Tea Party activists bitter about GOP ‘hijacking’ movement

By David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 -- 12:05 pm
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teaparty Tea Party activists bitter about GOP hijacking movementRevelations about the connections between a Republican lobbying firm with a long history of astroturfing and one of the two main factions of "Tea Party" protesters are raising fresh concerns that the GOP has successfully hijacked the right-wing Tea Party movement.

A Libertarian political consultant interviewed by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow agrees that in many places the tea partiers' struggle against being coopted is already "a lost cause."

"In some places it's being fought out," Stephen Gordon told Maddow on Tuesday. "In some places it's always been a lost cause. ... People are trying to do the right thing, but GOP organizations and campaigns are effectively taking over the Tea Party movement in some places in the country."

The involvement of the Republican lobbying firm of Russo, Marsh, and Associates with the group known as the Tea Party Express has been apparent for some time, but Talking Points Memo backed up those suspicions on Tuesday with hard numbers from FEC filings. The filings show that between July and November of this year, the PAC behind the Tea Party Express spent almost two-thirds of its $1.33 million budget on payments to Russo, Marsh or people connected with it.

As Raw Story reported last month, the firm's apparent goal is to channel populist Tea Party discontent into Republican electoral victories in 2010 and 2012. Members of the more genuinely grassroots Tea Party Patriots have been expressing their anger over this for months, and Talking Points Memo has now obtained an email from one Patriot asking, "What would the true grassroots people think if they knew their money is being spent in this manner?"

Story continues below...

Additional analysis of the FEC reports by Mother Jones has turned up a case of the PAC spending $1600 on dinner for six at a fancy Sacramento restaurant.

"Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express have been clashing for months over which group truly represents the movement," the article notes. "A flashpoint came this fall when a member of the Tea Party Patriots' board, Amy Kremer, switched sides and joined Tea Party Express, allegedly taking the Patriots' extensive email database with her and locking the rest of the board out of the TPP website. In November, this led the Patriots to go to court to get an injunction against her to reclaim ownership of the group's electronic resources. The fight hasn't helped the Patriots' view of their tea party rivals."

Gordon explained to Maddow that the Tea Party movement was vulnerable to takeover at the start, because "many of these people had no political experience ... so when somebody comes in and offers to help organize and help them with these things, yeah, that's great."

"But what these Republican consultants want," Gordon concluded, "they want those email lists, they want the dollars, they want to control the organization so that they can exploit it for their political purposes. ... Unfortunately, the political purposes of most establishment Republicans is not the same as a grassroots conservative Tea Party person."

This video is from MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, broadcast Dec. 29, 2009.



Download video via RawReplay.com

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Story comments are below...

  • Michael Murphy
    There will always be an attempt by the corrupt to infiltrate and control every sizable group which has consensus with an effort to pull all who follow its leaders under the domination of their power.

    So be very wary of your leaders...

    Only those leaders who have the focus and courage to stand for the ideals which drew their congregation can be trusted. You can never let your guard down, and you must always think for yourself.

    Belonging to a group has the advantage of mass resistance and delegated responsibilities...BUT it is an added responsibility in itself.
  • The Tea Partiers would do well to ask the Evangelical Christians what exactly they got in exchange for their votes and their financial support. Schools are still teaching evolution, church and state are still separate, and it's easier for a gay couple to get married now than it was in 2000.
  • spinnikerca
    Actually, Ron Paul supporters were doing at back a ways before then, such as in December 2007.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvGS12EoZUE

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBR32X8vUy8


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG_OwTthS-E

    etc etc etc etc

    But it doesn't matter. Our imagination isn't so limited we can't use different group names. And there IS crossover of issues. We can work with the grass roots drawn to the events, and ignore the astroturf leading no one anywhere.
  • Cannon
    It would be funny to go to one of those tea bagger parties with a sign that says, "KEEP YOUR GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE!" It would be interesting what kind of reaction it would get.

    It is too bad that the legislators won't just lower the age to get medicare down to 40. Medicare is a very efficient government program. Ninty-five percent (95%) of medicare dollars goes into healthcare. About 60% to 70% of the money paid into the private insurance companies goes into healthcare. The private insurance's 30% to 40% that does not go into healthcare makes the insurance CEOs rich billionaires. These CEO's got there by finding ways to not pay out on claims. It's a sick industry literally.

