There appears to be some growing consensus among some of the political elite that there should be major regressive changes to Social Security, like cutting back on benefits and/or raising the retirement age. Building on this consensus, Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) are expected to release legislation soonthat would involve raising the retirement age to 69. Yet a new poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP) finds that one group that does not support these regressive cuts is the American people themselves. The PPP poll found that 77 percent of Americans would rather “pay Social Security taxes on salaries above $106,800,” essentially lifting the income tax cap, instead of seeing their “benefits cut and the retirement age increased to age 69.” Surprisingly, however, even 67 percent of self-identified Tea Partiers said they would rather raise the tax cap than cuts benefits and hike the retirement age:
Currently, workers pay social security payroll taxes on up to $106,800 of their salary. To ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, would you rather have people pay social security taxes on salaries above $106,800, or would you rather see benefits cut and the retirement age increased to age 69?
Raise payroll capCut benefits
All 77 10
Dem 84 4
GOP 69 17
Ind 77 11
Tea Party 67 20
Those who advocate for raising the Social Security retirement age often claim that they are pursuing “moderate” paths for reform. As this poll and others demonstrate, the course they are choosing is far from centrist.
M.C.L Comment: Funny these sickos elected people who rather raise their retirement age and make sure Donald Trump doesn't have to pay his fair share of taxes.
Yesterday, a Maine tea party blog posted some handy advice for activists coming to Washington Saturday to attend Fox News host Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. Among warnings about how to deal with “African immigrants” — do not “assume they are African Americans” and “especially do not…guess they are from a neighboring country” — the guide advised rally-goers to stay out of the vast majority of the city, and cautioned which portions of Metrorail system are safe. While the entire Green and Yellow lines are off limits, the guide allowed for travel on the Blue and Orange lines, as long as attendees do not stray West of the Eastern Market stop. As for areas outside this tiny safety zone: “you should not explore them.”
Unfortunately, the only official parking location for group buses is two stops beyond the last safe stop on the Blue and Orange line at RFK stadium, deep in the forbidden zone:
Buses will not be permitted to drop anywhere near the Lincoln Memorial.[...]
Bus parking is available at RFK Stadium for groups. RFK Stadium is adjacent to the Stadium Armory Metro Rail station on the Orange & Blue Rail lines. Walking distance from the bus parking area to this Metro is approximately 0.7 miles. The RFK Stadium Armory station connects to the Smithsonian Metro Rail Station, approximately 1 mile from the Lincoln Memorial event site.
DCist created a map illustrating the guide’s recommendations, which ThinkProgress has modified to demonstrate the danger facing the rally’s attendees when they unload from their buses to find themselves far in the unsafe zone:
After months of racist incidents and rallies filled with hateful signs disparaging President Obama’s ethnicity and other minorities, the NAACP has passed a resolution officially condemning racism in the Tea Party movement. This morning, Tea Party leader Mark Williams — who has been paid over $20,000 by the Tea Party Express political action committee — attacked the NAACP’s resolution, charging that the NAACP makes “more money off of race than any slave trader ever.” Other Tea Party leaders have criticized the resolution and claimed that there is no racism within their movement. Phillip Dennis, the leader of the Dallas area Tea Party, told Fox News that the Tea Party never focuses “on the pigment of people’s skin.” However, ThinkProgress has produced a short video demonstrating the vile racism that has been exhibited at some Tea Party events:
DENNIS: The Tea Party does not focus on the pigment of people’s skin. [...]
TEA PARTY ACTIVIST1: He’s too black to be President.
TEA PARTY ACTIVIST2: I’m a proud racist, I’m white.
TEA PARTY ACTIVIST3: Afro-Leninism! Coming to you on a silver platter, Barack Hussein Obama!
TEA PARTY ACTIVIST4: Go home wetbacks!
Watch it:
Video produced with help from CAPAF interns Nina Bhattacharya, Ariel Powell, Arielle Humphries and Tara Kutz.
Senate Democratic leaders, stung by their recent inability to gain the filibuster-proof majority needed to pass financial reform or an extension of unemployment benefits, have begun blaming tea party influence for intimidating Republican moderates like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
"It’s getting increasingly difficult," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said of the attempt to win over GOP moderates. "And I think Maine is going through its own transformation and challenge within the Republican Party. And I think that’s a factor."
Snowe downplayed Durbin's comments, telling Politico, "I think that Sen. Durbin shouldn’t ascribe political motivations." She instead blamed "gamesmanship" for her part in the impasse over extending unemployment benefits and tax incentives.
According to Politico, "The Maine Republican Party has moved fiercely to the right with a new [platform] backed by tea partiers, and GOP voters nominated a gubernatorial candidate who emerged as a tea party favorite. More pressing for Snowe, however, is that some conservative activists want to find a primary challenger to run against her in 2012."
