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Bachmann's Angry Mob
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The gray-haired curiosity-seekers assembled by the Tea Party’s Wonder Woman, Michele Bachmann, in D.C. are part of the GOP purge that plays well on cable TV. But the the party’s not ready to face its biggest threat.
The gathering of Tea Party sorts on Capitol Hill to hear Michele Bachmann and other Republican celebrities speak harshly about speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appears as harmless as kite-flying, until you listen closely and hear the familiar obsessed sounds of cultists and cranks chanting, “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!”
From the podium, Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor contributed trite trash-talk about the pending health-care reform vote in the House, but it was left to the Wonder Woman of the Tea Party, Michele Bachmann (R-MN), to cry out the over-the-top rhetoric that was cheered regardless of its incoherence: “You came. And you came to your house. And you came for an emergency house call. Are they going to listen? Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, they’re going to listen. It was Thomas Jefferson who said a revolution every now and then is a good thing. What do you think?”
The Bachmann star turn followed another Election Day in which the party out of power showed that it has fallen so far from reason that it can celebrate another loss of a House seat.
At noon on a workday in D.C., the 10,000 elderly, unemployed, retired curiosity-seekers, carrying creative signs such as “No!” were not a revolution, nor even the “rebellion” that Boehner claimed he saw. They were gray-haired props for more of the same posturing by what is left of the GOP on the Hill—a collection of clumsy self-promoters, talk show whiners, and impotent pols like Bachmann, as the GOP slips into the grave of a splinter party, undecipherable, unelectable, unmourned.
The Bachmann star turn—a Republican wag remarked, “Only in the insanity of politics could she be regarded as sane and hot”—followed another Election Day in which the party out of power showed that it has fallen so far from reason that it can celebrate another loss of a House seat.
Within hours of the completely unnecessary defeat in the New York 23rd, a result of the sabotage of the Club for Growth and its hirelings, there were chest-thumping boasts from the online precincts of National Review and RedState that a loss is as good as a win, that the true believers had raised up to smite the treacherous turncoat Dede Scozzafava in order to renovate the GOP.
The fact that the party had lost a seat it had held for a century, the fact that the Democrats has just gained another vote and that the GOP was going backward, was not much discussed during the inspired blame-shifting. Rush Limbaugh—who handed the Democrats a rallying point on election eve by smearing Scozzafava with the vulgar pun that she was “guilty of bestiality” with the RINOs (Republicans In Name Only)—blamed the Republican Party “bosses” for picking Scozzafava in the first place, without a primary. It is unclear if Limbaugh is ignorant about what a special election means—that is, a swift general vote to fill an empty seat in Congress—or if it was just inconvenient for him to check his script.
The insipid GOP chairman, Michael Steele, blamed Scozzafava for endorsing the Democratic candidate, Bill Owen. Steele did not answer why he did not call Scozzafava after she dropped out on Saturday morning and appeal to her to endorse conservative Doug Hoffman. Steele did acknowledge that the White House and Albany Democrats such as Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver did telephone Scozzafava and persuade her to endorse their side. Again, it is unclear if Steele is ignorant about his role as chairman of all the political voices of the party, especially those who are the party’s nominee with a name on the ballot, or perhaps Steele is just covering up that he feels intimidated by right-wing raconteurs like RedState’s Erick Erickson. Steele’s claim that the party will “get the seat back next year” sounds like the glib agent in the rock ‘n’ roll satire This Is Spinal Tap who rationalized the band’s shrinking audiences by arguing “their appeal is getting more selective.”
• Benjamin Sarlin: Bringing Down BachmannThe Club for Growth, wiping off the dagger it drove into the Republican candidate Scozzafava’s back, blamed the Republicans in general for picking anyone but a true conservative. What does true conservative mean to the Club for Growth’s Daddy Warbucks, Jackson Stephens, who paid lavishly to purge Scozzafava, to prop up the clueless Hoffman? In this case, a true conservative resembles someone who can imitate, without smirking, Ayn Rand’s cartoon heroes in Atlas Shrugged, “the Children of Light”: supermen and superwomen who will emerge from their mountain hideaway to rebuild America once the leftists, New Dealers, socialists, and One-Worlders have smashed it up. The Club for Growth may be impatient for the final days in the Republican Party, because immediately after ransacking the 23rd and giving Mrs. Pelosi another vote for health care, the same enthusiasts turned their garbled libertarian hokum against the Senate campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, who is judged to be a RINO or, in the cultish parlance of the initiated, insufficiently unelectable.
