‘I’ve Got My Tea Bags Here’

Wooohooo! Flail those teabags mightily in the air in lieu of the scrotum containing your nuts currently sitting on Rush’s mantle, you apologizing Limbaugh groveler!TEABAG! TEABAG! TEABAG!

>>>So you’re implying that unless the participants dump property that isn’t theirs into a given body of water, none of these tea parties are legitimate?Exactly. They’re stupid and contradictory.

yes, atanarjuat, that’s exactly what he is implying. that and the fact that a large majority of these idiots are protesting against their own well being with an extremely funny dangling of tea bags always properly positioned at or around the mouth or forehead!i assume you have your lipton’s instant and are ready to go ah baggin’, so here’s a little advice…–pre plan your signs, slogans, chants, and wardrobe…(your 3 year old can help you with this)-don’t wave tea bags above the shoulders…(just resist that natural urge you have)-don’t group the teabags in sets of two…(yes, that’s what noah would do but now’s not the time)-don’t tickle your protesting comrades face with said teasbags…(i know, i know, it’s so much fun! but you are serious and need to be seen that way)happy protesting…

Also too, these morans are protesting the ‘tyranny’ of a duly elected government.Apparently, they think they should get their own way when they win elections AND when they lose elections. What kind of political ideology believes that?Pathos abounds.We are the majority and we surround you. We won the election and we can pass whatever we want. Stop trying to piss us off. We are losing patience. You don’t appear to realize just how dire the position you are in is. Your party is disintegrating before your eyes and you hold ‘tea parties’. Please continue.

Gyps, you nefarious free thinking humorist, damn you, I’ve spilled coffee all over my keyboard as I fell out of my cubical onto the floor in a conniption of laughter! Spot on and bravo!

@A: The problem is not whether these things are lawfully purchased (although law-abiding revolution does seem oxymoronic). It’s that they are betting on people being ignorant of American history. They are betting that by calling this a tea party, people are going to feel the same affinity for them that we all feel for those Americans long ago that got us out from the British government’s thumb. However, these current tea parties have nothing in common with that event other than the name.That is what pisses liberals off. The constant need by the far right to wrap their ignorance and bigotry in names that they have no right to, in order to make their ideas sound palatable. Just like in that “Storm” travesty. “Focus on the Family”? You don’t seem that focused on my family, buster. “Concerned Women for America” would be happy if this American woman dropped off the face of the earth.

Ateabagjuat, we are pointing out the incongruity of the comparison of Tea Party 1776 with Tea Parties 2009 that you andyour fellow smug historical constructionists seemed to have somehow missed.I would say your protest is legitimately stating the condition of your party and views. And, funny as it is it is also a bit sad. Now, as Gyps so well put it, Happy Protesting&trade.

Broadway Carl, I do know what “teabagging” means, which is why I never used the term to describe the current tea party protests.Perhaps that jerking knee of yours might explain why the whole tea party phenomenon looks so ridiculous to you, as you apparently are not taking the time to carefully read or listen to what the other side has to say and are simply lunging for the low-hanging fruit of anti-conservative stereotypes.To everyone else:Bear in mind that several of the April 15th tea party events will feature Congressional Representatives who will address the concerns of those gathered.If the tea party participants were just a bunch of sad, delusional fools as most of you continue to insist, then these same members of Congress would hardly bother to attend. Their presence certainly adds even more legitimacy to the tea parties, despite the most fervent mockery and denials of the leftists on this blog and other liberal sites.Besides, all this virtual ink that’s been used to pen diatribe after diatribe against the tea parties seems to me evidence that liberals feel somewhat threatened by this growing movement. I really don’t wonder why, since the protests are aimed against the encroachment of Big Government, and liberals would prefer that we all embrace it, Porkulus and all.-A

>>>If the tea party participants were just a bunch of sad, delusional fools as most of you continue to insist, then these same members of Congress would hardly bother to attend. Their presence certainly adds even more legitimacy to the tea parties, despite the most fervent mockery and denials of the leftists on this blog and other liberal sites.oh…this is classic! because the republican congress is SO above the teabagging mentality right?! who do you think started this ridiculous concept anyway?btw…back to your original post atanarjuat…i would respect these people more if they were stealing shit to throw into rivers! if they did actually “go galt”! if they weren’t getting permits to “protest”! but they’re just simply spewing stupidity because their team lost and a (gasp) black guy won.