Politico notes that Snowe "is already being targeted by tea party groups in her state that cite her support for an early version of Democratic health care legislation and her decision to vote for the $787 billion stimulus."
The last-minute reluctance of Snowe, Collins, and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts to vote for financial regulation reform that they had previously supported -- citing their opposition to a provision for a tax on banks to pay for the new regulations -- has struck some observers as particularly inexplicable.
Another Republican moderate who has recently been rebuffing the Democrats is Senatoir Lisa Murkowski, who is facing a tea party-backed challenger in next month's Alaska primary. Murkowski backed a cap-and-trade energy bill in 2007 but has now reversed that stance.
Murkowski's opponent, Joe Miller, is a climate change denier who has demanded that other candidates "reject the argument that man made CO2 emissions are causing significant global warming." He accuses Murkowski of taking "a very liberal stance on most of the issues" and she has fought back by emphasizing "all the measures I have voted against and have objected to."
"Last session the state legislature passed two joint resolutions opposing federal cap and trade legislation and the EPA's power grab on carbon emissions, which mirrors what I have been fighting in Congress," Murkowski stated in a
press release this week. "These measures -- and other efforts like it -- bolstered my efforts to fight for Alaska in Washington.
As sheriff of Oakland County, he has cut millions of dollars from his budget in the last three years, leading to disagreements with some of his unionized employees.
Still, they say, he has their respect.
Since joining the race for governor a year ago, he has advocated creating a part-time Legislature and bringing salaries and benefits of state employees in line with those of the private sector. He wants to privatize many state services to save money.
Those principles remain mainstays of his campaign speeches.
But there have been new wrinkles to his message as he has courted Tea Party activists: He wants an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration and says he opposed federal rescues of General Motors and Chrysler.
"I think the Tea Party is your neighbor," he said.
Ask Bouchard what job he loves the most, and he answers quickly: "The one I have right now."
Law enforcement has been a touchstone of his professional life, from his days as a rookie cop with the Beverly Hills Police Department to his years in the 1990s as a state legislator focused on public-safety issues to his current job: Oakland County sheriff.
But for the second time in four years, Bouchard, 54, wants to try something else. He lost a U.S. Senate race in 2006, and this year is running for governor, believing he can help right Michigan's economy.
"I'm like many Michigan citizens who feel that somebody needs to step up and fix this with a sense of urgency," he said. "I know state policy and budgeting and the process, and it's broken."
Searching for his niche
Along with the urgency, Bouchard has personal charm, a blueprint on how to cut the state budget by millions of dollars and serious money for the race, according to campaign finance reports filed in January.
Still, in virtually every poll, Bouchard ranks third or fourth -- though still within striking distance -- among the five Republicans in the race.
"He's got to find a niche to break into this race," said Lansing political consultant Tom Shields.
Joe Schwarz, a colleague and fellow Republican when Bouchard served in the state Senate, said the Oakland County sheriff was well-liked by Republicans and Democrats. Schwarz is now an Independent.
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, another Republican, said Bouchard gets his support because he cut millions from his sheriff's budget without complaint.
"He has been a team player. I gave him a hell of a hit on his budget, and he didn't cry, he didn't squeal," Patterson said.
County Commissioner David Coulter, D-Ferndale, said he had to applaud the sheriff for the tough choices he made to cut his budget. Since 2008, the department has gone from 1,136 employees to 1,048 without layoffs, and the budget has been cut more than $13 million.
"He's very personable and more of a hands-on type sheriff," said Deputy Arnie Terrell, vice president of the county's Deputy Sheriff's Association. "He loves to hop on a Harley and ride with the guys."
Harsh words about Bouchard did come from Wolfgang Mueller, a Berkley attorney who represented a deputy fired from the department. The federal civil trial in March painted a picture of an out-of-control department, sprinkled with drunken deputies, scofflaws and sexual deviants.
"What I saw was atrocious. It would appear from the outside that it is a good old boys network," Mueller said.
Bouchard noted that the deputy lost her case, and in a department of more than 1,000 employees, the 1% who act inappropriately get all the attention.
"I'd fire them all, but the courts bring them back over our objections," he said.
Appealing to the Tea Party
Bouchard's strategy to win the Republican primary might make some longtime friends uncomfortable with its unapologetic appeal to the Tea Party movement.
He even joined a group of Tea Party supporters protesting the government's rescue of General Motors and Chrysler -- the only candidate for governor to show up for the event.
"I'm not a big believer of the government taking over business," he said. "I still don't like the way the bailout was structured. And whether it was successful remains to be seen."
Bouchard also wants Michigan to adopt a law similar to one passed this year in Arizona that is considered the nation's toughest on illegal immigration, giving law enforcement officials new authority to stop and demand papers from suspected illegal immigrants.