    Medicare was originally put in place to have the tax payer take on the burden of providing healthcare for the elderly, those who would cost the private insurance companies too much money. It's all about the private health insurance companies making their billions of dollars in profits. It should be illegal for private health insurance companies to make a profit. They should all be made into nonprofit businesses. Making a business of denying peoples' claims is criminal.
  • Michael_in_ABQ
    If I'm on Medicare and my hospital bill is $10,000 and the adminstrative costs are $200 then the administrative costs are 2% of the total bill Now if I have private health insurance and my hospital bill is $1,000 and the administrative costs are the same $200 all of the sudden it's 20%.

    People on Medicare frequently have large bills. The majority of health care spending is for the elderly, especially towards the end of their life. Many of the administrative costs are fixed, or at least do not scale 1:1 with increased health care costs. If you have a few large bills vs. many smaller bills then the overall percentage devoted to administrative costs will apear smaller.


    So the argument that Medicare is better than private insurance because less is spent on overhead is false and misleading.

    As for denying claims. A company that denies a claim in bad faith opens themselves up to lawsuits and puntitve damages.
  • ...
    Why are all of you 'Freetards' so upset with the 'Tea Baggers'? They are just some small fringe group, right? The article even says that there is little political experience at the top of the movement.... except for the GOP trying to get involved.

    Why do you feel the need to make such a big deal out of the 'astroturf' coming out of this 'small movement?'
  • saaaskk
    As if Rachel Maddow has any credibility to make a report in the news about any news item. What a laugh.
  • I think the proof beyond a doubt that Ron Paul's "Tea Party" activists have been hijacked by the GOP, is the fact that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are going to speak at an upcoming Tea Party.
  • Michael_in_ABQ
    I attended an Albuquerque Tea Party Protest on the the 4th of July 2009 along with my wife and son. I've been a registered Libertarian as long as I could vote. These Tea Parties started out as a grassroots conservative/libertarian movement since both of those groups are in favor of fiscal conservatism.

    I'm disappointed to see the Tea Party movement being taken over by the Republican party. The main impetus for the Tea Party protests has been excessive spending. This spending started under Bush (well it goes back much much farther of course) and has accelerated once Obama took office. As far as I'm concerned the Republicans are almost as bad about spending other people's money as the Democrats. For most conservatives the Republican party no longer represents them and they grabbed on to the Tea Parties because they actually favored fiscal conservancy.

    Based on the signs from the 500 or so people at that Tea Party protest the main complaints were related to fiscal policy and the role of government. I only saw a few based on social issues.

    1. The government needs to stop spending so much money.
    2. The government does not represent us, especially when Senators and Representatives won't even read the legislation they're voting on let alone actually understand it.
    3. Don't pass cap and trade or the health care reform bill.
    4. Republicans aren't much different than Democrats
    5. Obama/Reid/Pelosi are intent on destroying the free market system this country was founded on and replacing it with a command economy.









  • bushsworstnightmare
    bitter and angry, clinging to their guns....teabaggers and after-birthers...or as they are better known - palin's base
  • Dr. Wu
    The teabaggers have always just been corporate tools--useful idiots to be riled up to squeal against their own economic interests any time the growups in Washington had the audacity to suggest regulations that might inconvenience a billionaire somewhere. It's been Astroturf since day one. The possibility that some of the sheep may support Ron Paul doesn't change the fact that FreedomWorks has always been the sheepdog.
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE&feat...

    Actually, I love Ron Paul. I feel bad for you true Ron Paul Tea Partiers, that the GOP (who hates Ron Paul) hijacked the Tea Party Patriots. Just like they hijacked the entire Republican Party with 99% non-conservatives like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc...the GOP are no longer conservatives, as the Democrats are no longer liberals. They are 99% beholden to corporations, the military industrial complex, and the wealthy.

    The real tea partiers must make it a point to distinguish themselves from the GOP fakesters.

    I consider myself "green party"ish to the left. There's a lot of common ground between real liberals and real conservatives. But I went to a tea party in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and it seemed like a Republican rally. What they do, is take "some" things from the Tea Party and redirect it to backing the GOP, which is just as guilty for running up spending as the Democrats. That really turned me off. And there was a super religious element to it when I went, which also turns me off.
  • Free America
    Couldn't agree more, sir.

