[Tea Party] uh oh

81

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opini ... .html?_r=1

gimmesometruth27

that is a good read. if those figures are accurate, that just proves what many of us have suspected all along.

i LOL'd at the part where "Muslims" are polling more favorably than the tea party. that has to sting those tea partiers

gimmesometruth27

surprised nobody chimed in on this thread....

i found this part interesting...

"Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.

On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history."

brianlux

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

i LOL'd at the part where "Muslims" are polling more favorably than the tea party. that has to sting those tea partiers

Same reaction here. The whole thing was bound to come tumbling down, I just didn't see it coming that fast. Not that I mind!

mikepegg44

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

surprised nobody chimed in on this thread....

i found this part interesting...

"Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.

On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history."

The biggest problem I see is that people who consider themselves conservative fiscally but want the government involved in social issues were bound to identify with the tea party movement. But as they became the majority these neo cons took it over and the Media was all to quick to point out the new majority and made it seem like that was the motivation behind the movement to begin with... So now most people are sick of hearing about the tea party as they are portrayed; racist, religious zealots... I would still put my money on 20% of tea party supporters being more prepared, organized, and showing up to vote than anyone else. In a country where only about 60% of eligible voters show up, that motivated 20% could have a huge impact.

gimmesometruth27

mikepegg44 wrote:

The biggest problem I see is that people who consider themselves conservative fiscally but want the government involved in social issues were bound to identify with the tea party movement. But as they became the majority these neo cons took it over and the Media was all to quick to point out the new majority and made it seem like that was the motivation behind the movement to begin with... So now most people are sick of hearing about the tea party as they are portrayed; racist, religious zealots... I would still put my money on 20% of tea party supporters being more prepared, organized, and showing up to vote than anyone else. In a country where only about 60% of eligible voters show up, that motivated 20% could have a huge impact.

i disagree. the neocons allowed the teapartiers in the streets to say what the neocons were thinking all along. birthers, koch bros, glenn beck etc all hitched their wagon to the tea partiers in the streets and they fed them outright disinformation and encouraged them to show up at townhall meetings and shout talking points. the tea party got co-opted and manipulated by the powerful. the tea party welcomed these fringe people, the racists, the bigots, the birthers, etc and those are the ones that have made the tea party look bad. not to mention, their willingness to let the entire economy collapse just to prove a point...

20% of the tea partiers might be more prepared to vote, but that leaves the remaining 80% of them to be the most uninformed or misinformed of all political affiliations.

mikepegg44

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

The biggest problem I see is that people who consider themselves conservative fiscally but want the government involved in social issues were bound to identify with the tea party movement. But as they became the majority these neo cons took it over and the Media was all to quick to point out the new majority and made it seem like that was the motivation behind the movement to begin with... So now most people are sick of hearing about the tea party as they are portrayed; racist, religious zealots... I would still put my money on 20% of tea party supporters being more prepared, organized, and showing up to vote than anyone else. In a country where only about 60% of eligible voters show up, that motivated 20% could have a huge impact.

i disagree. the neocons allowed the teapartiers in the streets to say what the neocons were thinking all along. birthers, koch bros, glenn beck etc all hitched their wagon to the tea partiers in the streets and they fed them outright disinformation and encouraged them to show up at townhall meetings and shout talking points. the tea party got co-opted and manipulated by the powerful. the tea party welcomed these fringe people, the racists, the bigots, the birthers, etc and those are the ones that have made the tea party look bad. not to mention, their willingness to let the entire economy collapse just to prove a point...

20% of the tea partiers might be more prepared to vote, but that leaves the remaining 80% of them to be the most uninformed or misinformed of all political affiliations.

I don't really understand your response. I think we are saying the same thing. Or are you saying that the tea party originally was made up of racist, religious zealots? And were finally freed when the neo-cons hijacked it? not accusing just don't really understand. The reason I ask is because my first read through of your statement made it seem like you said you disagree with me but went on to say the neo-cons hijacked it. Which is intially very similar to what I said

And the economy would not have collapsed. The point they proved was how ridiculous our government is... There is no debt plan, and worse there is no real effort to get out of it by anyone. The republicrats, or demicans if you prefer, have zero interest in ever legitimately shrinking the size of government. But yeah, that amendment for a balanced budget isn't needed. High unemployment, impossible credit market, etc... The deficit has grown and nothing has changed.
the Elephants and the Donkeys have been in charge and have spent and spent and spent. The worst part is it has made very little difference in terms of actual success. So now the tea party movement comes along, and some idiots attach themselves to it and are then crowned the leaders by the media...Bachmann, Palin...those are neo-cons nothing more...and they took control of enthusiasm for fiscal conservatism and bastardized it to what you see now.
So ultimately, you may call them un-iformed, or misinformed or whatever, but that won't change them getting out to vote, it is nothing new either...most voters are un-informed...the best thing the democrats can do to counter act the tea party momentum is gain back the Moveon.org momentum they had during the bush years. The only way to minimize the tea party is to simply beat them in elections, and that is done through voter turn out and enthusiasm.