Of course, I'm guessing some Tea Baggers will try to attach their rallies to the usual, non-political July 4th gatherings, made up of families who just want to enjoy a picnic and some fireworks.

Note to conservatives: when counting heads for today's Tea Parties, those folks shouldn't be included.
—Steve Benen 12:30 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (0)

Ahhh, but that is the point, isn't it? Grossly over-estimate the numbers of tea-baggers by holding the event concurrently with another, hugely attended celebration. Gee, I wonder if anyone will notice their b.s. tactics? Also, I am sure that the protesters will be demanding that Reagan and Bush/Cheney be stripped of their right to call themselves 'republicans' because of their irresponsible, record-breaking deficit spending.

Any chance that Obama is going to pop up in Afghanistan today?

He is giving 4th of July opening remarks at the White House at 7 p.m., but he has been off the radar for at least 24 hours. Usually that indicates a secret/surprise trip to a war zone.

You seem to be making a distinction between Fox News and "[s]ome of the same lobbyist-run groups that helped push April's far-right gatherings..."

How can you tell?

Any chance that Obama is going to pop up in Afghanistan today?

Seems somewhat unlikely, if only because Biden is in Iraq right now. I don't know that the Secret Service would be willing to have the VP and the CiC in war zones so close together.

A spokesman for Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who jaunted around northern California to attend several Tea Parties....

Ahhh.....good times, good times.

Of course, I'm guessing some Tea Baggers will try to attach their rallies to the usual, non-political July 4th gatherings, made up of families who just want to enjoy a picnic and some fireworks.

I think most of us have some relatives who swing that way. I can't really explain it, other than to say some people are predisposed to easily believing lies and propaganda from the Reich Party. May God bless their simple little minds.

I'm guessing some Tea Baggers will try to attach their rallies to the usual, non-political July 4th gatherings, made up of families who just want to enjoy a picnic and some fireworks

Attach their "rallies"? I've never heard that one before, but could we please skip the picnic and fireworks metaphors just for today? Teabagging is not a family event, even in jokes.

*

Well ... is Sarah angling to go from bagging moose to being the Queen of Tea Bagging? If she stays in Alaska, can we call her "Ice Tea" - well, that's sort of taken.

mhr - your entire political movement and its participants are clearly the biggest joke in the entire history of the human race. Well, from the harm it's caused, maybe not such a big joke.

Tea Party activity will no doubt wane, except in closely contested Congressional districts. In those districts Tea Party activity will increase when

(a) it comes time to vote on health care reform

and

(b) the Bush tax cuts approach their expiration dates.

Re Obama, I noticed a heavy contingent of Secret Service at Battery Park City early this morning -- BPC is right next to where the ferry boats depart for the Statue of Liberty, and the SoL is re-opening the crown to visitors for the first time today since 9/11.

And as to Tea Parties, I think someone should mention how GAY "Tea Parties" sounds. Are the Tea Parties GAY? Do they have heavy GAY attendance? Does everyone drink GAY tea with their pinkies out?

I know it's mean, but I'd really love to see the cognitive dissonance play out in the chest-thumping Real Murkins.

There is a point to the tea parties, but they have generally been unsuccessful because libertarian political organizing is a contradiction in terms. There are probably more people with tea party sentiments than we'd like to admit, but most of them consider political activity to be vulgar.

Seems somewhat unlikely, if only because Biden is in Iraq right now.

That is the best argument for sure.

I was trying to figure out the reason Biden was in Iraq on July 4, leaving the Afghan troops, an obvious focus of the Obama Admin, with nobody to celebrate with on the 4th. Biden has a son, and he has just added Iraq to his portfolio.

Then I noticed that Andrea Mitchell has also gone missing, calling in on the Palin deal.

But the Statue of Liberty visit would be a good place to show up as well.

Obama just doesn't usually go off radar for such a long time without popping up somewhere unexpected.

Am, it's a myth that liberals started calling tea- partiers "tea baggers" - the promoters used that term first and didn't realize the alternate meaning. See for example http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/14/teabagging_guide/. referring to a call to "tea bag" [verb] those fools in Washington, etc.

I'd just like to point out that while I was at my gym this morning (tv always turned to CNN HN), CNN's correspondent in DC was reporting on the "large" numbers (and "growing") of people who had turned out near the Capitol for a tea party. The correspondent interviewed a few and talked about our tax burdens. There was no awareness on the part of the correspondent or on the part of the anchor in Atlanta that this wasn't a big event.

So although I don't doubt what you've reported here, the MSM is still spinning for the right.

The L.A. Tea Bag event was canceled, leading to this classic headline:

http://la.metblogs.com/2009/07/02/tea-baggers-in-los-angeles-take-it-on-the-chin/

This latest round is just plain pathetic;

Pajamas Media (who knew they were still alive) has a listing which contains at best 250 event listings but none of them seem to list the actual location of the planned event other than date, time and city...no address...a great way to boost attendance.