After Hoffman’s defeat, Newt Gingrich, who supported Scozzafava as electable in Rockefeller New York, sounded like a wounded possum when he measured the damage that the snobs, barkers, and paranoids are doing in their purge of the Republican Party. Gingrich pointed out that of 39 House seats in New England, the Republican genius at intolerant and insensitive campaigning had now achieved two House members left to the caucus. “Don’t undervalue the last representative,” he tried, appealing for moderation and compromise, “don’t undervalue the last senator, to create a majority.” Where did this newly responsible Gingrich come from, you may puzzle, except as a reaction to the old Gingrich, model for the new new right?
It is too late for Gingrich’s tardy appeal to reach the ears of the suicide belt operation of the RNC, where Steele even now thinks it is his job to threaten those who live in moderate or liberal districts. The scripted carnival of Bachmann is the part of the purge that plays well on cable TV—exuberant seniors, flag-sporting patriots, freshly minted Thomas Jefferson scholars. The killer contract work of the Club for Growth and its kindred of Cain among the conspiracy-minded is the part that will keep Republicans frantic minority of crybabies, rereading Ayn Rand, yearning for America to fail like them.
John Batchelor is radio host of the John Batchelor Show in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
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gustav
Purge, baby, purge!
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
FatFreddy
I am really getting sick and tired of these conservative Republicans calling themselves Libertarians. They are not. Libertarians are socially liberal. More so than many liberal Democrats. These Republicans are only toying with a specific set of fiscally conservative Libertarian ideals. Do not be fooled. If you don't know who Ludwig von Mises was, you're probably not a Libertarian, or fiscally conservative, for that matter.
They can talk about certain Ayn Rand principles, but as soon as you mention that she was an Atheist, and had a relationship with a married man, they'll go running for the hills.
So, do not be fooled when John Boner holds up a copy of the Constitution and spews out Libertarian ideals. He is just as much a threat to it as are the Socialist Left.
avocado
well said
AlwaysOptimistic
Wonderful post! I would bet most of these Tea Baggers are just "ultra conservative" Christians, who would prefer a theocracy to our democracy.
gameon
You would lose your money.
bigwurzz
I don't think optimistic would be losing any money. The Tea Baggers are just sheep being led to protest against their own best interest just like they are led to be swindled on Sundays in their megachurches for Jesus. It does say that Jesus liked 6 dollar expressos while at temple, though.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
whipmawhopma
DanKenton - "Most educated folks know that christians are maggots who see themselves as morally and, in this case, ethnically superior."
Congratulations on your knowledge about 'most' educated folks. Have you met them all personally or is this from an article in "Educated Folks Illustrated Monthly"?
Just an opinion, but I suspect you neither know 'most' educated folks or even 'most' Christians, and instead are expressing an opinion based on what you have seen of some of them, chiefly the ones that show up in the news and perhaps a bad experience with some of the hypocrites.
What AlwaysOptimistic is describing is a type of 'Christian' that I doubt Christ (just a man version or Son of God version) would recognize as one of his own, but rather just another form of the Pharisee hypocrites he was quite familiar with during his time on Earth.
I'm a Christian (most of the time, except when I have impure thoughts about evolution and the physical construction of the multiverse) and I dread the thought of a theocracy.
Religion in power, as implemented by people who should have a deep understanding about their own failings, is always a bad idea that leds to murder in great or small numbers, and corrupts everything it touches.
The Tea Baggers would find great comfort in having their present day fears removed from them by the certainties to be provided by a religious dictatorship, but their children would groan under the yoke, and their grandchildren would overthrow it.
gameon
Wow ,a lot of psychopathic hate from peace loving liberals?
whipmawhopma
gameon - Self-righteous and the attendant emotions are not the monopoly of any particular faith or anti-faith.
whipmawhopma
gameon - 'Self-righteous' should be 'Self-righteousness'. My anticipation about the episode of Hercule Poirot coming up on PBS at 10:00 have me distracted.
gameon
Hey whip your post is level headed,what I have a problem with is people who imply being christian automatically means your a lunatic extremist.That stereotype is used to discredit honest arguements against Gov. spending as voiced by the tea partygoers.It's the lazy persons way to respond to a challenge.
The teaparty promotes adherance to the constitution ,not a theocracy.People making things up out of thin air is just alittle annoying.
whipmawhopma
gameon - At the same time I am willing to believe that some of these have run into ugly 'christians'. So I don't take it personal. And some equate to ugly 'christians' in terms of self-righteous. And then a few are reaction trolls.
whipmawhopma
gameon - I don't think the tea baggers are strict constitutionalists. I suspect they would use government to push a social agenda perhaps in line with a Norman Rockwell version of Christianity, but very much out of sync with the ministry of Jesus as he lived it. These people see the Rockwell version of America vanishing, and it's scary and threatening to them, so they are reacting.
It's sad that they react this way, but America is always changing. Not always for the better, but always changing. Trying to go back to a golden age or move forward to one, something which all belief systems seem to have - political ones and religious ones, is a quest that is looking for something that never existed.