    It's sad how some people are quick to latch on to ad hominem talking points and use it as a crutch to justify their own lack of research, thinking that since it came from the gospel of Glenn Beck or Keith Olbermann it must be true. Learned helplessness, perhaps? More importantly, it's great to see people are starting to the understand the insidiousness of the Left/Right Paradigm. To believe that the Two-Party duopoly is anything but a rigged system to keep Americans divided, is to either be woefully misinformed or malevolently deceptive.

    Sadly is does seem in this case, the proverbial British are starting to take over the Boston Tea Party, and will now convince people that paying for Tea Acts and Coercive Acts is the proper thing to do for their masters.
  • Well said.
  • vaya
    Fat fight, fat fight.
  • ClayBarham
    GO TO PERSON
    Rush Limbaugh said each family should have a “go to person” who can answer questions about political issues. To that end, I suggest starting at the simple roots that show the differences between two sides at claysamerica.com.
  • vaya
    If you believe the interests of the individual, as envisioned by you and the republican party, is better than the freedom envisioned by progressives and 'liberals', you truly are the fool. Just like the fool at claysamerica.com. We are ALL already controlled by the 'few'. And the few are called Corporate America. Wake up, chump.
  • dennycrane
    Classic story of the "Pied Piper." I would be alarmed if it was children being led off like the original story, but in this case it is a bunch of "sheeples" being led off by the "death care" capitalists. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."
  • Trotsky
    Concerning the future of grassroots movements in the U.S., this is the reason I am not optimistic that they will have much impact in changing society for the better:

    - In a country economically backward, the proletariat can take power earlier than in countries where capitalism is advanced. (Trotsky)

    http://cikehara.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive...
  • wiseturtle
    Dumb fox-watching suckers!!!
  • At least Ron Paul get it on a small level, however he is still foolish enough to believe that "people" will wake up

    The lukewarm will persist until the rise of the beast, to see when that will happen with 100% accuracy Google search the May 15th Prophecy or just click on it here
  • At least Ron Paul get it on a small level, however he is still foolish enough to believe that "people" will wake up

    The lukewarm will persist until the rise of the beast, to see when that will happen with 100% accuracy Google search the May 15th Prophecy or just click on it here
  • matticusfinch
    Oh for the record to Paul (couldnt find your post, Raw acts wierd on my work PC)

    I am not a Democrat, or Republican, or Tea Partier. Im not Red, or Blue or any of that shit. I guess i consider myself a Political Atheist.

    I dont even consider myself a patriot or revolutionary or whatever either because when you do proclaim to be those things you better have the goods to back it up. Those labels get thrown around as badly as "i love you" they are just hollow talking points these days. True patriots and revolutionaries are very dangerous people, not to the public, but to the power structure and to the government and i have not seen any dangerous acts towards the government by the people, just bitching and complaining and thats why the elite dont give a shit how we feel, they know we aint gonna do shit. There has not been a group or a person that has even come close to being what the founding fathers were. THEY were true revolutionaries because they put their fortunes and their reputations on the line to battle the British crown when most of the country wanted to just remain colonies. They knew if they lost it meant death no matter how wealthy or influencial they were. Those type of people dont exsist anymore.

