The Tea Party is back in business! (1 Viewer)

[LinusMarr]

I still don't understand why some in this thread are so afraid of a movement designed to make the government more efficient. That's all the Tea Party is designed to do. Fight for a decrease in government influence on our lives. Lower taxes. Elimination of governmental waste.

A lot of you are like that meme of Fry from Futurama with a fist full of dollars saying "shut up and take my money"

Why are you so ready to just give all of your money to the government and say "please take care of me daddy"

Because people are morons....I don't get it either. Once someone says "Obama is a great president and I cant wait til Hillary is the next president" its hard to take anything they say seriously after that.

 

[spreagle]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

 

[Sammy3469]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/hillary-clinton-welcome-to-the-white-house-20131017

"Hillary Clinton, welcome to the White House"

The theme of this article is that if Hillary decides to run in 2016, it will be the biggest shoo-in easy victory for a new candidate since Eisenhower in 1952. There is no one on the Democratic side that would likely even challenge her. But more importantly, this shutdown story has demonstrated that no Republican with a chance of winning, like Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, will get past the primaries- either they will have to sell their souls the way McCain and Romney did, or we will see some Tea Party candidate like Cruz, Paul or Rubio who will get creamed in the general.

No way Hillary runs. I am sorry, but she is to old to be considered IMO.. She would be 69, no way she gets the nomination. IMO

She wont run and if somehow she decided to run, she would lose the nomination to someone else, and if somehow that didnt happen she would get crushed in the general.

..and if she somehow won, she wouldn't be able to take it for the full 4 years, and if she somehow did, she'd never run for a second term.....

Reagan begs to differ

 

[Sand]

Myself, I'm not so sure. I still think that if Chris Christie could somehow weather the storm of the Republican primaries, he would be a very formidable national candidate. Remember how Bill Clinton had his "Sista Souljah" moment? That symbolized the exact point when the Democratic leadership finally distanced themselves from the 60s radicals that had dominated that party for two decades. If Christie could have that same sort of moment against the Tea Party, there are plenty of Republican voters that would flock to him.

Christie is essentially a Democrat. He'd have no chance getting a plurality of Republican votes in any national election.

 

[timschochet]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

 

[3C's]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

See: Cruz, Ted.

 

[dozer]

I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

That's a big 10-4 good buddy!

 

[spreagle]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

 

[timschochet]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

 

[Boston]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if the right could just treat Obama with the same dignity and respect the left gave Bush and Cheney...it's just too bad the Tea Party can't take ettiquette lessons from the kind folks over at Moveon.org...

 

[RCon]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

 

[humpback]

Boehner and Obama more popular than ever.

 

[Boston]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

Both sides have their extremists...the issue right now is the dems are marching in lockstep while there is a fraction within the GOP...the word diversity gets thrown around a lot but right now as far as the parties go it is the GOP that has more competing ideas within the party yet due to an absolute lack of leadership and God-awful understanding of the mainstream media they can not get their act together...the GOP needs to tell the establishment RINOS that want to please the writers over at the NY Times to screw while telling the Tea Party to grow-up and stop the grenade throwing every time they don't get their way...the only way this is going to happen is if a leader like Reagan emerges and unfortunately there does not seem to be one on the horizon...the dems may think they are winning the battle and they are...what they really don't get is they suck as well but just not as much...

 

[timschochet]

This is an article by Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute on the effects of the shutdown. He also touches on the sequester:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-sledgehammer-politics-of-the-gop-20131016

The costs of the prolonged government shutdown are broad and deep. They are there in national security and homeland security. The tough sanctions we have in place against Iran are not being fully enforced; many of the government employees who monitor violations and ensure the sanctions are in place are furloughed. Support personnel who help on homeland and national security are not there. With National Institutes of Health scientists barred from their labs, the lab animals used in critical medical research experiments are left to their own devices; those who were in the middle of experiments or trials cannot be monitored, rendering the research useless or setting it back by months. The multiple private businesses tied to tourism at national parks—restaurants, hotels, gift shops, river guides, grocery stores—are devastated. And on and on. The hit on the economy, via less spending, will reduce our next quarter’s economic growth by a noticeable amount, made more noticeable because it is occurring at a time of economic stagnation.

Then there are the human costs. Some government employees have enough savings to carry them through weeks of no pay. But large numbers, like so many in the private sector, live from paycheck to paycheck or have a very thin safety net. National Public Radio’s Morning Edition recently did a poignant piece on a career employee at the Bureau of Prisons who is working (every employee at the prison is essential, for obvious reasons) but getting no pay except for a pending check for the week before the shutdown occurred. He estimated his normal biweekly take-home pay at $1,300—but the one-week check he will get will have full deductions taken out for the two weeks, leaving him with roughly $200. He has two kids in college and said to NPR’s Steve Inskeep, “How am I going to pay my bills? What am I going to do for child care? How do I put fuel in the truck? I mean, I have a pickup truck. I live in southwestern PA. You know, it’s $80 to fill that tank. There’s a whole range of things and the thing is, you can’t just call off. If you call off, you’re messing with the person that’s on shift right now. He can’t go home.”