I would rather be a Christian living in Babylon than one living in a Christian quasi-theocracy, which just doesn't work any more than the noble though unrealistic idea of Communism worked in the real world. And as far as I can tell, I am in Babylon.
If they want to change America then they should love their neighbor as they love themselves, and follow God's commandments. People that actually do that get attention and respect even from unbelievers.
See you around.
gameon
Religion promotes charity and supporting ones neighbor.A huge amount of good deeds are done through christian churches.Syracuse Univ. put out a study saying that conservative christians give much more to charity than liberals tend to by a large percentage.I believe it, when's the last time you saw an Atheist soup kitchen?I personally have done work at a convent which is run by nuns to give shelter to women in abusive situations,this would be gone in a "religion free world".
I personally do not practice any religion,but to pretend that our culture and heritage aren't based on christian values is wrong.It has been the rudder on our American ship for a long time and was what strengthened us during trying times.Trying to hold on to ones culture and traditions is important and in no way makes someone an evil person,not that you're saying that.
This country has done more good for the human race than any country that has ever existed,and it was all done under the banner of christian ideals,take that away and who knows what we're left with.
dcbooknurse
Or when John Boehner holds up a copy of the Constitution and then quotes the Declaration of Independence.
Did anyone else think it was awkward that he was trying to emphasis the "Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" part and was clueless that the first right listed is 'Life?" Seems to me that if you have an inalienable right to Life having health care coverage for all would be the main way to ensure that right.
escomments
You don't have a right to anything that infringes on the rights of others. You Socialists need to crawl back under the rock of historical disasters that you slimmed your way out of!
gak001
Oh escomments... if you only understood history... and economics and politics.
redlotus2
You are actually pathetic. Nowhere in either document does it claim health services are an entitlement. The United States was founded on the principal of each man providing for himself, not getting what you want because you yell about it for long enough.
whipmawhopma
redlotus2 - "You are actually pathetic. Nowhere in either document does it claim health services are an entitlement. The United States was founded on the principal of each man providing for himself, not getting what you want because you yell about it for long enough."
redlotus2 is correct. 'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' (which really means being allowed to take a chance with fortune) as the founders had in mind was all about having the freedom to live your own life to the best of your ability, without interference from either the government or any kind of state church. This is the 'pursuit of happiness' in the meaning of the time.
Of course, that also included the freedom to own other people as property, one of the reason some of the founding fathers were quite enthusiastic about splitting away from the British, who were slowly building up to the abolition of the slave trade and slavery itself, hence the need for independence and its declaration by the slaver class.
Not that it matters what the founders thought, since they are all dead and we the living decide what it means. If we decide that health maintenance is part of what we call 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', then that is indeed what it means. Though obviously we're not in agreement about that.
AlanD2
redlotus2: I actually agree with our founders - women such as Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann should not be allowed to vote.
I'm okay with most of the rest voting, though.
meglon978
The United States was not founded on the principal of each man providing for himself. It was founded on free people coming together to make a society better than what they had experienced coming from Europe where there lives were ruled over by a non-elected royalty and church dogma.
If the United States were founded on every man for themselves, they wouldn't have bothered to form a government at all, would they have?
How feking stupid are some people?
whipmawhopma
meglon978 - "every man for themselves" is a bit different than "each man providing for himself". The first sounds like the order to abandon ship, and the second is mostly what we have today, in terms having to find a job to earn an income to live on and pay taxes on, etc, with some of those taxes going to provide for the others.
stjam8
John Boehner was actually reciting from the Declaration of Independence. I guess he gets the 2 confused.
Lilli917
And the whole group around him was nodding in agreement! That pocket size copy of the Constitution that he carries must have different words than the one the rest of us read. It's frightening that all those Congressmen didn't seem to know the difference!
newswoman
You Reps are so afraid that some of the taxpayer monies will be used to help American citizens. But you never complain about these monies being used for WAR, which you love. It makes you feel STRONG AND MANLY I guess. And Aland2;s remark about women and the vote was unfunny and sexist.
AlanD2
newswoman: I'm sexist because I don't want a few crazy conservative women to vote? There are a lot of crazy conservative men I wouldn't allow to vote too if I could manage it.
Now the conservatives who say that no women at all should be allowed to vote (and I've heard a few of them say this) - that's real sexism.
Humor is in the eye of the reader, and I'm sorry you took offense. But after all, this is the DB, and my humor is usually pretty mild compared to a number of posters here.
diamondgirl
Fatboy, who said everyone in that crowd was a Libertarian? YOU?
The people in those crowds are the melting pot we call America...who just doesn't happen to agree with you and your views. It looks like they are getting to you as you all sit in your basements in your pajamas spewing hate and disgust, when at least they are out there doing something about what they believe in
This is America, not Iran, Cuba or any of those socialist countries yet, even though Obama's health Care is right out of the book, Rules for Radicals, by Saul alinski his mentor and bible...Go read that people and then you will understand why the unemployment is 10.2% after a porkulus bill was to keep it at 8%...
