The TeaBaggers Strike Back

[unionguy]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/Tea_bag.JPG/800px-Tea_bag.JPG

Well it looks like a teabagger finally cracked open a history book and read what the original Boston tea party was all about. It was a protest against a corporation. So now they are going to start protesting "Liberal" corporations. I hope they can find one cause their is not many around. Maybe whatever is left of Air America?? :D

I guess its too much to hope that they protest against the other issues that the original tea party protested against, like corportism, free trade, and unfair taxation. :D Just wondering.


Tea Party Movement Plans "Strike" for Jan. 20

As the one-year anniversary of President Obama's inauguration nears, the Tea Party movement is planning a "strike" against corporations they call responsible for "funding socialism" and "backing the leftist agenda" of the new president.

Liberal politicians benefit from "large donors, labor union thugs, Hollywood elites and major media propagating our destruction," contends strike organizer Allen Hardage at the Tea Party Patriots web site.

In the wake of the economic downfall and the financial and auto bailouts of the past year, the tea party movement sprang up to represent conservative voters who felt disenfranchised. The election of a Democratic president intent on promoting new government spending on things like health care has spurred on the movement, prompting protests against big government and its ties to big business.

Hardage writes that on Jan. 20 "the TEA Party movement moves into the next phase, TEA 2.0, of taking our country back... We will demonstrate our power and reach to those companies who employ individuals backing the leftist agenda in every major city, every congressional district and every small rural town in America to spread one unified message. That message is simple: Stop funding socialism."

Hardage told Talking Points Memo that he will not release the companies which the strike will target until Jan. 20. but that it will focus on businesses "that are the largest supporters of the most liberal members of Congress as well as those that support extreme liberal media outlets."

The strike has gained some interest online, where more than 4,000 people have shown their support for the event on Facebook and other sites. If the strike proves ineffective, according to Hardage, the tea partiers will hold a march on Feb. 27, as well as a national boycott "of all of the companies that do not stop donating to people like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Chris Dodd et al."

Republicans have tried to capture the energy of the tea partiers. GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann said in a radio interview on Dec. 29 that if the Republican party wants to succeed in the 2010 midterm elections, it needs to "embrace the tea party movement with full arms."

But Suzy Khimm of Newsweek points out that the movement "has yet to pay off for the Republican Party in terms of small-scale donations─the kind of grassroots support that proved critical to bringing Obama and congressional Democrats to power last year."

Up-and-coming conservative politicians like Marco Rubio in Florida, however, could try to bring tea partiers into the Republican fold as he battles Gov. Charlie Crist in a GOP Senate primary this year. If the tea partiers succeed in electing politicians like Rubio, New York Times columnist David Brooks writes, "their movement is likely to outgrow its crude beginnings and become a major force in American politics."

CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/05/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6057569.shtml?tag=stack) - January 5, 2010

[Joe]

Don't underestimate this. It is an independent movement that is not part of the Republican, or Democratic for that matter, parties. These are mostly people who have never gotten involved in politics before who are genuinely concerned about spending and an ever-increasing government.

Minimalizing them by calling them "teabaggers" (most of them probably don't know, or care, what that means anyway) or racists are not going to make them go away. Democrats-and Republicans-should be concerned. Grass-roots movements are the most dangerous to politicians and difficult to stop.

Full disclosure: I'm not a member nor have I gone to any rallies. I only know one person who is a supporter, a black NYC Democrat (he doesn't like to be called an "African-American" either).

[Note - Someone wrote on another message board a while ago that a "Teabagger" is the one doing the teabagging so it is the position of dominance. Ironic, huh?]

[unionguy]

Don't underestimate this. It is an independent movement that is not part of the Republican, or Democratic for that matter, parties. These are mostly people who have never gotten involved in politics before who are genuinely concerned about spending and an ever-increasing government.

