I just read a post Say Uncle wrote several days ago, and it really bothered me. Actually, his whole premise kind of pissed me off. Basically, in regards to the “Tea Party” movement, Uncle stated “They could have been protesting Bush’s big government too.”
First off, a post like that is almost always written by a conservative blogger looking to gain approval from his leftist buddies. In fact, he probably heard a similar statement from some so called moderate pundit on TV. Conservative bloggers are worse than beltway pundits, when it comes to selling out their buddies. Heck, Andrew Sullivan did it so much that he eventually even became a liberal himself.
The whole premise of Say Uncle’s post is BS though. Uncle knows damn well that most of these people were raising holy hell when Bush and the Republicans were running up debt. But as bad as Bush was. He looks like Calvin Coolidge compared to Obama. I mean seriously.
Tgirsch, the expert on everything and everybody, linked to Uncle’s Post with the following excrement.
The post he links to complains that the tea party movement is “dead” because Sarah Palin “hijacked” it. Bullshit. The tea partiers love them some Sarah Palin, and always have, as far as I can tell. You can’t hijack the movement that holds you up as one of its poster children (something I’ve never understood, by the way — you’d think they’d be Ron Paul types). Kleinheider also whitewashes the history of the movement a bit. Yes, there was genuine rage out there (though it was far less directed, I think, than most people seem to think it was), but the movement is a much smaller flash in the pan without the serious hype that Faux News gave it, and constant promotion by the very Armey/Palin types he complains about.
The man has no idea what he is talking about. In fact, as much as I hate to do it, I am going to have to kind of agree with Klanheider on this subject. Well kind of.
This movement did not originate with politicians. Dick Armey may have been involved in a few events, but for the most part, this was a pure grassroots movement started by individuals from all over the country. Tgirsch calls the movement a “small flash in the pan”. Well there may not have been two million marching on Washington last September, but nobody in their right mind would call that crowd “small”.
Klanheider is right, to a certain extent, that the movement has been compromised by Palin and Tancredo. The Tea Partiers were protesting spending and the expansion of the federal government. It was not about foreign policy or immigration. That’s why the Nashville convention was not a Tea Party Convention at all. Calling it a Tea Party Convention played right into the hands of the media types that sought to associate it with the GOP establishment. And yes, Sara Palin, having been a former running mate of John McCain of all people, is establishment.
I agree that Obama is soft on defense, and that there needs to be some reform on immigration (liberal reform that is). But the Tea Party movement can not be about those issues. It has to be about the size of government, spending and deficits.
It is always the economy stupid. Don’t ever believe that Obama was elected because of his war stance (which has of course changed). The people were fed up with George Bush’s big spending and deficits. TARP sealed the deal.
As good as Palin is to look at, she needs to stay far away from these events, that is if she cares more about the movement than she cares about herself. The same goes for Tancredo, Marsha Blackburn or any other politician that wants to latch on. Instead of standing at the podium, the politicians need to be sitting in the pews, listening. Either that, or kneeling at the altar.