I think it's great you believe all his lies, so in 2010 the Congress will be republican again, and the almighty leader will be scratching his head, it can't be because I passed all those expensive bills could it?
stjam8
diamondgirl: Yes, this is America! That why we have taken months to work on a health care bill that the republicans will support. Senator Grasseley was one of the republicans in the committee. After getting the Democrats to throw out everything he didn't like, he said he wouldn't support the bill. He even went on the stump and told his constituents, they have every right to fear, and this was the bill he worked on for months. This not about a government take over, this is about the republicans trying to get back in power. And they are not above spewing the hate and the fear,or at the very least reminding silent because they see it as an advantage that the issues not be discussed. Health care reform has been delayed for months as fallacies about it are still being refuted. Senator Demint said They will make health care reform this Presidents "Waterloo" There is a democratic progress taking place in Washington, inspite all the claims of socialism and government take over.
GaryBoldwater
so pathetically short sighted...
JFKDem
Melting pot? Melting pot!? Are you serious? I think everyone in those crowds are essentially cookie cutter images of Fox News watching gullible people that listen to fear mongers like Bachmann and Boner.
As we spew hate and disgust? Like signs about burying Health Care with Ted Kennedy? You are in your own little right-wing world of reactivity. That's all you do, react to any type of change. No ideas, no compromise. Their idea of bipartisanship is "do what we want to do, and we'll call it bipartisan."
You like to scare people and take them back to the Reagan days of Communist Russia, and the Nixon days of Maoist China; no. By your standards the Swedes, are Socialists. They have Universal Health Care; some of the healthiest and most intelligent people on the planet. And they are ranked first in the world by The Economist's Democracy Index. Now, I am not saying that we should become a Socialist nation, what I am saying is stop using words in a "creative" and manipulative fashion to drive angry herds of people who probably benefit from this government more than they care to know. Diamondgirl, I think you should leave the TV set and look outside. If these crowds ae a melting pot to you, I have some advice: leave; leave as quickly as possible and don;t look back.
gak001
You are so bitter. Your comments are so angry. I hope you have health insurance because you're going to suffer from hypertension soon if you aren't already.
skibummin1
Diamond girl
your the problem go back to school, when you were there you were not paying attention, Cuba is a communist country the other side of the political spectrum of socialism,and Iran is a theocrasy
We need Mort Saul back with his blackboard to explain political spectrum
Noontime
diamondgirl:
Thank you. I just keep forgetting that when the republicans ran Congress, everything was, well..absolutely perfect! There was no deficit, no trillion dollar wars, no discord of any kind. It really was freakin Shangrila, wasnt it? Thnaks for reminding me of that.
Tinybugg
Diamondgirl...did you say the people in the crowds were the "melting pot" of America...Get out of here!!! Keith Olbermann was even commenting on how the tea baggers would do them self some good by getting a few brown, black, Asian or Hispanics to join them...I keep saying they look EXACTLY like the fat, old, angry, white mobs that tried to stop integration....
FatFreddy
diamondgirl,
In case you didn't know this, the US is a Socialist country. It has been since 1913. Do you know what happened in 1913? I'll give you a hint: It has to do with a bank.
escomments
skibummin1-
Go back to school? Communism is the opposite of Socialism?
What school did you go to?
Karl Marx, was the father of modern Socialism.
Cuba is a Marxist/leninist state. Please do some research before spouting off with such idiocy!
escomments
FatFreddy-
If you are referring to the Federal Reserve Act, I wouldn't call that the start of the Socialist State.
Try 1937, nlrb v. jones laughlin steel corp.
This is in fact when Socialism Started in this Country thanks to FDR.
And he did it by causing a Constitutional Crises!
Progressives as far back as the 1930s have been attacking the Constitution to seek greater Government Control over the populace.
DeeAmbro
Melting Pot? Ha, ha! If that's true, shouldn't there be at least one brown-skinned person there? It's a Fake News contrived "crackpot", that's what it is. And those "expensive bills" are necessary if we are to continue to pay out all those social security and medicare payments those socialist-hating, melting-pot, "real" americans demand!
FatFreddy
I would disagree. Technically,you could go back even further to February 25, 1791. The first and foremost definition of Socialism is central planning of the economy (controlling the money supply), which is the primary function of the Federal Reserve. FDRs New Deal was more Corporatist than Socialist. Corporatism is something that is shared by both Republicans and Democrats.
escomments
DeeAmbro-
Are you trying to say that you know everyone who was there and can with out a doubt stipulate that there was not one brown skin person?
escomments
FatFreddy-
That was Hamilton's idea.
