The Tea Party Suckers

"A Washington Post analysis found that some of the top national tea party groups engaged in this year’s midterm elections have put just a tiny fraction of their money directly into boosting the candidates they’ve endorsed. . .

Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation. . .

Roughly half of the money — nearly $18 million — has gone to pay for fundraising and direct mail, largely provided by Washington-area firms. Meanwhile, tea party leaders and their family members have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, while their groups have doled out large sums for airfare, a retirement plan and even interior decorating.

The lavish spending underscores how the protest movement has gone professional, with national groups transforming themselves into multimillion-dollar organizations run by activists collecting six-figure salaries.

Three well-known groups — the Tea Party Patriots, the Tea Party Express and the Madison Project — have spent 5 percent or less of their money directly on election-related activity during this election cycle."

Read the Washington Post, Tea party PACs reap money for midterms, but spend little on candidates.

The so-called Tea Party is really just a subsidiary of the Republi-con party

The So-Called Tea Party Has Been Co-Opted by the Republi-CON Establishment

"It’s a story as old as time: two opposing families are brought together when members of each are married.

The Capulets and the Montagues, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the Hatfields and the McCoys (oh, wait…).

Today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has arranged one hell of a political marriage. And in the process, he has cemented his own status as one of the preeminent political survivors of our time.

McConnell announced Thursday that his 2014 Senate campaign will be run by Jesse Benton, who just happens to be a former top aide to Ron Paul — the libertarian congressman that has tangled with the Republican Party establishment for years — and his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who trounced a McConnell-endorsed candidate in a primary just two short years ago."

Read the Washington Post, Mitch McConnell + the Pauls = A political marriage made in heaven?

They have been assimilated by the Republi-con collective.  

The Republi-CON Tea Party

"The Tea Party’s influence is diminishing as conservatives seem to be inching toward nominating Mitt Romney," the Republi-con establishment candidate.

Read The New York Times, History vs. the Tea Party, which notes that:

The Tea Party was just "the latest in a cycle of insurgencies on the Republican right," quickly captured by establishment insiders and molded to the party's purpose, doing little more than emphasizing "quixotic crusades" with ""no real plans for reducing government expenditures beyond the conservative pursuit of politics-as-warfare."

Will the Tea Party Debate Pass the Test of 'Limited Government, Free Markets, and Fiscal Responsibility'

UPDATE IV: It's been almost three months since the questions was first posed, but Ron Paul finally said it: "the federal war on drugs is a total failure . . . it undermines our civil liberties, it magnifies our problems on the borders -- we spent like over the last 40 years a trillion dollars on this war and, believe me, the kids can still get the drugs. It just hasn't worked." Read Sentencing Law and Policy, GOP candidate Ron Paul assails Obama pot policy and garners applause calling federal drug war "a total failure".


UPDATE III: You might also ask about the federalization of law enforcement.

"For centuries, a bedrock principle of criminal law has held that people must know they are doing something wrong before they can be found guilty. The concept is known as mens rea, Latin for a 'guilty mind.'

This legal protection is now being eroded as the U.S. federal criminal code dramatically swells. In recent decades, Congress has repeatedly crafted laws that weaken or disregard the notion of criminal intent. Today not only are there thousands more criminal laws than before, but it is easier to fall afoul of them.

As a result, what once might have been considered simply a mistake is now sometimes punishable by jail time."

Read the Wall Street Journal, As Federal Crime List Grows, Threshold of Guilt Declines.


UPDATE II: Another GOP debate, another chance to ask questions "about incarceration policies and the drug war:

Instead of putting our tax dollars into prisons, why not put them into rehabilitation centers for those who get caught with drug possessions?

America has the largest prison population per capita of any country in the world. Do you believe that we are arresting too many people?

Would you back a law to make prison time mandatory for anyone that employs illegal aliens, no exceptions?

The Federal Government spends $500 per second on the war on drugs, adding to the 90% of federal prisoners incarcerated for non-violent crimes. This is overshadowed by the cost of The War on Terror. As President, would you let these costly wars go on?

What will it take to end, in a timely decisive manner, the Global Drug War; a scheme of American Prohibition and world-wide U.S. Imperialism, that funds not only domestic violence and international terrorism, but also the Prison-Industrial Complex?