There seem to be duplications..Tulare, CA has two events listed, but they are apparently on the same day, run by the same group but with starting times an hour or so apart.

The listing of towns and cities where these are supposedly happening tend to really really smalltown America....try Quartzite , Arizona for example, or Winemucca, NV.

FAUX tried their damndest the first time but clearly it was all an embarassment for them, down to Neal Cavuto getting caught blatantly inflating crowd estimates by an amateur videographer who overheard him getting one figure from a colleague and then going on the air and more than doubling it. This time their approach is much more hands off.

With this and events of the past couple of months between Ensign, Steele, Sanford and Palin, the GOP is just about at total rock bottom and yet the apalling fact is that a third of the country is in lock step behind them. Democracy is a fragile thing.

Why are we concerned about failed astroturf events?

I just came back from my stint at the Dem booth at our town's 4th of July celebrations. The whole event takes place on and around the VMI parade ground, ending with fireworks in the evening. The Repub booth was a couple up from ours and, this year, they had two -- one next to the other -- instead of just one; one was devoted to shilling for the candidates (we got state elections coming up), the other was called "Tea Party".

I didn't stop, so can't tell what the pitch was but there was no tea in sight -- not bags, not bricks, not loose leaf -- just photos of stacks of money (presumably stimulus?) and a photo of a stone wall (I guess that's what it was. Grey blocks, stacked about five to a row and about 8 high). Nothing much to get excited about and I didn't see people stopping for illumination, either. It's not as if they had free give-away balloons for the kiddies; those were in the second booth.

We didn't have any balloons for giveaways, either; just a few to decorate the booth itself. So, when people stopped and asked for balloons, I sent them over to the Repub booth. The balloons they had bore the candidates names but the names were kinda small print. And, if anyone wanted, I'd "retrofit" their balloon with our stickers covering up the original name and people were good to go.

Everyone was appalled, at least on the surface, at my brazen activities but I noticed that the candidate for the House of Delegates gave a long look at his two kids' "retrofitted" balloons but didn't object to their leaving our booth with them. Could be, that my argument -- Repubs always complain that we're screwing them out of their money; let's give some substance to that claim -- rang true. Or, could be, that there's no father bold enough to pry balloons out of the hands of hot and tired 2 and 4yr olds...

Can we stop calling them Tea Baggers? They're quite ridiculous enough without needing to call them names. Stop with the name-calling.

And, yes, a few of the Tea Parties referred to themselves as Tea Baggers out an ignorance to the sexual meaning of the term. But the large majority call themselves Tea Partiers and that's what we should call them.

After all, we get riled up when they talk about the "Democrat Party"

"And as to Tea Parties, I think someone should mention how GAY 'Tea Parties' sounds. Are the Tea Parties GAY?"
Posted by: bleh on July 4, 2009 at 2:10

No.
Please don't do that again.
I really shouldn't have to explain it.

Other than that...
Happy 4th, everyone!
Happy Birthday America!

Here in Orange County we had gigantic crowds at our tea party today.

I don't have a complete count because I was leading the parade in my three-cornered hat and breeches, waving my fife and banging my drum, tossing Lipton bags to the crowd. But I assure you the final numbers were huge.

The people want to be free. Sorry you lefties weren't able to stifle the expression of democracy. Better luck next time.

The only tea party in Prince William County, Virginia was sparcely attended. There were probably 20-25 people holding signs and flags along the Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, and about the same number congregated in the background. As I drove by, I gave them a thumbs-down gesture. That's when a woman yelled, "F--- you!" Good Christian woman, she was.

Is "Orange County" the West's equivalent of our "Appalachian Trail"? Sounds like it to me, from Myke's description, what with all the "fife waving" and "banging" he seems to have engaged in. Of course, when we drop the flaps of our britches to wave the fifes, we do it with the audience limited to one, max, not some three-cornered side show, but California has always been more progressive than us.

Allowing for your California perversions, it does sound like you've had a fun party, even if your member numbers weren't quite as hugely engorged as you claim them to have been.

You're a very bad girl, exlibra.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

as a die hard liberal I don't really have a problem with cutting taxes - I agree with the wingnuts - the federal government at least has enough money, if not too much. The problem with the Federal government isn't that it needs more money for healthcare, its that it already spends hundreds of billions per year ON THE WRONG THINGS. In particular that gianomic recurring republican pork barrel project referred to as the defense budget. Cut that criminal monstrosity in half and viola - $300 billion per year with NO increase in government revenue. Plenty for universal healthcare. Health security - quality of life for all Americans vs. protecting oil interests so Texas oil tycoons can have more private jets - a criminally obscene concentration of wealth in the hands of a few egomanical plutocrats.