This government worker will ultimately receive his back pay. But he and numerous others, including many who make much less, including many Capitol Police applauded by members of Congress after the harrowing Oct. 4 chase and shooting, may have to lose money by dipping into savings, maxing out on credit cards and paying exorbitant interest, or going to payday lenders. Those costs will never be paid back—and they are the people who can least afford it. Then there are the tens of thousands of people working for government contractors who have to lay off employees without pay. They will never get paid back for the work they miss.

Damaging as the shutdown is for governance, it is minor compared with the long-term damage of the sequester. The FBI has had to reduce its focus on white-collar and organized crime to deal with the higher, immediate priority of cybersecurity. The food-inspection infrastructure has been hit, reducing the number of inspectors in the U.S. and in foreign plants that ship food to the United States. This will undoubtedly lead to more outbreaks of salmonella and E. coli, with a weakened Centers for Disease Control less able to cope with the epidemics. Basic research, as I have written before, is taking devastating hits—starting with NIH but including DARPA and every other area done primarily by the federal government. Some of the damage will never be repaired. And the nation’s economy will grow more slowly, adding to our deficits and debt.

I hope that Joe T and the others here who have mocked the pain that has resulted from the shutdown and the sequester read this. And those that think the sequester cuts were good for us- if they add to our deficit rather than take away from it, how can they be good?

 

[timschochet]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

 

[Slapdash]

This is an article by Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute on the effects of the shutdown. He also touches on the sequester:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-sledgehammer-politics-of-the-gop-20131016

The costs of the prolonged government shutdown are broad and deep. They are there in national security and homeland security. The tough sanctions we have in place against Iran are not being fully enforced; many of the government employees who monitor violations and ensure the sanctions are in place are furloughed. Support personnel who help on homeland and national security are not there. With National Institutes of Health scientists barred from their labs, the lab animals used in critical medical research experiments are left to their own devices; those who were in the middle of experiments or trials cannot be monitored, rendering the research useless or setting it back by months. The multiple private businesses tied to tourism at national parks—restaurants, hotels, gift shops, river guides, grocery stores—are devastated. And on and on. The hit on the economy, via less spending, will reduce our next quarter’s economic growth by a noticeable amount, made more noticeable because it is occurring at a time of economic stagnation.

Then there are the human costs. Some government employees have enough savings to carry them through weeks of no pay. But large numbers, like so many in the private sector, live from paycheck to paycheck or have a very thin safety net. National Public Radio’s Morning Edition recently did a poignant piece on a career employee at the Bureau of Prisons who is working (every employee at the prison is essential, for obvious reasons) but getting no pay except for a pending check for the week before the shutdown occurred. He estimated his normal biweekly take-home pay at $1,300—but the one-week check he will get will have full deductions taken out for the two weeks, leaving him with roughly $200. He has two kids in college and said to NPR’s Steve Inskeep, “How am I going to pay my bills? What am I going to do for child care? How do I put fuel in the truck? I mean, I have a pickup truck. I live in southwestern PA. You know, it’s $80 to fill that tank. There’s a whole range of things and the thing is, you can’t just call off. If you call off, you’re messing with the person that’s on shift right now. He can’t go home.”

This government worker will ultimately receive his back pay. But he and numerous others, including many who make much less, including many Capitol Police applauded by members of Congress after the harrowing Oct. 4 chase and shooting, may have to lose money by dipping into savings, maxing out on credit cards and paying exorbitant interest, or going to payday lenders. Those costs will never be paid back—and they are the people who can least afford it. Then there are the tens of thousands of people working for government contractors who have to lay off employees without pay. They will never get paid back for the work they miss.

Damaging as the shutdown is for governance, it is minor compared with the long-term damage of the sequester. The FBI has had to reduce its focus on white-collar and organized crime to deal with the higher, immediate priority of cybersecurity. The food-inspection infrastructure has been hit, reducing the number of inspectors in the U.S. and in foreign plants that ship food to the United States. This will undoubtedly lead to more outbreaks of salmonella and E. coli, with a weakened Centers for Disease Control less able to cope with the epidemics. Basic research, as I have written before, is taking devastating hits—starting with NIH but including DARPA and every other area done primarily by the federal government. Some of the damage will never be repaired. And the nation’s economy will grow more slowly, adding to our deficits and debt.

