Some Tea Party Groups Condemning Violence

Some tea partiers are stepping up. FreedomWorks is Dick Armey's group, which has been shunning what Karl Rove calls "unsophisticated" tea partiers. It should be noted that tea partiers are shunning Dick Armey.

The organizers of some major Florida tea party groups, for instance, on Thursday morning released an open letter to Congress and President Barack Obama declaring they “stand in stark opposition to any person using derogatory characterizations, threats of violence, or disparaging terms toward members of Congress or the President.”

The letter calls the tea parties “a peaceful movement” and says its leaders denounce “all forms of violence” and “support all efforts to bring [any perpetrators] to justice and have encouraged full cooperation within our movement and have asked for the same from the members of Congress who have laid such claims.”

The letter is signed by leaders of two statewide tea party coalitions, the state chapter of the Washington-based FreedomWorks and local and regional tea party groups in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Deerfield Beach and Viera, among others. Read more at Politico.

A more toned down John Boehner:

Dick Armey Reconsidering the Tea Party Tattoo?

I'd say Dick Armey is a little behind the curve, seeing that white supremacists and all kinds of haters view the tea party as their way to the light.

“Tattoos last forever,” said Brandon, quoting his boss, FreedomWorks chairman and former House Republican Leader Dick Armey. “If the movement gets tattooed as at all sympathetic to those (racist and homophobic) views, I won’t want to be involved in it anymore. It’s very distracting not only to our side but also to the debate and the country.”Read more at Politico

Who is he kidding? Republicans are cultivating the rage.

Tea Partiers Rebel Against Scott Brown

That, according to Joe Scarborough, who wrote a piece for Newsweek. Dick Armey, who supports the tea party through his FreedomWorks, is pleased with Brown. But the more loathsome of the tea party, the Glenn Beck followers, don't like Scott Brown one bit:

The Fox News host used his TV and radio shows to launch vicious verbal attacks on the newly elected senator. "I want a chastity belt on this man," Beck laughingly said the morning after Brown's epic victory over Democrat Martha Coakley. "I want his every move watched in Washington. I don't trust this guy. This one could end with a dead intern." Just in case the audience had somehow missed his suggestion that Brown was capable of having an affair with, and then murdering, a female intern, Beck repeated the line.

What is going on here? Why are the tea partyers turning on their own? Like any nascent populist movement, the tea party was born of deep skepticism and dissatisfaction with the status quo. As it turns out, many of its most passionate and vocal members seem just as mistrusting of each other as they are of the federal government. Read the whole thing

My working definition of the tea party: A collection of a wide variety of people from the haters, the bigots, the racists, to the the tax haters, who all share a disdain of government, be it out of intellect or stupidity. There isn't enough uniformity to pull together as a real party, but there is enough uniformity to knock the other parties off balance.

Mike Pence Says Republicans Have Been Little Angels

It's interesting to watch everyone hitch their wagons to Scott Brown. Yesterday, Dick Armey said he hitched FreedomWorks' (part of the tea party) wagon to Brown when he started to see him take off:

He was so energetic, enthusiastic in the race that the grassroots activists just came to respect him and they regarded him. And they sort of govern by a notion we call Armey's axiom: Hard work beats Daddy's money.

He wasn't going to Washington to bring in money. He was getting on the Internet. He was talking to people from Massachusetts. He was funding from local initiatives and he was matching every dollar's worth of money he got with his own effort on the ground. And folks said, you know, look, if he's willing to work that hard, we ought to work for him. So they really pitched in.

Representative Mike Pence has a lot of gall to say that republicans have been bipartisan. Not in the least. Just look at his eyes when he answers. That's what people are sick of, lying politicians. I'm so sick of politics right now. I think the trouble we're having as a nation is shifting from politics to governing. Everyone wants to play politics but no one wants to do the work. Politics gets in the way of governing.