Here's what the tea parties have amounted to as far as I've seen. An individual or a group or morons have shouted at our township Democratic booth at the local fest last weekend or at us marching in parades the last couple of days "we want our money back". To whom I've responded "we want our $11 trillion back since 1980. What do we have to show for that but tax cuts for fatcats who blow it on Wall St. bubbles? We're spending $3 trillion on building American muscle for the 21st century." Doesn't hurt that a 5 mile stretch of Ogden Ave. (a major county commercial road on the north side of town) has just been repaved with stimulus funds. Whenever they persist I point that out to them. One clown answered "the Village should have done that" to which I replied "it's not a Village road". This usually happens in a shouting match at 20 feet. They then invariably slink away into the crowd as I keep handing candy to the kids.

The local tribal morons showed up on a 7-Eleven street corner here in small town Colorado to "protest". What were they protesting? As usual, their signs were a study in rampant stupidity. "REAL Americans love freedom", said one. Definitely the Palin tribe thinks that only they are "real" Americans. "Taxpayers have had enough" says another -- apparently too drunk with the dittohead rhetoric to realize that his taxes have gone down.

However, even in this little conservative enclave (75% for PALIN/mccain in 2008) they could only get about 5 people out to protest.

It still makes me shudder to think that these people were allowed to run Congress for 12 years and the Presidency for 8.

I kind of wanted to go to the one that John Cornyn is at in Texas and when they start talking about seceding from the union, I'd yell "America, love it or leave it!" and see what sort of response I get.

The problem with the Federal government isn't that it needs more money for healthcare

You get great healthcare if you are one of the MILLIONS who are employed by the Department of Aggressive Warfare -- oops, I mean Department of "Defense" (defense against what? not sure. Maybe defense against Lockheed/Martin not getting enough profits).

Seriously, military folk -- including vets -- get phenomenal tax-paid compensation. It starts with health care. It continues to subsidized golf courses, subsidized entertainement centers, subsidized shopping at the PX, subsidized housing (some sucks, but a lot is really nice -- and those who live off "campus" get housing allowances), and subsidized travel.

We pay. $600B/year by official estimates -- over $1T/year if counted honestly. For a country that could be sufficiently defended for 1/10th that.

Eliminate the military/industrial/media complex and you have have univeral health care, lower taxes, and a balanced budget all at the same time.

Tea parties are mostly cover for right-wing agitation but many of the participants are sincerely worried about increasing debt - that's a legit concern. Yes BushCo increased the debt earlier but that doesn't make it no longer worth trying to contain!

tyrannogenius

Or, quadruple.

The general condescension here doesn't take into account what these folks are justifiably concerned about. If you don't get that, you don't get that the anger and frustration is growing, carrying the movement forward. Dismiss it at your peril.

I just watched a live feed of the Dallas event, which was huge, and quite well organized.

All the while folks at these events are well-mannered and good-humored. In contrast to events of the opposing side, generally. Reflective of the spirit of folks, I guess. On the blogs, too.

pluege, @19:28,
I think your "health security" is a *brilliant* bit of phrasing/framing. It's short -- even if one were to add "for all", it still fits nicely on a bumper sticker. "Health Security = Public Option" is also easy to fit (and read) on a bumper sticker. But it's the pulling of "security" into the equation that I find inspiring, because it changes the way we think about security. All of a sudden, "security" is not limited to just illegal wiretapping and torture. Thanks, and be warned that I'll be borrowing the phrase, whether you approve or not.

Shortstop, @19:21,
That (both components of your message) seems to be a general consensus, including my husband and most of my "lunching Dem Hens". "You're terrible; don't ever change" is something I hear fairly often, even "down heah", in genteel South :) Once in a while, I scare some of the *most* genteel ones off but they tend to be the weakest vessels as well, so not much loss.

exlibra on July 4, 2009 at 10:53 PM

wear it well.

I was surprised to hear an announcement on our local independent public radio station WXPR that there is a Tea Party group that meets monthly in Eagle River, Wisconsin. But apparently they were not planning any Independence Day gatherings. The announcement said that 30 to 40 people participated in their monthly meetings.

"Seriously, military folk -- including vets -- get phenomenal tax-paid compensation. It starts with health care. It continues to subsidized golf courses, subsidized entertainement centers, subsidized shopping at the PX, subsidized housing (some sucks, but a lot is really nice -- and those who live off "campus" get housing allowances), and subsidized travel."-Anonny

My son is one of those and he didn't get paid nearly enough to be deployed to war zones 3 times. Some of his buddy are topping 5 deployments. Every time is risking life. If you want to cut the military budget, start with the F-25 that is costing $35 million EACH.

In San Antonio, where Joe the Plumber and Gov. Perry were "Tea Partying" the local news made mention of their presence and showed the segment as after the fact, showing empty chairs. Maybe because that was all the "good" coverage they could give. No mention was made to an estimate of numbers in attendance...