I hope that Joe T and the others here who have mocked the pain that has resulted from the shutdown and the sequester read this. And those that think the sequester cuts were good for us- if they add to our deficit rather than take away from it, how can they be good?

The AEI is clearly in the tank for Libs.

 

[humpback]

This is an article by Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute on the effects of the shutdown. He also touches on the sequester:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/washington-inside-out/the-sledgehammer-politics-of-the-gop-20131016

The costs of the prolonged government shutdown are broad and deep. They are there in national security and homeland security. The tough sanctions we have in place against Iran are not being fully enforced; many of the government employees who monitor violations and ensure the sanctions are in place are furloughed. Support personnel who help on homeland and national security are not there. With National Institutes of Health scientists barred from their labs, the lab animals used in critical medical research experiments are left to their own devices; those who were in the middle of experiments or trials cannot be monitored, rendering the research useless or setting it back by months. The multiple private businesses tied to tourism at national parks—restaurants, hotels, gift shops, river guides, grocery stores—are devastated. And on and on. The hit on the economy, via less spending, will reduce our next quarter’s economic growth by a noticeable amount, made more noticeable because it is occurring at a time of economic stagnation.

Then there are the human costs. Some government employees have enough savings to carry them through weeks of no pay. But large numbers, like so many in the private sector, live from paycheck to paycheck or have a very thin safety net. National Public Radio’s Morning Edition recently did a poignant piece on a career employee at the Bureau of Prisons who is working (every employee at the prison is essential, for obvious reasons) but getting no pay except for a pending check for the week before the shutdown occurred. He estimated his normal biweekly take-home pay at $1,300—but the one-week check he will get will have full deductions taken out for the two weeks, leaving him with roughly $200. He has two kids in college and said to NPR’s Steve Inskeep, “How am I going to pay my bills? What am I going to do for child care? How do I put fuel in the truck? I mean, I have a pickup truck. I live in southwestern PA. You know, it’s $80 to fill that tank. There’s a whole range of things and the thing is, you can’t just call off. If you call off, you’re messing with the person that’s on shift right now. He can’t go home.”

This government worker will ultimately receive his back pay. But he and numerous others, including many who make much less, including many Capitol Police applauded by members of Congress after the harrowing Oct. 4 chase and shooting, may have to lose money by dipping into savings, maxing out on credit cards and paying exorbitant interest, or going to payday lenders. Those costs will never be paid back—and they are the people who can least afford it. Then there are the tens of thousands of people working for government contractors who have to lay off employees without pay. They will never get paid back for the work they miss.

Damaging as the shutdown is for governance, it is minor compared with the long-term damage of the sequester. The FBI has had to reduce its focus on white-collar and organized crime to deal with the higher, immediate priority of cybersecurity. The food-inspection infrastructure has been hit, reducing the number of inspectors in the U.S. and in foreign plants that ship food to the United States. This will undoubtedly lead to more outbreaks of salmonella and E. coli, with a weakened Centers for Disease Control less able to cope with the epidemics. Basic research, as I have written before, is taking devastating hits—starting with NIH but including DARPA and every other area done primarily by the federal government. Some of the damage will never be repaired. And the nation’s economy will grow more slowly, adding to our deficits and debt.

I hope that Joe T and the others here who have mocked the pain that has resulted from the shutdown and the sequester read this. And those that think the sequester cuts were good for us- if they add to our deficit rather than take away from it, how can they be good?

The AEI is clearly in the tank for Libs.

Yeah, I think Norm Ornstein is a crazy Tea Party member.

 

[timschochet]

The Tea Party moves on to a new (old?) topic of concern:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/18/tea-party-leader-proposes-class-action-lawsuit-against-homosexuality/

A tea party leader and former Baptist pastor — who believes that AIDS is God’s judgement against LGBT people — this week proposed filing a “class action lawsuit” against “homosexuality.”

At a Tea Party Unity event on Thursday, LGBT activist Peter LaBarbera told group Chairman Rick Scarborough that Fox News should be pushed to cover “these wonderful stories of happy men and women who have left the homosexual lifestyle” like they covered African-American conservatives.

“We need to work on our conservative, alternate media and say, ‘Look, don’t do the pro-gay thing, why don’t you rather step out and support these ex-gays?’ We should encourage Fox News to tell their stories,” LaBarbera said. “Fox is now telling the stories of black conservatives because the other media is not doing that, we should all get on Fox and say, ‘Come on, tell these stories, these wonderful stories of happy men and women who have left the homosexual lifestyle.’”

Scarborough, however, had a different plan for fighting what LaBarbera had called “the pro-gay thing.”

“Peter, the whole issue of a class action lawsuit, you and I have talked about this a little bit,” Scarborough pointed out. “I just wonder if you’ve explored that, talked to anyone about it.”