As far as offering "substantive" alternative proposals. Ha! I think it's a well known fact that republicans haven't offered any solutions, which is why Scott Brown bubbled up. The media says that Brown's election bodes well for the republicans. Hardly. It's another repudiation of republicans. Pence is one of the biggest liars they've got and now he may run against Evan Bayh:

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Fear Mongering Has Doomed Health Care Since 1915

Steve Inskeep of NPR had an interesting piece this morning on how fear tactics have been used since forever to kill health care reform. In 1915, opponents of reform tied it to the most prevalent threat of the time--a German takeover plot of the U.S. It's obvious that kind of irrationality prevails today as well.

Oberlander says opponents used scare tactics the very first time the idea of national health insurance was broached — around 1915 — by tying would-be reformers to the nation's then-greatest international threat.

"They said that national health insurance was a plot by the German emperor to take over the United States," he says.

The next effort to remake the health system came during the late 1940s. This time the opposition, led by the American Medical Association, exploited the newest fears. "They said if we adopted national health insurance, the Red army would be marching through the streets of the U.S.; they said this was the first step toward communism," Oberlander says.

By the time the Clinton administration took on the health effort, the power of the American Medical Association was fading. But now a new opponent took its place — the health insurance industry. It ran ads using an ordinary looking couple, named Harry and Louise, to raise doubts among middle-class Americans about how the Clinton plan might hurt rather than help them.

Says Oberlander, "The opponents have changed over time; the tactic of relying on fear and scaring Americans has not."

Republicans might be smart to use fear tactics but immoral and lazy also comes mind. Jonathan Oberlander says fear dominates our brain. It's a biological thing:

It turns out that fear is a very primitive response, and "once fear is aroused in your brain, it tends to take over and dominate," LeDoux says. A brain paralyzed by fear is unable to think other things through.

It actually makes sense on a survival level, he says. "If there's a chance that you'll be harmed, then you better attend to it. In other words, you better be afraid of it and be careful about what's going on."

The story didn't mention targeting seniors, but without a doubt, opponents of health care target seniors, in part, because as a person ages, they begin to feel more vulnerable. It's why so many seniors like to live in gated communities. Seniors are often targets of crime. So if you can get to one of the biggest voting blocs-- seniors -- you could probably dash just about anything.
The lesson? If we want to progress as a nation, we need to get real and move through the fear.

In another story this morning on NPR, Dick Armey says that his group, FreedomWorks, encourages good behavior at town halls. He says the health care debate is a contest between congress and "real voters" and that Obama has real voters too: "They've got real voters too."

But Armey insists that the opposition is more intense and that Obama supporters are "half-embarrassed" by health reform and less intense, that the opponents dominate. It's clear that conservatives believe they are the salt of the Earth, the only people who matter.

It's also interesting that on legitimate news programs, Armey and his ilk act somewhat respectable. But get them on Fox or some other loudmouth show, and they go bonkers. I do agree with Armey in that some congress people have talked down to people, which has enraged some people. I'm not talking about the gun toters or the losers who shout at town halls. I'm talking about the ones who show up and truly want answers, only to find a pandering congress person.

Obama Speaks at Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention Aug. 17

Update Aug. 17: Watch speech here.
Following a family trip to the Grand Canyon (see video here), Obama will address the convention tomorrow at 2 pm eastern.

President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to speak Monday at the 110th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. The annual convention of America’s oldest major veterans’ organization starts Saturday in the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz.

“It is a time-honored tradition for the commander-in-chief of our nation’s armed forces to address the national convention of America’s largest organization of combat veterans, which celebrates its 110th anniversary next month,” said VFW National Commander Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas.

“We are grateful to President Obama for taking the time to speak to us on issues that are vitally important to our nation’s veterans, her military and their families.”

