Taking Tea with the Lizards

[Foxfyre]

You know, I've watched the tea party idiots, and I STILL can't figure out what they are for.

Why? Simple.........each and every one has a different agenda. So much for unity eh?

I think most Leftists have only one way to get to an agenda. Their way. Anybody with a different point of view is to be marginalized or destroyed. This is typical of sheep who have no clear concept of what they believe or why they believe it, but have accepted spoonfed propaganda and brainwashing.

Tea Partiers, the mainstream of America, don't demand that everybody agree with them to be acceptable. They are allowed to have different points of view and there are probably many differences in what each person considers most important.

What they are agreed on is that big government cannot solve most day to day problems and will take away their freedoms, liberties, choices, options, and opportunities when it presumes to do that.

They are agreed that the Constitution, as it was originally intended, is still the best social contract for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ever conceived and a good government must be committed to defending it.

They are agreed that they know how to spend their money on their behalf much better than the government knows how to do that.

They are agreed that a government that has grown as big and all emcompassing and so invasive as our government has grown will be out of touch with the hearts and minds of the people, and it must be put back in its place.

The are agreed that in America the people want to govern themselves. They want the government to do what the Constitution says it is supposed to do and then leave them the hell alone to live their lives.

See this thread that I started last night:
http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...nter-americans-want-to-govern-themselves.html

 

[asaratis]

I guess a "Super" Mod has used some obscure "RULE" to lower my rep power by over 20.

You guessed wrong.

Oh well I almost NEVER Neg rep and I Pos rep all the time I guess I will just have to Rep WAY more.

Doesn't matter what you do.

Is it my imagination or has EVERYONE's rep power gone WAY down?

Take a look around you.

Is it my imagination or has EVERYONE's rep power gone WAY down?

Everyone has 1/5 of their previous rep power. Gunny felt creative this afternoon. No biggie.

Cool.

Simply a reduction in the size of the gloves...relatively speaking. Believe it or not, Gunny understands relativity.

Sorry guys but you ARE allowing the TP movment to be hijacked by the EXTREMISTS and will end up, as has sadly happened to the Libertarian party, as a JOKE of a movement. Oh and this is coming from a guy who RAN as a LP candidate.

Well tell me, please, since I've been pretty heavily involved in the Tea Party movement, I simply have not been observant enough because I haven't seen all those extremists. What extremists have hijacked us? What do they look like? What do they preach? Teach? Express?

Are there people I disagree with on taxes? Absolutely. We widely differ on what the fairest tax system would look like, but we are all in agreement that the government should not be taking more in taxes than it absolutely has to have.

Are there fellow Tea Partiers with whom I disagree on immigration, welfare, abortion, climate change issues, energy policies, term limits, or whether people should be able to park on the street? Yep. All of that too. But we are all in agreement that big government is not the ultimate answer to these issues and we all share a conviction that a government that oversteps its Constitutional authority is a government who does not have our life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness as a primary interest.

While the devil is always in the details, Tea Partiers are mostly unified in a conviction that the function of the federal government is to secure our rights, and then we mostly want it to get out of our way and allow us exercise them.

So I will be interested to know which of these I should view as extremists that have taken us over. I missed that somewhere.

No Fox as I said earlier I could get behind the TP movement if you could just weed out the CONSPIRACY LUNATICS!!! I am SERIOUS HERE at the VERY least you need to surround them with TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY posters so they don't get ANY press assciated with the TRUE TP message.




As an aside if I run for Pres I will campaing on CEMENTING gun rights with whatever legislation is neccessary to make it clear that our gun rights (I don't even OWN a gun) will NEVER be eroded.......EVER!!!! Even if it means a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to compliment the 2nd.

I would also DEMAND REAL accountability from the Military Industrial Complex. NO COST PLUS CONTRACTS EVER AGAIN!!! No sweethart deals and NEVER give a contract to a foriegn company. Once again if that requires a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to give it REAL TEETH than so be it.

20 NEW nuclear power plants ON-LINE by 2020. Moon landing and recovery of a small amount of Helium 3 for test for helium3 reactors by 2020. Think a Kennedy type of moon shot deal. I want COMPLETE space dominance for the USA PERIOD! China already showed that they can knock out a sattelite and we are WAY too dependent upon our military satelites to allow China to knock them out.

Massive tax breaks for SMALL busineses. Tax breaks for BIG business that are DIRECTLY tied to making jobs HERE!!! Make jobs here get rewarded for it/ send them over seas be TARRIFED 100% if necassary.