"We have 150,000 illegal immigrants in Michigan and more and more people on terror watch lists coming across the border," he said during a recent town hall gathering in Brooklyn, near Jackson. He listed three crimes committed by illegal immigrants since 1999. "We can pull you over on the street for just about anything and arrest you, unless you're an illegal," he said.
He rails against the federal health care reform bill and promises to fight federal mandates. He doesn't believe in mandatory seat-belt laws or the recently enacted state ban on smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars.
"They've stepped on our basic freedoms," he told the small crowd in Brooklyn. "It's a real dumbing down of society."
He revels in those thorny views, saying it shows he won't kowtow to anyone.
"In the end, I walk the line of what I think is the right thing to do," he said.
Looking for an edge
And yet, Bouchard couldn't convince the group that he was their best choice.
"Give me a solid proposal that someone from the Tea Party would say, 'That's my guy,' " asked one audience member who declined to give his name.
Bouchard listed plans, but the man still hadn't made up his mind by the end of the forum.
Neither had Bob Elrod, Columbia Township supervisor.
"He's a task-oriented person who doesn't seem to be afraid of tackling the really tough issues," Elrod said. "I liked what I heard tonight, but I haven't made up my mind yet."
Shields, the political consultant, said Republicans move far to the right during the primary season.
"There's a contingent out there that is going to vote in a Republican primary for whoever is the most conservative person," he said. "And he's looking to get an edge with that voter."
So Bouchard keeps plugging away. Expect, he says, a flood of TV advertising as the primary approaches.
He predicts this headline on Aug. 4: "Bouchard wins in a close one."
M.C.L Comment: I rather be caught campaigning with George W. Bush than pandering to the bunch of misinformed old, fat,white and racist for a extra couple of votes.
Tea party groups are reacting strongly and negatively to MSNBC's documentary "The Rise of the New Right," hosted by Chris Matthews. Yesterday, FreedomWorks chairman Dick Armey expressed personal disgust with Matthews for lending his name to the project, which has enraged tea partyers by repeating charges that they "taunted" black members of Congress during the March 2010 health care vote, and that the militia movement is part of the broader tea party wave.
"He's a better person than that," Armey said. "What's he doing? He's given himself over to something. I like him, personally, but it was sort of like -- I had the feeling like my favorite nephew was doing something out of character. Chris, you're better than this."
Today, FreedomWorks is circulating a letter calling for a boycott of Dawn and Proctor and Gamble, asking tea partyers to "call, fax, or email" the company until it drops advertising during Hardball.
"These attacks are wrong, misleading and disingenuous," says Anna Puig of Kitchen Table Patriots in the statement. "The propaganda piece only serves a left-wing agenda, and I will do everything I can to convince Dawn to stop funding MSNBC’s lies. I'm asking Tea Party groups around the country to help us in this effort. Individual Tea Party members will be boycotting Dawn products until the company takes appropriate action regarding the decision to advertise during the Hardball hit piece, and ceases funding MSNBC.”
The National Tea Party federation is also pushing for a boycott of the show's advertisers. Both statements are below the fold.
Kitchen Table Patriots lead a boycott Dawn for funding MSNBC hit piece on Tea Party movement
(Bucks County, Penn.) -- Today a broad coalition of Tea Party groups fought back against a left-wing propaganda hit piece that aired on MSNBC on June 16th. The program “Rise of the New Right” was low-ball journalism at its worst. The program demonized and misrepresented the Tea Party movement. Chris Matthews and his Hardball program slandered the Tea Party movement, and misled the American people by distorting facts about the Tea Party movement, its motivations and it history. His editors selectively portrayed groups and individuals in the program in a bad light.
But Tea Party leaders from coast to coast are fighting back against the smears. Leaders of Kitchen Table Patriots, FreedomWorks, the National Tea Party Federation, and the American Grassroots Coalition are responding to this outrageous attack by a national cable television network by boycotting one of its sponsors, Dawn dish soap, and asking them to cut off their funding to MSNBC. Leaders and members of the Tea Party movement are showing unity in the face of these attacks by writing, calling and faxing the offices of Dawn (and its parent company Procter and Gamble) to ask them to stop subsidizing these vicious attacks by MSNBC and Chris Matthews.
Kitchen Table Patriots leader Ana Puig, who appeared in the piece, said, "These attacks are wrong, misleading and disingenuous. The propaganda piece only serves a left-wing agenda, and I will do everything I can to convince Dawn to stop funding MSNBC’s lies. I'm asking Tea Party groups around the country to help us in this effort. Individual Tea Party members will be boycotting Dawn products until the company takes appropriate action regarding the decision to advertise during the Hardball hit piece, and ceases funding MSNBC.”
FreedomWorks Grassroots Director Brendan Steinhauser added, "The Tea Party movement I know looks nothing like the one portrayed on MSNBC‘s Hardball. The movement is made up of good, hardworking, honest, smart people that love their country. It is a movement that reflects the best in America, and I will remind Dawn of this fact when I write my letter and make my phone calls."