My least favorite Founding Father.
stjam8
escomment: So, if Dee-Ambro or any other was there and found one brown skin person, One would prove what?
DeeAmbro
escomments, in all the pictures of teabagger events, I've seen maybe two people that weren't angry white people. I know teabaggers don't like facts, but the facts are that this country is changing demographically and when you hang a "whites only" sign on the door of the republican party, don't be surprised when everyone else votes for the other party. You'll see.
escomments
DeeAmbro
escomments, in all the pictures of teabagger events, I've seen maybe two people that weren't angry white people. I know teabaggers don't like facts, but the facts are that this country is changing demographically and when you hang a "whites only" sign on the door of the republican party, don't be surprised when everyone else votes for the other party. You'll see.
Nobody's hung a "Whites only" sign anywhere!
What are you trying to say?
They don't pass your test?
Angry White People?
Are you an angry Black person?
I don't know, I'm asking.
So what if there was one or two. I don't know, I wasn't there and frankly don't care if there was 5 or 500!
That's the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. Conservatives truly are Color Blind while Liberals are always watching the crowds to see how many people of this race, or that race are out there. As if that proves something.
RomeoHotel
Seventeen replies.
I think you hit a nerve, diamondgirl. Congratulations.
DeeAmbro
escomments, my point is that the teabaggers are a very narrow segment of America and not at all representative of the population at large. What are they so afraid of? They're angry and "want their country back" but back to what? We're moving ahead...get out of the way! They seem to hate everybody...muslims, hispanics, liberals, gays, jews, immigrants, democrats, oh I could go on and on. BTW, didn't Jesus say to love one another? They claim to be christian, yet hate everyone else. That doesn't win elections.
stjam8
escomments: said "That's the difference between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives truly are color blind while liberals are always watching the crowd to see how many people of this race or that race are out there, As if that proves something". You can't really claim to be color blind while all the evidence suggests otherwise. A crowd of 99% white does prove something. On the republican party web site they are bragging about Jackie Robinson being a great republican. I guess they forgot what Robinson said. " Every chance I got , while I was campaining, I said plainly what I thought of the right wing republicans and the harm they were doing. I felt the GOP was a minority party in terms of the number of registered voters and could not win unless they updated their social philosoply and sponsored candidates and principals to attract the young,the black and the independent voter"......That was in 1964, not much has changed.
newswoman
Diamondgirl, you are totally full of it. The people in those crowds carried posters of Holocaust victims to simulate the people on the healthcare rolls, if the bill is passed, and other posters depicting our President in unflattering ways. This is hate speech and if these people are just the melting pot of America, we've gone terribly astray.
escomments
DeeAmbro
"escomments, my point is that the teabaggers are a very narrow segment of America and not at all representative of the population at large. What are they so afraid of? They're angry and "want their country back" but back to what? We're moving ahead...get out of the way! They seem to hate everybody...muslims, hispanics, liberals, gays, jews, immigrants, democrats, oh I could go on and on. BTW, didn't Jesus say to love one another? They claim to be christian, yet hate everyone else. That doesn't win elections."
I really don't think you have a clue what "Teabaggers" are.
It is so simplistic for the Left to just label these people Teabaggers, or Racists, or People who hate! I guess in their minds, it's a good way to marginalize them and try to render them ineffective but really all it does is fill them with all the more resolve and determination to defeat the Liberals who are on a path to destroying this country!
We are not moving ahead. We are moving to a system of Government that has been proven to be a failure through out history. So we are actually moving backwards!
I certainly don't love Muslims who are strapping on bombs and blowing up Innocent people or flying planes into buildings. As a matter of fact I think they are freekin' animals that need to be put down. Do I paint all Muslims with that brush? Not necessarily but I do think that their religion is inherently evil and so do most other non Muslim people around the world. They just won't say it for fear of either the PC police or the fact that they may get their heads chopped off or blown up.
Liberals, It's pretty obvious that I have a dislike for liberals because they are such busy buddies. They are trying to run everyone's lives where most people just want to be left alone.
I have no problem with Hispanics if they are here legally. I have a dislike of ones that are not here legally and more contempt for the Liberals who support them being here illegally.
No problem with Immigrants as long as they assimilate into the American culture. That culture that hasn't been destroyed by multiculturalism and the Left's attack on traditional values. Another reason for disliking Liberals.
I think that Homosexuality is disgusting. I personally don't care what people do behind closed doors but I will never agree to normalizing it into the culture as many states are finding out. People are not in support of Gay Marriage.
The only problem I have with most Jews in America is that they are Liberals. I am Jewish and I have a huge issue with Jews who won't support Israel and actually support policies against Israel. They have fallen for the cesspool of Left wing Propaganda to the elimination of their own race and religion in favor of Muslims who want to sweep them into the sea.
Amazing.