The former Baptist pastor opined that “homosexuality much more likely leads to AIDS than smoking leads to cancer. And yet the entire nation has rejected smoking, billions of dollars are put into a trust fund to help cancer victims and the tobacco industry was held accountable for that.”

“Yeah I think that’s great,” LaBarbera agreed. “I would love to see it. We always wanted to see one of the kid in high school who was counseled by the official school counselor to just be gay, then he comes down with HIV. But we never really got the client for that.”

 

[spreagle]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

 

[timschochet]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

Which ones?

 

[tom22406]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

By strapping bombs to themselves no doubt.

 

[RCon]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

I recognize exactly how radical some tea partiers are. Bachmann is a nutjob, or at least, she plays one in order to draw campaign contributions (with politicians and TV/radio pundits like Hannity, it's always tough to tell what they actually believe versus what is show). I just don't think there's nearly as many radicals as you think there are. However, what is true of true believers, is that they are generally louder, more passionate, and donate more time and money than "moderates". There's a difference.

With regard to the polls you love so much, I don't think most polls are worth a damn. I suspect that most "normal" people tend to hang up on the pollsters, while true believers are anxious to have their views heard and counted.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

When people in our own party start calling you a fraud or totally incompetent then I would say it is time to leave the party.


08:37 PM ET

Peter King on Ted Cruz: "Either a fraud or...totally incompetent...he can have his choice"Coming up this evening at 9, "Piers Morgan Live" invites U.S. RepresentativePeter King to share his thoughts on the ongoing government shutdown, and the rapidly approaching debt ceiling deadline.

Joining Piers Morgan from Washington, D.C., the former Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security pulls few punches when expressing his dissatisfaction with the recent tactics employed by Ted Cruz.

"I lay almost all of it at his feet because he's the one who started this," says King, when asked how much blame he personally places on the Republican Senator from Texas. "Ted Cruz is the one behind it, and I've said from the start he was a fraud, because this strategy never had a chance to work, he knew it wasn't going to work...this was just a stunt by him, and as a result of that, the country is on the verge of default and the government is shut down."

As the host suggests that Cruz's plan is a symbol of the GOP's new guard trying to establish itself, even potentially with an eye towards the 2016 presidential election, King denounces the attempt as entirely flawed:

"The fact is, if you come up with a strategy that's going to shutdown the government of the United States, and you have no way of winning, you're either a fraud, or you're totally incompetent. So he can have his choice as to what he is."

Tune in at 9 for the full interview with Peter King, as the Republican from New York says of Cruz, "we have to go after him...we are not going to allow Ted Cruz to hijack this party, and bring the country to the edge of ruin. It's just wrong."

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

I recognize exactly how radical some tea partiers are. Bachmann is a nutjob, or at least, she plays one in order to draw campaign contributions (with politicians and TV/radio pundits like Hannity, it's always tough to tell what they actually believe versus what is show). I just don't think there's nearly as many radicals as you think there are. However, what is true of true believers, is that they are generally louder, more passionate, and donate more time and money than "moderates". There's a difference.

With regard to the polls you love so much, I don't think most polls are worth a damn. I suspect that most "normal" people tend to hang up on the pollsters, while true believers are anxious to have their views heard and counted.

What about Silver's poll interpretation on elections? Still don't believe in polling when it tells you something you do not believe?

 

[Statorama]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

Outstanding retort and an exceptionally profound comparison

 

[pantagrapher]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

I recognize exactly how radical some tea partiers are. Bachmann is a nutjob, or at least, she plays one in order to draw campaign contributions (with politicians and TV/radio pundits like Hannity, it's always tough to tell what they actually believe versus what is show). I just don't think there's nearly as many radicals as you think there are. However, what is true of true believers, is that they are generally louder, more passionate, and donate more time and money than "moderates". There's a difference.

With regard to the polls you love so much, I don't think most polls are worth a damn. I suspect that most "normal" people tend to hang up on the pollsters, while true believers are anxious to have their views heard and counted.

What about Silver's poll interpretation on elections? Still don't believe in polling when it tells you something you do not believe?

If they could just unskew reality...

 

[DrJ]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

This doesn't surprise me. Tea Party members aren't stupid like they're portrayed. Some of the extremist religious types did latch onto the whole thing and those are the ones that the liberals like to focus the most on, but a lot of this movement is people that are drawn to things like sciences because they see the world very black and white and don't have much tolerance for all of this political BS that everyone wants to live with and label "moderate". To me the Republicans and Democrats are moderately stupid and moderately defy common sense, and that's being generous.