I really don’t wonder why, since the protests are aimed against the encroachment of Big Government, and liberals would prefer that we all embrace it, Porkulus and all.

No, this is what you have been duped by Koch’s propaganda into thinking the protests are about.If you are so opposed to larger government, then why did you try to impeach Bill Clinton? The only time the federal government shrank was during his tenure. It was also under Clinton that we had the only budget surpluses for the last half of the 20th century.The largest growth the federal government has ever had in its entire history was under Reagan and again under Bush II. You people say one thing and do the exact opposite. You want smaller government and less government spending so you grow the government and spend money like drunken sailors.The Republican party can not be believed. History shows that they are a party of outright liars. The “Borrow and Spend”™ Republicans have almost completely destroyed this country by letting the corporatists run around completely unregulated playing ponzi schemes with everyone’s retirement funds.Now we get to what these protests are really about. You pathetic teabaggers are being played for the naive noobs that you are. You are protesting the fact that we have a new president that plans to re-regulate capitalism so that the corporatists that have been ass-fucking us for the past eight years will have to go back to fucking sheep. You think you are protesting for a smaller government and a smaller federal budget. The sad truth is you are protesting so that Koch and his cronies can continue fucking you up the ass. I have no plans on allowing that, even if you are too stupid to protect yourselves.It is not a tyranny when a government that you disagree with has been elected. It just makes you the minority party. Get used to it. Your party has become a collection of misinformed teabaggers.

A -Try a Google search on: Santelli KochYou may find that enlightening. The Tea Party organizers are all on Koch’s payroll. Santelli’s ‘rant’ was scripted in advance by professional propagandists.You ought to know who is pulling your strings if you are going to be the marionette for a filthy rich ass-fucking robber baron.You may think that liberals don’t know what we are talking about. If you actually check things out you will discover that we generally have done our research. Some of us have been using the internet to do research since the late 80s. I am one of those.It disturbs us that you accept statements from malicious sources without fact checking. If people did fact checking Fox News would go out of business rather quickly. I think Koch’s minions came up with ‘teabagging’ intentionally. They are using you and ridiculing you at the same time. You should be outraged, but instead you’ll fear the socialist black man who is trying to protect you from greedy pricks like Koch.Pathos abounds.

@ A…Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…breath…ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.The Teabaggers issues are a “serious concern”? Shit, they don’t even know what they are protesting.

Also too, I got your teabags right cheer, teabagger.

SillyRatfacedGit, you have bought into an argument being thrown around here and elsewhere lately containing an obvious false dichotomy, that people are either all red or all blue, similar to Bush’s with us or against us nonsense, that you are blue, and if another disagrees with you on just one topic, they must be red. For example:”Apparently, they think they should get their own way when they win elections AND when they lose elections. What kind of political ideology believes that?”Who are “they”?”We are the majority and we surround you. We won the election and we can pass whatever we want. Stop trying to piss us off. We are losing patience. “Who are the “we” here? Do these individuals in your camp all agree on every political topic?”You don’t appear to realize just how dire the position you are in is. Your party is disintegrating before your eyes and you hold ‘tea parties’. Please continue.”Are you sure that everyone participating in these tea parties are all Republicans, and all have the same intentions?” What makes this protest illegitimate is that they are protesting a fictional construct created by hired propagandists working for Koch, the oil industry multibillioniare.”How can you so easily define what each individual is protesting in these events, and that each of their viewpoints is fictional?I agree with you about Koch being very questionable, but…”If you can describe ‘exactly’ what these people think they are protesting, it would be very helpful since what they have been saying is not based in reality. They might as well protest being muggles.I hope they enjoy being manipulated by a robber baron to further *his* interests to the detriment of their own. Way to go moran sheeple.”Are you sure that these protests ONLY play into the hands of Koch? How so?”Also too, these morans are protesting the ‘tyranny’ of a duly elected government.”This is a straw man argument. No one denies that Barack Obama was elected democratically.

