They will be seduced and abandoned by the big money boys. But not before we get into another dandy war.

Rep Scott Brown says if elected in Mass, he will vote with the big banks and wall street, who are sending him mega bucks, wonder how the tea bag party likes this?

Notice that the Democratic party's failure to do the will of the people is playing right into the hands of the crazies. The sense of entitlement in the Democratic party is real and growing. Too bad Howard Dean was squeezed out by the fat cats. This would be a great time for party building on the left. As it is, as indicated by the Coakley nominiation, the Democratic party is deep into featherbeding and denial.

Strange, not once do you mention the President in this post . . .

When the art of democratic governance through compromise becomes "my way or the highway" as these Teabaggers would wont, our nation's heritage is greatly diminished! -Kevo

This is very similar to the strategy the religious right employed to take over the party starting in the late 70s. They started at the bottom, taking over school boards, local city councils, local party structures etc etc.

This is an area where progressives have failed. They've never put together an organization capable of dominating local politics across broad spectrums of the country and use it to cultivate canidates from bigger offices.

They will be seduced and abandoned by the big money boys.

Will be?? The group was originally founded by the big money boys. I'm sure the fact that a few easily confused zealots "believe" the group stands for an anti-establishment movement always gets a good chuckle over at the country club though.

This isn't new news. How do you think Goldwater won the nomination in 1964? As Rick Perlstein points out, Nixon's endorsement of Goldwater then, who he knew was going to lose, was a strategic move to position himself with the Goldwaterites who had taken over the party machinery - which he did over the next three years with the result he won the nomination - and the election - in 1968.

Hell, it would behoove progressives to take a page out of this book and follow suit. If we had half the passion and commitment these people have - past talking a good game - the progressive movement would be a whole lot further along than it is. But no, crying about how the big bad tea partiers are destroying (remaking) the Republican Party and issuing Statements Of Concern is about as far as the Caspar Milquetoast Left can get.

The happy outcome for 2012 would be a repeat of '92 wherein the Tea Party, really just the Perot voter, run in their frustration a third party candidate, dooming the Old Believer Republicans.

"Well-intentioned"? The elastic in your English stretches much further than mine does.

"Well-intentioned"? These people are filth.

thorin-1 is right-on. Blue dogs are right of center, Republicans far right, and Tea Baggers right off the cliff. Progressives now represent the moderate center and must use the popularity of many of their positions (e.g., meaningful reform of health care, banking, etc.) to generate a counterforce -- especially since Obama and Senate Democrats have made it painfully clear that they respond to intransigent demands by "compromise".

I demand you be shot in the head, you state you should not be shot at all-- Their comprise is to agree to shoot you in the gut for which you are supposed to be eternally grateful and vote for their less-than-dynamic candidates in Mass and elsewhere. Good Luck with that.

Agenda driven propaganda has caused the American people to surrender their birthright. There is no justice,just us.

Let's face it! The Republican Party is already a giant insane asylum with the Religious right and neo-Cons; it can't get too far loonier even with the tea baggers.

Let's not forget Jesse Unruh's famous quote, "Money is the mother's milk of politics."

The people that fund both political parties-and, incidentally, run the country-care not a whit about ideology.

All they care about is feathering their nests and insuring their legacy, be it money or power or both.

The rabble may swarm in the streets with their torches and slogans, but the Ruling Class is safely looking down from their penthouse perches, a wry smile on their lips and a clutch of obedient congress critters in their pockets.

"the mainstream doesn't realize the radical nature of the Tea Party "movement";" mostly because it's not on the evening news or in the newspapers.

The mainstream gets their news and opinion from those sources. If they don't run with the story, only us Internet geeks know there is a story.

And it won't be a story for the news editors, who I believe overwhelmingly lean GOP. They think this stuff is right and proper.

"We're talking about a well-intentioned, passionate, and deeply confused group of people -- the folks who believe Democrats are "fascists," the president is Hitler, and programs like Social Security and Medicare are socialist, unconstitutional boondoggles that need to be abolished -- who are now intent on dragging an already far-right party over the cliff....The consequences of the rise of nihilists are hard to predict, but the possibilities are chilling."

I'm terrified at what is happening in the US right now. It is frighteningly easy to spin out a scenario about preening, ignorant President Palin and the proto-Nazis gaining control of the US government and the most powerful military in the world. This would not be good for anyone.

But at the same time, after 30 years of destructive Republican ideology and 8 years of the worst POTUS ever, there are shear winds blowing through the culture. The center is not holding. On the right, we are seeing the remnants of conservative ideology in the teabaggers: "well-intentioned, passionate, deeply confused." After the last eight years, only the deeply confused can think conservatism has anything to offer the US; what we are seeing there is the knee-jerk response of those who are unaccustomed to thinking for themselves. They are tying their feelings, frustration and grievances to the only ideology they have learned.

But on the Democratic side, we have our own strange complacency, and the democratic base is also angry and disconnected at the party elite. I look at the teaparty and I envy their passion even as I am terrified by their confusion. What is happening in MA right now has happened repeatedly in MN. Why do you think MN has had to suffer repellent, do-nothing Tim Pawlenty as governor? Because a complacent, old-buddy Democratic party stopped developing and recruiting first-rate candidates and starting fielding party hacks for the plum positions. The attitude seems to go no further than "what are voters going to do? They can't vote Republican!"

