The Sentinel article makes no mention of "tax protestors" holding up signs that say "Obama Bin Lyin'"

Those signs were apparently passed out by the group sponosring the event.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/03/23/impeach-protest-obama/

A lot of this is Michelle Malkin's (aka 'The Kabuki Queen') thespian production.

"The some people attending "Tea Parties" not only cheered these GOP policymakers on, but voted to keep them in office as long as possible."

And they are still doing the same. Facts don't get in the way of these folks. I often wonder why so many middle class people vote for these Republicans - that party has done absolutely nothing to help them with education, healthcare, tax breaks. The GOP are certainly crafty in their duplicity.

Don't feel sorry for them. Their blind-stupid votes for repugs forced the rest of us to suffer under a government we didn't deserve.

I only wish they could actually suffer from this administration the way we and the whole world suffered from Smirky/Darth.

It's hard to feel sorry for folks who spent 8 or 10 hours a day listening to talk radio or watching Fox blather instead of--shucks--reading a book or taking a walk or teaching their kids and grandkids how to use a screwdriver or any number of other things that make more sense.

People don't like being teabagged!

Well, some don't mind it.

Gee, I wish they would "go Galt" and pick a place where the taxes and intrusive, evil government is virtually nonexistent---Haiti or Somalia would be be good first choices. 'Course there are a lot of brown people in those spots who would require some control, but think of the freedom! ;-)

Stop being silly. Turning record surpluses into record deficits to further enrich the wealthy and fight a dishonest and unnecessary war = Great!

Spending money to try to prevent a Great Depression = Horrible!

What idiots! -Kevo

p.s. Hackery is the correct term to place on the organizers of such nonsense! What are these who come out of the woodwork to attend these knownothing meetings actually done for our common good lately - oh nothing? Then in the same words of one John Stewart - "Fuck you!" -Kevo

I do not think the teapartiers are even aware of the economic crack-up, national security clusterf%*k, and creation of the dictatorship that took place over past 8 years. If they did not hear it from Rush, Glen or on Fox - it just didn't happen. This is a moment in time the Mighty Whurlitzer can be damned proud of.

By the end of 2011 they will be crediting every Obama success to Bush and blaming 2000 - 2008 on Obama.

Betcha!

This is a very dangerous strategy. These pitchfork weilding idiots are likely to pass Dem Headquarters and go straight to Wall Street, Oil companies, and the "liberal media". Then where will the Republicans be?

These are phony grassroot events being coordinated through Dick Armey's FreedomWorks PR firm and the local rightwing talk radio station.

They are nothing more than the conservative version of shock jock radio promotions like Howard Stern's run for Governor of NY or Anthony & Opie's "Whip 'em Out Wednesday" but with much less entertainment value.

These people are not conned.

What we see here is social conservative personality disorder.

The social conservaitves' standard ploy is almost invariably to do nothing and make a spectacle out of it, consequently they are self-righteously indignant at the idea of anyone else doing anything.

As if they had the slightest clue.

It's a learning disability.

I almost feel sorry for the folks who get conned into believing this nonsense.

I feel sorry for the rest of us that have to deal with these people.

I've been a full-time resident in Florida (southwest) now for almost 6 years. I'm not sure what makes people down here so crazy, except that a majority of the residents aren't native to the state (ncluding me) and are largely from the mid-west and atlantic states. TONS of them from Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa and so forth. The ones from the atlantic states (i.e., New York, Mass, PA) tend to be moderates at least, and some liberals. The rest seem to be folks from the mid-west who are very financially secure, many of them with second homes down here. I'd say it's in the water or something, but I've not been infected by their b.s. What I DO know is that the folks I know the best down here listen to ONLY Fox News for their information and read the local papers here, which all lean to the right. And trying to find either a moderate or left-leaning radio talk show is close to impossible. A few folks I know "woke up," but the great majority are just as right-wing Republican as always. The one thing these people all have in common is that they are very well off, if not "rich." Any ideas that threaten their status quo is seen as a threat, and it doesn't help that many of them are as old as dirt. Well...I'm as old as dirt myself I guess (61), but have always been a free-thinker and a Libra. It makes a difference. Needless to say, I don't get invited to many parties these days!

These are the people Orwell was describing when he wrote the famous "we've always been at war with East Asia" scene. They will literally believe anything their tribal leaders tell them, no matter how absurd.

Earth 6000 years old? Check.
Hummer better for the environment than Prius? Check.

So, the wingnut followers are now literally protesting against straw men. They are upset that Obama is taking away their guns (no gun laws are proposed), raising their taxes (he's actually lowering them), and in some vague way imposing on their freedoms (he's actually cut back on domestic spying and other unconstitutional Bush practices).

The scary part is that they really believe this stuff -- gun restrictions, tax increases, liberty reductions.

What?! There are some dumb-as-a-stump rightwingers? In FLORIDA, of all places?

Amazing. Who would have guessed?

Forgive my snark, but I appear to have lost all ability to be surprised, disgusted or even though I try to be, amused, by the antics of such people.

The Little Tea Party fad doesn't really deserve to be more than a blip on the day's postings.

So...let's have some more substantive posts on the real issues by the excellent writers here at WM.

These people have their history backwards.

The 'tea party' was originally held because of taxation without representation.

These fools want representation without taxation.

