# The Tea Party is not socially conservative my ass **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760 "2010-10-11T06:09:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/201 "2010-10-12T22:05:39Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > …Don’t forget ACORN, and all that voter fraud. > > And I’m sure the liberals some how confused conservatives on many more issues than just evolution. I bet if you looked, you’d find that post conservatives thought thy were voting AGAINST Obama, what with all that complicated language we tend to use. Nice work, **Mack**! Any cats still left in the bag, or have you let them all out already? Those memos were marked Top Secret! Report for self-criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/202 "2010-10-12T22:38:18Z")
So who in the tea party movement actually _speaks_ for the tea party movement, Starving Artist? I know I already asked that, but perhaps you missed it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/203 "2010-10-12T22:58:14Z")
\*Arthur: Then who is your lord? Dennis’ Mother: We don’t have a lord. Arthur: What?! Dennis: I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort-of-executive officer for the week… Arthur: Yes. Dennis: … But all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special biweekly meeting… Arthur: Yes, I see. Dennis:… by a simple majority, in the case of purely internal affairs… Arthur: [getting bored] Be quiet. Dennis:… but by a two thirds majority, in the case of more major — Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet! Dennis’ Mother: Order, eh? Who does he think he is?\* ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/204 "2010-10-12T23:37:48Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > [@Merijeek](#): > > > > Oh, stop pretending that it’s a real, thinking person already. > > Well, some people respond to **SA** ’s obstinacy with insults. I take the opposite approach. (Even defended him once when I thought the insults got out of line.) He even insulted me once. I at least like to put the lie to his claims that he only fights back when provoked. Yeah, all in all you’re not a bad guy. And I do try to make it a policy not to insult individual posters unless they’ve insulted me first, so if you want to point to the instance where I insulted you, and if it wasn’t preceeded by an insult of some sort to me, I would be happy to apologize to you for it. As for why my general posting style is the way it is, take a look at how **squeels** and **SteveG1** portray conservatives in post 181. This board is full of posters saying shit like that, and no one here on this board, allegedly devoted to fighting ignorance, ever calls them down for it. So, just to make sure that no one comes to develop the belief that these guys must be right because no one refutes them, I do…and in kind. And why in kind? Because it’s utterly, uttlery impossible to have a civilized discussion about politics around here that even begins to stray from the liberal party line, with any attempt to do so immediately swamped by twenty posters shouting the most ridiculous kinds of bullshit. So just to make sure that my points get heard above the din and that liberalism and the consequences of it don’t get a free pass, I post the way I do. It isn’t a style I prefer in my personal life but it’s the one I’ve found most effective around here. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/205 "2010-10-12T23:51:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > So who in the tea party movement actually _speaks_ for the tea party movement, Starving Artist? I know I already asked that, but perhaps you missed it. I didn’t miss it, I ignored it. And I ignored because I’ve already answered it. You presume that there must be some specific spokesman for the Tea Party and there simply isn’t. As the link I posted from Wikipedia says, the Tea Party movement “_has no central leadership but is a loose affiliation of smaller local groups_”. This may be frustrating to people on your side because it deprives you of someone to zero in on and criticize, but there you have it. There simply is no one person at this time who is the acknowledged leader of or spokesperson for the Tea Party. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/206 "2010-10-12T23:52:17Z")
Can I get a post number? I must have missed it. So your claim is that the tea party has no center, no focus, no central platform? Okay, seems to me out of simple randomness some of them must be praising Obama and criticizing Bush43, then. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/207 "2010-10-12T23:55:17Z")