Almost 13,000 VFW and Ladies Auxiliary delegates will represent the 2.1 million-member organization at the weeklong convention. Their mission will be to approve new national priorities to guide the organization’s advocacy efforts in Congress on behalf of the nation’s 23.5 million veterans, 2.2 million servicemembers and their families. Advocacy issues include military and veterans’ healthcare, benefits, and Quality of Life programs, as well as military readiness and national and homeland security. VFW

The rightwing Americans for Prosperity will be there to protest. They're hoping for thousands of protesters. Of course they are.

A group called "Americans for Prosperity" is organizing a healthcare reform protest outside the Phoenix Convention Center Monday. President Obama will be speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars there.

Tom Jenny, the director of "Americans for Prosperity," is scared the entire country will get stuck in a government run healthcare system.

"The greatest fear we have is that a public option will squeeze out private alternatives," Jenny said to KTAR. "And that everyone in America will get stuck in a government run system where the government bureaucrats decide who's covered and who's not."

He says the protests will start around 7 a.m. and he hopes for a large turnout. KTAR

Daschle, Armey, Coburn and Maddow on Meet the Press Aug. 16

Town halls don't hurt the health care debate. Misinformation does, says Tom Daschle.
David Gregory asks the panel about the escalation of violence at town halls. He points out that Timothy McVeigh had the same thing written on his shirt the day he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 as the man with the gun strapped to his leg at Obama's town hall in New Hampshire.
Tom Coburn says this debate isn't about healthcare. It's about fear of government. That makes sense. My question is why now? Why is everyone suddenly fearing government? I'd say it's driven by hatred and fear of Obama from our fringes. Dick Armey, of course, who is on the fringes, believes that Obama has earned the violent reaction in the the 7 or so months Obama's been in office, which is irrational and proves there is something deeper here.

Rachel Maddow doesn't let Armey get away with his lies.

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David Gregory sits down with Rachel after the show:

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Health Care Town Hall Mobs Turn Violent

People ought to be ashamed of themselves. What a bunch of low lifes. Republican leadership needs to be speaking out, taming their people, not inciting violence. But they never spoke out against the racist birthers, so I imagine the violence at these meetings will get worse before it gets better.

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Apparently, representative Kathy Castor and other democrats will be holding the next town hall by phone. They ought to just do online town halls.
AFL-CIO to the rescue and White House advice to democrats:

Also Thursday, the AFL-CIO announced plans to mobilize labor activists to attend town hall meetings in 50 congressional districts this month to counter the conservative protesters.

White House aides David Axelrod and Jim Messina traveled to the Capitol for their presentation to Democratic senators. Senators saw videos of disruptions at events held by House members, and were told to organize their events more carefully as well as work with labor unions and other friendly groups to generate enthusiasm.

They also were urged to use these events to stress insurance reforms such as a limit on out-of-pocket expenses for those covered by insurance, a ban on coverage cancellation for the seriously ill and protections for small businesses.

Messina, the deputy White House chief of staff, also said any advertising attack would be met with a bigger response, these officials said. MSNBC

Tea Bagger Dick Armey on Meet the Press

Congressman Harold Ford makes the case for government spending, answering Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks. Ford asked Armey what is your alternative--nothing is not an alternative.
Too bad they cut to commercial cause I would've loved to hear Armey's response.
Ford also suggested that the tea baggers and the rest stop calling Obama a socialist and questioning Obama's intentions. In other words, let's all grow up and debate in a civil manner.
Armey is a much more reasonable and likable man on TV, even though off camera he engages in the socialist rhetoric and his organization uses fear tactics, inciting the already fearful. His website says "Congress could sneak through socialized medicine."
His wife calls him "honey."

Take Two on Cuba and Hugo and Guns. Why on Earth would anyone need an assault weapon. This gun issue strikes me as ironic. All the people who cling to their guns tie it to freedom. But they're all so afraid, walking around with their guns in their holsters, living in fear that they'll have to defend themselves. That's not freedom.

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Larry Summers: Krugman Right Armey Wrong

Paul Krugman is right to caution:

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Dick Armey, one of the tea party leaders, is wrong on spending:

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