I am not especially confident that any of these questions will get posed tonight or at any of the forthcoming GOP debates, but I will continue hoping these issues might eventually get some attention at some point in this political/election cycle."

Read Sentencing Law and Policy, Hoping (perhaps foolishly, yet again) latest GOP debate addresses crime and punishment.


UPDATE: Something to remember as you watch the debates:

"The tea party was described as the new kid on the block of American politics, when in fact it was the extension of forces long at work in the political system.

It was described by some of its grass-roots organizers as a movement driven by principle whose members swore no allegiance to either party. That, too, has been shown to be wrong as its roots in the Republican Party have become more evident."

Read the Washington Post, What the tea party is — and isn’t.

Interesting questions and commentary from Sentencing Law and Policy:

"[A]nyone with a truly serious and sustained commitment to 'limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility' must start asking a number of tough questions about huge federal and state government spending on the drug war and mass incarceration. Here, as just a couple of examples, is how these tough questions might find expression in the tonight's Tea Party Debate:

Do you support the bill introduced by Ron Paul and Barney Frank to get the federal government out of the marijuana regulation business (basics here)? Would you sign or veto such a bill as president if it came to your desk?

Do you consider the modern 'War on Drugs' — a federal government program started by Richard Nixon and increasingly funded at the federal level by every President since — to be a classic example of a failed big government program or a notable example of big government success?

According to a Pew Center report in 2009, state criminal correction spending has quadrupled in the past two decades, outpacing budget growth in education and transportation (basics here). Meanwhile, the Justice Department recently wrote to the US Sentencing Commission about federal prison spending and overcrowing (basics here). Does this data concern you and what do you think this nation's president can or should do about the pure economic costs to taxpayers of modern mass incarceration?

Though I would love to hear the GOP candidates' response to all of these questions, I will be pleasantly surprised if even a single question about the drug war or big-government criminal justice spending comes up tonight. If there are not any such questions during the Tea Party Debate, I will continue to [wonder] if the 'core principles and values of the tea party movement' really are 'limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility.'"

Republi-CONs Con the Tea Party

UPDATE IV: Republi-cons con the Tea Party "while reassuring Wall Street that it's political theater":

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As he notes, raising the debt ceiling is so "2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and twice in 2008."


UPDATE III: Republi-cons promised $100 billion in budget cuts this year, then they reduced the cuts "to perhaps $50 billion to $60 billion." In the end, they were only able to propose cuts of $32 billion.

The Tea Party has been conned, and Rand Paul knows it. Read ABC News, Rand Paul Says Republicans 'Aren't Maybe Brave Enough' to Tackle Deficit.


UPDATE II: A Pledge to America, "the manifesto House Republicans published last September, included the promise, “We will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone. . . [But on Tuesday Republi-cons reduced "their goal to perhaps $50 billion to $60 billion." Read The New York Times, Republicans Lower Goal for Cuts to Budget.

No more blamin Obama!


UPDATE: "At the moment when it seemed as if Bachmann [and the Tea Party] fringe would have to be welcomed into the fold, establishment Republicans pushed her back." Read Slate, The GOP's Michele Bachmann Problem.

The civil war continues: Republi-CON establishment v. Republi-CON rage.

Don't let them tell you otherwise, "[i]n Washington, it's business as usual." Read the Washington Post, Forget Tea Party rhetoric - pork barrel politics is back.

Time to Call the Bluff of Republi-CON Budget Hypocrites

On the budget, "Boehner is in a pickle. If he moves to the right on the continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government, he loses the Senate. If he moves to the left, he loses his own Republicans. And if he just stands there, the government gets shut down -- and polls suggest the public will blame Boehner and the Republicans." Read the Washington Post, John Boehner’s problem — and ours.

Why Is America Great?, Part IV, Why We Need a 'National Greatness Agenda'

"We now need a movement transcendent of partisan cliques and organized around a broad revitalization agenda and love of country.We now need a movement transcend. " Read The New York Times, National Greatness Agenda.

Unfortunately, voters reward "politicians who say they are worried about the budget much more than politicians willing to make specific benefit cuts and tax increases. [Voters] prefer generous benefits and low taxes." And one economist thinks that the "process meant to deal with the nation’s long-run fiscal problems has been hijacked on behalf of an ideological agenda."