Luke Livingston, Executive Producer of “Tea Party: The Documentary Film” responded,
“If Chris Matthews really wants to know what moves conservatives to action, all he needs to do is watch Tea Party: The Documentary Film. Our documentary goes beyond the hype and into the heart of this mainstream movement.”
Anastasia Przybylski, who also appeared in the hit piece, added, "Chris Matthews tried to connect the tea party movement with extremists from the past, and with the crazy 9-11 truthers of today. He failed. The show was disjointed and a ridiculous attempt to make the tea party movement look extremist. If MSNBC‘s ratings could go down any further, they would after this show."
The Tea Party coalition is asking local groups to call, fax or e-mail Dawn, and its parent company Proctor and Gamble. The coalition promises not to back down, but to keep the pressure on until Dawn cancels its funding for Hardball.
June 17, 2010 – The National Tea Party Federation, a broad coalition of Tea Party groups, takes a stand and condemns the left-wing propaganda hit piece that aired on MSNBC June 16th.
The program, Rise of the New Right, was journalism at its worst, and its purpose was to demonize and misrepresent. Chris Matthews used his Hardball program to slander and mislead the American people by distorting facts about the Tea Party Movement. Hardball selectively portrayed groups and individuals in the program in a bad light.
David Webb, co-founder of New York City’s TeaParty365 said, “Chris Matthews is a far left commentator, not a journalist and therefore should not be held to or credited with the same standards.”
“I am an American who happens to be black, Republican, and that offends their warped vision. I would gladly face Matthews one-on-one anytime on policy and issues. This attack on Americans of all ethnicities, religious beliefs, age and political affiliations will ultimately fail because the truth wins. The desperation of a failing far left, and a dying network is apparent,” Webb concluded.
FreedomWorks Grassroots Director Brendan Steinhauser said, “The Tea Party movement I know looks nothing like the one portrayed on MSNBC. It is made up of good, hardworking, honest, smart people who love their country. It is a movement that reflects the best in America.”
Mark A. Skoda, Chairman of The Memphis TEA Party, stated, “The Tea Party movement has had a profound impact on election outcomes. The fact that MSNBC has taken it upon themselves to distort and disparage these Americans is unacceptable. Chris Matthews continued to promote the racism narrative, suggested the prospect of violent behavior by activists and promulgated the idea that the conservative movement is somehow un-American. We will encourage our coalition and Tea Party people everywhere to make their voices heard at MSNBC and to their sponsors.”
Jamie Radkte, Chairman of The Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation, said, “What we witnessed tonight was an attempt by Chris Matthews to demonize Americans who believe in the Founding principles of limited government, fiscal restraint, and Constitutional adherence as violent, radical, extremists, who are threatening the very foundation of our nation. This type of commentary is divisive, shameful, and irresponsible.”
National Tea Party Coalition co-founder Michael Patrick Leahy, added, “Chris Matthews and MSNBC have just delivered one of the most dishonest pieces of propaganda posing as journalism in American broadcast and cable television history.”
We agree with Matthews who states in his conclusion, “What’s scary today is the language thrown about. Words have consequences.”
The National Tea Party Federation calls for all tea party supporters to contact the sponsors of Hardball and ask them to pull their commercials
from this show. (Advertiser listing and contacts at NTPF website.) These commercial sponsors cannot continue their support of a program that seeks to demonize millions of Americans who identify with the Tea Party movement.
Furthermore, the Federation is calling on all Americans and local tea party groups to voice their objection to local media outlets on this dishonest attack on citizens who have legitimate policy concerns and are exercising their First Amendment rights.
M.C.L comment: There's nothing new about the right, it's the same ole collection of hateful S.O.Bs that has always been there.. Few young neo right wing ass wipes here and there but there's nothing new about them. When Bill Clinton got elected you saw the anti-government bumper stickers and you heard their anti-government rhetoric.
But when George W. Bush got elected, a guy they liked all that you can't trust the government talk went away replaced with America love it or leave it. What you see now is a replay of the early 1990s where these yahoos are getting angry because the election results didn't go the way they wanted so they pretty much being that kid throwing the checkers board off the table because they lost. The only difference between the right wing crap that went on during Bill Clinton and now with Barack Obama is that President Obama is black, so that amps up the right wing foaming mouth rage.
So you see terms like "communist, socialist, Islamic or whatever that loser Glenn Beck is calling President Obama. Is their way of calling him the N-word without actually saying it. These folks don't care about government spending, the threat to the constitution or some idea of big government it's about hating the outcome of a election and having a color fella as president.
Conservatives are up in arms because a new book revealed that President Barack Obama once referred to Tea Party protesters as "teabaggers." But one publication on the far right has revealed that conservatives actually coined the term.
