Kevin Drum writes about this report on the political origins of the Tea Party movement. Not surprisingly, surveys of Tea Party folks discover that they have only mild interest in small government principles, but far more interest in imposing a religious agenda in Washington.
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What I would like to see more is a comparison of the Tea Party’s composition now with its composition two years ago. My sense of the movement is that it sprang from Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign, and early rallies were notable for their lack of religious influence. When GOP operatives like Armey (and later Rove) moved in to coopt the movement, that’s when it started shifting in tone.
It’s fine and well to say that today’s Tea Party adherents are religious conservatives who’ve always been Republican activists. No question that’s true. But that only casts doubt on the origin story if the composition of the movement hasn’t changed, and nothing in Drum’s story or the original study speaks to that.
re 1: The libertarian ideologues that largely populated the early Ron Paul Teabagger movement were secular religious nuts whose main difference with the dumbo faction of the religious right was that they were capable of reading a book or pamphlets about a book and hence had an intellectual Halloween costume upon which to hang their holy convictions.
The “god” they all worship bears a striking resemblance to…themselves.
@1, Check out this article at the NY Times. Gives some history on the Tea Party. The article also hints that the Tea Party is tanking…
Not much difference between the Tea Party of today and past right wing wacky groups like the “Moral Majority,” John Birch Society, and a bit farther back, the Ku Klux Klan.
IMO, the origins of the TP was mostly about eliminating government waste and fraud at taxpayer expense, and consisted of people that were fed-up with both Republican and Democratic parties.
A view from an original tea-party organizer, Karl Dennigner, blasting Palin, Newt and what the TP has morphed into:
Link
@5, I don’t recall any Tea Party protests against Republicans.
I thought the origins in the Tea Party were a reaction to the Wall Street bailouts of 2008. Nothing sets off a lower-middle class person as the prospect that their tax money is going to some rich New York banker. Since Bush was President and proposed the initial TARP bailout, it was a rebellion from within the Republican Party as much as it was against the Democrats.
But after November 2008, the Republicans were in crisis mode. Bush’s had been thrashed in the November election. Democrats had control of both houses (although the lead in the Senate required the cooperation of Lieberman as an independent). Republican “favorable” ratings in the polls reached amazing lows, and Republican politicians were actively trying to conceal their party affiliation (using “GOP”, using blue roadside signs instead of red, etc.).
Within short order the nascient Tea Party was co-opted by the Republicans. They provided financing and logistics and organizational support, encouraging the growth of the party. The Republicans leadership had two thoughts on this: they perceived the Tea Party backers as a “base” upon which they could rely, if their attention and anger was directed away from Republicans and toward the Democrats; and they thought they could serve as the “mad junkyard dog” which would keep Democrats on the defensive while the rest of the party went on with affairs as usual.
It only worked in part for the Republicans. They were able to recover sufficiently to keep their name, and to re-gain control of the House in the 2010 elections. But they have found that the junkyard dog is quite willing to bite the hand that feeds them.
The Tea Party goals of wanton destruction of the American economy and a return to pre-FDR society is at odds with the financial interests which ultimately control the Republican Party. Those financial interests can’t do business in a chaotic environment such as that fostered by the Tea Party. And since the Tea Party folks are demanding that Republicans genuflect before them and take an oath of loyalty to their principles before they can win a primary, their tactics make it very difficult for Republicans to win a national election.
Can I have some of what #5’s smoking?
The Tea Party could be the demise of the Republican Party. I would, in that case, be forever grateful to those idiots.
Wingnut Idiocy Dep’t
There’s enough Wingnut Idiocy out there to fill several encyclopedias, but I found this one a bit amusing:
“Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said it would be ‘great’ to impeach [Obama], but that the Democratic controlled Senate would prevent such action.
“On a conference call with bloggers Tuesday night, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO called the health care law and the Obama administration’s stance over the Defense of Marriage Act impeachable offenses.”
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Really, Herman? … Now you know why campaigning is called “the silly season.”
@3
I have deeply evangelical relative and strangely whenever I get the emails about how hard he prayed and asked for guidance and made a decision, it was what he wanted to do in the first place.
Most recently, should I take a leave of absence and go on a mission to Jakarta? (Yes, praise be the lord! He wants me to go!) Should I sell my SUV and get a luxury sedan. (God told me I should be more comfortable.)
Do they ever get, Hell no, that’s silly/selfish/do you really think I care about that?
Quote of the Day
If Rick Perry and George W. Bush had been born in the same family, W would have become known to friends as “the smart one.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINIO.....?hpt=hp_c2
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Not exactly an intelletual crowd, is it?
# 11: I know what you mean, it seems that for many, it’s just a process of justifying their inclinations.
But I have to say, as I said here once before, that on once occassion I prayed to God, and his answer nearly scared me to death. For a brief moment he allowed me to see myself and I really was, full of pride, selfishiness, and self-justification. I did a lot of repenting in the days and weeks that followed.
Ever since, whenever I hear someone say that they want to hear God’s voice, I say: “Are you sure? Are you REALLY sure? You might not like what you are about to hear.”
