Teabaggers

[PrettyVacant]

I have no idea what any of you are talking about but I do want to report my appreciation of the name Vandensnatch.

It’s patently either a German car or a nasty disease.

[Kimstu]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

The “Teabagger” name is just fucking stupid.

No argument there, but if the Tea Party people continue to embrace the tea bag as their official movement icon, they can’t complain if they get called “teabaggers”.

Hell, it’s even the self-proclaimed “unifying symbol” of their officially sponsored Tea Party jewelry:

Millions of Americans today have something in common. They each feel “enough is enough.” […] Over two hundred years ago, we threw tea in a harbor because we were taxed and not heard. That tea inspired our pin/pendant, this is our unifying symbol. The TEA BAG® will show your support for conservative/libertarian beliefs which can return America to its core, a country founded on the principles of less, not more government.

Crafted in sterling silver, quartz crystal and semi-precious gemstones, each comes with a silver chain so it can be worn as either a pendant or a pin. Flaunt your patriotism in fashion!

Members of a political movement (officially the “Progressive Party”) that adopted the bull moose as their party emblem got called the Bull Moosers. Members of a political movement (officially the “American Party”, among others) that adopted the phrase “I know nothing” as their party slogan got called the Know Nothings.

So members of a political movement that adopts the teabag as their party emblem have got to expect to be called the “Teabaggers”. If they don’t like the name’s sexual connotations, then maybe they should switch their emblem to a teaspoon or a teapot or something. I’d be happy to call them the “Teapotters” or “Teaspooners” if that’s what they want on their badge.

But while they go around flaunting tea bags it’s only natural to call them “Teabaggers”. If they were too dumb to foresee that the association with tea bags might prove embarrassing, and are too pigheaded to change their icon now that it has proved embarrassing, that’s their problem.

[elucidator]

But they are innocent of such truth, as far as they know, you’re making it all up. They are proud of their innocence/ignorance of your elitist depravity. They are not metrosexuals, they are not inclined to post-modernist irony, they haven’t the slightest knowledge of the jargon of the underground homosexual agenda, thank you very much!

Our scorn is proof positive that they are right.

[elucidator]

@PrettyVacant

I have no idea what any of you are talking about but I do want to report my appreciation of the name Vandensnatch.,.

Is that Dutch for “tampon”?

[crowmanyclouds]

@What_the

Some good people, some bad people, mostly normal people… but I’ll never convince you of that.

But … have you really tried to?

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

… why don’t the “good” teabaggers try to clean up the rallies and say something to the ones with the racist messages, and the violent messages and the flat out moronic ones about birth certificates and “death camps,” and “czars?”

See, that would be a good way to start to convince me!

CMC fnord!
BTW Nice way to ignore the point of my post though, just attack me instead :rolleyes:.
('Specially since I don’t recall really taking a position about the “Tea Party” movement here. Though everything I’ve seen so far leaves me, well lets just say, less than impressed … at best.)
I usually get familiar with things I publicly support before I support them, YMCV.

[What_the]

@crowmanyclouds

But … have you really tried to?See, that would be a good way to start to convince me!

CMC fnord!
BTW Nice way to ignore the point of my post though, just attack me instead :rolleyes:.
('Specially since I don’t recall really taking a position about the “Tea Party” movement here. Though everything I’ve seen so far leaves me, well lets just say, less than impressed … at best.)
I usually get familiar with things I publicly support before I support them, YMCV.

I’ve never been to a rally… all I know is that I support the general concepts that they support. Have you been to one? Are your opinions based on anything other than what you think you know about them based on a few signs?

I’d also like to see some speakers criticize those signs and the like… I wouldn’t be surprised if they have and I wouldn’t be surprised that that kind of thing wouldn’t get reported.

Was the point of your post that I went to GQ to try to get some facts… what point would that be anyway?

[What_the]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

The teabaggers have no unifying theme at all. It’s just an olio of various and sundry disaffected misfits, religious zealots, morons, racists, gun nuts, segregationists, anti-abortion crusaders, conspiracy theorists and other random nutballs. The racists are always threaded into these things, and the teabag defenders always deny that they’re representative, but none of them ever make any effort to purge them either. They also don’t try to purge or disavow the birthers, deathers, Czar-o-phobes or other assorted idiots with signs.

Trying to portray the “movement” (really, these are talk radio and Fox News fan-con events, it’s not a genuine, organic movement) as being all about taxes is transparently disingenuous given that the conservative gold standard, Ronald Reagan, had more progressive tax policies than Obama.

Dio you’ve gone off the deep end.

I hope you can make it to the next anniversary of Tony Snow’s death so you can obtain a little happiness.

[Oldeb]

@What_the

Dio you’ve gone off the deep end.

I hope you can make it to the next anniversary of Tony Snow’s death so you can obtain a little happiness.

Heh, he’s off the deep end? Can you find a platform of the Tea Party besides, “democrats and Obama specifically are bad”? Keep in mind that there are several competing Tea Party groups, and they don’t like each other much either. There are at least three major groups that I know of, Tea Party Revolution, Tea Party Patriots, and Tea Party Express. And by major I mean within the Tea Party itself since the group isn’t that large. It’s estimated that the first event (the one on tax day last year) had 250,000 protester nation-wide. Or .08% of the population.

It’s worth noting that even the Teabaggers themselves think their movement contains astroturf elements.

Tea Party Group Accused Of Astroturf Lobbying

To further the astroturf impressions here’s the article on a Fox News Producer rallying the crowd, in case you missed this story when it happened.

Fox News Producer Caught Rallying 9/12 Protest Crowd In Behind-The-Scenes Video

And just to help you out, here’s the most coherent summary of the Teabagger’s platform I could find. Yes, it’s from the Daily Show.

Daily Show articulates Tea Party platform exactly - Combat!

[Bridget_Burke]

@What_the

Dio you’ve gone off the deep end.

I hope you can make it to the next anniversary of Tony Snow’s death so you can obtain a little happiness.

Please–attend a Teabagger rally & get back to us with your personal impressions. Until then, I’ll stick with Dio’s description–which matches what I’ve observed.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@What_the

I’ve never been to a rally… all I know is that I support the general concepts that they support. Have you been to one? Are your opinions based on anything other than what you think you know about them based on a few signs?

I have - admittedly, I was there to point and laugh, but still.

There were a few people there taking considered stands against excessive spending, gun control and the like. The vast majority - all but 30 or 40 out of 300 or 400 - were there protesting “the nigger president” or “because they took Jesus out of government” or because “they’re rounding up real Americans and sticking them in camps in the Dakotas”.