know what really happened through millions of citizen photographers and Generation Y with its Binkie Phone Cameras.
Hoist by your own technology, kids. Heh.”
Which is why the Big Lie technique – such as the guy who claimed they’ve already had a 2 million strong showing at 200 sites – is falling flat. There should be a strong turn out today, but after all the insane exaggerations already thrown out it HAS to be well documented to be believed. Tea partiers just have no credibility left.

“The tea parties are a waste of energy. What alternatives do they offer to spending to resolve the crisis. Crawling up into a ball? Look, no one’s taxes that I know have gone up (I don’t know anyone making $250,000 or more). So, what is the protest about?”
Hey Indy_voter, any of your friends smoke? If so, their taxes are about to rise because the US Senate voted 66-32 to approve a major expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)which is to be funded by a regressive tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Liberals just aren’t getting it…these protests aren’t just about taxes, they are about the Constitution being trampled on, there about a Congress and Senate who are apparently out of touch with a large segment of their constituents. We’re mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it any more.

These tea parties are nothing more than organized temper tantrums by people who are angry because their political views are becoming irrelevant and they are out of power. They simply are angry that Obama won. PERIOD.
If they were TRULY angry about government spending, they would have been out protesting with this kind of zeal during the past 8 years, when the Republican-controlled Congress and White House were spending like drunken sailors. But they weren’t, were they??
HYPOCRITES.

These tea parties are nothing more than organized temper tantrums by people who are angry because their political views are becoming irrelevant and they are out of power. They simply are angry that Obama won. PERIOD.
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While you might be right to some degree, did it ever occur to you that these “temper tantrums” help motivate people, and helps to organize them so their political views become relevant again, and – perhaps – helps their candidates win future elections? This is how it all starts!
I remember before 2004, the Democrat party was irrelevant. SNL was making fun of them. Everyone was! They were way out of touch. But – what happened? They got mad as hell (mostly at Bush, and to some degree, for good reason), they organized, raised money, and made changes in elections starting in 2006. Think that can’t happen the other way? You’d be a fool who doesn’t study history if you do!

I bet there’s no one in that group that wouldn’t vote for Reagan if he were alive today yet their taxes were much, much higher then.
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Pick up a history book dude! Compared to the taxes we had under Carter before him, they were incredibly lower!!

Tea bag..all contrived and politically a silly joke. The right simply cannot accept defeat. And the defeat has finality written all over it. If the money spent buying tea bags to toss on a tarp on the mall in DC were contributed to the poor..or the tea bags given to people in need..homeless shelters…the the GOP and the right might crawl its way back to credibility. Alas..that ain’t gonna happen.

this is a corporate backed stunt.. nothing grass roots about it… also, you wrote “thousands of voters” in your first sentance… how do you know they are “voters”… why not use the word “people”?

When you start a bogus war and leave it off the books – sooner or later y’all have to pay for it.
Didn’t Osama bin Laden teach you anything on 9/11?

COMMON SENSE…your point is on, and under the current administration and congress, it is suppose to triple in 10 years….do you want that?…you want your kids paying for that?…i think not…This is not an Obama bashing event….It is a government bashing event…stop spinning like keith and rachael….if you want to pay more in taxes, i will gladly send you my increases and you can pay the tab….that way you can ‘feel better about yourself’ since you will be handing over more of your personal money to these idiots in DC….(notice i never used a party affiliated)…logic trumps emotions every time….

Liberals like Thomas Frank because his argument is convenient for their purposes. He finds it impossible to imagine that ordinary Americans would be convinced by conservative economic policy, so he thinks the conservative elites must be using cultural issues to hoodwink ordinary conservatives into voting against their economic interest. This is bogus. Many ordinary Americans, like myself, are absolutely convinced by conservative economic policy and do *not* think that a government-by-redistribution is in anyone’s interest.
Now Frank is confronted with evidence that conservatives do actually care about economic issues…and he has no way to explain it. Thus he implies that they must be economic liberals, or at least confused. Tea party participants are not objecting to executive bonuses. They’re objecting to a Washington that is leading this nation to ruin because it’s addicted to spending.

republican tea baggers. the GOP proves once again that it is little more than a joke.