    Im just an anonymous person with an opinion who sees the world for what it is, beyond the white and the black. Anyway, just wanted to clear that up. Ive rambled enough.
  • luschnig
    While everyone knows what an "Angry Right" looks like, many have no idea what an "Angry Left" looks like. The differences are really slight. One actually owns guns and the other wishes he had a gun. One will consistently vote Republican, while the other consistently does not vote for Democrats. But on the voting front, it is fortunate that neither is likely to go vote, because they both are suspicious of democracy. Here is where they are the same, both "Angry Right" and "Angry Left" are congenitally repelled by Democrats. They are united by the 'white' heat of their masturbatory moral outrage which is directed towards the defeat of Democrats and the victory of Republicans.
  • DownriverDem
    What are you talking about?
  • I never remembered this bitch being so annoying before I stopped dranking koolaid.
  • resorick
    Teabaggers! What a freakin' joke!YOU'RE ALL JUST SLAVES TO THE CORPORATE ELITE!Just like the republicans and democrats and libertarians and greens and any other political party in this country.You all still think this can be fixed andwe can go back to the "Good old Days".It's all over folks,the dream has been a corpse for decades,they own yer ass and there is nothing you are willing to do about it but spew on forums like this.WANT CHANGE?? REAL CHANGE??First kill your TV,then cut up all your credit cards and quit paying any of your debt.Collapse the banks and the stock market and get out in the streets and make your voices heard,by whatever means necessary.The system is no longer salvagable,it has been too badly corrupted,and will not allow you to change it to deny those who oppress you.They give you just enough to keep you from becoming too angry,keep you fighting amongst yourselves and pointing fingers at each other while they pick your pocket with the help of the criminal govt system they have bought.Class warfare you say, do we have that here?Tax cuts for the rich were class warfare.Gated communities are class warfare.Time for this class to stand up and take back what has been stolen from them.HALF of this nations wealth is owned by 1% of it's people.90% of this nations wealth is owned by 10% of it's people.The other 90% of the population has to struggle and claw to get a share of that last 10%If this is okay with you,crawl back in your hole,you deserve to be there.If it's not,if you want your country back,if you want your government back,then take a stand,MAKE A REAL COMMITMENT! You don't have to kill anyone,but you may have to give your life as a true patriot.It will NOT be easy,it will be the hardest thing you ever do, but if you don't,then you are selling your children and your childrens children into slavery.Communism is a failed system,a pipe dream,but as evidenced by our current situation,so is unregulated free market capitalism.Are we up to the job,the way our founding fathers were? Can we forge a new way, a way that is just and fair to all,not just the privileged few?I seriously wonder,I'd like to think so,but I think we're way too self obsessed to chance anything that might endanger what meager illusions we now cling to.Sorry,but we're just not up to it.We roll over and show our yellow bellies like the beaten curs we have become. Think I'm full of shit?Well just what are any of YOU doing about it besides getting your nut off posting on these insipid boards that do NOTHING? Yeah,thats what I thought you were doing. nothing
  • WANT CHANGE?? REAL CHANGE??First kill your TV,then cut up all your credit cards and quit paying any of your debt.

    Exactly! The revolution starts, in particular, when you stop paying your bills. I've said that before and came to that conclusion. It's the easiest revolution, too: STOP PAYING YOUR BILLS!

    What would happen if everyone stopped paying their bills?
  • Michael_in_ABQ
    "What would happen if everyone stopped paying their bills?"

    Well we'd all lose our jobs pretty quickly. If customers aren't paying the bills the company (or sole proprietor) wouldn't be in business much longer. No business, no employees.

    Also the economy would start to collapse since it's just made up of people voluntarily (for the most part) exchanging goods and services.

    Better run up some debt buying supplies first before you try and cause society to collapse.
  • Simon
    Also, the Republican party only talks Conservative policies.

    Republicans should stop being fooled by talk & start looking at the actions, the policies.

    Where is the Conservative movement in the GOP?

    Everyone right of center seems to call themselves Conservative when they don't represent Conservative policies!

    I'd love to see an actual Conservative party, group, or faction of the GOP, instead of letting them steal the name to elect the same old hacks.
  • Simon
    The real shame is that these groups are not as fringe as they're made out to be.

    As a news junky I've watched all of the polls over the past decade or so & they all show that about 20-30% of Americans fall into the Libertarian & Tea Party groups.

    This is of course about half of the Republican voters, yet they aren't represented by the GOP hardly at all.

    That's not Democracy, that's voting for the lesser of two evils.
  • Hologram5
    All of you arguing about the "orgin" of the tea party are all wrong. The "tea party" movement started back around last February with Ron Paul to protest the Fed Reserve and the IRS. I have emails (I think) that date back to then from "campaign 4 liberty" that Ron was organizing to protest both departments. Then, the GOP right wingers started showing up with all the brownshirts and their likes, took it and warped it into something unholy and twisted. This didn't start out as a bad thing, it just got twisted into this.
  • LWells
    Yes. I would argue that it started even before that, with the grassroots support of Paul's presidential campaign. That started out as, IMO, a pure, idealistic, and legitimate protest of grievances against power, both government and corporate,rooted in factual reality.