Phyllis Killer and mmortal03, thanks for getting my back.With each successive post the tea party phenomenon on most liberal blogs, I’m seeing that the preferred tactic is ridiculing the event participants rather than considering the merits of the issues that have been raised so far.When liberals are pressed into explaining why they so glibly dismiss the valid concerns of their ideological opponents, it almost always comes down to this assertion: “we won! You lost! Get over it.”I’m wondering how much longer this sore winner attitude is going to last. I’d prefer that liberals join conservatives in helping pull this country out of the economic ditch we all find ourselves in now, rather than exploiting Obama’s electoral win to shoot more partisan spitballs.It just makes me shake my head with sadness.-A

Phyllis Killer -The reason for the intentional misspelling is explained by me in my first comment using the misspelling. This use of misspelling is part of ‘snark’, a concept you may or may not have heard of. It would behoove you to read an entire thread before commenting. This avoids making yourself appear foolish although in your case it probably doesn’t help one way or the other since you have already established yourself as a drive by troll.Greetings mmortal03 -Nice of you to stop by.”Who are “they”?”I was too lazy to type “The Republican Party” or the “Giant Obstruction Party.”"Who are the “we” here? Do these individuals in your camp all agree on every political topic?”No. We don’t. We are more or less on the same page however, and it is a page the the GOP will apparently commit suicide to block.”How can you so easily define what each individual is protesting in these events, and that each of their viewpoints is fictional?”Very good question. I don’t know what each individual thinks they are protesting. It is not clear that the protesters know what they are protesting. I believe it’s some combination of large government and excessive government spending but the error filled signs they carry mostly have the preplanned propaganda suggestions coming from Koch’s propaganda experts.These protesters look exactly like they are being used as tools. I know they don’t realize they are being used, but they are. This pseudo grassroots (astroturf) tea party campaign has been in planning since after the RNC last August. How can this be a spontaneous grass roots uprising if the website domain names were registered last August?”Are you sure that these protests ONLY play into the hands of Koch? How so?”Another good question. Actually these protests are to provide pseudo grass roots support to the GOP obstruction campaign. The congressional obstruction want to be able to point at the teabaggers and gleefully say “See. We are doing what our constituents want.”That’s really all this is about. Koch and his propaganda experts have tricked people into coming out and protesting ‘whatever’ to give Republicans a credible excuse to obstruct everything Obama wants to do. Mostly what Koch doesn’t want is regulations. On anything. Even though history has just demonstrated that we need regulations.He has done well without regulations. The rest of us have been fucked, but what does he care about us? He basically has suckered a bunch of people into cutting their own throats so he can continue to rob us blind.”This is a straw man argument. No one denies that Barack Obama was elected democratically.”Then why do some teabaggers carry signs saying things like “Stop the Tyranny, Obama must be stopped”? And why do they describe their activities as a “revolution”?Here is an interesting story at PlayboyHere is an interesting google search: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF8&q=Koch+astroturf+SantelliCurrently the first hit at Google is a rather right wing publication that expresses suspicion that the tea parties are Koch funded astroturf campaigns exactly like I said. They base their conclusion on the data in the Playboy story.Other results in the Google search are left leaning outlets and probably won’t be believed by hard core ideologues such as Atanarjuat and others who can’t fact check.Additional interesting facts. All of the Tea Party Websites appeared fully formed chock full of content the day after Santelli’s rant. That is also not credible for a spontaneous grass roots effort. The preplanning is so obvious I can’t believe they fooled anyone and yet they did.This leads me to the conclusion:GOP: The Party of Fools.

mmortal03, A:Yeah yeah, it’s SO GREAT that you’re SO beyond party politics, and it’s just super that you want the teabaggers to be judged based on their actual ideologies and not in terms of Republicans/Democrats. We’re all VERY impressed with how enlightened you are.But here’s the thing: you still haven’t described what those ideologies are. What ideologies unite the secessionists, Fox News, militia-types, libertarians, gun nuts, and conservatives?(And, yes, Republicans – show me a rally where 50% (or even 25%, or even 5%) of the signs are telling us to tea bag Republicans, or calling Republicans socialists, and I’ll believe that this is beyond party politics)This is EXACTLY about “we won, you lost”. This is entirely about a minority used to having its political beliefs represented by those in control of government now dealing with the fact that those beliefs have been rejected by a sizable majority of voters, robbing them of their political power. This is a group relegated to the fringes of political discourse trying to convince itself that “we surround them”.But I don’t get this “sore winner” attitude you’re talking about. The current government’s had ten or eleven weeks to work on a problem that it inherited, and those of us who support it are a) glad that it’s the government that we voted for instead of the alternative, because we’ve seen what happens when the alternative is in power, and b) willing to give the government we voted for a chance to do its job before rising up against it and becoming “armed and dangerous”. What’s wrong with that?