In Jonathan Alter’s "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," President Obama is quoted in an November 30, 2009, interview saying that the unanimous vote of House Republicans vote against the stimulus bills "set the tenor for the whole year ... That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans."
Tea Party activists loathe the term "tea baggers," which has emerged in liberal media outlets and elsewhere as a method of mocking the activists and their concerns.
Writing for the Hot Air blog, Allahpundit questioned why Obama has yet to use the term publicly if he is truly unaware of its sexual connotation
Doubtless the defense here will be that The One wasn’t aware of the sexual connotation and therefore had no idea that the term offends tea partiers. Funny thing, though: Offhand, I can’t recall a single instance of him saying “teabaggers” publicly. Not in speeches, not in interviews, not at town halls, not even at that fundraiser a few weeks ago when he goofed on protesters by saying they should be thanking him for cutting their taxes, i.e. for running up gigantic deficits. If he doesn’t know the term’s impolitic, how come he hasn’t innocently used it on camera yet?
It's true that liberals like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have adopted the term as an epithet but National Review Online finds that the word was actually coined by conservatives.
The first big day for this movement was Tax Day, April 15. And organizers had a gimmick. They asked people to send a tea bag to the Oval Office. One of the exhortations was “Tea Bag the Fools in D.C.” A protester was spotted with a sign saying, “Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You.” So, conservatives started it: started with this terminology. But others ran with it and ran with it.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann notes that this fact hasn't stopped right wingers from blasting Obama for using the term. "But this reference has not led the group to, you know, swallow their tongues about their incessantly phony outrage over the term. It`s led a T.P. supporter Melissa Couthier to describe the president as a flaming hypocrite. And just in case anybody missed the point, to illustrate her web post with an animated version of the act from which the tea baggers drew their nickname. Way to show the president what decorum looks like," said Olbermann.
This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast May 6, 2010.
By Rick Outzen
TALLAHASSEE -- Passions were ablaze at a Tax Day Tea Party event held on the steps of the old Florida Capitol, with protesters holding signs that read, "We vote with bullets," "Fire Congress," "9/11 was an Inside Job" and "Return to the Constitution."
The Tea Party movement proclaims it isn't racist, but there were less than half a dozen black people in the crowd, a head count that supports the recent CNN/Opinion Research Poll finding that only two percent of the Tea Party activists were African-American.
Organized by the local Fox News radio station, it drew a few hundred people who listened to a taped speech from Glenn Beck and to various Republican and right-wing Christian leaders talk about taking back the federal government, living according to the U.S. Constitution and returning the nation to the "path of Godly virtues."
The We The People Rally, which draws its name from the first three words of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, promised to be "the focal point of Florida's message to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and to elected leaders in every level of government in the Sunshine State." The organizers of the 2009 rally had reported that event had drawn over 2,000 protesters so the Independent News drove three hours to Tallahassee on Tax Day, April 15 to check out if the Tea Party Movement had grown since last year as some in the media claimed.
We found a crowd of less than 500 protesters and a slate of speakers who knew the Tea Party "buzz words" and how to pander to its audience.
The speakers, including Beck's video, insisted the Tea Party movement wasn't Republican or Democratic or Conservative or Liberal. However, the speakers themselves were conservative and Republican. They made it clear that they didn't like President Barack Obama or moderate Republicans like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.
The rally had four distinct layers. Along Monroe Street which runs in front of the historic Florida Capitol, the Mullet haircut crowd squatted-not listening to the speakers, but instead waving at cars turning on to Apalachicola Parkway and trying to coax truck drivers to honk their horns.
Many waved yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags.
On the right side of the plaza, under the shade of towering moss-covered oaks, were Republican candidates trying to get petition cards signed and handing out flyers. The offices they sought ranged from U.S. Senate to Tallahassee mayor. Tanned college coeds wearing tight t-shirts for their candidates and short shorts circulated through the crowd promoting their candidates. Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate campaign signs and stickers were everywhere.
Rubio is running in the Republican primary against Gov. Charlie Crist and was pushed by some supporters at the rally as the second coming of Ronald Reagan.
Near the Capitol steps sat the gray-haired warriors, inspired by Fox News to protest the Obama health care plan. Several were in wheelchairs, using walkers and attached to oxygen tanks. They clapped. They cheered and gradually tired as the evening wore on.
Along the edges were the Florida lawmakers and their aides, also listening and perhaps trying to gauge how authentic the crowd was.
The ringmaster for the event was Preston Scott, former sportscaster and host of the morning show of the Fox News radio affiliate, WFLA 100.7 FM.
Scott made a concerted effort to prove to the sea of pale white faces in the audience that the Tea Party and his rally were racially diverse. He had his African-American intern, Jerome Hutson, and State Rep. Jennifer Carroll, R-Jacksonville, speak. Two African-American music ministers from a Tallahassee church led the crowd in singing "God Bless America."