DEMAND FAIR trade from our trading partners not FREE trade.




How have I done so far?

Badly in places, goodly in others.

The TeaParty being taken over by extremists is equivalent to the Democrats being taken over by Marxists. Shit happens. Extremists go to the microphones and rev up their followers. Human nature prevails.

Are there fellow Tea Partiers with whom I disagree on immigration, welfare, abortion, climate change issues, energy policies, term limits, or whether people should be able to park on the street? Yep. All of that too. But we are all in agreement that big government is not the ultimate answer to these issues and we all share a conviction that a government that oversteps its Constitutional authority is a government who does not have our life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness as a primary interest.

Immigration----STOP IT
Welfare------REFORM
Abortion------RIGHTS
Clmate Change------Quit denying the SCIENCE
Energy reform-----Nuclear Power
Term Limits------REAL TERM LIMITS and ENFORCE THEM.



So you see I am FAR more complex than many people give me credit for.

Can you clarify "quit denying the science"? Does that mean we should believe the tripe presented to "hide the decline"?

No Fox as I said earlier I could get behind the TP movement if you could just weed out the CONSPIRACY LUNATICS!!! I am SERIOUS HERE at the VERY least you need to surround them with TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY posters so they don't get ANY press assciated with the TRUE TP message.




As an aside if I run for Pres I will campaing on CEMENTING gun rights with whatever legislation is neccessary to make it clear that our gun rights (I don't even OWN a gun) will NEVER be eroded.......EVER!!!! Even if it means a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to compliment the 2nd.

I would also DEMAND REAL accountability from the Military Industrial Complex. NO COST PLUS CONTRACTS EVER AGAIN!!! No sweethart deals and NEVER give a contract to a foriegn company. Once again if that requires a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to give it REAL TEETH than so be it.

20 NEW nuclear power plants ON-LINE by 2020. Moon landing and recovery of a small amount of Helium 3 for test for helium3 reactors by 2020. Think a Kennedy type of moon shot deal. I want COMPLETE space dominance for the USA PERIOD! China already showed that they can knock out a sattelite and we are WAY too dependent upon our military satelites to allow China to knock them out.

Massive tax breaks for SMALL busineses. Tax breaks for BIG business that are DIRECTLY tied to making jobs HERE!!! Make jobs here get rewarded for it/ send them over seas be TARRIFED 100% if necassary.

DEMAND FAIR trade from our trading partners not FREE trade.




How have I done so far?

you did not mention how christian you are.

LOL!!!! As long as I am INDOORS with no threat of LIGHTNING then I am Christian.

Seems you have that backwards.

LOL!!!! As long as I am INDOORS with no threat of LIGHTNING then I am Christian.

you will have to work on that. there still is an unconstitutional religious test.

I fail tests all the time I'm used to it.

That's because you're a genius.

 

[Xenophon]

you did not mention how christian you are.

Why should he?

It has nothing to do with religion.

 

[Xenophon]

You know, I've watched the tea party idiots, and I STILL can't figure out what they are for.

Why? Simple.........each and every one has a different agenda. So much for unity eh?

Who the fuck are you calling an idiot douchebag?

 

[asaratis]

A spot on commentary of America's New Third Party:

The Tea Party is the latest neoconservative end run around the possibility of a real third party emerging to threaten the status quo. To be honest, it's a brilliant political move, absorbing any energies that might have propelled a real third party. And, in true neocon fashion, it capitalizes on the working class' inchoate anger at the ongoing screwjob they've been getting from both parties for thirty years. The one escalated by Clinton's NAFTA, institutionalized as corporate theft by G.W. Bush, and polished to a high sheen by Obama's bailouts, as he brings home the bacon for those Wall Street syndicates running the economy.

Mobilizing the masses into a movement was never easy, and never harder than in America where moving the ever-expanding national ass toward anything other than the refrigerator is a job for a fork lift. Another way to do it is to adapt the national consciousness through installation of some new hot button by the state media. At the same time, installing a hot button in a significant portion of the national brain is mostly about simple repetition.

Joe Bageant: Taking Tea with the Lizards

Smells of a disgruntled liberal to me....not you, Echo...the author of linked op ed. Lieberman was a fine Democrat that wized up instead of down.