    Unfortunately, I believe it has been both overtaken by, and obscured with, the fact-less nonsensical ravings of the Brownshirts-come-latelys who first started to organize after the call for "tea parties" by the CNBC corporate hack reporter and the Republican machine. Even the justification for it after that was completely removed from reality and race became a huge factor.

    Since then, even the name "Taxed Enough Already = TEA" is the exact opposite of what the original Boston Tea Party was about. (Short version: The original was an act of corporate vandalism in response to a TAX CUT given to the East India Company on their tea which was driving the colonial small businessmen out of business) The teabaggers are fighting for the exact opposite - for corporate profits at the expense of small businesses and the people.

    Question: What does Paul think about it?
  • "The teabaggers are fighting for the exact opposite - for corporate profits at the expense of small businesses and the people."- And that's exactly why those people crack me up. They just don't have a clue about history, they believe anything they're told, and are overwhelmingly uneducated.
  • LWells
    CUF,
    "They just don't have a clue about history, they believe anything they're told, and are overwhelmingly uneducated." - You are correct about a great many, if not most of them. However, even the dumbest animal knows outside attempts at control. While that basic instinct of rebellion should be applauded, it is being manipulated. By very disgusting people who don't give a damn about them.

    I consider most of them to be in a state of perpetual adolescence - falling for the worst influences and still not ready to shake their conception of the world. I find it to be more tragic then funny. More like Anakin Skywalker.then Jar Jar Binks.I could be wrong in some instances. It's tough to discern, considering their arguments have no factual basis, due to the aforementioned influences.
  • Hologram5
    I have been searching for comments and writing emails about it to the campaign people here in Washington but with no reply as of yet. I saddens me to see something that was brought about by people that actually care about what happens be taken and twisted so.
  • LWells
    Best of luck, Holo. It would certainly be nice to see the corporate establishment Republicans and henchmen get thrown out on their asses and an actual reality-based grassroots effort take it back.
  • Hologram5
    Thanks my friend, with the state of things and the fanaticism of these clowns, we'll be hard pressed to get ANYTHING back from them. From the looks of things and from what I have received, Ron has just backed away with the attitude of: Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves.
  • gr0o
    This headline could have been shortened to "Tea Party Activists Bitter".
  • Simon
    I love real Democracy like this.

    I wish nothing for the best to the real Conservative, Libertarian & Tea Party groups!

    Its only a shame when they get fooled into supporting the GOP.

    Hopefully though they will get more organized & put forth some good candidates of their own to send a message to the GOP to adapt or get out of the way.
  • Terrible
    If the frigging teabagger idiots had been paying attention at all they'd have known from the very beginning of the fake movement that it was being run by wealthy GOP interests.
  • pastor agnostic
    I pity the state of New Hampshire. If such delusions become contagious, that whole state is a lost cause.

    Of course the teabaggers were created and promoted by Dick the Armey, and other neocon rectums. The idea that they existed in any way before (horrors!) a moderate black man from Chicago was elected president is pure fantasy.

    But to claim that FreedomLurks joined the teabaggers, instead of the group providing the funding, etc., well, such willful delusions and ignorance are hard to fight. Especially when the facts are lined up against them so strongly.
    But, our mistake is thinking that facts and truth have any impact on teabaggers. They repeatedly prove that they don't care about such things.
  • TZ
    I never thought the tea baggers would actually realize the obvious.
  • Terrible
    Looks like quite a few still don't. It's what make's them dangerous, their complete lack of self awareness.
  • NewHampshire
    The GOP did not hijack the Tea Party, rather they are adopting the Tea Party principles.. I'd say WE hijacked THEM.

    This is one bunch of people. They don't organize us in the states. We are a group unto our own. And we don't raise or spend money... we are activist and educational.

    The GOP will get on board if they know what's good for them.
    Once again this is no news.
  • NickyJunior
    Silly. I am a Tea Partier and I support both groups. But I guess when you put your conclusions first and your research second, you don't want to hear from people like me, aye?
  • NewHampshire
    This is utterly ridiculous. ONE group gets out in front of the movement, and works under the GOP machine... What about all the independent groups in the states, like NH, who don't answer to the GOP or even the national tea party groups, and who do not supply or take money or emails or anything else?