Think it's easy? You Fix the Budget

The Billionaires’ Coup Camouflaged a Populist Surge

UPDATE V: The history of the tea party, from Hannity and Beck to Palin and O'Donnell, by Stephen Colbert:

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Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

UPDATE IV: From the Washington Post:




UPDATE III: "The Tea Party Express, paid Holland America Line a total of $103,000 to send six of its staffers on four consecutive cruises on the Amsterdam. The payments to the cruise line, which appeared on a campaign finance report filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, have started drawing attention from critics of the Tea Party Express, who have alleged that the committee is a front for Republican consultants seeking to use the populist movement to make a buck and live the high life." Read Politico, Tea Party Express's pricey cruises.


UPDATE II: "There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man." Read the Washington Post, A Tea Party of populist posers.


UPDATE: "John Boehner is the quintessential example of shameless government figures guiding the fortunes of the rich and powerful." Read The New York Times, That’s Where the Money Is.

Par for the Republi-con course, wouldn't you say.

"O’Donnell’s timely ascent in the election season’s final lap may well prove a godsend for the G.O.P. . . . She gives populist cover to the billionaires and corporate interests that have been steadily annexing the Tea Party movement and busily plotting to cash in their chips if the G.O.P. prevails." Read The New York Times, The Very Useful Idiocy of Christine O’Donnell.

And the unholy alliance lives on.

It's Déjà Bircher All Over Again

Paranoid politics is nothing new. Read The New Yorker, Confounding Fathers, The Tea Party’s Cold War roots.

There's no denying the power of fear, anger and hatred,

Exposing Republi-CONism

UPDATE III: And there is also the family values (NOT) of Arizona House candidate Ben Quayle, a/k/a Brock Landers, the fictional sidekick to porn star Dirk Diggler in the film "Boogie Nights,", and real-life son of former vice president Dan Quayle


UPDATE II: Lest you forgot, there is also the serial adulterer, now Republi-con South Carolina gubernatorial candidate. Read the Washington Post, Blogger details alleged tryst with SC gov nominee.


UPDATE: First a candidate who loves pornographic emails while lecturing about family values and cashing rent checks from gay clubs, now a candidate who enjoys wearing Nazi attire. Who will the Republi-con nominate next? Read The Atlantic, Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi? and the Washington Post, Candidate rejects criticism of Nazi uniform.

Nobody is a better Republi-Con Myth Buster by mocking the Republi-CON created reality than Stephen Colbert. Watch as he keeps fear alive and explains why America should fear Muslims:

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Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

And he wants the little one to grow up Republi-con, with suggestions for new coloring book to teach kids Tea Party values, such as Christine O'Donnell's Masturbation Alternatives and Down on the Farm with Carl Paladino, which cites his "racist and pornographic emails, some of which featured bestiality videos":

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - Tea Party Coloring Book & CALM Legislation<a>
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Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Judge for yourself, view the emails if you dare (<-WARNING: this link contains extremely graphic material). And don't forget his roast of Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.

The Race to November is On

UPDATE II: "Republicans are threatening to force a tax increase on the middle class unless they get paid off with tax breaks for the wealthy. It’s an offer Democrats must refuse. . . [Democrats] need to highlight their differences with the G.O.P. — and it’s hard to think of a better place for them to take a stand than on the issue of big giveaways to Wall Street and corporate C.E.O.’s." Read The New York Times, The Tax-Cut Racket.

Time to call the Republi-con bluff!


UPDATE: "Contrary to popular belief, this week’s Tea Party victories haven’t hurt the electoral prospects of Republicans in November. . . [their] damage is all in the future. Right now, the Tea Party doesn’t matter. The Republicans don’t matter. The economy and the Democrats are handing the G.O.P. a great, unearned revival. Nothing, it seems, is more scary than one-party Democratic control. " Read The New York Times, The Backlash Myth.

Not yet anyhow.

And therein lies the Naive-crat election strategy.

Will the Republi-CONs win big in 2010? In order win by "the earth-shattering, upside results that Republicans are dreaming about — they will need for three basic things to happen. First, they will need a solid majority of independent voters to select their candidates. Second, they will need the Democratic base to be disinterested in the election. And third, they will need their own base to be enthused."

And for that to happen, the party establishment and their subsidiary, the Tea Party, will need to make nice, nice.