Human nature demands that most successful movements be eventually taken over by extremists and bullies. Some takeovers don't take over a few weeks. Some takeovers take over a decade. Some takeovers take over a century.

The Tea Party's power to please people put pressure on politicians to prevail.

 

[L.K.Eder]

you did not mention how christian you are.

Why should he?

It has nothing to do with religion.

hey, here's an advice you like to dish out: mind your own business. or, if you can't, then try at least to keep up.

 

[Xenophon]

you did not mention how christian you are.

Why should he?

It has nothing to do with religion.

hey, here's an advice you like to dish out: mind your own business. or, if you can't, then try at least to keep up.

Or what dickhead?

You will post something else stupid?

That is going to happen no matter what.

 

[L.K.Eder]

Why should he?

It has nothing to do with religion.

hey, here's an advice you like to dish out: mind your own business. or, if you can't, then try at least to keep up.

Or what dickhead?

You will post something else stupid?

That is going to happen no matter what.

haha, it is so easy to reduce you to garbage-spewing.

here is another advice: if you don't get it, it does not follow that the others are stupid.

 

[Xenophon]

haha, it is so easy to reduce you to garbage-spewing.

here is another advice: if you don't get it, it does not follow that the others are stupid.

Yes, you are just such a cool manipulator.

Where you born this stupid or did you have to work at it?

 

[L.K.Eder]

haha, it is so easy to reduce you to garbage-spewing.

here is another advice: if you don't get it, it does not follow that the others are stupid.

Yes, you are just such a cool manipulator.

Where you born this stupid or did you have to work at it?

i read your posts, now i am the master.

 

[Hum Dinger]

I think most Leftists have only one way to get to an agenda. Their way. Anybody with a different point of view is to be marginalized or destroyed. This is typical of sheep who have no clear concept of what they believe or why they believe it, but have accepted spoonfed propaganda and brainwashing.

Liberals do have a generally progressive agenda - one that we disagree on greatly, but we have no TEA Party organizing us, no propaganda machine, no Newt Gengrichs, Sarah Palins or Ronald Reagans to be our brainwashing Massiahs. We do have political leaders who are highly critizied by liberals and who often as not we do not support - for example - there has been a huge amount of critisim of President Obama by liberals since he has been in office.

In 2005 you could not find one single conservative that thought G.W. Bush was anything other than a perfect President - he could do no wrong. It wasn't until the 2006 election that they all abandoned him like rats from a sinking ship - a false massiah.

Tea Partiers, the mainstream of America, don't demand that everybody agree with them to be acceptable. They are allowed to have different points of view and there are probably many differences in what each person considers most important.

But they do agree that each and every aspect considered to be 'liberal' is catagorically wrong.

What they are agreed on is that big government cannot solve most day to day problems and will take away their freedoms, liberties, choices, options, and opportunities when it presumes to do that.

But what they fail to recognize is that 'Big' democratic government has historically been the greatest champion of freedom, liberty, choice and opportunity. Did not the U.S. government force the end of slavery? Wasn't the U.S. government the primary force in destroying the Nazis? Didn't the U.S. government lead the cold war fight against Marxist dictatorships? All of these battles were fought by 'BIG' government.

Methinks that when conservatives talk about these values what they really mean is:

-The freedom to enslave
-The liberty to dictate behavior in accordance with conservative social values.
-The choice to stop people from having a choice
-The option to limit the working class economic opportunity
-The opportunity to thief.

They are agreed that the Constitution, as it was originally intended, is still the best social contract for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ever conceived and a good government must be committed to defending it.

But they also agree that the Costitution must only be interperted as they want it interperted. They want the General welfare clause blatantly ignored, they want to interpert the freedoms of the constitution only as they want it and that those freedoms that they approve of must be unlimited freedoms with no responsibilty whatsoever.

They are agreed that they know how to spend their money on their behalf much better than the government knows how to do that.

I'm sure that they do. But they refuse to recognise that they only have the money that they do because of the great society of which they are a member - a soceity that is what it is only because of the U.S. Government.

They feel they owe nothing to soceity - no responsibilty whatsoever.

They are agreed that a government that has grown as big and all emcompassing and so invasive as our government has grown will be out of touch with the hearts and minds of the people, and it must be put back in its place.

Our Government is the leading protector of our privacy and freedom.

Apparently, since the President and congress were elected overwhelmingly, in a free and fair election, it is the TEA Party that is grossly "out of touch with the hearts and minds of the people".

