Breadth of Tea Party May be Inflated

You think so? From the Washington Post:

The findings suggest that the breadth of the tea party may be inflated. The Atlanta-based Tea Party Patriots, for example, says it has a listing of more than 2,300 local groups, but The Post was unable to identify anywhere near that many, despite help from the organization and independent research. Read more

I believe that the tea party came out of the failed birther movement. When birthers realized no one was buying, they cloaked themselves in fiscal conservatism, but most tea partiers polled still question Obama's birthplace. Many in the tea party-- with the exception of the Libertarian strain -- largely believe Obama is a Muslim and a socialist.

We would not have a tea party if it wasn't for the fact that the nation elected a president who is black.

The tea party is largely a movement of people uncomfortable with what it means to have a black president. Does that change the status of the white people who have always had power? What does it mean for them when Obama appoints a Latino woman to the Supreme Court, a black Attorney General and a transgender woman to the Commerce Department? Will there be retribution for deeds done? Will the country become a majority of minorities? For some folks, these are frightening prospects.

The tea party was blown up by the media because controversy sells, and yet the media has yet to catch on to what the tea party really is. All one has to do is look at the makeup of the tea party, which like the GOP, has few minorities represented, or watch an episode of Glenn Beck. If the tea party was made up of a diverse group of people, then I'd know that it was a group concerned about fiscal matters. We all care about fiscal matters, no matter what race or religion. The tea party's true values are unspoken.

Ken Buck: Birth Has Influence Over Being Gay Like Alcoholism

Ken Buck is the republican candidate--obviously--running for Senate in Colorado against Michael Bennet. People who consider homosexuality a choice have never spent time with gay people. That's the problem. People like Buck are cocooned with their fellow conservatives and just don't know any better.

It makes me crazy that a person like Buck is even being considered to represent Colorado in the Senate--the guy is up by 2 points. If he was the the greatest candidate in the world, I wouldn't elect him for based on his ignorance and prejudice alone. How can he represent Colorado when he clearly has no respect for a large number of people who live there? What's wrong with us?

Here's the whole debate between Bennet and Buck on Meet the Press:

Robert Gibbs was also on the show today. Gibbs said that democrats will retain the House and the Senate, but if the democrats can't get it together, can't grow a backbone, then what's the point?

Most of Tea Party Blood Believe Climate Change is Unproven

What happens if people don't get out to vote in November? We'll get an even stronger conservative pull. Actually, I'd kind of like to see what the tea partiers do with power. I'd like to see if they disobey Mitch McConnell or if McConnell gets in line behind the tea partiers. I'd like to see if they push their social "values" once they're in office.

Since tea partiers don't "believe" in climate change, as if it's something to either believe in or not, that won't be good for any sort of environmental momentum. On the upside, if tea partiers behave recklessly in Congress, perhaps we'll purge that tea party anger from our system and then maybe we can get to the next level of truly trying to solve this nation's problems.

Colin Powell Comes out Forcefully for Immigrants, Disses Birthers, Gingrich, Dishes on Tea Party, Palin

Powell says republicans need an agenda, especially if they incorporate the tea party wing. I always love to hear from Powell. He's one of the few calm and mature republicans. He needs to speak out more often. I'm so excited about this interview. Day after day of hearing from tea party nitwits in the spotlight, Powell is like a balm.

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Powell says republicans can't be anti-immigrant because immigrants are fueling our country. He says immigrants need access to education. The Dream Act is one way to do that, he said.

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Powell calls Sarah Palin a "star," though he doesn't think she's ready to be president still. Powell says he is concerned about an undercurrent of of lowlifes out there (I'm paraphrasing).

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Powell says lets get rid of the birther thing. Obama was born in the U.S. Powell says that Obama is a Christian. He says Gingrich is a fool (again, I've paraphrased). He says if the unemployment rate was lower, people wouldn't be attacking Obama in such a manner.

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Powell says it could be a good thing if the republicans own one of the houses, then they'd be more responsible. I didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense. They've been do-nothings since Obama took office.
Powell says Obama has lost the ability to connect to people. I'd argue that the reason for that is the undercurrent of lowlifes spreading misinformation about the president. There's one sure way to delude the masses and that is with fear.

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Powell on Afghanistan:

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Powell on Iran, says they could have a nuclear program that's not on track to be a weapon:

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Powell says Obama has done transformational work:

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Stewart Announces Rally to Restore Sanity Oct. 30

Jon Stewart mocks angry and ignorant tea party types with a Rally to Restore Sanity for people who don't have time to go to a rally, the rally for the 70-80% of us.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rally to Restore Sanity
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Colbert announces an opposing Keep Fear Alive march.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
March to Keep Fear Alive
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Meet the newly-elected tea partiers:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tea Party Primaries - Beyond the Palin
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Gutierrez Vs. Hayward on Immigration

No doubt, America's immigration laws need to be changed, but the main trouble with Arizona's law is the intent behind the law is bigoted. People hate Mexicans. We have racists ruling the immigration debate. Reasonable minds, without a racist motive, need to draw up immigration reform.