Sure. Post 133. As for the rest of your post, that’s not what I’ve claimed but it’s essentially correct. And there may well be some random members who like Obama but are unhappy with congress or vice versa. But the main point is that there is no acknowledged leader or spokesperson for the Tea Party at this time. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/208 "2010-10-12T23:58:03Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > > [@elucidator](#): > > > > Oh, really? I missed that part, I only recall him being cutie-pie coy about his ethnicity, building up to the point where he would astonish and devastate us with the revelation. Guess he thought somebody would care. > > Aha!!! Exactly!!! We don’t like none o’ them cutie pie types neither!!! [Scooter Pies](http://www.flickr.com/photos/60585948@N00/589038121/) are okay, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/209 "2010-10-13T00:08:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Sure. Post 133. > > As for the rest of your post, that’s not what I’ve claimed but it’s essentially correct. And there may well be some random members who like Obama but are unhappy with congress or vice versa. But the main point is that there is no acknowledged leader or spokesperson for the Tea Party at this time. Then who, if anyone, is in a position to say what is a valid tea party position and what isn’t? If it’s nobody, then is it fair to consider them a viable political force at all? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/210 "2010-10-13T00:11:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > so if you want to point to the instance where I insulted you, and if it wasn’t preceeded by an insult of some sort to me, I would be happy to apologize to you for it. > [@Dancing on the grave of health care "reform"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-on-the-grave-of-health-care-reform/527487/810): > > _Sigh_ No it isn’t dumbass. In free enterprise, companies have to make a profit to stay in business. The government is under no such constraint. > > I can’t believe you are actually this stupid. Please tell me you’re just responding reflexively and without thinking it through…Oh, wait, that’s pretty much what liberals are known for anyway, isn’t it? 😃 I can’t cite that I didn’t insult you before that, but you’re welcome to look. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As for why my general posting style is the way it is, take a look at how **squeels** and **SteveG1** portray conservatives in post 181. This board is full of posters saying shit like that, and no one here on this board, allegedly devoted to fighting ignorance, ever calls them down for it. There is no Solomon here; no impartial referee to hold everyone to an unmavering standard of truth and integrity. And even if such a person could exist, would anyone here defer to his opinion? No, what we’ve got is a user agreement and a line that keeps things mostly civilized. Apart from that, the best anyone can hope for is to enter the fray, fight the good fight, and take their chances. > [@](#): > > It isn’t a style I prefer in my personal life but it’s the one I’ve found most effective around here. Effective? How many people have you convinced so far? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/211 "2010-10-13T00:21:50Z")
He’s convinced **me** to stop reading his posts… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/212 "2010-10-13T00:23:28Z")
[Relevant to the OP:](http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/05/tea-party-is-much-like-the-religious-right-only-moreso-surve/) > [@](#): > > The common view that the Tea Party movement is a rebellious, libertarian threat not only to the Republican establishment but also to traditional Christian conservatives is upended by a new survey that shows a broad overlap between the religious right and voters who identify with the Tea Party. > > For example, nearly half (47 percent) of Americans who consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement also consider themselves part of the “Christian conservative movement,” and among the more than 8 in 10 Tea Partiers who identify as Christian, nearly 6 in 10 (57 percent) also consider themselves part of the Christian conservative movement. > > The biennial American Values Survey, released in Washington on Tuesday, was conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and shows that two-thirds of Tea Partiers say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 45 percent say there should be no legal recognition for same-sex relationships. That is hardly the profile of a libertarian fringe and more closely reflects the Republican base. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/213 "2010-10-13T00:36:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The common view that the Tea Party movement is a rebellious, libertarian threat not only to the Republican establishment but also to traditional Christian conservatives is upended by a new survey that shows a broad overlap between the religious right and voters who identify with the Tea Party. Well, I am shocked. SHOCKED. As shocked as I was when Clay Aiken came out of the closet. Remember when all the press was “but they’re NOT socially conservative!”? Yeah. Just completely shocked that that was a lie. My whole worldview has been shattered. Now imagine me making the blankest face possible. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/214 "2010-10-13T00:36:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :dubious: Carl “Horse Porn” Paladino (yes, that is now his legal name) is a Tea Party **candidate.** For the governorship of a major state. …? Henceforth and forever, I shall pronounce his name Palo **m** ino. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/215 "2010-10-13T00:40:06Z")