The are agreed that in America the people want to govern themselves. They want the government to do what the Constitution says it is supposed to do and then leave them the hell alone to live their lives.

The American people do govern themselves thru Democracy. Are you saying that the elections were fraudulant?

Or are you saying that when the elections don't go the way you want them to, you will suddenly declare that we do not have representative goverment?

The Government does "leave them the hell alone to live their lives." Except for times of extreme war, when national defense requires conscripture AND in the case of taxation.

And that's really what this is all about isn't it?

The TEA Party is a congress of greedy self-centered people who do not care in the least for America. They want the government to protect their freedom, but do NOT want to pay the taxes to support our military. They do not want to pay the taxes for a government that promotes the general welfare of the people.

They want government for themselves and by themselves, with no responsibilties whatsoever to America.

I short, nobody knows what the TEA Party is for, but what they are against can be summed up in one word:

AMERICA.

 

[MaggieMae]

yeah sure.
poor Obama, he just haven't a clue about all of the appointments to his administration..

I never said that. You're a person in dire need of anger management. Please don't start kicking the cat until you get some.

what, I don't pussyfoot around with speaking Political correct BS..would that suit you better.

Well since there are around 400 people who work just in the West Wing, and each cabinet member oversees sub-agencies who also employ a bunch of people, each, including the EPA, I would suggest to you that Barack Obama did NOT interview and approve the hiring of every single one. Your implication that he is aware of every employee's resume is, yes, BULLSHIT.

 

[Xenophon]

i read your posts, now i am the master.

im·be·cile (mb-sl, -sl)
n.
1. A stupid or silly person; a dolt.
2. A person whose mental acumen is well below par.

Example: L.K.Eder

 

[MaggieMae]

Whoa, don't include me in your impression of Tea Partiers here. I never said that nor do I think you are right about that. I go to a lot of Town Hall meetings and I see a lot more 'thuggery' from the left than anything I've seen from the right. I dislike rudeness and discourteous behavior as much as the next person, but I have seen the Tea Partiers bend over backwards to be reasonable, non inflammatory, and express criticism constructively rather than visciously.

Are there exceptions? Of course. But to cherry pick a few minutes to showcase in Youtube clips or scour a demonstration looking for the one or two objectionable signs and hold those up as representative of Tea Partiers is far more dishonest, rude, and disrespectful than anything I've seen the Tea Partiers do.

I was referring to your point that the TP needs to become more mainstream or they will become the spoiler for Republicans gaining seats (paraphrasing what you said). Changed your mind?

I have not said the Tea Partiers need to become more mainstream. I believe the Tea Partiers ARE mainstream.

What I have said that I do not want the Tea Partiers to split the conservative vote with a third party. I want them to force the GOP to become mainstream with them and conduct a frontal assault on the impending Marxist tinged socialism that way. If they are successful in doing that and can convince the people that it is done, I think they will then win in landslides in 2010 and 2012.

Seems to me "frontal assault" is what they've been doing for a year now. I've said many times that I think the only way anything is going to break the gridlock is to have more Republicans elected so that a super majority doesn't exist. But if that happens in November's election, another "frontal assault" will only prove that they continue to be unwilling to enter into any compromise. How will that be helpful?

 

[MaggieMae]

you don't like the message the Tea Party is for, don't join.

The tea party isn't an extension of the Republican party, that is something the Gop is wanting to forget at their own risk...

go join a "diverse" party like the one listed above, Unity something or other, which to me says the Government is the be all to end all, or go join the Democrats-Progressives party, it's the same thing.

Unity was about introducing real bipartisanship to the mix. Why do you have a problem with that? Ironically, polling shows that most "independents" would embrace such a party. So that begs the question what do you call yourself? A no-central-government-at-all pioneer? You might as well tear up your copy of The Constitution (which the Tea Party Patriots use as their bible too).

If it's anything to do with this administration Socialist policies, FORGET IT.
Bipartisanship to Progressives, is do it our way or get the hell out of the way, as we see what is going on today with the Democrat SUPERmajority..
If I wanted my Representative to agree with everything the other party pushes, I'd go join the OTHER party..

What a hypocrite. What exactly do you think the Republicans had from 2000 through 2007? Were you a Republican or a Democrat while they were up to the same our-way-or-the-highway arm-twisting backroom wheeling and dealing and got everything they wanted, including a president who never vetoed a single spending bill? That's precisely the problem with SUPERmajorities where either party has complete control. Hello?