If we did just one thing--send employers to jail for hiring illegal workers, you can bet the problem would be solved just like that. We wouldn't have Mexicans risking their lives crossing the border to earn a living because no one would hire them. But the dirty not-so-secret secret is that business wants cheap labor, and like everything else in this nation, business gets what it wants.

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Rand Paul Does Interview with Right Wing Russia Today

Rand Paul avoids mainstream media, cancels his Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, but managed an interview with the right wing Russia Today:

Cornyn: Rand Paul is Just a Citizen Who Made a Mistake

Meet the Press's David Gregory starts off hammering Rand Paul for backing out of the show at the last minute.
Paul would've been wiser to just show up. I'm sure the republicans are giving him the Sarah Palin shut down. He's not nearly as ignorant as Palin, but his views are too extreme for normal people and he needs to learn how to temper his speech.
John Cornyn says Rand Paul is just a citizen who ran for office and isn't as polished.
He explains libertarian beliefs, saying that libertarians believe in smaller government.
Yeah, way smaller government. They advocate getting rid of entire agencies, such as the EPA and OSHA. I wonder if Paul is going to let republicans make him over or will he take the Sarah Palin route, quit and go rogue. I don't know why he would want to be a Senator. For someone who despises government, the Senate doesn't seem like the right place to be.
Cornyn is right when he says people are looking for candidates with integrity. We're looking all right, but there's not a lot of good choices coming from the republicans or the democrats.

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14% of Americans Believe Obama Born Abroad

Surprisingly, not all of the people who believe Obama was born abroad are true birthers in the sense that they are bigoted. There are actually some people who are just ignorant and believe he was born abroad. There are people who can't even name his birthplace of Hawaii:

Asked an open-ended question about where President Obama was born, 14 percent of Americans say he was born abroad - giving an incorrect answer that shows how widespread the misunderstanding of his birthplace is nearly a year and a half into his presidency.

Fully 68 percent of those surveyed in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll say, unprompted, that he was born in the United States, including 48 percent who accurately cite Hawaii. Another 9 percent say it's their "best guess" that he was born in this country, bringing the total saying he is U.S.-born to 77 percent. More at WaPo

Don't be fooled by tea partiers who say they're all about fiscal conservatism. You have to dig a little deeper to find out if there is racial animosity. When a tea party leader appeared recently on Letterman's show, she was soft-spoken and reasonable, at first. Then she revealed herself as a soft-spoken birther. Yesterday I watched Tea Party Express director Amy Kremer on The View. She denounced racists and after being prodded, she said that the tea party doesn't want racists among its ranks. She might be a legitimate tea partier concerned about fiscal matters. There are other factions of the tea party -- tea party nation and the tea party patriots.

But Kremer complained about being called a tea bagger when that is the name they gave themselves when the tea party started. They literally (as Joe Biden would say) wore tea bags. We all called them tea baggers--until the left enlightened everyone on what it actually meant. I remember that shift in consciousness--some cringe-worthy video passed around on Twitter.

I started off calling them tea baggers and shifted to tea partiers in January after it became apparent that tea bagger was becoming a derogatory term, sort of how "Obamacare" became derogatory.

Apparently, Jonathan Alter reported in his new book that Obama referred to them as tea baggers. But what's NOT widely reported is that the interview of Obama referring to them as tea baggers is from November of 2009, when even they referred to themselves as tea baggers.

Tea Party Candidate Loses in Indiana

Tea party = hype.

Former Sen. Dan Coats, the Washington establishment's favored Republican, won the GOP nomination in Indiana's Senate race on Tuesday, beating back a challenge from one candidate supported by the tea party coalition and another who is an ex-congressman.

Voters in North Carolina and Ohio also made their choices in House and Senate primaries.

In Indiana this fall, Coats — who was recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee — will face Democrat Brad Ellsworth, whose nomination is assured. The candidates are seeking the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh.
....
Coats overcame spirited challenges from four, including state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a tea party favorite who was endorsed by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, and former Rep. John Hostettler, who had the support of onetime presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.
AP

Tea Party Relevance Exaggerated by Media

Politico has a tea party story I can agree with. Tea partiers identify mostly with republicans, after all, and they're not looking to be a third party. They just want to push their agenda on the republicans.