 

[humpback]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

prevalent<>radical

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

 

[TPW]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

 

[RCon]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

I recognize exactly how radical some tea partiers are. Bachmann is a nutjob, or at least, she plays one in order to draw campaign contributions (with politicians and TV/radio pundits like Hannity, it's always tough to tell what they actually believe versus what is show). I just don't think there's nearly as many radicals as you think there are. However, what is true of true believers, is that they are generally louder, more passionate, and donate more time and money than "moderates". There's a difference.

With regard to the polls you love so much, I don't think most polls are worth a damn. I suspect that most "normal" people tend to hang up on the pollsters, while true believers are anxious to have their views heard and counted.

What about Silver's poll interpretation on elections? Still don't believe in polling when it tells you something you do not believe?

It has nothing to do with I believe or don't believe. I think Nate Silver is probably near the top of polls I take seriously (disregard the use of the word "poll" literally, as I know Silver isn't doing the actual polling, but you get my point). In the old thread regarding who was going to win the 2012 election, I was the first to point and laugh at the folks who thought Romney was going to win.

Simply put, I think polls on "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama is the anti-christ", etc. are crap. I think the polls on "Bush is worse than Hitler" were crap. Part of the reason they're crap is that normal people don't dignify such stupid questions with a response.

 

[guncrib]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Wouldn't the world be a better place if the right could just treat Obama with the same dignity and respect the left gave Bush and Cheney...it's just too bad the Tea Party can't take ettiquette lessons from the kind folks over at Moveon.org...

What?

 

[Redwes25]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

Both sides have their extremists...the issue right now is the dems are marching in lockstep while there is a fraction within the GOP...the word diversity gets thrown around a lot but right now as far as the parties go it is the GOP that has more competing ideas within the party yet due to an absolute lack of leadership and God-awful understanding of the mainstream media they can not get their act together...the GOP needs to tell the establishment RINOS that want to please the writers over at the NY Times to screw while telling the Tea Party to grow-up and stop the grenade throwing every time they don't get their way...the only way this is going to happen is if a leader like Reagan emerges and unfortunately there does not seem to be one on the horizon...the dems may think they are winning the battle and they are...what they really don't get is they suck as well but just not as much...

I hate the term RINO and how it gets thrown around if you don't agree with something that a portion of the party agrees with. If you think the strategy taken was idiocy then you are a RINO. Of course the strategy worked out so well that we are in a worse place then we would have been. Sorry but agreeing with the WSJ editorial board is far from being a RINO.

 

[NREC34]

I still don't understand why some in this thread are so afraid of a movement designed to make the government more efficient. That's all the Tea Party is designed to do. Fight for a decrease in government influence on our lives. Lower taxes. Elimination of governmental waste.

A lot of you are like that meme of Fry from Futurama with a fist full of dollars saying "shut up and take my money"

Why are you so ready to just give all of your money to the government and say "please take care of me daddy"

Because people are morons....I don't get it either. Once someone says "Obama is a great president and I cant wait til Hillary is the next president" its hard to take anything they say seriously after that.

Was W a good president? Simple yes or no question and the way you answer will tell me if I should take anything you say seriously.

 

[badmojo1006]

Sometimes listening to Sarah Palin is . Her word vomit on the Megan Kelley show is nonsensical and very funny

I think she is stoned. Her eyes are glassy and she has that dry mouth

 

[timschochet]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

Both sides have their extremists...the issue right now is the dems are marching in lockstep while there is a fraction within the GOP...the word diversity gets thrown around a lot but right now as far as the parties go it is the GOP that has more competing ideas within the party yet due to an absolute lack of leadership and God-awful understanding of the mainstream media they can not get their act together...the GOP needs to tell the establishment RINOS that want to please the writers over at the NY Times to screw while telling the Tea Party to grow-up and stop the grenade throwing every time they don't get their way...the only way this is going to happen is if a leader like Reagan emerges and unfortunately there does not seem to be one on the horizon...the dems may think they are winning the battle and they are...what they really don't get is they suck as well but just not as much...

I hate the term RINO and how it gets thrown around if you don't agree with something that a portion of the party agrees with. If you think the strategy taken was idiocy then you are a RINO. Of course the strategy worked out so well that we are in a worse place then we would have been. Sorry but agreeing with the WSJ editorial board is far from being a RINO.

What's ironic about the term RINO is that the Tea Party by their own admission really should be calling themselves that with pride. How many times have you heard them say, "We care nothing about the Republican party, we care about our conservative ideals!" etc. Aren't they therefore the RINOs?

 

[ericttspikes]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

They're monkeywrenchers who have no desire to govern anything. The self proclaimed party of business has let them take over, and they put a spike in the wheels of government and our economy with glee; damn the consequences. Sure, they believe what they are doing is right; so does Earth First, so did The Weathermen, so did Ted Kaczinski, etc.