Oh yeah, and then there are the Liberals who try to point out the hypocrisy of Christians by saying that Jesus tells us to love our enemies. So we should take that to mean that we should support people who are trying to kill us or destroy our way of life.
That begs the question, to what end?
I guess that's what you meant.
I don't have the mental disorder that is the Liberal mindset. It is truly the definition of insanity
escomments
stjam8-
Republicans?
Those people aren't Republicans.
They are Libertarians and Conservatives. Something Republicans stopped supporting shortly after 1994
DeeAmbro
Well, escomments, if they're not republicans why is the republican party embracing them? And if you are Jewish, then I hope you are appalled at the "National Socialist Healthcare" sign with a picture of naked Dachau concentration camp victims on it. There were several more anti-semitic signs seen at the rally. So please excuse a person if one were to assume that that means...Jews aren't very well liked by this mob. And as far as homosexuality is concerned, this is just my humble opinion, but in my travels I've noticed that those that scream the loudest about it wind up being closeted homosexuals after all. Not that that applies to you, it's just something I've noticed. If we would just live and let live, maybe we could address some real problems. Imagine that, talking about issues that truly affect people's lives rather than hot-button issues that politicians want us to fight over while they steal all the money?
escomments
DeeAmbro-
I don't have time for this anymore. You've got nothing.
RomeoHotel
DeeAmbro said,
"And as far as homosexuality is concerned, this is just my humble opinion, but in my travels I've noticed that those that scream the loudest about it wind up being closeted homosexuals after all."
I think this observation applies nowhere more clearly than it does to people who call other people "teabaggers".
Most of us had no idea what "teabagging" was until the Democrats' shills in the corporate media began using the term, with smiles and winks, to describe tax protestors last Spring.
I heard that it was a reference to some sort of sexual practice, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I finally learned what it was. Then it struck me: The term is a perfect metaphor for the corporate media who slobber over Obama and the Democrats.
DeeAmbro
So, RomeoHotel, what is the lesson to be learned from that? Put on a thinking cap, do a little research, turn off Rush and Fake News and learn to do a little thinking for yourselves. A simple google search might have turned up that embarrassing little detail. But like everything else in your lives, you'd rather blame it on the democrats. Pathetic.
hazardta
Exactly. If they really want to liken themselves to Ayn Rand characters, shouldn't they be hiding in a mountain somewhere and not in the nation's capital?
Twisted
So you are totally shocked that the people, senior citizens who all receive the public option,(medicare) are the only group who oppose the rest of our population being offered the public option in heathcare. Further you actually expect members of congress to understand our Constitution wow what a novel concept!! BTW wasn't Alan Greenspan one of Ayn Rands lovers i wonder if he had those liver spots then.
DeeAmbro
And don't forget the republican politicians. They also get a great medical plan and oppose the rest of us having the same. Hypocrites!
Diesel5
MIchele Bachmann Supremacist. She is inciting unstable people to be violent as we have witnessed in the past day and a half. She hides behind this Republican violent speech making which is totally irresponsible for a congresswoman. What motivates this "congresswoman" is a Supremacist hatred for anyone who is not white and is the President of the US. How did she ever get elected?
whipmawhopma
FatFreddy - I am socially liberal but at the same time fiscally conservative. But I don't know who Ludwig von Mises is, even though Wikipedia is a few key strokes away. Does that mean I can't say I am a Libertarian? I do know who Harry Browne is.
Minority Leader John Boehner is a proto-fascist and if indeed the Constitution was a 'living' document it would have felt soiled by his touch.
AlanD2
Well said, Whip. Our country would be a better place if Boehner and a few other ultra-conservative Republicans retired. Too bad so many of them come from safe districts...
OffenbachStutz
Poor Robert Welch. Ahead of his time.
amanda07070
Pathetic.
Southpaw
Looks like Tea Bagger head honcho Bachmann is one up on Palin for the moment but, not to fear, Palin will get back the upper hand with book promotion appearances. Cat fight in the offing? Stay tuned.
rtwyatt3
Teabaggers purging the teabaggers. Iol
NHBob09
Bachmann is like Palin, only without all the brains.
newswoman
What brains, NHBobWhen speaking without notes she is incoherent.
rtwyatt3
"until you listen closely and hear the familiar obsessed sounds of cultists and cranks chanting,"
I would emphasize the word cultists. I've been saying that the teabaggers resemble a cult. Glad to see someone agrees with me.
gameon
Do mobs of glazed eyed Obamanites also remind you of a cult ?What about mobs of angry anti-war protestors?How about gay rallies? Or groups of grey-bearded pro-gov. health care supporters?What about labor unions?
Silly liberals,you're on the wrong side of history!Do any of you have any actual level headed arguments or do you only have the ability to stereotype and use simple minded terms like"angry mob','cultists','tea-baggers'',wingnuts".