There was a tea party here in Columbia MO a few weeks ago, led by former 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Nolan (He finished 3rd to the guy who ended up getting 0.37% of the popular vote and is now a radio shock jock in Columbia). I went just out of morbid curiosity. The first sign I saw said "Impeach Obama". Most of the people there looked as though they were, how should I put this nicely, not going to be impacted by the raising of the marginal tax rate for those making >250K. It was attended by a couple hundred people. They were calling Democrats out during the party. I almost raised my hand, but this is the same guy who advertises a conceal carry course like 5 times during his show, so I didn't.

They were so angry about the misuse of tax payer's dollars, but when a stealth bomber flew overhead, there was stunned awe. I should have booed and said those were my tax dollars flying up there, but again, concealed guns all around.

The 'tea party' was originally held because of taxation without representation.

These fools want representation without taxation.

Everything about people like this is exactly as if they have their brains in backwards.

How can this not be a medical condition?

It's always a good time to remind people of this!

I'm starting a new group: "Gay for Galt"! Okay, so I understand how to throw a tea party, but if I'm "Galt" how do I pay for it again?

On the plus side, the context-sensitive ads on Knapp's site show that the international tea and tea party-supply industries are weathering the recession quite well.

(Actual tea and supplies for actual tea parties, I mean.)

Echoing Alan, these people have not been conned. They choose to believe their incoherent anti-government tripe, at least while the government is run by Democrats.

Saying they're conned is making excuses for them.

They aren't called the "Party of Hypocrisy" for nothing. Like watching Santelli's ridiculous rant about those losing their mortgages because they were living beyond their means while he helped create and extend the derivative market where billions of our pension funds were being lost on bets on these mortgages. This means he won't be getting more millions he was counting on. They have the tea party bit backwards, those in the Harbor before the revolutionary war were destroying the tea on the ships...not loading more tea on to the ships like these goobers would be doing while hoarding all the 'pension' tea they could steal from 401Ks.

While they're all gay for Galt, what was John Galt doing on his magic island?

Farming?

Can't you picture Santelli rooting up his own potatoes?

As one of the commenters on Knapp's site pointed out, the Tea Party part is humorous - but the "Going Galt" part is downright hysterical. Apparently, wingers can't read - otherwise they'd be aware that the John Galt of "Atlas Shrugged" is not who they think he is...

In the end, it doesn't matter, because they are getting exactly as much media attention as they deserve.

shortstop,

That's all part of a long, noble tradition,

http://www.retroplanet.com/PROD/24359

I somewhat disagree with the premise of this post. True, there are many so-called "libertarians" who are rank hypocrites, but many libertarians kept their silence during the Bush years not out of support for Captain Dubya's policies, but due to their acceptance of the Republican Party as the lesser of two evils.

Until they actually "go", these modern-day Galtists are nothing more than jowl-flapping, tail-tucking, yellow dogs of cowardly cats---just like that big fat E-i-B character....

Here's a tea party idea: those of us who mostly pay taxes on earned income, should protest to get back the money saved (and thus cost, to us) by those being taxed less for capital gains.

tyrannogenius

"It's no doubt inconvenient for this crowd, but a Republican Congress and Republican White House worked together to increase the debt by $5 trillion, expand the size of government, increase spending, increase the tax burden on the middle class, and expand the powers of the executive to undermine civil liberties. The some people attending "Tea Parties" not only cheered these GOP policymakers on, but voted to keep them in office as long as possible.

That's not entirely true and you know it. Sure, some are probably like that. But I would hazard to guess some Tea Party participants were supporters of Rep. Ron Paul and what was his Presidential camapaign from 2007-08 about than a critque from a paleo point of view (which inlcudes conservatives, libertarians and even some liberals for that matter) of the way the Republicans foolishly exercised power from 2001-08.

Unless of course you wish to continue to ignore the Paul campaign, which is par for the course I guess. It's amazing that you search for intellectually serious Republicans and when one pops up you treat him with contempt. Was there other GOP candidate that made any kind of sense or had a workable viewpoint or series of policies that were in any way a serious critique of both the Bush Administration, the War in Iraq, the direction of the economy and the Republicans conduct in Congress? Hmmm?

Perhaps its because you don't wish to give Paul a greater platform, because you wish the GOP to continue to act like idiots stuck in a time warp and don't wish to give anyone with kind of clue the time of day for fear they might actually be on to something or may have positions that may very well split the left in two, like the tyrannical Federal Reserve for example, or the war or lifting the yoke of AIG and Goldmann Sachs from around the taxpayers neck.

Nahh, we wouldn't want that now would we. Andrew Jackson created the Democratic Party off the ruins of Bank of the United States. Why would we want the Republican Party to be rebuilt on top of the Federal Reserve?

Goodness, who has money to pay taxes? The kind of spending coming from Washington can only be financed by Japan, China, and Saudi Arabia acting together to help us maintain our lifestyle.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3169/ww00048.jpg

but many libertarians kept their silence during the Bush years not out of support for Captain Dubya's policies, but due to their acceptance of the Republican Party as the lesser of two evils.

Apparently you typed "acceptance" instead of "gross self-delusion" on purpose. Oooeeee.

Posted by: dr sardonicus, "I somewhat disagree with the premise of this post. True, there are many so-called "libertarians" who are rank hypocrites, but many libertarians kept their silence during the Bush years not out of support for Captain Dubya's policies, but due to their acceptance of the Republican Party as the lesser of two evils."
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If so, they are no longer libertarians. The Bush administration violated everything that party supposedly stood for at one time on both personal liberty and small government issues. They only place he had common ground with them is low taxes and if that is all they care about now...