    One bad apple, and all that.

    This is a red herring. The movement is gaining every day, it is independent and these people who collected money for this 'bus' are free to do so.

    Tell me, can you disconnect the Dem Party from MoveOn, OFA, SIEU, ACORN, Think Progress and all the other supposed 'grassroots' Soros-funded groups that are out there?

    I THINK NOT.

    Much ado about nothing.

    Carry on NH!

    http://www.nhteapartycoalition.org/tea/
  • margaretpoa
    Wah! Who did the teabaggers think they were playing with, RATIONAL people? Please. Let me find my tiny violin.....
  • Thomas Jefferson
    hijacking only takes place when the original concept, item, idea or movement never was a part of the hijackers.

    the moron ball lickers really believe in their movement being "grass roots". Morons. Perhaps they should do a little investigating into a little repuke corporation called Freedom Works.

    But alas, they choose to keep the blinders on. If the ball lickers were any more astroturfed they would be a stadium for the NFL.
  • he he he, snicker snicker...
  • RichardCrow
    As soon as I can find an onion to slice I'll be sure to shed a tear for the poor things.........
  • thepoliticalcat
    And so it begins. The night of the long knives.
  • matticusfinch
    Thats what happens to populist movements. They get Co-opted by the establishment and discredited so the elite remain unfased. Get us fighting amongst ourselves with agent provacateurs and watch the self destruction. This shit has always happened.

    If these tea partiers were true educated constitutionalists (like the Campaign for liberty Tea Partiers) they could easily spot astroturf fakes but sadly most of the tea baggers are just disgruntled, ignorant, easily fooled backwoods Bush-can-do-no-wrong-but-Obama-is-a-tyrant-dictator, republican racist xenophobic obama hating morons. They just now found the energy to turn off Jerry Springer and Fox News long enough to get off their selfish, fat, lazy, corn fed asses and atempt to be politically active after their Coma they must have been in under Bush.

    Sad.....and you know what? Next time there is a Republican President, the Tea baggers will sit down and shut the fuck up just like the Anti-war Anti-Bush mob did when O'bombya came into town. same old same old.
  • You got it.
  • Fake Name
    You're really not getting the point of what they're doing, are you?

    It's not that they were just lazy under Bush. They LIKED the way things were under Bush and people like them. They just don't want Democrats running the show, which is really the only reason why they're protesting and doing all of this in the first place. All the claims they make about their intentions are bullshit that they just say to make people like you think that they're legitimate. And instead of calling them out on what they truly want, you fall for the bait and call them hypocritical when it's not their intention to be consistent towards the issues you think they're standing for in the first place.
  • matticusfinch
    @Fake Name

    oh trust me i got the point of what they are doing no doubt. They didnt do anything against Bush because yes, they liked him, they thought he could do no wrong, which i probly why major foriegn policy events happen under Republican Administrations because Republicans are an organizational Hierarchy of lemmings who never question their leadership (see Bush years 2001-2006). Unlike Democrats who are more independent and de-centralized which is why Obama has not gotten as much of a pass and rubber stamp as Bush did in this part of this first term. I never said the tea partiers were legitimate (except the Ron Paul Tea Partiers, they were doing this way before it became a GOP infested sore on the political landscape.

    Fail for the bait? Sorry, no. Are they not hypocritical in their Obama bashing, yet Bush loving? sounds like hypocrisy to me. Same with the Anti Bush mob who dissapeared once Obama came around doing the same shit. There is blame for both.

    I never voted for Bush (either time) McCain, or Obama. I vote for those who uphold the constitution (wishful thinking i know) which was Ron Paul in 2008 and whoever else comes along to match those qualities in 2012, if no one matches those qualities then i dont vote because i dont throw my vote away for the lesser of two evils. So yeah i "get it".
  • Paul
    You started out fine, then you had to go waving your blue flag at all the red shirted "morons". The problem is, there is no one wearing a blue jersey that will champion their cause. Of course they are wearing the red ones. I think if they had to don the blue ones, they'd be looking for more taxes and inflation and then they'd be referred to as idiots. At least as morons, they can logically justify their ire.