Greetings mmortal03 -My last comment which relies to your first is caught in the SPAM filter because I put more than one link in it. Bob will free it when he notices.Here is a right wing site that points to the Playboy article, I’ll let the right winger do the talking:http://www.thenextright.com/nomoreblatherdotcom/santelli-the-tea-parties-an-astroturf-campaign-from-the-koch-familyI'll reply to your second comment now.The tea party websites all came online fully formed with all of their content present include the sign suggestions “Teabag the liberal Dems before they Teabag you” the day after Santelli’s rant. The domain names for these websites were registered right after the RNC last August. It defies credibility that this was not a carefully planned pseudo grass roots (astroturf) campaign.”Who said he watches Fox News, or uses it as his only source?”No one. I said that Fox News would go out of business if people did fact checking. If you want to read more into what I said, you may, but I said exactly what i meant.”How can Koch control all of the people involved? I think that regardless of Koch’s alleged involvement at the beginning, it will take a whole new direction that Koch can’t control.”He can’t control all of the people involved but all of the organizers are on his payroll and this has been planned since last August.

Rat Face, I gotta ask, why are you so concerned with the organizers and whose payroll they are on?It’s the rest of the people involved that will make the tea party’s a success.I think these tea party’s are a little intimidating to the liberals, or else, why would any of them care so much?

Phyllis -Wrong again. Have you read the whole thread yet.The reason for the intentional misspelling ‘moran’ is explained up thread.Douchebag is a name. Tool is a description. There is no doubt that Reagan was a corporatist tool.He double the size of the federal government and tripled the national debt. Great job for a conservative if you can get it. The only thing conservative about Ron was his hatred of Teh Gay including his son Ronny Jr.

thespacecowboy,Your last message is an example of why things never change in American politics. It’s like a family feud. One side must choose to suck it up and stop, or it’ll never end until they all kill each other off. I thought Barack Obama was going to be the one to call an end to the feud, but even he has been complaining about what the previous administration left him, instead of just solving the problems that are in front of him.Phyllis,You are opening a can of worms by bringing up Ronald Reagan. Reagan talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk with regards to many conservative principles, so it’d be wise to not bring him up as a good conservative example. You should read Andrew Bacevich’s The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, especially the parts referring to Reagan.MZ,”Yeah yeah, it’s SO GREAT that you’re SO beyond party politics, and it’s just super that you want the teabaggers to be judged based on their actual ideologies and not in terms of Republicans/Democrats. We’re all VERY impressed with how enlightened you are.”What’s with the sarcasm? Do you think it is bad to think outside the boundaries of party politics?”But here’s the thing: you still haven’t described what those ideologies are. What ideologies unite the secessionists, Fox News, militia-types, libertarians, gun nuts, and conservatives?(And, yes, Republicans – show me a rally where 50% (or even 25%, or even 5%) of the signs are telling us to tea bag Republicans, or calling Republicans socialists, and I’ll believe that this is beyond party politics)”I’d say that some unifying characteristics are being against huge deficit spending and being against big Government, with various underlying motives. I would agree with you that some of the individuals under this category are hypocrites because they didn’t call out the Bush administration for the very same things. I happen to not be one of those people, and I also don’t agree with the motives or various extraneous positions of all the people who are under it.”This is EXACTLY about “we won, you lost”. This is entirely about a minority used to having its political beliefs represented by those in control of government now dealing with the fact that those beliefs have been rejected by a sizable majority of voters, robbing them of their political power. This is a group relegated to the fringes of political discourse trying to convince itself that “we surround them”.”No, it’s not “exactly” or “entirely” the case. What I see is that you generalize too much, you stereotype too much, and you compartmentalize too much.