Spin how you like,nobody is buying it.
GaryBoldwater
Silly neocon, you fail to see the irony in your statement. You are stereotyping us "silly libs" as stereotypers. I could use some cliche about a pot and a kettle, but I'm sure it would be lost on you. Your argument is tired -- and in fact, no one is buying it.
stjam8
gameon: "What about labor unions?" Without the strong labor movement in this country, Most Americans would be working 2 or more jobs without health care benefits. Oh, my mistake, that was 30 years ago, before the working class were successfully villainfied by big business. "How about "gay rallies?" So, You are against CIVIL RIGHTS? "Health care supporters" This group of people includes doctors nurses and medical providers. The latest group to support health care reform is the AARP. "Angry anti-war protesters" So people who are protesting the war are lumped in to one big cult with the rest of the people you have singled out. There is a lot of reasons to protest the war. If we are going to stay in these countries, are our methods effective, or creating more of the same. For every dead terrorists we can point to, 2 or more spring up. "Silly Liberal, your're on the wrong side of history! Do any of you have any actual level headed arguments or do you have the ability to sterotype and use simple minded terms like "angry mobs",cultists, tea-baggers, wingnuts". The republicans remain silent as they let these people speak for them, instead of getting involved in the democratic process. These people you mention at the end have no level headed arguments, but have been riled up by the GOP looking to get back in power. They talk about socialism and government take over.hilter, mao,etc. We need be discussing the issues like health care reform , job creation, climate change. Less rectoric and more discussions on the issues is important at this time in our history.
newswoman
Supporting thr President makes us "Cultists"? And anti-war protesters are a good thing. They stopped the Viet Nam war. We need them to march again so we can get out of Afghanistan. We haven't had enough grey-bearded pro-gov. health care supporters, either. And labor unions are dead, mostly, but you Reps can't forget SEIU (maids, waiters, etc.) as tho' they were the strongest union in the country. Grow up and stop being afraid of new ideas and new ways of doing things. You will survive.
RomeoHotel
Among the many Leftie delusions I've encountered, one of the weirdest is the one that postulates that, as "newswoman" puts it, the Left is a fount of "new ideas".
That's insane, and here's an easy way to prove it.
What was the last "new idea" from the Left? Nationalized health care? They've been pushing that since at least the 1940s. Same sex marriage? Since at least the 1960s. Anything else?
The newest Leftwing idea that I can think of was the municipal income tax.
Meanwhile, the Right has come up with the idea of individualized retirement accounts, vouchers for education, ... heck, even the Republicans "Medicare Part D" was pretty imaginative (and popular and the only government medical program ever to cost less than projected!)
The Left is the home of the dead ideas. Zombie ideas. That Lefties think they are "outside the box thinkers" would be hilarious if it weren't so harmful to themselves and society.
btw, newswoman: You can't both "support the President" AND want us "to get out of" the war he called "a necessary war".
gameon
Good grief,you people need to get a grip.Calling a group of people who are for low taxes and adherence to the constitution a "cult" is an intellectually lazy and pathetic way to try an discredit a group who has legitimate complaints and fears.
What I was implying earlier was that to saddle the teaparty as extremists is the exact same thing that happens to labor unions,war protests,etc. Legitimate groups that may have legitimate complaints that should be dealt with in an intellectually honest way,not discounted with political propaganda.Liberals just so happen to love name calling ,as 8 years of Bush bashing showed us. Liberals also love to group the people by races and class.The Democratic party is the home of stereotyping and namecalling.
You guys just don't like the taste of your own medicine.
FatFreddy
Also, most Libertarians are against interfering with the inner workings of established foreign governments, and are against the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, torture, enhanced interrogation, and believe in due process of law for all detainees. Run that by them and see how they react. And most Libertarians are pro-choice.
Grimmace
So I guess the choice for Libertarians is do they want a lighter hand from the Federal Government in the economy or on international affairs? It's the economy for me and I would imagine for most other Libertarian-minded people as well.
Scozzafava was not challenged because of her views on abortion or gay marriage -- it was because of supporting the stimulus, card check, etc. She was neither a social conservative nor an economic conservative and she was simply in the wrong party.
eurydice9276
Why should it be one or the other? The two are not incompatible.
FatFreddy
That may very well be, but I try not to get involved in other state's elections.
And as for the "choice", there is no choice. There are Libertarians, and there are libertarians. As for the people in the crowd, do you really think any of them have any idea what Objectivism is, or Austrian Economics? Do you think Boner or Bachman do?
AlanD2
Grimmace: It sounds to me like Scozzafava was challenged because she put good for her country ahead of good for the Republican Party.
In other words, she was a true American.