    The tea Parties were a distinctly Ron Paul phenomenon and I'd venture to say that almost any Ron Paul voter, especially those who took to the streets, is infinity more well informed then the Reds and Blues.

    What is happening now is more and more are waking up to the charade of Dem vs. Repub It is all a play for your distraction whilst, like Wicked Uncle Ernie, they fiddle about under your nightshirt, and the agenda keeps moving forward.
  • matticusfinch
    Im a Poltical Atheist i dont wave red or blue flags, they are both a sham.
  • lorn
    Great summary matticus.

    The establishment helped nurture and create the great left/right divide and uses the D and R parties to maintain control. From time to time a segment of either side will wise up to the way that 'their party' is selling out or letting them down........and they will revolt.
    Progressives are bailing on the corporate right wing Democratic party, supporting the Greens listening to Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader and other legitimate un-bought progressives.

    You perfectly describe the right wing dynamic in your middle paragraph.

    Both parties serve the corporate good, and both parties lie to their people about numerous left or right issues to soothe them and to get their votes. Then they betray them with their corporate loyalty.
    The brain dead Tea party retards leaving the Republican party may not be nearly as enlightened as progressives leaving the Democrats, but there is clearly a similar base reason. Both parties are lying fascist scum who betray their voters every time!

    The hostile reaction to your analysis by this TJefferson fool is a compliment to the accuracy of your comment.
    Corporate Republicans and corporate Democrats have so much more in common with each other, than they do with the people they supposedly represent. Their tactics, willingness to lie and their fear of informed voters, being the most obvious examples.
  • matticusfinch
    Thanks :)

    I am encouraged though, from reading the comments to most of the stories on this site and others, it seems alot of people are waking up to the left right game. We still got a long way to go but it seems most of the youth get it. We are getting a bum deal and our generation is going to have to deal with it. im not afraid of the government or the secret government that controls this nonsense because in reality, they are just pathetic sociopaths with no souls and they probably live in more fear of 'We the People' then we do for them or their boogyman terrorist patsies. They are terrified of our Constitution and our revolutionary heratage and they know they got a fight on their hands trying to take America into a World Totalitarian Socialist Government, they also know we are a heavily armed population and they know we have the legal backing to dissent against our Government unlike most of the rest of the world where its a crime.

    Thats why they give us poor education, polute our minds, sabatage our health, keep us poor and stupid, promote sex and violence in the classroom, glorify war in movies and media and teach no understanding of the Constitution, Bill of Rights or Declaration of Independence. They dont teach those things anymore because if you dont know your freedom documents, you can't recognize that you are being fucked over. One reading of the Consititution today should send chill up your spine seeing how foriegn that document looks compared to the America we live in today. They thrive on us fighting eachother with partisan bickering, they infiltrait our causes and mislead us, they love chaos because it allows them to step in as the saviors.

    The sooner we can agree to disagree as a nation, the sooner we can unite against the domestic enemies our founders warned us about when they put it into the oath of office.

    yes, it CAN happen here.
  • turnip
    Inspirational posts here today. The above is outstanding. Matticusfinch wouldn't be a web-nome de plume for Matt Taibbi would it? The minor textual faux pas; an anonymous' subterfuge. :0
  • matticusfinch
    lol, no, im just regular Matt.

    Taibbi got some good stuff though, have you read his new article on Obama and Wall Street? pretty interesting.
  • lucky
    Agree, except socialism is not the enemy. Consider socialist europe which so many despise on the right. Sure, they pay 50% in taxes, but look at all the benefits! Besides, wages are higher, for example, min wage is 2-3X US...