MMortal-I do enjoy opening up cans of worms. It all depends on your prespective as far as Reagan. I happen to be a Reagan Conservative and I’m not ashamed to admit it, regardless of the bashing that may come along with it. I will check out your suggestion, I’m not entirely close minded.Cowboy- not as pathetic as you. At least I’ve got something to say in the debate, other than name calling.

@ Phyllis…I am so proud of you.

“I tend to support Phyllis’ argument that good may come from the participants regardless of who originally started them or who are organizing them.”I will concede that point. It could happen as you both suggest.Phyllis -I apologize for the typos. Some are intentional, that snark again, some are just typos. This is an informal environment and so I don’t proofread as well as I would if I were writing a dissertation or a Software Functional Specification.You also lack context and are missing vast quantities of inside jokes. For example:”We are the majority and we surround you. We won the election and we can pass whatever we want. Stop trying to piss us off. We are losing patience. “This is a direct play on one of Glenn “Deludus Maximus” Beck’s rants. I’m sorry if you don’t get the snark. Perhaps I’ve gotten too used to people that grok stuff like this.I don’t normally waste my time discussing things with the wrong wing. They are incapable of adapting to changing circumstance and insist on clinging to their ideology even when it has been demonstrated to not work.Adapt or die.Being a liberal is all about being able to adapt.I actually enjoy debating mmortal since he makes me look at things from a different POV, which is a good thing™.I wrote you off as a mindless ideologue but I appear to have been too hasty. I am reevaluating my opinion of you.

Rat Face, I gotta ask, why are you so concerned with the organizers and whose payroll they are on?It’s the rest of the people involved that will make the tea party’s a success.

Whose success? You’re missing the point. Said point being that the whole tea party protest was formed with a specific corporatist agenda, where for some reason a large number of people are protesting a change that benefits them on behalf of someone much better off to save a few percent on said well off person’s bottom line. And doing it through historical revisionism (or appealing to ignorance of history, either way), to boot.

I think these tea party’s are a little intimidating to the liberals, or else, why would any of them care so much?

Simple. SIWOTI. Even the most unshakable of observers, hearing teabagger talking points, eventually snaps and feels the need to count the ways in which these people are wrong and/or lying.

“we won! You lost! Get over it.”Is exactly what Scalia said when the Supreme court decided that you could hold an election and not bother to count the votes.Again, you just miss the snark. Context is everything.We heard “You lost. Get over it.” for eight years straight. It’s your turn now.

@A – Please tell me what you think of this? This is what the collective WE mean when we say the collective YOU aka Teabaggers don’t know what you are protesting.

GItheJOE,Your racial overtones are definitely taking things over the top, and, while admirable stylistically, are just plain false. But on to the substance of your comment, regarding the tax cuts, I think your right in that the damage has already been done and that the poor American wouldn’t be able to afford to foot the bill. The rich are going to be the only ones left with any money to take. That’s why I don’t focus on the tax issue at the moment, regardless of the ideal ethical viewpoint I have on it.What I focus on is that the government has gone into so much debt that the only thing they can do to solve it will be to tax us even more, both directly, by way of taxes, and indirectly, by way of inflation. It should never have been allowed to reach this point. They should never have been legally able to go into such the amount of debt as they have. Then the issue would be moot regarding raising taxes on some portion of the population, because we wouldn’t have to. What we need to do is stop having the government spending so much money, with the assumption that the rich (or any other American) will have to foot the bill.

If we continue to make it our focus the retaining of jobs, we will continue to have to pay for such unsupportable and inefficient jobs with an ever decreasing value of the dollar. Throwing more jobs at the problem at the current wage levels isn’t going to magically create new wealth.Conflating Bush with Hoover is a false argument. Yes, we are going to have to take a knock to our standard of living, NOT delay the inevitable and retain our current standard of living facade by printing more money. The problem is that that just isn’t a politically feasible sell.Americans are going to have to cut back on their expected standard of living, and the government is going to have to also. Spending more money is not the answer.Jimmy Carter tried to tell Americans about this with regards to our energy consumption, but the American people just didn’t want to hear that they were (and still are) their own worst enemy: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_crisis.html

mmortal03,If you loves the Jimmy we loves the you.Jimmy Carter was way ahead of his time. However, the standard of living for the well-to-do Americans has continued to rise while the rest of the unwashed masses continue to live in Bushvilles. The are real google it.