Hutson, a Tallahassee Community College student who has been featured several times on Glenn Beck's Fox News show, was one speaker. Dressed in 80 degree heat in a khaki blazer, maroon sweater vest and yellow "power" tie, the Clear Channel radio intern looked like Carlton Banks, Will Smith's uptight, unhip cousin in "The Prince of Bel Air."
Hutson opened by shouting "Welcome Patriots" and professed allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, a document that he claimed President Obama called "a charter of negative liberties."
"We the people are meant to be free, no matter what race, sex or religion," said Hutson to applause and cheers. "And while we are on the subject of race, I want to say that the Tea Party Movement is not a racist movement. The Tea Party Movement is not anti-black people. The Tea Party Movement is not anti-minority. The Tea Party Movement is not anti-government."
"The spirit of the Tea Party Movement is Americanism, and it has made it the most free-est and most prosperous nation on earth -- whether you be white, black, brown, man, woman or child," he continued.
This sentence drew huge applause from the whites in the crowd. One black man just shook his head from side to side.
Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, both spoke. Their focus was on Washington, D.C. Hasner accused the Obama Administration of bankrupting the county "both fiscally and morally." He called the national debt "generational theft."
Atwater talked proudly about how the Florida Legislature has a balanced budget, but didn't mention its use of state trust funds or receipt of Obama's stimulus dollars. He called for a national convention to draft a constitutional amendment that would force the federal government to have a balanced budget.
In his taped speech, Glenn Beck stressed a return to the Constitution and emphasized the 10th amendment, which states that powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states by the Constitution are reserved to the states or the people. The Washington Post had reported earlier in the day that 54 Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates have signed a letter calling on the federal government to "cease and desist" from passing mandates that exceed its power under the 10th amendment. Nice coincidence.
"Never in our history has there been such a wide gap between what is legal and what is right," Beck said. "We must demand more of ourselves. We must elect people of character because character does matter."
"And that will begin that process of bridging that gap, returning our country to a path of Godly virtue," he added.
The crowd began to fizzle after Beck's presentation. Many left. Others seem to delight in ganging up on the few counter-protesters there. The Independent News staff moved through the crowd interviewing people.
When a counter-protester was interviewed, people would stand in the background with signs identifying the interviewee as "Infiltrator," "Party Crasher" and "Not One of Us."
One middle-aged lady with dyed red hair was following a Florida State student who had a sign jokingly declaring he was a "Socialist" and saying, "Where is the party?" When attendees tried to take a photograph of the man's sign, the lady blocked the camera with her "Don't Tread on Me" flag.
Though the Independent News reporters with their video cameras went unchallenged as they moved through the audience, this reporter didn't escape the attention of event organizers. Dressed in blue jeans, blue Oxford button-down shirt and wearing my Ole Miss baseball cap, I quietly watched the rally from different vantage points, took notes and recorded the speeches, wearing my Independent News press badge.
I was approached by man in a WFLA 100.7 FM t-shirt who wanted to know if I was with press and who I worked for. When he heard the words, "Pensacola," he backed off and said he worked with Preston Scott and they had noticed that I looked like I was from out of town.
"Is that a problem?" I asked.
"No, no, we just noticed you in the crowd," he replied as he moved quickly away.
He declined to answer my questions about who noticed me or how I looked different. When we walked back to our car after the rally, a couple of rally attendees followed us to our parking spot to get our tag number.
By Matt Corley
Last night, the New York Times and CBS News released a poll finding that the “18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.” The poll, which “oversampled” Tea Party supporters “for the purpose of analysis” and “then weighted” them “to their proper proportion in the poll,” found that Tea Partiers are more likely than the general public to think President Obama “favors blacks over whites“:
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.
According to the poll, Tea Partiers are also more likely to believe that President Obama was born in another country, with 30 percent believing that compared to 20 percent of the general public. Supporters of the Tea Party are also more likely to believe that violence against the government is sometimes justified:
In terms of where the Tea Party turns for news, the poll found that 63 percent watch Fox News “most for information about politics and current events.” Additionally, 53 percent of Tea Partiers consider “shows hosted by people like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity” to be news rather than entertainment:
The Tea Partiers, who view Sarah Palin very favorably but aren’t sure she is ready to be president, have a distorted image of whether or not their views reflect America. According to the poll, 84 percent of Tea Partiers believe that “the views of the people involved in the Tea Party movement generally reflect the views of most Americans.” Only 25 percent of the general public, however, believe that the Tea Party reflects their views.
Today’s Code Red rally appears to be one of the most raucous Tea Party gatherings on Capitol Hill yet. In addition to protesters shouting with rage at federal lawmakers, Sam Stein reports on some more disturbing incidents:
A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-M.D.) had been spit on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-G.A.), 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.
“I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus,” [said Clyburn.]