The echo chamber on the right has created a false reality that the country has swung far right, when it is actually center/center-left, as it's been for some time. The Tea Party is tilting at windmills, convinced the government our forefathers fought and died to create is monster that needs to be destroyed. And just like Don Quixote, they don't realize how truly insane they are.

 

[lod01]

Sometimes listening to Sarah Palin is . Her word vomit on the Megan Kelley show is nonsensical and very funny

I think she is stoned. Her eyes are glassy and she has that dry mouth

What do you think is the biggest item she has shoved up her butt? I'll be it puts a large cucumber to shame.

 

[Redwes25]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

They're monkeywrenchers who have no desire to govern anything. The self proclaimed party of business has let them take over, and they put a spike in the wheels of government and our economy with glee; damn the consequences. Sure, they believe what they are doing is right; so does Earth First, so did The Weathermen, so did Ted Kaczinski, etc.

The echo chamber on the right has created a false reality that the country has swung far right, when it is actually center/center-left, as it's been for some time. The Tea Party is tilting at windmills, convinced the government our forefathers fought and died to create is monster that needs to be destroyed. And just like Don Quixote, they don't realize how truly insane they are.

Would agree with much of this other than center/center-left. Think this country has been center-right since the 1980s and still is.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

Wall Street and corporations control the money that both parties have become reliant upon, but that has nothing to do with the tea party - heck Freedomworks one of the largest and influential tea party organization is run by by Richard Armey - a guy who is a career and an insider. Koch Industries created the modern tea party by giving them gushingly favorable TV coverage.
The tea party policies are not just small government ideals but like supporting Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments, whacked out birther theories, Muslim law coming to the US, immigrants taking over the country.

On a fiscal standpoint notice how they said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to street in such OUTRAGE. In the end the tea party is pathetic - it has no ideals that it holds true except to ruin Obama - and if they have to hurt the country by crashing the economy then that is just collateral damage.

 

[apalmer]

Sometimes listening to Sarah Palin is . Her word vomit on the Megan Kelley show is nonsensical and very funny

I think she is stoned. Her eyes are glassy and she has that dry mouth

You've just got to love the unintended humor of the introduction. "President Obama says that nothing has done more to damage our credibility in the world and our standing with other countries than this latest DC fight. Really?" Then introduce Sarah Palin. Yep, you're right, Obama is wrong--no way the latest DC fight has done more to damage our credibility and standing than Sarah has.

 

[timschochet]

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.

Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

They also aren't nearly as prevalent as you think...

No, they're a lot more prevalent than YOU think. You represent the disconnect I hear from long time conservatives all the time. You don't quite realize just how radical the Tea Partiers are. They are NOT conservatives. You want limited government; they want to blow it up.

They're monkeywrenchers who have no desire to govern anything. The self proclaimed party of business has let them take over, and they put a spike in the wheels of government and our economy with glee; damn the consequences. Sure, they believe what they are doing is right; so does Earth First, so did The Weathermen, so did Ted Kaczinski, etc.

The echo chamber on the right has created a false reality that the country has swung far right, when it is actually center/center-left, as it's been for some time. The Tea Party is tilting at windmills, convinced the government our forefathers fought and died to create is monster that needs to be destroyed. And just like Don Quixote, they don't realize how truly insane they are.

Would agree with much of this other than center/center-left. Think this country has been center-right since the 1980s and still is.

Right and left changes depending on the issue and the situation. The "center" part is what's important.

 

[ProBowler88]

Sometimes listening to Sarah Palin is . Her word vomit on the Megan Kelley show is nonsensical and very funny

I think she is stoned. Her eyes are glassy and she has that dry mouth

You've just got to love the unintended humor of the introduction. "President Obama says that nothing has done more to damage our credibility in the world and our standing with other countries than this latest DC fight. Really?" Then introduce Sarah Palin. Yep, you're right, Obama is wrong--no way the latest DC fight has done more to damage our credibility and standing than Sarah has.

 

[TPW]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

Wall Street and corporations control the money that both parties have become reliant upon, but that has nothing to do with the tea party - heck Freedomworks one of the largest and influential tea party organization is run by by Richard Armey - a guy who is a career and an insider. Koch Industries created the modern tea party by giving them gushingly favorable TV coverage.
The tea party policies are not just small government ideals but like supporting Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments, whacked out birther theories, Muslim law coming to the US, immigrants taking over the country.

On a fiscal standpoint notice how they said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to street in such OUTRAGE. In the end the tea party is pathetic - it has no ideals that it holds true except to ruin Obama - and if they have to hurt the country by crashing the economy then that is just collateral damage.

The Tea Party didn't exist until 2010. It was brought into existence primarily by three events TARP (approved by Bush), the February 2009 stimulus bill, and the push for Obamacare in Congress. Those events added trillions of dollars of immediate and future debt within a span of just a few months and became the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back.

