Moonhowlings

According to Huffington Post:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said on Monday that her proposal to create a Tea Party caucus in the United States House of Representatives has been officially approved.

Bachmann announced that she had filed paperwork to establish the House group last week. The mission of the coalition she said at the time would be to promote “fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and limited government.”

And now, it seems that Bachmann’s Tea Party caucus dream has become a reality. “Just got word that the Committee on House Administration officially approved the House Tea Party Caucus,” said the conservative congresswoman in a tweet on Monday afternoon.

Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence became the first House member to signal his intention to join Bachmann’s newly-created caucus. Talking Points Memo reports:

At a press availability this afternoon, Pence was enthusiastic. “You betcha,” Pence said when asked if he’d join

Does this mean that there will be real Tea Party leaders? This is beginning to sound fairly formal rather than loose-knit, grass roots organizing.

How many various caucuses are there in the House? This seems like a good time to take a wait and see approach. It will be interesting to see who joins and what all the common denominators are. Birds of a feather will flock together. It should be telling.

The Tea Party Federation has dismissed a tea party commentator named Mark Williams from the Federation over a fictional letter he wrote on behalf of ‘colored people.’ It went something like this:

“Dear Mr. Lincoln,” began Williams’ letter. “We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!”

Federation spokesman Mark Webb said the letter on the blog was clearly offensive.

Mark Webb squares off with Ben Jealous of the NAACP to discuss the 2 groups differences. The video shows a far more productive conversation.

We keep getting told that there is no national leadership for the Tea Party and then someone keeps trotting out a spokesman/person. I find this confusing. Is there a leader or is there not a leader? Leaders seem to come and go.

This silliness had gotten more time than it deserves.

The rising stars of the Tea Party and the new Right

Abolishing the federal reserve, Medicare, and social security

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Part 3 takes a closer look at the various Tea Parties and how they got started.  

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Strange. Senator Brown certainly doesn’t seem to be all that conservative to me.

I feel like many I have seen in this movement are bullies. I got that feeling watching the town hall meetings on TV and on the internet. I can’t believe that every thing I watched just showed the bad side. I can’t believe that every rally I saw only showed the bad side.

I honestly think people aren’t really sure what they want. Senator Brown is more like a person I might vote for than someone Sarah Palin might vote for.

Part 2 of Rise of the New Right addresses the common theme of dislike of President Barack Obama. The ‘birthers’ are explored. The video is about 7 minutes.

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One often hears that the ‘new right’ includes people who voted for Barack Obama and have become disenchanged and want to take their vote back. Is that true? I only know of one person who said that and that person is something of a political schizophrenic.

Have people always called a sitting president a communist, a socialist? I find that so horribly disrespectful.
What motivates deep hatred of any president? When does this kind of hate become unhealthy?

This hour long video was on MSNBC tonight.   It is well documented. 

Each segment will be featured on this blog.  Part 1 is about 9 minutes.

I find it upsetting.  Many who post here will not.

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From Huffington Post:

A University of Washington poll finds that a majority of “true” Tea Party supporters say it’s not the responsibility of government to guarantee equal rights to African Americans and other minorities.

According to the survey, 74% of Tea Party supporters say they agree with the following statement: “While equal opportunity for blacks and minorities to succeed is important, it’s not really the government’s job to guarantee it.”

Fifty-two percent of respondents also said that “compared to the size of their group, lesbians and gays have too much political power.”

The latest data on the Tea Party reveals that the anger coming from the movement isn’t unilaterally directed at government spending — one of the group’s core issues.

According to University of Washington professor Matt Barreto, who directed the poll, the Tea Party’s frustration with Washington “is going hand in hand with a frustration and opposition to racial and ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians.”

Other noteworthy findings from the University of Washington poll include:

• 88% of Tea Party supporters approve of the controversial immigration law recently enacted in Arizona.

• Only 18% of those surveyed say gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to marry.

73% of Tea Party backers disapprove of President Obama’s policy of engaging with Muslim countries.