Clyburn added, “I think a lot of those people today demonstrated that this is not about health care…it is about trying to extend a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful.” TPM, Mother Jones, and The Hill have reports of similar behavior by the Tea Party protesters.
Update On Twitter, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) wrote that he was "grateful for the thousands of patriots who are storming the Capitol today protesting government healthcare and defending freedom."
M.C.L comment: Odd how things turned protest one president Jim DeMint would probably accuse you of hiding terrorists in your basement, scream racist and homophobic slurs, spit and threaten to do violence towards another president and members of that president party and Jim DeMint would call you an American hero.. What Jimmy DeMint doesn't know those protesters from the short bus that Freedom Works brought in already vote Republican, you're not expanding your base Jimmy those couple of thousand or so old racist right wing crap stains protesters are your voting base. But here's the bright side sane, honest,fair and reasonable people are seeing who the Republicans are trying to latch up with. The tea bag protest has shown health care is not the issue, hating the brown skin guy with a funny name in the white house is.
By Daniel Tencer
After taking some heat for barring the press altogether from their upcoming convention in Nashville, the organizers of the Nationwide Tea Party Convention say they will open the doors to the media -- but not all the media.
In a statement on its Web site Thursday, the Tea Party Nation announced it would allow five news organizations access to the conference, which takes place in Nashville from February 4 to 6 and features Sarah Palin as the keynote speaker.
The admitted news organizations are Fox News, Breitbart.com, Townhall.com, The Wall Street Journal and WorldNetDaily. All five are generally considered to be right-wing news organizations. Two of them -- Fox News and the Journal -- are owned by media magnate Rupert Murdoch.
The convention's organizers flatly deny that the choice of admitted news agencies was based on ideology. "We have been hard pressed to accommodate all of these requests and do not have the space or resources to support the entirety of the press corp," the organizers' statement says.
Asked by Politico's Michael Calderone if it had to do with political leanings, event organizer Judson Phillips said "no.
The organizers “picked some groups that we had some contact with,” Phillips said, adding that the chosen news sources “have covered the Tea Party movement” and “I would say we’ve gotten fair coverage from them.”
But Calderone notes that the Wall Street Journal, whose news reporting is markedly different from its ideological editorial page, hasn't given the Tea Party any more coverage than most other news sources.
Fox News, on the other hand, is a different story.
"Considering that Palin is now on Fox News' payroll, the cabler's exclusive status at the Palin convention presents a rather Manwich-sized conflict of interest, no?" writes Eric Boehlert at MediaMatters. And Calderone points out that "Fox News heavily promoted tea party rallies around the country last year."
Politico's Ben Smith argues that the Journal should be outraged at being placed in the same company as the conspiracy-minded WorldNetDaily and the Drudge Report-affiliated Breitbart.
"That is, as much as anything else, an insult to the Journal's news side, traditionally a smart straight-news operation perpetually a bit irritated to be mistaken for its conservative editorial page," Smith writes.
The convention's organizers, Tea Party Nation, have taken some flak for running the event for profit, with an eye to funneling proceeds to political organizations. Earlier this week, activist Kevin Smith accused the group of "duplicitous behavior, dishonesty, authoritarianism, and downright fraud" over its plan to charge $550 for access to the conference, including Palin's speech, and said Phillips, the organizer, was using his wife's PayPal account to collect money.
That, according to Theresa Poulson at the National Journal, resulted in one of the convention's co-sponsors, the American Liberty Alliance, backing out of the conference.
"To be clear, the for-profit model has its place in the movement," Poulson quoted ALA executive director Eric Odum. "But these groups should always have boards and oversight, and should never, ever process donations through personal PayPal accounts."
By David Edwards
Demonstrators held their last "tea party" of the year in Washington D.C. Tuesday to protest Democrats' attempts to reform the health care system. Wednesday Jon Stewart took notice of some of the more humorous aspects of the event.
"No killing babies," yelled one protester.
"Well, I see we've had a visit from Captain Obvious," quipped Stewart.
"We cannot allow the pen to be mightier than the sword," said another tea party speaker.
Stewart was dumbstruck. "We can't let the pen be mightier than the sword because that's only the basis of our civilization"
But it wasn't just a few fringe demonstrators. "No one is taking it seriously. Well, except for sitting senators [like Sen. Tom Cobern], former House majority leaders [Dick Armey] and Fox News stars [Laura Ingraham] who put the day in perspective."
Ingraham closed with the famous Holocaust poem "First They Came" to make her point. "I'm saying with great respect closing with this, 'First they came for the rich and I did not speak out because I was not rich,'" announced Ingraham.
Dripping with sarcasm, Stewart noted, "You said with great respect you are paraphrasing the famous homily about the Holocaust to complain about the government possibly raising the marginal tax rate back to where it was in the Clinton years. You don't have to say with great respect, it's implied. I mean it's so obviously equal."