I can assure you there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the previous administration and there's a reason why the Republicans were shellacked in 2006 and why Romney couldn't muster as many votes in 2012 as McCain did in 2008. The base stayed home.

It's the Obama administration and its enablers who have no ideals other than their own enrichment and self-gratification in the here and now at the expense of future generations.

 

[timschochet]

So one of the first, most visible, and most strategically important fights between the Tea Party and the GOP establishment will be for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat. McConnell is the face of the establishment. He just crafted the agreement with Harry Reid that lifted the shutdown and raised the debt ceiling. Heritage Action announced today they will be funding his Tea Party opponent, Matt Bevin. with everything they've got. Look for FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth to follow, and for McConnell to be attacked by Red State, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc.

On McConnell's side, he has what will be the entire Washington GOP establishment- the Chamber of Commerce, National Review, the Wall Street Journal, moderate Republican talk show hosts like Michael Medved, and of course lots of corporate backing.

Both sides seem determined to go to whatever length is necessary here. How it plays out could very well decide the future of the GOP.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

Wall Street and corporations control the money that both parties have become reliant upon, but that has nothing to do with the tea party - heck Freedomworks one of the largest and influential tea party organization is run by by Richard Armey - a guy who is a career and an insider. Koch Industries created the modern tea party by giving them gushingly favorable TV coverage.
The tea party policies are not just small government ideals but like supporting Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments, whacked out birther theories, Muslim law coming to the US, immigrants taking over the country.

On a fiscal standpoint notice how they said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to street in such OUTRAGE. In the end the tea party is pathetic - it has no ideals that it holds true except to ruin Obama - and if they have to hurt the country by crashing the economy then that is just collateral damage.

The Tea Party didn't exist until 2010. It was brought into existence primarily by three events TARP (approved by Bush), the February 2009 stimulus bill, and the push for Obamacare in Congress. Those events added trillions of dollars of immediate and future debt within a span of just a few months and became the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back.

I can assure you there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the previous administration and there's a reason why the Republicans were shellacked in 2006 and why Romney couldn't muster as many votes in 2012 as McCain did in 2008. The base stayed home.

It's the Obama administration and its enablers who have no ideals other than their own enrichment and self-gratification in the here and now at the expense of future generations.

When you quit being a survivalist, you might have a career in propaganda writing. I'm sure Michelle Bachman will be giving you a call.

"The base stayed home."

 

[TPW]

New study released JUST after shutdown, by coincidence I'm sure. Tea party members aren't stupid after all, they are smarter than liberals at science, republicans are the real dummies.http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tea-party-science-98488.html?hp=r3

I'm pretty sure the Tea party, being more engaged,is more knowledgeable than liberals and conservatives at most subjects except pop culture. Which is amazing considering tea party members are older and you tend to forget things over time. I'd like to see a study of the intelligence of the parties based on age, tea party would rule.

You don't have to be stupid to have extremist political views.

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

Wall Street and corporations control the money that both parties have become reliant upon, but that has nothing to do with the tea party - heck Freedomworks one of the largest and influential tea party organization is run by by Richard Armey - a guy who is a career and an insider. Koch Industries created the modern tea party by giving them gushingly favorable TV coverage.
The tea party policies are not just small government ideals but like supporting Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments, whacked out birther theories, Muslim law coming to the US, immigrants taking over the country.

On a fiscal standpoint notice how they said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to street in such OUTRAGE. In the end the tea party is pathetic - it has no ideals that it holds true except to ruin Obama - and if they have to hurt the country by crashing the economy then that is just collateral damage.

The Tea Party didn't exist until 2010. It was brought into existence primarily by three events TARP (approved by Bush), the February 2009 stimulus bill, and the push for Obamacare in Congress. Those events added trillions of dollars of immediate and future debt within a span of just a few months and became the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back.

I can assure you there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the previous administration and there's a reason why the Republicans were shellacked in 2006 and why Romney couldn't muster as many votes in 2012 as McCain did in 2008. The base stayed home.

It's the Obama administration and its enablers who have no ideals other than their own enrichment and self-gratification in the here and now at the expense of future generations.

When you quit being a survivalist, you might have a career in propaganda writing. I'm sure Michelle Bachman will be giving you a call.

"The base stayed home."

Do you really think people like myself were champing at the bit the vote for a country club Republican from an ultraliberal northeast state for president, or put ethically challenged congressional Republicans back into office in 2006 after passing huge entitlement bills like Medicare Part D?

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Do you really think people like myself were champing at the bit the vote for a country club Republican from an ultraliberal northeast state for president, or put ethically challenged congressional Republicans back into office in 2006 after passing huge entitlement bills like Medicare Part D?