To be fair, I think the media and everyone else has been struggling to understand the tea party, which is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On one hand, they seem deficit driven, on the other, they appear to be bigots mostly driven by fear:

2009 was the year when many journalists concluded they were slow to recognize the anti-government, anti-Obama rage that gave birth to the tea party movement.

2010 is the year when news organizations have decided to prove they get it.

And get it. And get it some more.

Part of the reason is the timeless truth in media that nothing succeeds like excess. But part of the reason is a convergence of incentives for journalists and activists on left and right alike to exaggerate both the influence and exotic traits of the tea-party movement. In fact, there is a word for what poll after poll depicts as a group of largely white, middle-class, middle-aged voters who are aggrieved: Republicans.

Read more at Politico

This is an interesting point from Cindy Sheehan on how the media gave legitimacy to the tea party but not war protestors:

They’re being treated with a lot more respect than the anti-war movement was,” said Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq, who became the most visible face of those protests.

“The anti-war movement has always been treated as a fringe movement – even though at the height of our movement we had hundreds of thousands of people at protests and the majority of public opinion on our side,” said Sheehan, who spoke to POLITICO from a bus on her way to an Oregon protest against the Afghan war.

Tea Party Tools

A new tea party poll shows that tea party backers are wealthy and educated:

Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.

They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.” NYT

And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”

That led me to wonder, how could an educated group of people insist that Obama is Muslim? Why do so many appear to be birthers? What's with all the racist signs and the stupid speech? The polling results just don't make any sense. The data doesn't match what we see on TV.

People say that educated people can be racist as well, but the tea partiers that I've seen don't appear to be educated. Then I got to thinking that perhaps there are two tea party elements, the wealthy and educated, legitimately concerned about the nation's finances, and the tools--the tea party activists out there with their misspelled signs and signs of Obama with a mustache, who are either being exploited by the wealthy and educated tea partiers, or jumping on the bandwagon.

Lloyd Marcus Profiting from Tea Party

You'll often find at tea parties that entertainer Lloyd Marcus is the only black man present. Marcus always starts his show with his spiel that he's not a hyphenated American, which gives comfort to tea partiers who can say that they're not racist because they have Lloyd Marcus.

But Marcus is also a guy who's just trying to make a living. A self-proclaimed recording artist, he performs and sells his tea party-related songs and ring tones, books and other merchandise. He's also an artist. He sells his non-tea party art here.

If the tea party movement is about fiscal reform, why aren't there more black people attending tea parties? I dare you to find another black person in this video below.

Marcus would tell you, as he does in the next video, that black people have issues and he's the guy trying to straighten them out.

Marcus also uses racial stereotypes and is kind of kooky, attributes tea partiers seem to love. He chokes up at the 4 minute mark in this next video. What is it about these conservatives crying midstream? If I had to do a psychological analysis of him, I'd say he suffers low self esteem and is someone who bought the idea that white people were better than him and so he aspired to be embraced by whites, and at the same time, he rejected black people. He doesn't talk very highly of blacks and calls Obama a "trojan horse," as if a black man couldn't legitimately be elected president. He bought Rush Limbaugh's claim that Americans only voted for Obama to get over their supposed guilt of slavery. I would argue that Americans haven't even reckoned with slavery, let alone feel guilty about it. Marcus says Obama gets away with "giving the American people the finger" because he's black. Twisted? Sad? I'll say.

Here's what he does when he's not entertaining the tea party. This was produced by Sapphire Media Productions:

Some Republicans Calling Out Tea Party Racism

Others, not so much. They're just blaming liberals, saying it's the way the left does politics. I don't know how all of those hate signs can be ignored. I've seen one too many tea party interviews. Did you catch Ms. Tea Party of Idaho on Letterman? She starts off well-mannered, intelligent and then reveals herself as a birther. It seems to me that even if liberals were playing politics, calling out racism when it's clearly there is the right thing to do. How could republicans go wrong? More ought to behave like Lenny McAllister:

Yet Lenny McAllister, a Republican commentator and author, said he has seen racism within the tea party and has confronted it -- approaching people with racially derogatory signs of President Obama and asking them to take the signs down. Like Brice, he said leaders of the movement must not ignore the issue.

"I feel like the tea party movement is at its core a good thing for America. It is a group of citizens that have not been previously involved," McAllister said. "The people are speaking up and becoming more educated on the issues, but you have fringe elements that are defining this good thing with their negative, hateful behavior."

McAllister, who has spoken at several tea party gatherings, said the movement is more diverse than news clips show. "There is this perception that these are all old, white racists and that's not the case," he said.