 

[MaggieMae]

Who says the tea parties weren't going during the Bush years. They were more than likely drowned out by all the lefty wackos protesting the war and "anything that had to do with "Boooooooosh".

Really, can you link us to some, I must have missed it while shouting "BOOOOOOOOOOSH" over and over, eh?

I don't know when this thing started. I became aware of it around tax day in 2009 after the obscenely partisan Stimulus Bill was passed. Just under a trillion in political pay offs was enough to piss me off, too.

The Health care reform that was planned to hold Unions protected from any taxation for "Cadilac Plans" which was then withdrawn and then added back in after the Senate passed their version was more than ridiculous. Not as ridiculous as the two payoffs for Louisiana and Nebraska, though.

The Democrat controlled Washington is a festering boil of corruption and deceit. We can take comfort at least in the fact that Michelle is proud of her country. Finally.

Political corruption is classic and expected. What galls me is that these thieves don't seem to think we can see they're stealing and are shocked to hear it said. Don't piss on my hat and tell me it's raining.

At least with divided government, there is some kind of restraint on the abuses set against us. The white Housem the House and the Senate are playing can you beat this and just keep spending money on their re-elections and retirements.

How is that possible when the stimulus bill only amounted to just under $800 billion. All of it went to political payoffs? Spewing shit like that as gospel truth is the reason thinking people never take you people seriously.

 

[MaggieMae]

Sorry guys but you ARE allowing the TP movment to be hijacked by the EXTREMISTS and will end up, as has sadly happened to the Libertarian party, as a JOKE of a movement. Oh and this is coming from a guy who RAN as a LP candidate.

Well tell me, please, since I've been pretty heavily involved in the Tea Party movement, I simply have not been observant enough because I haven't seen all those extremists. What extremists have hijacked us? What do they look like? What do they preach? Teach? Express?

Are there people I disagree with on taxes? Absolutely. We widely differ on what the fairest tax system would look like, but we are all in agreement that the government should not be taking more in taxes than it absolutely has to have.

Are there fellow Tea Partiers with whom I disagree on immigration, welfare, abortion, climate change issues, energy policies, term limits, or whether people should be able to park on the street? Yep. All of that too. But we are all in agreement that big government is not the ultimate answer to these issues and we all share a conviction that a government that oversteps its Constitutional authority is a government who does not have our life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness as a primary interest.

While the devil is always in the details, Tea Partiers are mostly unified in a conviction that the function of the federal government is to secure our rights, and then we mostly want it to get out of our way and allow us exercise them.

So I will be interested to know which of these I should view as extremists that have taken us over. I missed that somewhere.

No Fox as I said earlier I could get behind the TP movement if you could just weed out the CONSPIRACY LUNATICS!!! I am SERIOUS HERE at the VERY least you need to surround them with TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY posters so they don't get ANY press assciated with the TRUE TP message.




As an aside if I run for Pres I will campaing on CEMENTING gun rights with whatever legislation is neccessary to make it clear that our gun rights (I don't even OWN a gun) will NEVER be eroded.......EVER!!!! Even if it means a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to compliment the 2nd.

I would also DEMAND REAL accountability from the Military Industrial Complex. NO COST PLUS CONTRACTS EVER AGAIN!!! No sweethart deals and NEVER give a contract to a foriegn company. Once again if that requires a CONSTITUTIONAL AMMENDMENT to give it REAL TEETH than so be it.

20 NEW nuclear power plants ON-LINE by 2020. Moon landing and recovery of a small amount of Helium 3 for test for helium3 reactors by 2020. Think a Kennedy type of moon shot deal. I want COMPLETE space dominance for the USA PERIOD! China already showed that they can knock out a sattelite and we are WAY too dependent upon our military satelites to allow China to knock them out.

Massive tax breaks for SMALL busineses. Tax breaks for BIG business that are DIRECTLY tied to making jobs HERE!!! Make jobs here get rewarded for it/ send them over seas be TARRIFED 100% if necassary.

DEMAND FAIR trade from our trading partners not FREE trade.




How have I done so far?

Where will you get your income to support your space program, Mr. President, with massive tax breaks to corporations and business? Individuals? Big plans take big bucks, so unless your first order of duty is to completely revise the Tax Code which will provide the revenue needed, and such an overhaul would take up your first term of office, your campaign is DOA.

 

[MaggieMae]

You know, I've watched the tea party idiots, and I STILL can't figure out what they are for.