Are these people’s taxes going up? I don’t think so, did these people vote in NOV., if so the representatives from their districts are in Washington DC, they have representation.
Do they really want he states they live in to cut services, since states cannot run a deficit budget nor print money like the fed govt, maybe they do not understand that a lower number of police and fire personnel leads to a higher crime rate and more out of control fires in neighborhoods. And socialism, hum, guess they didn’t appreciate the highways they drove in ON either, that was paid for with public money for eh benefit of all.

I know taxes suck, but I’m more worried about being unemployed than paying taxes. That’s what’s wrong with these “tea parties”. Millions are out of work, and these folks are worried about being “jacked” on their taxes?! What are these people smoking?!

I know taxes suck, but I’m more worried about being unemployed than paying taxes. That’s what’s wrong with these “tea parties”. Millions are out of work, and these folks are worried about being “jacked” on their taxes?! What are these people smoking?!
Posted by: Gerald Shields | Apr 15, 2009 12:05:27 PM
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So, Gerald, do you want to pay more taxes or do you think we are already taxed too much? If you want to pay more, I will send you my tax bill of nearly 20K last year and I didn’t even make 80K. I know Bush was in the WH, but the dems controlled congress and it comes to a point where ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!! And if we back down on this, what will be next

A couple of statements from this thread sum up these tea parties nicely:
“This is not an Obama bashing event….It is a government bashing event”
“They’re (tea party participants) objecting to a Washington that is leading this nation to ruin because it’s addicted to spending.”
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I (as I suspect many/most taxpayers) am not opposed to paying my “fair share” but what I (we) are opposed to having the money that we work hard for being recklessly “re-distributed” by politicians (of both parties) for political purposes rather than the common good. This is not new, the problem is that this reckless spending is unprecedented and is unsustainable (and without end in sight).
The U.S. debt to U.S. GDP ratio has held pretty consistently around 40% (the debt has increased, but GDP has grown as well). Under the budget that has been submitted for deliberation by Congress, the U.S. debt will double again in 5 years and triple in 10 (estimates from Congressional Budget Office). The debt-to-GDP ratio will double to 80%+. This is not sustainable in an economy as large as ours as the interest payments will consume ever-increasing portions of the U.S. budget, resulting in more borrowing (think Argentina). It’s a death spiral. Couple this spending with unfunded entitlements and changing demographics (e.g., retirement of baby boomers) and the economic picture is not good at all.
Those of us who understand these economic realities are outraged at the blatant irresponsibility of members of our elected class, regardless of party affiliation. Obama supporters and the MSM equate these protests as anti-Obama and rush to dismiss them. We all have a stake in the future of the economy, it’s unfortunate that many citizens are so grounded in ideology and hero worship that they are unwilling to see the big picture for what it is.

Seriously, I cannot believe the craziness this has spawned, and yes, spawned is a good word. Where were these people 8,6,5 and even 4 years ago? Why were they not ‘protesting’ then? I understand the outcry over bailouts and high taxes, but what ARE these people protesting? Where is the ‘tea’ supposed to go? Who is ‘pushing’ tea on them? I guarantee that if you were to ask 10 different people at the same ‘party’ today, you would get ten different reasons why they are there and what they are protesting. People sees this a way to protest Obama’s ‘socialism’–BTW, Mao was a communist, not a socialist, and really the American people need to pick up a book or at least look at Wikipedia to know that these ideologies are two different things!
Some people are there because they see the government ‘bailing’ everyone out with their tax money–who? CEOs, CFOs, big business–the same people who are at the top of the Republican food chain? C’mon, get a clue.
Protest failed tax policies which force middle class Americans to pay more in taxes, while the top 1% who hold 90% of the wealth get huge tax breaks and offshore tax shelters, who can afford high price attorneys and CPAs who do know the tax code intimately and can ‘find’ the loopholes. Protest the fact that the reason people need so much ‘charity’ right now is because of the failed polices of the Bush Administration. In other words, do your own research and quit gobbling down the tv crack Fox News and other cable and talk radio shows are shoving down your throat.