Minimalizing them by calling them "teabaggers" (most of them probably don't know, or care, what that means anyway) or racists are not going to make them go away. Democrats-and Republicans-should be concerned. Grass-roots movements are the most dangerous to politicians and difficult to stop.

Full disclosure: I'm not a member nor have I gone to any rallies. I only know one person who is a supporter, a black NYC Democrat (he doesn't like to be called an "African-American" either).

[Note - Someone wrote on another message board a while ago that a "Teabagger" is the one doing the teabagging so it is the position of dominance. Ironic, huh?]

How independent can the "Tea baggers" be?? They don't seem much different then a libertarian or a conservative.

Tea party core values (http://teapartypatriots.ning.com/):

• Fiscal Responsibility
• Constitutionally Limited Government
• Free Markets

Libertarian party core values (http://www.lp.org/)

- Smaller Government
- Lower Taxes
- More Freedom

Conservative Party USA (http://www.conservativepartyusa.com/?page_id=2)

Our mission is to re-establish the limits and boundaries of Government as framed by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

The Conservative Party mission is to promote and protect individual rights and freedoms as set forth in the United States Constitution, and to limit the scope of government to the authority set forth therein.

To accomplish this mission, we intend to re-establish the limits and boundaries of Government as framed by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

There seems to be a common theme here about limiting our government. I can't really tell the difference. If anyone can tell me the difference between these parties, I'd be forever grateful.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" by William Shakespeare from his play Romeo and Juliet

[Joe]

How independent can the "Tea baggers" be?? They don't seem much different then a libertarian or a conservative.

That's a good question. They're not organized, this all started when the guy on CNN had that off-the-cuff rant about the government bailing out bad mortgages and he said it's time for another tea party. That this all arose so quickly says to me a lot of people already felt the same way.

I subscribe to the theory that things don't change until the people want them to. I don't know if we've reached the tipping point yet (the Hundredth Monkey Theory). It's interesting to see if this movement lasts.

[unionguy]

That's a good question. They're not organized, this all started when the guy on CNN had that off-the-cuff rant about the government bailing out bad mortgages and he said it's time for another tea party. That this all arose so quickly says to me a lot of people already felt the same way.

I subscribe to the theory that things don't change until the people want them to. I don't know if we've reached the tipping point yet (the Hundredth Monkey Theory). It's interesting to see if this movement lasts.

Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm still waiting for everyone to get so fed up with the direction of this country, that there will be a "grass roots" renaissance of lefty Socialist thinking returning to America. I mean a real Liberal party to challenge the corporatism that is over running this nation. The Democrats have failed miserably.

[unionguy]

Hey, but it looks like the Tea Party might have its own candidate. What is one party's trash is another party's treasure!


Palin Still Outside GOP Establishment, Poll Shows

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin remains on the outskirts of the Republican establishment, a new poll of GOP insiders shows – though her decisions over where to appear this year suggest she may be interested in changing that.

In spite of the continued interest in Palin's political future, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate finished fifth in a National Journal poll that asked 109 party leaders, political professionals and pundits who is most likely to win the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Palin tied with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for fifth place, while former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney came in first.

Palin has been able to leverage her outsider status to win the loyal support of self-described tea partiers, CBS News' Charles Cooper notes. But at this point, he says, "they need her more than she needs them."

While Palin is attending a tea party convention next year, she is also planning to speak at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, along with mainstream Republican favorites like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

"This is a great opportunity to listen and speak to those who are helping to set the direction of our party," Palin said in a press release.

As Palin moves to expand her support among the party establishment, GOP leaders would be wise to tread lightly around her in spite of their skepticism, political blogger Nate Silver writes.

"There's going to come a time, probably in July 2011 or so, where the knives are really drawn on Palin and Republican pundits, strategists and candidates start saying in public some of the things they've been thinking in private," Silver says. "And that in all likelihood will play very well for her."

CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/08/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6072086.shtml?tag=stack) - January 8, 2010