You're right..................conservative idiots didn't bother to see how the term may have morphed into something else. I mean............"gay" in the 1800's used to mean someone who was happy, and now it means someone who prefers an alternative lifestyle. I don't hear many conservatives who are happy describing themselves as "gay".
Tea Bagger was used as a word to describe those who wished to dip their scrotum into another person's mouth, and yet the GOP didn't bother to find out about it because gay sex stuff makes them feel icky.
Democrats don't really use the term "tea bagger" to be an insult meaning you're gay, they just use it as an insult to reflect the fact that most of you conservatives don't really realize what you're saying about yourselves.
It's more of an insult reflecting that you don't keep up with the changing language, nor do you realize that you insult yourselves by claiming something you deem as patriotic.
I think you're trying too hard to justify homophobic epithets the left likes to engage in. It reminds me of the left engaging in blatant racism when they call black republicans "Uncle Tom" and "house negro" and "oreo" etc...
I could just as easily say that liberals don't know what the term "house negro" means. Of course I would be wrong. There would be no point in using the term "house negro" if it is not used as an insult.
Yes, many Tea Party members did not know what the term "tea bagging" meant in the gay community. I would suggest that many straight liberals did not know what "tea bagging" meant either. I suspect that there were even some homosexuals who never heard the term "tea bagger". It's not like there was a newsletter from the Institute of Tea Baggery that alerted the no-balls-in-mouth-crowed of their complete "ignorance" when it came to gay slang for scrotum breath.
Pointing out that "tea bagging" is a homophobic term is just common sense. Justifying the use of the term "tea bagging" is partisan nonsense.
On the bright side though. Nobody really cares. The term is so played out and overly used that people who use the term "tea bagger" are just insulting themselves. 2009 called, they want their tea bags backs.