Certainly polls can be very erroneous in the data they impart to us. Polls have certain criteria they must pass to be considered reliable. The polling sample must be relevant. Questions should be framed to eliminate bias. The sample must be large enough to be considered relevant. Those are just a few basics.  The poll is embedded in the article. (see poll in blue)

I am going to be bold and suggest that these numbers really don’t represent the Tea Party, at least not on the east coast.  So there is no fight with me over these issues.  I don’t have an opinion.  However, let’s hear from those who might think the Tea Party represents their point of view. Tell us how you really feel on these issues.

Christine Todd Whitman has always been one of my favorites since she was governor of New Jersey. Whitman knows what it is like to be shot at from all sides, being a moderate herself. She says she will be moderate on some times and more liberal on others. So how to label her? Tell her the issue, she will tell you where she stands and you can decide.

Is this nomenclature helpful or is it off-putting? Is this the kind of press the Tea Party wants? Would it fare better being a third party? Is it possible for a third party to win in America?

If the Tea Party became a third party, would they just continue to court old Republicans who sang the right music? How would that work? Maybe Newt has better thing before he inserts his foot. I have heard people do not like what he said.

Jon Stewart was on a roll last night.  He interviewed  John O’Hara, author of The New American Tea Party. Jon called out John on language.  Other than the language issue (like ‘Obamacare’ and ‘tea bagging’) Stewart recommends the book. If anyone has read it, please report back in and let us know your opinion. Tea Party folks, enjoy:

Part 1

Part 2

From the New York Times:  (bold is mine)

Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.

They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”

And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”

The Tea Party movement burst onto the scene a year ago in protest of the economic stimulus package, and its supporters have vowed to purge the Republican Party of officials they consider not sufficiently conservative and to block the Democratic agenda on the economy, the environment and health care. But the demographics and attitudes of those in the movement have been known largelyanecdotally. The Times/CBS poll offers a detailed look at the profile and attitudes of those supporters.

Their responses are like the general public’s in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as “fair.” Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, and, despite their push for smaller government, they think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost to taxpayers. They actually are just as likely as Americans as a whole to have returned their census forms, though some conservative leaders have urged a boycott.Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.

The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

Asked what they are angry about, Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: the recent health care overhaul, government spending and a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington.

Do you agree or disagree?

People like congresswoman Michele Bachman and Andrew Breitbart, ‘proprietor’ of the far right blog site biggovernment.org, just keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper. They need to take a page out of the Bill Clinton book and stop digging. According to Yahoo News:  (highlighting mine)

 

Three Democratic congressmen — all black — say they heard racial slurs as they walked through thousands of angry protesters outside the U.S. Capitol. A white lawmaker says he heard the epithets too. Conservative activists say the lawmakers are lying.

Read more…

Signs Promoting Violence

Abusive, derogatory and racist behavior  directed at House Democrats by protesters on Saturday shocked lawmakers.  Before the President’s speech to  House Democrats, thousands of protestors gathered to protest the passage of health care reform.  Members of the crowd were shown heckling.   Some became abusive and resorted to  hurling racial epithets. 

The Huffington Post reports:

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a ‘ni–er.’ And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a “faggot,” as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president’s speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

  Read more…

The CPAC has come to town. It arrived on Thursday. For those who aren’t card carrying conservatives, CPAC stands for the Conservative Political Action Conference and it has come to town full throttle. The list of key note speakers is enough to make moderates and liberals break out in a sweat:

Hon. Dick Armey
Hon. John Ashcroft
Rep. Michele Bachmann
Glenn Beck
Amb. John Bolton
Andrew Breitbart
Herman Cain
Tucker Carlson
Liz Cheney
Ann Coulter
Sen. Jim DeMint

Read more…

I think only a fool would underestimate this movement.  There are lots and lots of people out there who are angry and mad.  Angry, mad people won’t just go away.  However, if the people I see in this video represent this movement, I fear for our country.

Are these people imposters? Do they not represent the Tea Party Movement? Why should I not believe these are the people of the grass roots movement. Convince me I am wrong.

There are people who are tired of this topic. There certainly are topics I am tired of, yet I keep hearing them. I cannot turn on my TV without hearing about them and many ideas I feel are repugnant. I am tired of hearing the President being called a socialist. I feel it is disrespectful. I am tired of hearing he isn’t an American. That too is disrespectful. I dislike hearing people call for revolution.  I feel this call threatens my country.  Convince me I have misunderstood.