Duh! This was not a mystery. My handle (Zotz sez: …) literally says it all — and has for some time.
Their religion and economics are faith based in the worst sense of faith, i.e., immune to facts and evidence and easily led.
@13: I don’t doubt anything you just said — as you experienced it.
Serious questions, though:
1. Since (apparently you think) God talks to you, what if God told you to murder 3000 members of your community?
2. Given this, why shouldn’t a rational person be very alarmed when someone professes that “God” to talks to them?
3. Why shouldn’t such persons be “sequestered” such that they do not harm themselves and others until it is clear that “murder commandments from God” would not be acted on?
Regarding Dennigner,
“In short, The Tea Party was and is about the the corruption of American Politics and the blatant and outrageous theft from all Americans that has resulted. It is about personal responsibility and enforcement of the law against those who have robbed, financially ****d and pillaged the nation.”
American politics is corrupt and that has resulted in the theft from Americans, but not all Americans, especially if one counts corporations as people.
“Tea Party my ass. This was nothing other than The Republican Party stealing the anger of a population that was fed up with The Republican Party’s own theft of their tax money at gunpoint to bail out the robbers of Wall Street and fraudulently redirecting it back toward electing the very people who stole all the ****ing money!”
The thought of Dennigner being Fearless Leader of anything other than a few very angry backwater whackos is laughable. Before anybody knew his name the teaparty was nothing more than a rebranding effort by the GOP that unfortunately brought every right-wing extremist freak in the country out of the woodwork. Thanks a lot. This country shuns smokers more than it does extremists of any stripe. Are things getting a little bit weird? We now have a corporate raider who his own base believes is a cultist and a Dominionist state governor who flippingly talks secession leading the pack to be the next Republican presidential candidate. And that’s not to mention the gay-obsessed woman who is married to Mr. Gaydar Overload. Yeah, I’m sure there’s nothing strange about any of this.
It doesn’t matter if some angry guy I never heard of regrets that he spawned the teabaggers. As a country, we need to get a fucking grip. It won’t be easy. At a time when things were already fucked up, someone let a damned extremist monster loose. It’ll likely get a lot uglier around here before it has any chance of getting better.
The TEA Party is a lot like Big Foot and Sasquatch.
Quite a few people profess to believe it exists.
A handful of people have made some coin from the believers.
But when you look at photos of the TEA Party all you see are silly people in costumes.
Geez, I’m a little jealous. God has never spoken to me. Well, there was that time I ate too many Psilocybe mexicana, but I’m not so sure that was God talking to me. If it was, God looks like a 5′-6″ Irishman, has a ruddy complexion, and wears a plaid cap and tweed jacket.
Hey, I love wearing a 3 corner hat, and Nero Wolfe too.
We go now, God made man
But he used the monkey to do it
Apes in the plan
We’re all here to prove it
I can walk like an ape, Talk like an ape
I can do what a monkey can do
God made man
But a monkey supplied the glue
Are we not TEA?
Speaking of dumbfuck teabaggers, this is really pathetic,
http://videocafe.crooksandliar.....ers-morgan
does the world jewish congress pay all you guys to bash the tea party?
The Tea Party is not a political party and was never designed to be such. It’s a philosophical movement of less intrusive, less costly, smaller government plus balanced budgets.
It’s amazing to watch the sheep from the Democrat and Republican Party’s pay so much attention and work so hard to discredit those ideals.
Boehner will get a challenge, so will McConnell. Screw these assholes.
Same thing with Obama…gone.
Reid just got re-elected but this will be his last term.
Pelois is a lunatic in looneyville and immaterial.
@22
Well, you got that part anyway.
@22
The Tea Party is a failed rebranding attempt by Dick Armey and a handful of other wealthy, white, Christianist, Republicans. It’s a failed rebranding effort in that it’s going to destroy the Republican party rather than save it.
re 23: I know. You are being picked on by people who misunderstand you — people who know about Karl Popper.
22, re: the Tea Party
“It’s a philosophical movement”
Those folks wouldn’t know philosophy from an asparagus recipe. Are you really that deluded?
The Tea Party folks are being worked by the Republican Party. That’s why I never really was interested in them.
# 15: Actually, that’s a reasonable question. I don’t think I would be very obedient to God if he commanded me to kill my first-born son, for example.
Fortunately, Christians are supposedly operating under the New Testament, not the Old Testament, so those issues are unlikely to arise if we follow the teachings of Jesus.
And yes, I’ve known more than a few people who claim to hear from God who are clearly suffering from a mental disease of one type or another. If they are a danger to themselves or others, they need to be confined.
But mere belief in a higher power is not grounds for confinement.
Oh, and I don’t tell that story very often. I’m pretty reluctant to share it here. For me, it was a very personal experience, and as I recounted, one which wasn’t particularly pleasant. I don’t understand at all those who like to brag about hearing from God.
Actually the Tea Party has gone after a number of non-Conservative Republicans and taken them out. Boehner and McConnell are next on the list. You guys just don’t seem to get it. It’s about principles. You may disagree, but the Tea Party doesn’t just take what the R’s dish out, unlike you so-called Progressives who fall on your sword for do nothing Obama and others. You think you won. Won what?
