Tea Party Interviews: My Take

[uptownlivin90]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHItY5Anj3s]YouTube - TEA PARTY CONVENTION - Sarah Palin, Orly Taitz, Interviews with Participants[/ame]

So, after watching this I asked myself the question do I think that this video is an accurate representation of tea partiers and their overall ideology and I personally answered, yes. I personally believe this video represents the attitudes of the overwhelming majority of the "tea baggers"... and it in itself represents the whole of the Republican Party's base wrapped up in a nutshell.

I've personally come to the conclusion that rather then being a grassroots movement of "independents", the tea bagger movement has become the base force of the republican party. This can be supported by occurances like the GOP in South Carolina officially co-signing with Carolinian tea baggers, becoming the first state party to do so (I think Alabama's is stepping towards being the second). The tea bagger movement seriously looks like a reactionary force within the republican party. It's ideology involves a blend of fiscal responsability, a hawkish foreign policy, a security over freedoms approach to the war on terror, anti-abortion, cultural purity and nativism, pro-"christian values", and the belief that this ideology embodies "true" or "pure" conservatism.

From this video and from trends I'm seeing including Palin and Tom Tancredo being it's "public speakers" and "leaders" as well as christian rightists like Glen Beck and Fox News backing these tea-party groups... it seems that this "tea bagger movement" is increasingly catering to and attracting the christian right base of the GOP. This is the movement the Christian Right has been waiting for for a while. A way to energize the base and regain strength and power within the republican party after years of the party moving away from George Bush and it's christian right base because that was the general trend of the country at the time.

Now we see the party being forced to move back to it's base, the neo-cons, the bible thumpers, and the hawks. I'm not saying this is a bad thing or a good thing, just calling it as I see it. It's simply the evolutionary progress of the two parties, which is why candidates that don't represent the base of the GOP and either cater to the middle more moderate and pragmatic side of the isle or the social libertarian side are being attacked by this movement. Candidates like Ron Paul, John McCain, Charlie Crist, the governor of Mississippi (forgot dudes name), these guys are being targeted and attacked and their positions threatened because of "fiscal responsability" (who's more fiscal responsable the Ron Paul?) they do not represent the mold of the GOP christian right southern base.

Those are my thoughts, I'm interested in hearing yours. And Here's a question, I'm an extreme social libertarian and a moderate economically who believes in fiscal responsability and low taxes. I'm also pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, I'm concerned about the deficit even now and extremely concerned about civil liberties and the Obama administrations handeling of them. I'm no where near a birther, I think birthers are crazy, and I think Glen Beck is a racist for asserting that Obama should have been elected president because his name doesn't sound "American" enough. Where would I fit in the "tea party mold" because of my economic beliefs, or would I? Is this even about the deficit at all?

 

[Baruch Menachem]

This makes as much as my saying that TruthMatters, BFGRN and Dante were all there are to the Democratic party.

Thank goodness this is not the case.

you cant extrapolate from a weird sample.

 

[uptownlivin90]

This makes as much as my saying that TruthMatters, BFGRN and Dante were all there are to the Democratic party.

Thank goodness this is not the case.

you cant extrapolate from a weird sample.

It's not simply from this vid that I'm drawing this conclusion, it's from a long time of studying the tea party.

I mean you can't deny that the majority of the tea party's so-called "leaders" now are GOP bigtimes and no other party is getting behind the "movement" besides the GOP.

Plus Palin is hardly a huge celeb amongst moderates and independents. If she was the vast majority of independents wouldn't have ran towards Obama and scattered from the GOP like frightened roaches in 08.

If you were going to draw a crowd using Palin I wouldn't expect independent, riding the fence, moderates. I'd expect... GOPers.

 

[MaggieMae]

This makes as much as my saying that TruthMatters, BFGRN and Dante were all there are to the Democratic party.

Thank goodness this is not the case.

you cant extrapolate from a weird sample.

It's not simply from this vid that I'm drawing this conclusion, it's from a long time of studying the tea party.

I mean you can't deny that the majority of the tea party's so-called "leaders" now are GOP bigtimes and no other party is getting behind the "movement" besides the GOP.

Plus Palin is hardly a huge celeb amongst moderates and independents. If she was the vast majority of independents wouldn't have ran towards Obama and scattered from the GOP like frightened roaches in 08.

If you were going to draw a crowd using Palin I wouldn't expect independent, riding the fence, moderates. I'd expect... GOPers.

I've forgotten which day it was, before during or after the Tea Party Convention, that Mark Skoda was on C-Span (he was responsible for all the arrangements, I believe), and he was the first one to actually explain what the movement is all about and not sound radical. I was enjoying listening to him field questions from callers until an obviously black woman (that "dialect" thingie) came on the phone, and Skoda's body language suddenly shifted from Mr. All-Around Nice Guy to Mr. Defensive White Guy before she'd even asked her question. I do think he answered her politely, but I think his initial brief expression said volumes.

 

[code1211]

This makes as much as my saying that TruthMatters, BFGRN and Dante were all there are to the Democratic party.

Thank goodness this is not the case.

you cant extrapolate from a weird sample.

It's not simply from this vid that I'm drawing this conclusion, it's from a long time of studying the tea party.

I mean you can't deny that the majority of the tea party's so-called "leaders" now are GOP bigtimes and no other party is getting behind the "movement" besides the GOP.

Plus Palin is hardly a huge celeb amongst moderates and independents. If she was the vast majority of independents wouldn't have ran towards Obama and scattered from the GOP like frightened roaches in 08.

If you were going to draw a crowd using Palin I wouldn't expect independent, riding the fence, moderates. I'd expect... GOPers.

The mood of the country is vastly different than it was in '08. Obama won because thye economy tanked. When Palin came on board, the polls showed that McCain's popularity rose. When she noted that she could see Russia from alska, not so much.

Her default position is Conservative. That is also the position of the TEA Party.

That Scott Brown won in Mass. is revealing. When the election is held to fill Murtha's seat, that, too, will be revealing.

Obama was not elected because he was so popular. He ran against Bush and the poor economy. He was going to right various wrongs through his great wisdom and magical avbility to overcome reality. Funny thing happened on his way to reality: Reality.

We find that everything he promised has not happened. We find that everything he predicted has not come true. We find that he is incapable of correcting the economy.

We find that his plans pervert his representations so his Stimulus is a payoff and payback mechanism, the repaid TARP funds are just another slush fund for his voraciously corrupt supporters, he is visciously partisan, he is a liar, he is as corrupt as his Chicago machine political background would suggest.

This is not the Hope and Change that he said would blossom if he were elected. For the all time record high number of non-working Americans, hope is hard to hold. For the various businesses that have gone out of business, change is not the thing it was cracked up to be.

This is the first time in my lifetime, a fairly long period, that our debt is greater than our GDP. This frightens me. It should frighten you. It should change his approach, but it doesn't seem to be doing so.

The TEA Party is a response to this. It's embraced by the Republicans because the Reps had lost any identity. The Dems Cannot embrace it because it opposes what the Dems strive to achieve which is socialism. With luck, the Reps will be able to hold off the Dems until the mid terms and then maybe a return to sanity will occur.

I don't really care about social issues except to say that the government should interfere in this area only to assure that what people desire to do without injury or cost to others should be safeguarded. Any political party that strives to reduce taxation and public debt is the one that I support.

The Dems have shown themselves to committed to interfering in the behavior of individuals and taxing thers to support their aims. The Reps have shown themselves to committed to molding people into a Moral Majority Template that has no impact on the actual operation of government.

Get out of my life. Get out of my pocket. Do your jobs and contain spending.