"Then they came for the hyperbolic and paranoid and, well, I had no choice to get on the bus because I'm psycho," explained Stewart.
This video is from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, broadcast Dec. 16, 2009.
By John Byrne
Want to become a congressman in a conservative district?
Then perhaps you shouldn't run as a Republican. A national poll which gave respondents three choices -- to support a generic Democrat, Republican or Tea Party candidate -- put the Tea Party candidate over the Republican, 23 to 18 percent. Democrats led with 36 percent; 22 percent were undecided.
The Tea Party isn't even a real party. However, a few more polls like this and things might change.
The poll was published Monday by Rasmussen Reports and surveyed 1,500 Americans.
Among voters not affiliated with either major party, the Tea Party comes out on top. Thirty-three percent (33%) prefer the Tea Party candidate, and 30% are undecided. Twenty-five percent (25%) would vote for a Democrat, and just 12% prefer the GOP
Among Republican voters, 39% say they’d vote for the GOP candidate, but 33% favor the Tea Party option.
For this survey, the respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party. In practical terms, it is unlikely that a true third-party option would perform as well as the polling data indicates. The rules of the election process—written by Republicans and Democrats--provide substantial advantages for the two established major parties. The more conventional route in the United States is for a potential third-party force to overtake one of the existing parties.
Nationwide, voters' disaffection with the two major parties (Republicans and Democrats) is so great that a near-majority say a new party is needed to represent their views. Democrats, however, are more satisfied with their party than Republicans, the poll asserts.
Forty-one percent (41%) of all voters nationwide say Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that a new party is needed to represent the American people. Republicans are evenly divided on this question, while Democrats overwhelmingly disagree. However, among those not affiliated with either major party, 60% agree that a new party is needed, and only 25% disagree. Men are far more likely than women to believe a new party is needed.
As for the voting preference, the Tea Party bests the GOP among both men and women and in all age groups except those over 65.
The Tea Party candidates are the first choice among political conservatives. Among moderates, the Tea Party candidates are more popular than Republicans. However, nearly half of all moderate voters prefer a Democrat.
Among the Political Class, not a single respondent picked the Tea Party candidate.
However, among those with populist or Mainstream views, 31% prefer the Tea Party, and 26% are undecided. Twenty-three percent (23%) pick a Republican candidate, and 19% are for the Democrat.
By Daniel Tencer
A speaker at an anti-immigration rally in Minneapolis this past weekend got the crowd to support more than just the deportation of all illegal immigrants -- he got them cheering for the eviction of all European-descended immigrants to America who "stole this land through genocide and ethnic cleansing."
A crowd of some 40 people showed up to the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday to protest proposed reform of US immigration law. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that the Obama administration was pushing for immigration reform that would create a pathway for the legalization of undocumented immigrants.
Napolitano said she would like to see a "tough, fair" plan that would allow illegal migrants to gain legal status if they pay a fine, pass a criminal background check, pay all back taxes and learn English.
That idea brought 40 anti-immigration protesters to Saturday's protest, as well as 30 pro-immigration reform counter-protesters, according to FightBackNews in Minneapolis.
One of those protesters, going by the alias "Robert Erickson," got a speaking spot at the rally and used it to argue for the eviction of all descendants of European immigrants -- in other words, that contingent of white Americans who these days see themselves as "real" Americans
But some of the demonstrators didn't seem to notice that the angry speech was targeted at them.
"In Minneapolis where I'm from, we have a huge immigrant population that has been causing a number of problems," Erickson began. "With the economy in recession and so many people laid off and unable to find work, immigrants should not be competing for the few jobs that are open. It's just not fair to the folks who have a claim to this country and have a right to be here."
That was met with with applause, but soon it became clear that "Erickson" had a different notion from the Tea-partiers as to who actually has "a claim to this country."
"Let's send these European immigrants back where they came from," he said to wild cheers. "We need to send every one of them back home. ... They stole this land through genocide and ethnic cleansing."
Even after that comment, some of the anti-immigration protesters didn't seem to notice that "Erickson" was standing up for the right of Native Americans to reclaim their land from the Caucasian population -- even though, as FightBackNews noted, the pro-immigration reform crowd had joined in the cheering.
"Erickson" walked off the stage leading the crowd in a loud chant of "Columbus go home! Columbus go home!"
Political mockery has been gaining steam as a tactic of progressive activists. Last month, the Yes Men held a phony press conference pretending to be representatives of the US Chamber of Commerce, and tricked major media outlets into reporting that the group had relented and now supported climate change legislation.
In August, a farcical group calling itself Billionaires for WealthCare mocked opponents of health care reform with slogans such as "“If God loved the poor people, he wouldn’t let them get sick,” and “Healthcare rationing, that’s our job!”
The following video was filmed Saturday, November 14, 2009, and uploaded to YouTube by FightBackNews.