I just assumed you voted for Obama.

Anyone who doesn't vote in a general election is irresponsible IMO, so good for you if you stayed home.

 

[timschochet]

"The base stayed home" is one of the biggest lies that conservatives tell themselves in order to justify the results of the last two national elections. It's true that in red states like Louisiana and Idaho, many in the base stayed home- why shouldn't they? The result was assured. But in the key battleground states like Florida and Ohio, the Republican/conservative base was extremely energized, and they did NOT stay home. But they lost anyhow.

Conservatives need to face reality: they lost not because of the candidate, or because of trickery, or because the public didn't understand the message of conservatism: they lost because the American public understood their message and rejected it. And they're going to continue to lose national elections until that message is modified. If conservatives continue in their attempt to kick out all centrists in the Republican party, or if they bolt to form their own party based on Tea Party principles, the results will be even worse.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Nice to see the tea party has moved from dumb and extremist to smart and extremist. I'll take that.

First they ignore you, then they mock you, then they ... TEA PARTY IS HERE ... fight you, then you win.

I never wrote that they were stupid as individuals. In my experience, far from it. But their views are stupid. A majority of Tea Partiers believe that Obama is a Muslim, a Communist, a supporter of terrorism, who was not born in this country. A significantly large minority of Tea Partiers believe Obama is the anti-Christ. A strong majority of Tea Partiers believe that it's OK, if not preferable, to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. A majority of Tea Partiers demand to balance the federal budget, with no tax increases, and no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Defense.Sorry, but these viewpoints aren't exactly rational.

Some of those are just silly, some are just rhetoric, some of those have some truth in them, but you are mistaking disruptive with irrational. The tea party is disruptive to the status quo, I won't disagree with that. In the technology space, a disruptive technology, like a totally new patent or invention, can revolutionize the way things work, such inventions are usually initially mocked because it represents a threat to the status quo. Amazingly, I've seen such technologies continue to get mocked even as the new products continue to capture a large percentage of market share, and companies producing outdated products continue mocking them as they go out of business. The Tea Party has captured market share with their strict interpretation of the Constitution (their disruptive idea) and continues to grow, at some point people are going to have to concede there are some truths, some big truths, behind the movement, even if these truths are totally opposite of mainstream beliefs.

This is not about product market share, but just for the sake of fun lets flush this out a little bit. I think the tea party is the snake oil salesman who tells other that the snake oil kills the evil demons by using unicorn blood boiled in rainbow water. Now just because we know that rainbows exist does not mean that the snake oil will work on cancer treatments even on wednesdays or full moons.

Now if I start to sell a lot of the snake oils - does that mean that the whole pantheon of beliefs have some validity to it. In short just because something is popular or sells well does not make it true/correct/right or anything else other than they can sell it to idiots.

The Democrat/Corporatist/Wall Street alliance is the one filled with very effective snake oil salesmen. They've convinced hundreds of millions of Americans that they can massively borrow and spend into perpetuity with no repercussions.

If you believe that, I've got a Flying Spaghetti Monster to sell you.

Wall Street and corporations control the money that both parties have become reliant upon, but that has nothing to do with the tea party - heck Freedomworks one of the largest and influential tea party organization is run by by Richard Armey - a guy who is a career and an insider. Koch Industries created the modern tea party by giving them gushingly favorable TV coverage.
The tea party policies are not just small government ideals but like supporting Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments, whacked out birther theories, Muslim law coming to the US, immigrants taking over the country.

On a fiscal standpoint notice how they said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to street in such OUTRAGE. In the end the tea party is pathetic - it has no ideals that it holds true except to ruin Obama - and if they have to hurt the country by crashing the economy then that is just collateral damage.

The Tea Party didn't exist until 2010. It was brought into existence primarily by three events TARP (approved by Bush), the February 2009 stimulus bill, and the push for Obamacare in Congress. Those events added trillions of dollars of immediate and future debt within a span of just a few months and became the proverbial straw which broke the camel's back.

I can assure you there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the previous administration and there's a reason why the Republicans were shellacked in 2006 and why Romney couldn't muster as many votes in 2012 as McCain did in 2008. The base stayed home.

It's the Obama administration and its enablers who have no ideals other than their own enrichment and self-gratification in the here and now at the expense of future generations.

When you quit being a survivalist, you might have a career in propaganda writing. I'm sure Michelle Bachman will be giving you a call.

"The base stayed home."

Do you really think people like myself were champing at the bit the vote for a country club Republican from an ultraliberal northeast state for president, or put ethically challenged congressional Republicans back into office in 2006 after passing huge entitlement bills like Medicare Part D?

How about a delusional anti-gay bigot from the midwest? Bachmann is Tea party favorite.