According to a USA Today/Gallup Poll taken last month, about 79 percent of tea party members are white and 6 percent are black, with 15 percent falling into other racial categories. Read more at WAPO

Letterman Interviews Idaho's Tea Party President

At first, Pam Stout starts off as a sweet, soft-spoken British-born woman, not the raving mad variety of tea partier. But giver her a minute. First, her choice of Jim DeMint (who she calls her hero) as a presidential candidate pretty much says it all.

Part 2. I agree with her on the fact that many people demonize business. Businesses are started by people and businesses are made up of people. But business needs to be regulated because as we've seen, left on their own, they will do whatever maximizes profits. That's their job, though there is a trend toward more socially responsible business.
Alas, Stout's facade falls. Stout says that Obama spent a lot of money to cover up documentation of his school records (no evidence of that), and though many tea partiers believe that Obama wasn't born in the U.S., she's okay with that. She said that's irrelevant. BINGO. Woman is a hater, not a fiscal conservative. FAIL. LOSE. GAME OVER.

Part 3. Game really over. Stout says Glenn Beck made her think.

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:

Violent Threats Made Against Democrats

Norah O'Donnell reports that 10 members of Congress have asked for extra security. Sarah Palin is using gun imagery to target 20 democrats.

I think the problem we have is tea party types are now blaming government and "the other" (anyone not like them) for their own shortcomings and faults. Tea partiers down on their luck because of the economy are griping instead of lifting themselves up by the bootstraps. Isn't that what they profess? It's a lot easier to blame someone else, but in an economic downturn, these people feel even more slighted. Everyone is having a hard time. But tea party types consider themselves innocent bystanders being unfairly punished. They've found a new target--the government. Why? In part, because Obama is president and to them, he clearly represents "the other." But blaming others is not new for them. They have been scapegoating for years and years, blaming Hispanics and others for taking "their" jobs. Now the scapegoating is more pronounced. Light a match to tea partiers' economic despair--republicans egging them on, cultivating a culture of hate, Sarah Palin suggesting a reload-- and what do you get? You get violence just waiting to happen.
Andrea Mitchell:

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Michael Steele suggests people should ready Nancy Pelosi for the "firing line." He knows what he's doing. He's appealing to a certain kind of person.

Tea Party Scum

Not only are these people scum, they're also some of the ugliest people you'll ever see. I think that's what hate does to you. It rots you from the inside out:

Tea Party Doesn't Even Know What's in the Bill Video

Tea partiers call everyone else sheep but they repeat things they've been told--"government takeover," rationing, socialized medicine and such--absolutely clueless to what they're talking about. One woman talks about purple Kool-Aid. Hello, look in the mirror. Another disrobes to show off Glenn Beck's "principles" written on the back of her shirt.

I'll repeat, this is about the fact that we have a black president. It's deep rooted racism, a fear of a loss of white power. These people feel like people with color--any person who isn't white--are making good off their backs. They feel as though THEY are the hardworking souls of America and everyone else is sucking them dry. It's scapegoating. These folks are delusional and ignorant. Here's another thing that bothers me, I learned that wearing the American flag was disrespectful, but these folks seem to think that cloaking themselves in the flag makes them better than everyone else.

But you know what, it doesn't really matter anymore what these small-minded people think, because healthcare is set to pass. Vote is expected tonight sometime after 9 pm eastern. Live stream here.

David Frum says this could be republican waterloo:

Obama Rocks the Capitol - Video

Obama, in fine form, made a moving appeal to democrats at the Capitol today. Invoking Lincoln, Obama said: "I'm not bound to win but I'm bound to be true."
I think it's what the House democrats needed. The best thing he said in my mind was: good policy makes good politics. If the bill does what it's supposed to do, democrats will be heralded. Republicans? Well, they'll go down in history as trolls.

Tomorrow's healthcare action starts just after 2 pm eastern. Read Harry Reid's letter to Nancy Pelosi on reconciliation fixes. He's saying: we've got your back. Sen. Jon Kyl says if House passes the bill tomorrow, the Senate can begin debate as early as Tuesday.
Full video (transcript):

Meanwhile, as Obama inspires, tea partiers showed their true colors today instead of hiding under their usual cover of fiscal conservatism, invoking gun violence and bigotry. Luke Russert's tweet:

Clyburn: I heard people saying things today I've not heard since Mar 15th, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus.

And another:

Dem Aide: John Lewis called N-word by screaming Tea Partier.

The loathsome Michele Bachmann and Jon Voight (video) were leading the tea partiers:

Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour.

Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr.

Asked if racial epithets were yelled at him, Lewis responded, "Yes but it's OK. I've heard this before in the 60s. A lot of this is just downright hate." the Hill

And still more, they called Barney Frank a word I won't mention, but you can read about here.