Konchster
The drift from reality has accelerated. It won't be long before Bachman is calling for liberal internment camps just like her fascist predecessors
Grimmace
You better hide Konchster. Die Fuhrer Bachman is looking for you!
periscope
It has long been known that Bachmann is certifiable. But her crazy rants and raves are music to the ears of the Tea Bagging fools, who unwittingly act on behalf of the healthcare insurance industry, who currently overcharge them and would deny their claim on a specious "pre-existing condition" in a heart beat.
And what can you say about Bachmann's accomplices to fraud? Boehner quoted the Declaration of Independence and claimed he was quoting the U.S. Constitution. Cantor was equally dissembling.
America has some serious problems. It's unfortunate we have a Republican Party that is out fomenting, ignorant mobs, and spreading lies, rather than be a constructive force for America's future.
dafydd21502
"In this case, a true conservative resembles someone who can imitate, without smirking, Ayn Rand's cartoon heroes in Atlas Shrugged, "the Children of Light": supermen and superwomen who will emerge from their mountain hideaway to rebuild America once the leftists, New Dealers, socialists, and One-Worlders have smashed it up."
That sounds alot like Charles Manson's vision for Helter Skelter. Maybe he was a fan of Ayn Rand. He and Greenspan should get together and discuss...:-)
Scary. Extremists are very scary..
johnie2xs
I don't mean to say that the halls of Congress are necessarily sacrosanct, nor do I believe it's existence is so vaunted that it should be revered as some sort of unassailable "Mount Olympus" of governance, but where does this crackpot woman get off inciting a mass assault?
Is she in fact attempting to bring about a real pitch fork and torch type revolution? Is she writing a screen play? When is this movie due for release?
The "Irresponsible Ire of the Irrelevant" is beyond the bounds of sanity, at this point. They're creating an alternative fact base, and using it to create an alternate perception, of an altered reality. It is just monumentally brain scrambling.
You add to that the feckless MSM and the FOX NEWS echo chamber, and what they are doing is making it almost impossible to have the true facts, on any given issue, reasonably weighed and discussed.
If this is allowed to continue, they will successfully not only burn the Houses of government the Democrats inhabit, but also themselves.
We're all in the same boat. Do they not realize that?
No answer to that is required. The answer is evident.
Lilli917
I agree! It's frightening and getting out of hand. I read that she and her husband own a group of mental health clinics in Minnesota.
johnie2xs
A true example of going with your strengths.
Kind of like a plumber owning a company that makes toilets.
I can't begin to tell you how darkly humorous that little factoid is.
I thank you for the laugh.
birdfanMN
As you can see the good people of the Minnesota 6th district have been hijacked by the total wackjob Bachmann. Please free us by supporting Tarryl Clark for Congress. Go to www.tarrylclark.com for more information on her views.
MaliciousDisorder
It sounds like failed radio talk host Batchelor is jealous tyke. Add the 20,000 to the 1.3 million 912'ers in DC, the Fullerton, Ca 15,000, TWICE, and a host of other huge numbers, not reported by the MSM of ordinary Americans voicing the policies of this failed administration and you have America being taken back from the radical jihad progressives. Say what you want, your just losers all the way around your circle jerk.
Many elections were lost by the progressive movement this past week. NY23 was held by democrats until 1993 when redistricting gave it to the gop, so much for your civil war spin. 23 will come back to the gop with the full force of an election includes primaries next year. However deep blue Westchester County, NY was lost forever to the democratics on Tuesday as were many across the country not reported by MSM.
The crafty language and personnel attacks are all you have left and it's not fooling anyone anymore.
mcasio
You say: Many elections were lost by the progressive movement this past week...
And:
However deep blue Westchester County, NY was lost forever to the democratics on Tuesday as were many across the country not reported by MSM.
I ask:
Such as?
And:
Now admit it, when you talk about circle jerks your mouth waters just a little, doesn't it?
johnie2xs
Are you an under-study for Dennis Miller?
'Cause you're really funny! Mentally challenged, but funny.
MaliciousDisorder
Truth sucks for you. stop reading comic books as news and learn some recorded facts
mcasio
So then you aren't going to give me examples? That's all I was asking for.
And what's wrong with comic books? I'd think "Witchfinder" would especially appeal to far right Republican purists.
MaliciousDisorder
There is no big tent for the gop. It's called principals that make the difference. Too bad only a few repubs and dems have them
clearthinker
I believe the conservatives need to be careful with these tea parties. I believe it was a smart tool in the beginning to amp up the base to make sure they are still alive, but the moderates and independents will get sick of this after a while. I believe if health care passes along with cap and trade then the Democrats will seal their fate without the help of screaming people on capital hill. We need for our country to somehow come together instead of separating more and more.
ChrisRobbins
Since FoxNews and the GOP seem to be instrumental in organizing these 'grassroots' TEABagging protests, aren't they technically 'astroturf' now?
Thank you.
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