> [@Trion](#): > > > [@SteveG1](#): > > > > It sarted with a reference to Diogenes - he walked through the night with a lamp, looking for one (just one) honest man. Then it switched tracks to Amber Lamps. That was a reference to a video of some old guys fighting on the bus - Amber Lamps vs Epic beard Man. > > > > There ya go. All caught up 🙂 > > Yeah, I caught the first reference (I made it after all). The video was completely unknown to me before now. I guess I’m better with the ancient greek philosophy references and not so good with modern internet memes. The Diogenes story was a better one. Amber Lamps and Epic Beard was just two old, stupid losers trying to fight and mostly proving that they both are old, stupid losers ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/216 "2010-10-13T00:50:51Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > > Well, some people respond to **SA** ’s obstinacy with insults. I take the opposite approach. (Even defended him once when I thought the insults got out of line.) He even insulted me once. I at least like to put the lie to his claims that he only fights back when provoked. > > Yeah, all in all you’re not a bad guy. And I do try to make it a policy not to insult individual posters unless they’ve insulted me first, so if you want to point to the instance where I insulted you, and if it wasn’t preceeded by an insult of some sort to me, I would be happy to apologize to you for it. > > As for why my general posting style is the way it is, take a look at how **squeels** and **SteveG1** portray conservatives in post 181. This board is full of posters saying shit like that, and no one here on this board, allegedly devoted to fighting ignorance, ever calls them down for it. So, just to make sure that no one comes to develop the belief that these guys must be right because no one refutes them, I do…and in kind. And why in kind? Because it’s utterly, utterly impossible to have a civilized discussion about politics around here that even begins to stray from the liberal party line, with any attempt to do so immediately swamped by twenty posters shouting the most ridiculous kinds of bullshit. So just to make sure that my points get heard above the din and that liberalism and the consequences of it don’t get a free pass, I post the way I do. It isn’t a style I prefer in my personal life but it’s the one I’ve found most effective around here. I give no apologies. You have no points, just tired lame talking points that get trotted out too often. You conveniently forget the many “conservatives” who would regularly trot out the traitor get out kick your ass bullshit, don’t you. You conveniently forget the endless instances many of us have wasted our time in the past disproving all the bullshit that gets spewed over and over again. To hell with searching and sorting and organizing the "cites again. Say whatever crazy dumb ass shit you want. I will do the same. Fight ignorance? After regurgitating the same shit year after year, and ignoring contrary cites year after year, I’m not going to bother. It’s just the same tired shit all over again. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/217 "2010-10-13T00:54:59Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > Well, I am shocked. SHOCKED. As shocked as I was when Clay Aiken came out of the closet. > > Remember when all the press was “but they’re NOT socially conservative!”? Yeah. Just completely shocked that that was a lie. My whole worldview has been shattered. > > Now imagine me making the blankest face possible. I’m shocked too. Who could have imagined such a thing. It was like finding out water is wet. This is my _I don’t believe it_ face. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/218 "2010-10-13T01:11:33Z")
I think the incoherence of the Tea Party is a strength for them. They have not established an agenda, they have not established priorities. The pro-life crowd, the serious edge, doesn’t give a rats patoot about anything else. Socialized medicine? No problem if abortions are outlawed under socialized medicine. If you offered to raise all taxes by ten percent to fund an employment program for gay whales, and it included an absolute ban on abortions, they would turn out in droves. An agenda means prioriities. A lack of cohesion means that all the Tea Partiers can feel included in the huge massive grassroots movement, so long as they don’t feel that their own special Betty Noyer is slighted, and can convince themselves that they larger movement holds that issue to be as important as they do. It doesn’t matter so much whether or not other Tea Partiers are offended by a bozo carrying a racist Obama sign. What matters is that the carrier of that sign is allowed to believe that the people around him approve. And they will believe that, given the slightest encouragement. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/219 "2010-10-13T01:17:21Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I think the incoherence of the Tea Party is a strength for them. You could say that of the Reform Party. Where is it now? > [@elucidator](#): > > They have not established an agenda, they have not established priorities. Then how do they expect to accomplish anything? What **do** they want to accomplish?! ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760/220 "2010-10-13T01:30:35Z")
So, according to #212 more than half of Tea Partiers are in disagreement with the Christian Right. And, I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this yet, but IIRC Obama is opposed to gay marriage. So what does that say about Dems, liberals, people who voted for him, etc? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-is-not-socially-conservative-my-ass/556760.md?page=12)