It would be nice to have a liberal media, one that would have talked about the anti-bank protests last week.
Apparently, the pro-rich protests are much more worthy of coverage.

Hell Jake, nobody cares what I think. What do YOU think? Can you call a spade a spade? Or do we have to pretend to be “fair and balanced” despite overwhelming evidence that this movement is a fig leaf for trickle down economics?

Heck, I’m a democrat, can I go if this tea party includes property taxes?

It’s simple: Obama made too many promises on his way to the White House.. you cannot blame him.. don’t hate the player.. hate the game.

I agree with Cilla. This is one of the many reasons that I didn’t vote for Obama. He’s a politician and he’ll say ANYTHING to get in office. He doesn’t care that we are hurting. Our children and grandchildren will be punished with the stupidity of raising taxes!!!!!!

When Bush and the Republicans were in control I did not like them racking up debt either. To double the national debt is just not good… but to double it again could imperil us. The Tea Party is about having “Had Enough!” Obama has proposed RECORD deficit spending ($1.7Trillion)the deficit in 2008 was about $600 billion. THAT is why the infuriation. Remember statistics– to double from 5T to 10T in debt hurts, to double to 20T cripples. We need to get back to the balanced budget of the Republican Congress and Clinton in the ’90′s. From what I hear many Democrats who voted for Obama are raging mad (everyone from my brother-in-law to Jim Cramer). Am I right that there is some disappointment among Democrats out there about what Obama has done?

“one of the largest peaceful protests in American history”
Only in your dreams, my friend.
That said, and being about as left as it gets, I’m nonetheless increasingly disturbed by the coverage of these events by the liberal online community.
Despite the fact that these ‘rallies’ have been covered wall to wall by the corporate media, and despite the fact that a good portion of the people there are crazies (birthers and other conspiracy theorists, with a hefty chunk of out-and-out racists and even some jackbooted ###-#####), and despite the fact that they were promoted by well funded right-wing PR firms, the fact remains that there were alot of ordinary Americans out there because they are upset with their government for bailing out the banks.
What in god’s name is wrong with that?
The final straw this morning was watching a liberal blogger asking people at one of these things why they don’t just get over it because they lost the election.
Electoral politics is not and has never been the be all and end all of democracy. Democracy means voting, for sure, but that is the least important part of democracy.
Getting involved in rallies, hearings, council meetings, direct action. These are the wellsprings of democracy, and denigrating them in the name of democracy is simply absurd.

We know that the Republicans started off this spending spree…so then, why did the Left complain (and still are)? But then it accelerated once Nanny State Pelosi and crew took over.
Why is it that Republicans spending taxpayer money is somehow evil, but Democrats spending it is like manna from Heaven?
Hypocrisy of the highest order.
Someone in politics costing us $1.00 of our money isn’t going to get our attention…spending $100.00 certainly is. And I don’t care if you’re a (working) Republican or Democrat it makes you feel like your climbing up a hill of mud, and that those in power are doing everything they can to keep you from moving ahead.
Why? So they can enforce their ideologies on the entire country by enlarging the entitled classes who are bound to support them so they can stay at home all day, watch TV and smoke weed and drink.
And, if these RINOs think they’ll get my vote next time around because they brought home some pork, they’re wrong. I just hope enough of us feel that way.

When will ABC ever learn. They need to look at their ratings! They are a part of the leftist media. I am a conservative from Missouri and I am tired of the left calling names and down playing my beliefs. I don’t care how a media leans but I expect fair representation to both parties and let the viewers decide.