You sure your’e not projecting your own opinion on a blank crowd? I didn’t see anything like “Keynesians Economists Are Weenies” being touted as a rallying slogan. The single most common theme is a distrust and dislike of Obama, but I’ve seen very little reason to believe its grounded in economic theory.
Though that might explain the paucity of turnout.
I see the teabaggings as basically just a right wing media publicity stunt. It was all totally conceived, hyped and sponsored by talk radio and Fox News. They’re manipulating complete morons into showing up to protest the expiration of a 3% tax cut on rich people who would never let these yahoos into their living rooms.
As much as Fox News keeps trying to hardsell the line that it’s a “grassroots” movement, or that it’s “organic,” it’s really just a glorified, local radio, fan event. There is no populist movement sweeping the nation. These are just the same idiots as always. The same dittoheads, the same Palin fappers, the same people who stock their bookshelves with titles by Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter.
If they had any brains at all, they’d be insulted that they can so easily played as such saps by their puppet masters to agitate against their own interests.
What’s with that dipshit Governor in Texas, by the way? “We can secede any time we want?” WTF is going on with the Republican party these days?
What was the goal today? What did the teabaggers think they were going to accomplish? They do know the stimulus package has already been signed into law, don’t they? What end goal did they think that throwing a baby tantrum and dumping garbage on the ground (garbage that someone else has to clean up, by the way) was going to achieve? Did they think that Obama and the Democrats were all going to be so moved by the outpouring of emotion for the super rich that they’d all immediately change their economic philosophies? Did they think the rest of America was going to take them seriously? Did they know that people were laughing at them?
…
…it’s only going back to 39% now, and we won’t probably see eye to eye on the current deficits because I’m a Keynesian and think an influx of domestic spending is the best way to get the economy back on track really regardless of how it’s specifically spent.
Dio, that’s what I’m wondering. My local protest, like many, was all over the map–“Keep it a Christian Nation” posters, anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-tax, pro-revolution(!), anti-immigration, etc. There was no goal, no cohesive rallying cry, just a bunch of folks with vaguely GOP campaign promises on signs.
I mean, I would be a lot more impressed with this whole thing if it actually seemed to have a purpose, but at least around here, it was just a Republican/Anarcho-Libertarian rally masking as a protest–and to add insult to injury, the idiots did it not near the city hall but in front of the goddamn post office on the busiest day of the year.
Thank God I was just driving by, having e-filed weeks ago. Since it seems somehow relevant to talk about, I’m solidly average–my household’s income puts me right on the 25% tax bracket and I have no especially major deductions or anything. And I’m just fine with the stimulus as it stands, for the reason I just mentioned.
And in my usual tradition of triple-posting as I think of things, it occurs to me to mention that in my college town surrounded by the heart of Red Appalachian Pennsylvania, we had maybe 40 people at any one time doing this protest. I’ve literally seen more people turn up for an impromptu drum circle.
Yeah, from the coverage I saw, I had the thought that it made a gay pride parade look reserved and thoughtful. I’m told GP event coverage horrifies the “vast middle” of the US (although I’m not sure I believe this much), and I wonder if coverage of the “tea parties” might do the same for GOP image. Some of it was okay, some of it was just a freak show.
OTOH, I might liken it even more to past G8 protests on the left – a freak show to no specific purpose, much like what we saw today. Angry about pretty much everything, to no purpose.
That sounds like most of the anti-Iraq War protests I’ve seen in my hometown. Sixty percent of the people there always seem to be protesting Israel.
Maybe they are not so stupid, with the crowds of taxpayers going to the Post Office the teabaggers, at least in that location, increased the apparent number of “supporters” for the TV cameras, a very deceptive move IMHO.
And the people with the Free Mumia stickers at a Free Palestine rally are more literate somehow?
To the OP: The Mob is stupid, it always has been.
Actually, I was working, as were most of the people I know. I don’t go in for large, public out-pourings of grief; I prefer to do such things in private.
Getting back to the protests, even if they are happening because people believe the stimulus won’t work, the first stimulus package and the one which I think contained fewest restrictions was passed last fall while Bush was still in office. As far as I can tell, even though it was supposed to free up credit and shore up th banking system, it amounted to just handing money over to banks for them to do with as they pleased.
I heard a couple of interesting things on MSNBC last night. First, apparently Texas gets back 88 cents of every dolllar in tax revenue it sends to Washington, D.C., so Texas actually gets a better return on its taxes than most cities. There was also a piece on how many billions of tax dollars are lost because corporations operate overseas. I wonder why don’t we hear an outcry about corporations spending tons of money on tax lawyers, corporate welfare and such?
Ed Whatshisface from the Ed Show on MSNBC posed a question to the Dipshit. He asked him to define “secede” and how would he feel about that the next time a hurricane hits Texas, or the next time there’s a crushing drought or the next time the illegals hop the wall. They all sound like a bunch of morons.
Dipshit. Perfect word for him.
Not true. Someone has to mop and dust - and Mexicans are getting harder and harder to find nowadays.
-Joe
To be fair, the Colonies are still not properly represented in Parliament.
Are you suggesting that tax lawyers are basically leeches on society?
Just angry about losing. Anything else trying to pretty it up gives them too much credit.
-Joe
Around here they’re generally more on point, for whatever reason–probably because of the University making interest groups more defined. I mean, there are anti-Israel protests by the Palestinian Student Coalition or whatever they call themselves this year (seriously it changes every few years) and they tend to be disinclined to dilute antiwar protest messages in favor of having their own rallies.
Now that I think about it, it strikes me as really odd that I didn’t see any obvious crowds of College Republicans at the protest here.
Not terribly effective at that either, since the local cops kept the line pretty obviously separated from the protesters by the time I drove by.
Someone should remind him what Governor Sam Houston said about Texas seceding before the Civil War.
I have no problem with demonstrations or grass roots movements or any of the ways people express their dissatisfaction with government. It’s served us well throughtout the years. I find it amusing that they are so fragmented and disorganized and ultimately ineffective in getting their base energized. What really pisses me off is that their leaders are fear mongering and their followers are buying into it. That, and the fact that they STILL haven’t offered a viable alternative to what their government is currently doing to fix our broken nation.
I’m as confused and frustrated with the state of our economy as the next guy, but I accept the fact that it will cost a lot of money to keep all the balls in the air. I believe Obama when he says that without the infusion of Big Bucks into the economy, we will collapse further into the hole that’s been dug over the past couple decades. Whatever projections I’ve heard regarding how long it will take to recover, I believe it will take longer and more painful the money.
“Freedom isn’t Free.” Huh. I wonder why the Right doesn’t think this phrase applies when the cost is in dollars rather than lives or rights.
Well, they are out of power, and isn’t that really the best solution? 