And therein lies the Naive-crat election strategy.

Who Wants the Nuts to Rule?

UPDATE III: Watch the absolutely hilarious Colbert Report on Tuesday's primary results:

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As unlikely as a reasonable person might think, O'Donnell may win in November. She is "poised and telegenic, with a sparkle that her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, will be hard-pressed to match. She has mastered what should be called the Sarah Palin Affect -- the perkiness, the folksiness, the religiosity, the occasional flash of bared fangs -- and she performs it well."

God help us all.


UPDATE II: And how would the Tea Party rule? "Tea Party candidates this year have voiced opposition to masturbation, support for prohibition and a fear that bicycle-sharing would lead to world government. " Read the Washington Post, The Tea Party: More than just white tea?


UPDATE: This week marks end of primary season, with seven states voting. And not everybody is happy about the way it is ending. "Victories in Republican primaries on Tuesday by Tea Party-backed candidates may complicate Republican efforts to gain control of Congress." Read The New York Times, G.O.P. Braces for More Discontent in Final Primaries.

Also read Politico, Charles Krauthammer rips 'irresponsible' Palin and the Washington Post, The Tea Party: From rebellion to absurdity, with a great quote -- "I could buy a parrot and train it to say, 'tax cuts.'"

Pretty much sums up the Republi-cons.

What is the Tea Party? A "loose agglomeration of right-wing insurgents, libertarians, conservatives, evangelicals, survivalists, gun-rights crusaders, anti-tax protestors, deficit hawks, anti-government zealots, militia members, Ayn Randers, Limbaugh “ditto heads,” Glenn Beck fanatics, birthers, Birchers and supporters of Sarah Palin and Ron Paul." So writes Will Bunch in his new book, The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama.

Are Teabaggers the New Liberal Radicals?

UPDATE: Who are the Teabaggers? Angry older white Republican men, generally. Take a look at the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, Polling the Tea Party.

Does the Tea Party rage against the machine echo the 60's radicalism from the opposite end of the political spectrum? Read The New York Times, The Wal-Mart Hippies.

I'm sooooo confused?!?

Time to Wake Up?

UPDATE II: With major Tea party rallies planned for April 15th, a new group is preparing to disrupt the movement. "[S]ick and tired of that loose affiliation of racists, homophobes, and morons; who constitute the fake grass-roots movement which calls itself "The Tea Party,"" Crash The Tea Party intends to infiltrate Tea Party groups "in an effort to propagate their pre-existing propensity for paranoia and suspicion . . . [and] exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV inter views, etc.)."


UPDATE: For more on the Coffee Party, read The New York Times, Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu.

First the Tea Party, now the Coffee Party, for those who want to give "voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them."

Is this just more astroturfing?

And what next, the Milk Party?

How about the NoBull Party, where our motto would be NoBull.

End the Duopoly

UPDATE: For more on breaking "the oligopoly of our two-party system," read The New York Times, A Tea Party Without Nuts.

The writer quotes Larry Diamond, a Stanford University democracy expert, “If you don’t get governance right, it is very hard to get anything else right that government needs to deal with. We have to rethink in some basic ways how our political institutions work, because they are increasingly incapable of delivering effective solutions any longer.”

The writer notes that "[w}hen your political system punishes lawmakers for the doing the right things, it is broken. That is why we need political innovation that takes America’s disempowered radical center and enables it to act in proportion to its true size, unconstrained by the two parties, interest groups and orthodoxies that have tied our politics in knots."

Given the way the health care debate played out, I agree.

And China laughs all the way to the bank.

You've heard me complain about partisanship and America's political duopoly. For one proposed solution to those problems, read The New York Times, To Reduce Partisanship, Get Rid of Partisans, which suggests that states "should abolish party primaries and institute first round, qualifying elections with the top two earning the chance to compete in November."

What do you think?

Who Was Joe Stack?

As a follow-up to our discussion on the show Friday where I posed the question: "Who was Joe Stack: terrorist, right-wing Teabagger, left wing Communist, 'True American Hero' praised on Facebook, or anxious and disillusioned American whose fear, anger and hatred was exploited by the Republi-cons? (Read Chuck Baldwin, I Wish Joe Stack Had Not Killed Himself!)"

Read The New York Times, The First Tea-Party Terrorist?