Liberal politicians and pundits did their best to discredit the Tea Parties by describing them, first, as a partisan Republican movement, and, second, as a revolt of greedy rich people who don’t want to pay more income tax.See also, Glenn Reynolds, "TEA PARTY RESULTS IN RHODE ISLAND ..."
But as ... anyone who went to a Tea Party with an open mind would have seen as well - the Tea Parties were not essentially Republican. People were as disgusted with big spending under President Bush as they are opposed to big spending under President Obama. This was a powerful movement of Americans fed up with the irresponsible politicians of both parties. In most cities they did not have a politician speaking. In some places, politicians were barred from speaking and forced to listen.
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Newt Gingrich on the Tea Party Movement
Here's Newt Gingrich's comments from Human Events, via Memeorandum:
I saw that too! Newt Gingrich is brilliant. I hope he continues to write books, a regular on Fox, and get his credibility back with the mainstream again. We conservatives have always recognized his no spin reality and realize this country is being led down a very dangerous path right now.
ReplyDeleteNewt is, probably more than anything else, a teacher. In that role, he's at his strongest and most useful. I, too, hope he keeps at it.
ReplyDeleteI guess the main difference as it pertains to these people who "were as disgusted with big spending under President Bush as they are opposed to big spending under President Obama" is that I didn't see any tea parties for eight whole years under Bush. Not one. Ever.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the extraordinarily low ratio of anti-Bush to anti-Obama signs at every rally, of course. Other than that, Newt's totally right (except when he's totally not).
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." I used to teach this sentence to my students and make them re-write it in their own words and then composed an essay on the meaning behind Thomas Paine's words.
ReplyDeleteThomas Paine was a radicals radical. He stuck his neck out in the American Revolution and then the French Revolution.
Sadly, our radicals controlling debate, law, schools, and the media are Sunshine Radicals - Ivy League Labor Leaders like Andy Stern; domestice Terrorists and distiguished professors like Affluent Ayers; milquetoast writers everywhere; Havard Yard U of C law-toadies.
None of America's current radical voices have a resume steeped in actual work or conviction to principle.
Freedom was purchased by the blood of Patriots; America's Standard of Living was Purchased by Union Men and Women -
The Cadillac Commies ( ACORN, SEIU, MOVEON, NBC,CNN & etc.) swept into power with the last Presidential election have the ease and comfort to toss everything away.
That is why the Teabag Protests scare the hell out them.
JBW ...
ReplyDelete... that was then, when the spending was only a small fraction of what Mr. Obama plans ... when tearing down Mr. Bush meant tearing down the war effort with him ...
... this is now, when the spending is far higher ... with those doing the spending see government paternalism not as a bug, but as a feature, all but guaranteeing even more spending ... when most of the alternatives to the sitting CINC would strengthen the war effort, were they put in charge.
Mr. Obama is in charge now ... not Mr. Bush. It is Obama who is in a position to straighten this out ... and he was promoted as a miracle worker ...
... so either let's see miracles that counteract the violations of the laws of economics and human nature that are being perpetrated by this Administration, resulting in prosperity to all ...
... or y'all who supported him have to admit that he's really just CHANGE BACK to the failed policies of the past; change that will reduce all of us to the least-common-denominator of living standards ... leaving even the poorest of us worse off, with no recourse, by choking off the opportunities to get ahead in the name of a "guarantee" to "get by".
Rich, he was promoted as a change-agent. You and your ilk mutated that image into that of a "miracle worker", and no one else.
ReplyDeleteThese tea bag parties that you and your fellows celebrate claim to be about accountability but they come off as so much more about revenge for losing the election.
That said, I do agree with some of the basic precepts that these parties are based on. I just disagree with the supposed motives of most of the conservatives involved in them. Time will tell if I'm wrong.