Why? Simple.........each and every one has a different agenda. So much for unity eh?

I think most Leftists have only one way to get to an agenda. Their way. Anybody with a different point of view is to be marginalized or destroyed. This is typical of sheep who have no clear concept of what they believe or why they believe it, but have accepted spoonfed propaganda and brainwashing.

Tea Partiers, the mainstream of America, don't demand that everybody agree with them to be acceptable. They are allowed to have different points of view and there are probably many differences in what each person considers most important.

What they are agreed on is that big government cannot solve most day to day problems and will take away their freedoms, liberties, choices, options, and opportunities when it presumes to do that.

They are agreed that the Constitution, as it was originally intended, is still the best social contract for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ever conceived and a good government must be committed to defending it.

They are agreed that they know how to spend their money on their behalf much better than the government knows how to do that.

They are agreed that a government that has grown as big and all emcompassing and so invasive as our government has grown will be out of touch with the hearts and minds of the people, and it must be put back in its place.

The are agreed that in America the people want to govern themselves. They want the government to do what the Constitution says it is supposed to do and then leave them the hell alone to live their lives.

See this thread that I started last night:
http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...nter-americans-want-to-govern-themselves.html

I think you need to more narrowly define "they" with regard to all of the above. If I look at their main website, sure, that's what "they" say in their mission statement and other links. But if the average person just LISTENS to what "they" say during the protests, letters, Twitter comments, blog comments, etc., "they" go way off the track of those tenets. "They" come across as just angry, mean, and -- dare I say it -- our way or the highway, precisely what you accuse "liberals" of. Of course you also fail to understand that the Democratic Party is made up of many liberals, moderate Democrats, and conservative Democrats all under one roof. Can the GOP still claim such diversity? No.

 

[MaggieMae]

I guess a "Super" Mod has used some obscure "RULE" to lower my rep power by over 20.

You guessed wrong.

Oh well I almost NEVER Neg rep and I Pos rep all the time I guess I will just have to Rep WAY more.

Doesn't matter what you do.

Take a look around you.

Simply a reduction in the size of the gloves...relatively speaking. Believe it or not, Gunny understands relativity.

Badly in places, goodly in others.

The TeaParty being taken over by extremists is equivalent to the Democrats being taken over by Marxists. Shit happens. Extremists go to the microphones and rev up their followers. Human nature prevails.

Can you clarify "quit denying the science"? Does that mean we should believe the tripe presented to "hide the decline"?

Seems you have that backwards.

you will have to work on that. there still is an unconstitutional religious test.

I fail tests all the time I'm used to it.

That's because you're a genius.

I'm only speaking for myself, but I simply don't even read posts like that which consolidate into one a response to many (your Post #102). For me, it's hard enough just to separate out the quote/response/quote/response for just one separate discussion. If it doesn't flow in a normal readable fashion, forget it.

 

[MaggieMae]

A spot on commentary of America's New Third Party:

The Tea Party is the latest neoconservative end run around the possibility of a real third party emerging to threaten the status quo. To be honest, it's a brilliant political move, absorbing any energies that might have propelled a real third party. And, in true neocon fashion, it capitalizes on the working class' inchoate anger at the ongoing screwjob they've been getting from both parties for thirty years. The one escalated by Clinton's NAFTA, institutionalized as corporate theft by G.W. Bush, and polished to a high sheen by Obama's bailouts, as he brings home the bacon for those Wall Street syndicates running the economy.

Mobilizing the masses into a movement was never easy, and never harder than in America where moving the ever-expanding national ass toward anything other than the refrigerator is a job for a fork lift. Another way to do it is to adapt the national consciousness through installation of some new hot button by the state media. At the same time, installing a hot button in a significant portion of the national brain is mostly about simple repetition.

Joe Bageant: Taking Tea with the Lizards

Smells of a disgruntled liberal to me....not you, Echo...the author of linked op ed. Lieberman was a fine Democrat that wized up instead of down.

Human nature demands that most successful movements be eventually taken over by extremists and bullies. Some takeovers don't take over a few weeks. Some takeovers take over a decade. Some takeovers take over a century.

The Tea Party's power to please people put pressure on politicians to prevail.

Lieberman is the uber politician that Republicans and Democrats should both despise. He was so desperate that he might lose his power, now he claims independence. An independent my ass. He sticks his finger to the wind to see which way it's blowing.