    Taxes don't matter for working people, only take home. If taxes go up or down, wages have to match to stay competitive. Some business will not exist when you have a strong, educated, powerful, secure middle class - and that's a good thing...
  • Paul
    Lucky,

    have you ever lived and worked in Europe? If so, what did you do there? I am truly curious as to how you arrive at your conclusions of assumptive benefits regarding socialism and how hunky dory everything in Europe supposedly is...especially for the producers. You make it sound like Utopia II wherein class warfare is a thing of the past and equality reigns. How much time have you spent there..and where did you spend it? Also, your economic assumptions ring a little hollow as they do have to run into that wall called the Law of Supply and Demand and certainly have to deal with the exigencies of a fiat monetary system and inflation as it pertains to the needs of an increasingly socialistic system. So, I'd really like to know how you learned so much.
  • turnip
    The problem is not Socialism, I agree. It's what Socialism always becomes. The Agenda, if implemented globally, will most certainly result in a slave-like planet. War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength.
  • greg789
    Good comment from you and matticusfinch. There is common ground between the angry right and the angry left. Both sides don't like fraud in government, no bid contracts, bailouts to the crooks, wasteful government, loss of american jobs by outsourcing and loss of american jobs by "in sourcing" cheap labor. The trick is finding a way to get together while fending off the operatives form both parties stirring up hate.
  • lucky
    I might add: ..and revolving door of lobbyists, accurate voting systems, instant run-off elections, etc..

    Let's propose to the tea-baggers:
    1. Get the elites out of the way, and we the people can have honest debate about what direction to move the country
    2. Meanwhile, start implementing the areas of common agreement
  • Thomas Jefferson
    Ahh I see another moron has posted. Do your research tool. Freedom works has been behind all the ball licking protests since the "movement" (LOL it certainly is) began.
  • NewHampshire
    Wrong. FreedomWorks saw the populism and then got out in front of it.
    But any tea party movements in the states who turn to them to donate or for direction are not smart, which is why MOST are not.

    You can't take one example of one group and apply it to everyone like you can with the Soros-control Demonazi party.
  • luschnig
    Give me a break. Who ever took their propaganda that they were independent seriously? From start to finish the teabaggers have been the shock troops of the GOP. The only Republicans they ever attack are the ones who fail the Party's Purity test. This current gambit is another propaganda ploy which, like the original BS about not being either Republican or Democratic, is an attempt to ensnare bodies from the farther, neo-Nazi right, and the non-affiliated conservative middle. There is nothing good about the teabaggers. The only Republicans they are going to turn on are the people the Party wants to exterminate anyway.
  • Paul
    Wrong and stupid at that same time...surprise surprise.
  • luschnig
    Paul, we have a political difference, a deep ideological difference of opinion. I believe in democracy, which I think the majority of Americans do. And you hate democracy. Of course, the original foundation of America was slavist, racist, sexist and suspicious of the people. However, America, unlike you, has grown and matured. Now, the majority of Americans are convinced that slavery, racism , sexism and oligarchy are wrong.
  • Paul
    So if we find ourselves on a bus wherein I am there with my whole "Team" numerous enough to occupy more than half of the bus, and you are there with your team but some of them couldn't make it and some are passed out drunk. You all of a sudden decide to pass gas in the vicinity of my team, and "we the majority" decide that we don't like you passing gas around us, even though you have may have the "right" to, so we hold a "vote" to throw your ass out of the window doing 65 and there are only a few people who vote to leave you alone, you'd be OK with kissing the highway"?
  • Paul
    "America was slavist, racist, sexist and suspicious of the people."

    Public Schooler...and sound biter...Too funny.

    "I believe in democracy, which I think the majority of Americans do."

    Thank God the founding father's didn't...Mob Rule is hardly something to belive in as it is inherently evil, and despotic. It is your belief in it that you need to understand and revisit.
    We were given a Constitutional Republic and we better be damn sure we keep it.
  • Paul
    "The way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to. Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations; the State governments with the civil rights, law, police, and administration of what concerns the State generally; the counties with the local concerns of the counties, and each ward direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these republics from the great national one down through all its subordinations, until it ends in the administration of every man’s farm by himself; by placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best. What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into one body." (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph C. Cabell, February 2, 1816)
  • Paul
    “Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy; such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable [abominable] cruelty of one or a very few.” - John Adams
  • Paul
    “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” - Thomas Jefferson
  • Paul
    "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" Franklin, Benjamin
  • Paul
    "Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking." (James Madison, Federalist Papers, the McClean Edition, Federalist Paper #10, page 81, 1788)
  • NewHampshire
    If you examine the controlling and taxing policies of the progressives, they are the ones who fall in line with the "neo-Nazis" not the Constitutionalist philosophy of less gov't of the tea parties.

    You lose, bud.
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