I like the libertarian aspects of the Tea Party, but those can’t ovecome the overwhelming conservative bent that the party has. Too much conservatism for me! I’ll pass.
It’s not about “principles” dumbass…these knuckle-draggers are being exploited by big corporate money. The air is coming out of the baloon because they are so mind-numbingly stupid that even the average person is staring to see it.
An interesting article about Rick Perry, from the Texas Monthly.
Eight things you ought to know before you start writing stories about Rick Perry
In short, although it’s easy to dismiss him as another Texas Bush clone, that would be a mistake.
@32
Lol @ rujaxoff calling others ” mind numbingly stupid”…..pot, meet kettle.
Igor @ # 30:
Oh, please, please, please, do so.
As much as I despise Boehner and McConnell for their hypocracy, at leat they are realists, and they haven’t kept their seats for so long without having some political gravitas and are good party propogandists, being able to look into the camera and lie with a straight face.
Having the Tea Party get rid of them in the primaries, and running another candidate like Angle, O’Donnell, etc. will be just fine with me. We can flip those districts and states from Red to Blue, and even if we don’t re-capture the House outright, the nation will see in the new Republican leadership in the House and Senate how loony the Republicans have really become.
@29: Thank you. You’re a smart, smart guy, rhp. And completely rational.
I struggle to understand the apparent magical thinking, though: e.g., why attribute your “repentance” to something outside yourself?
Wouldn’t it be just as (even more) reasonable to attribute your “repentance” to your internal ethical compass, to your own “still small voice” that comes from your loyalty to the truth?
People who act on ‘principle’ only usually are incapable of grasping the true nature of the problems they face. They meet each crisis with the same set of one-size-fits-all set of ‘principles’.
Hence, in a recession, they simultaneously attempt budget-cutting and austerity measures while expecting that this will somehow create jobs.
It would be funny if it were not so destructive of the economy.
re 38: … and some meet each crisis with a set of ‘principals’, which is disturbing on an entirely different level.
OK fuckwad…I’ll bite.
Tell me why I’m “stupid”.
@40
rujax, i guess you and i wont be havind anymore dialogue. i had posted a pretty nasty message to you, and since im on the awaiting moderation list carl deleted. so i guess only approved messages are allowed.
Rujax is stupid because he defends an incompetent, out of touch with reality President who goes off to enjoy himself while tens of millions of Americans are suffering without jobs. And Obama goes to an elite haven, Martha’s Vineyard, just to rub our faces in it. As a narcissist, Obama likely fantasizes about being Kennedy in Camelot. Obama is no John Kennedy. He is a putz way out of his level of competence. That’s why you are stupid rujax.
manofshit.
Such a little victim. You know we’re all out to get you don’t you? Jews too. “Jew millionaires” like me. We’re everywhere. Hollywood, DC, Kenosha, Sheboygan…White Center…
Look out.
Thank god I’m not as stupid as “manofshit” here.
# 37:
I was walking through a wooded part of campus, with absolutely no one nearby, and I suddenly heard an audible voice clearly addressing me, in only a handful of words, about an issue I was thinking about silently to myself. it is awfully hard under those circumstances to come to the conclusion that it this is coming only from an “internal ethical compass”. I even looked around to see if anyone was hiding nearby, trying to play a joke on me, but there was no one there.
Either I was becoming psychotic, or I was hearing from a divine presence. I chose to believe the later, although I admit that among those two choices, the later was preferable to me.
@40
I don’t know why rujaxoff…..its either nature or nurture, can’t tell which it is……perhaps your parents can shed some light on that
The problem is that not only are you stupid, but you are also lazy.
Hope that clears things up a little.
Your pal,
Max
White center has a jewish community?
Whodda thunk!
Well, nobody’s ever going to accuse emperor max-minidick of being a thinker are they.
@48
Well if thats true, then I guess we will finally have something in common.
@48
your obvious obsession with my shlongosaur is really creeping me out.
I know you are lonely and all, but damnit man, go out and at least try and pull a drunk fat chick.
or maybe you need a late night visit from gman?
48 – Rujax, regarding the bigot lobotomy’s handles – there’s so many it’s just gotten boring. There’s no “formula” to finding them. He just starts spouting off his usual stupid crap and you find another.
Here’s a link to one of them:
http://horsesass.org/?p=32809#comment-1067594
I try to ignore his dumbassery these days myself.
and speaking of people stuck in the land of mediocrity, YLBleeder drops on by to take a dump.
hows life in the land of so-so and just-barely-average?
He SURE DID scale thaT wrong!
ROTFLMAO….!!!!!
Add @ 53…
Reply to @ 50…
WHO is obsessed with WHAT???
Jesus!…that’s rich.
Thanks YLB…you’re awesome.
@54
Thanks YLB…you’re awesome.
lol…awwww, isnt that sweet. Rujaxoff has himself a little man-crush.
The Origin of the Tea Party – the Nut House. NutBaggers forever.