Where is Howard Dean?? Your party needs you!

Thorin-1 is exactly right. Rather than scoff, we should be concerned that, for all of their faults, the Teabaggers appear willing to go about organizing correctly. And the Fundies did so as well (see State School Boards, Kansas, Texas) - over a 30 year period. But progressives get disappointed after 12 months of a Democrat in office. The right certainly appears to have more patience, and more willingness to start at the bottom, than we do. (Although I'll believe that of the Tea Party when they actually do it. They seem more 'of the moment' than Falwell and Robertson's devotees did.) The best thing progressives can do (and this is why I made a pitch some days ago for DFA, who helps with this process) is beat the right-wing grassroots effort at its own game. We need to fill county Democratic precinct slots, local town councils and school boards.

So much perspicacity in these comments that a monograph could reach the prominence of Common Sense.

Among the topics should be a piquant rebranding that begins with the furthist right, beyond Tea Baggers as foils of the Corporatists and the insular intellectuals of Ayn Rand. Steve's final statement uses the term Nilist. It emcompasses the core arguments, however vacuous; actions, ultimately circus; and the Fox and GOP "talking points", false in either face or context. All are deconstructive to the unity and vitality of our union.

Nilism and "the nilist" are easy to look up. The tonal value carries immense import among several language groups. Even our current crop of reporters and journalists could understand and use, albeit shallowly, the concept. I suggest we force the usage. Let's see how The WaPo Dean reacts. I can hardly wait for Beck to misspell it on his chalkboard. When simple definition becomes a cause célèbre the battle between reality and mockery will be met on our turf.

zeitgeist--the Christian right was successful at this b/c it was one arm of a broader initiative based on stealth, which included running for lots of local offices which receive very little press etc. (school boards and the like). The Tea Party folks don't appear to be trying to do this stealthily (with the exception of Scott Brown). If R candidates by 2012 are nothing but openly Teabagging Teabaggers, the result will be a political collapse like we haven't seen since the Whigs in the 1850s.

This is exactly how the current crop of repubs took over Arizona. The result? A broken state that is about to close 21 of 30 state parks and sold state buildings and is leasing them back. They voided the social contract and are wrecking the state. If you like whats happened in Arizona, wait. the next group is worse.

Fascinating look at how teabaggers are taking over the Repiglican franchise. But the big question is, why didn't/can real progressives do the same thing inside the Democratic Party, and make its candidates worth voting for?!

Bob Johnson, I guess you meant "nihilist" (so don't tease Beck ;-), but there is a "nilist" (sic) movement, look it up.

but is there a neil-ist movement? :)

Neil

Did you "sic" you own didaction?

See, stick the term into common conscience and await the opportunity.

While I probably disagree with 99% of the Tea Baggers, if what Steve reports is true, that's good for democracy. When a group of people with common complaints successfully organize at the grassroots (precint) level, then you've got to respect that. Sure, they may get bought by big-monied interests, but that wouldn't make them exclusive (and any "buyout" would probably come with blowback.) Instead of sneering, liberals and progressive should work to organize more effectively.

Zeitgeist, I hope there can be a Neilist movement, but more important that it is worth following. I already do have enough links to my discussions about arcane issues in quantum mechanics to rank in top five Google for "quantum measurement paradox" (in quotes), try it. BTW the nilist ("nil") movement means people dropping out of divisive categories, check it out online etc.

But on the Democratic side, we have our own strange complacency, and the democratic base is also angry and disconnected at the party elite.

This is the difference between conservatives and liberals, unfortunately. When conservatives don't like what their party elites are doing, they work to put their own people in those positions and take over the party. When liberals don't like what their party elites are doing, they stay home and sulk.

This is why the conservative have been kicking our asses for 30 years -- they're willing to put in the work to actually change things from the bottom-up and we're not. We're going to lose again, because we're not willing to do the necessary work to actually change the Democratic Party.

Oh, but it's all Obama's fault that progressives are too lazy to get up off their goddamned asses and do what needs to be done to actually take over the party like the religious right did to the Republican party. What we really need is Howard Dean to come back and save us all with no effort required on our parts. Waah-waah-waah.

This past week, there was a debate aired locally between the candidates for the GOP nomination of Texas governor. (Didn't bother to watch myself.) But the next day, the story about the debate in Houston Chronicle got spammed with comments in support of the third candidate in that race, Debra Medina, a teabaggin', right-wing firebrand. By her supporters' lights Rick Perry himself is a RINO.

Rick "Secesh" Perry, Republican-in-Name-Only.

Beautiful.

They are not nihilists. If they were nihilists, they would not be trying to organize and to affect the outcomes of the elections. They have strong beliefs in their abilities to solve their own problems, and strong beliefs that the ability of governments to tax and borrow and spend ought to severely curtailed.

You can disagree with them on a point-by-point basis (and you would disagree with almost every point of theirs), and show how they are not consistent in what they really want government to actually do (as is everybody). To call them "nihilists" is at best a seriously misleading hyperbole.

The consequences of the rise of nihilists are hard to predict, but the possibilities are chilling.

Good gracious, nihilists? Necessary? As Matthew Marler points out, you can disagree with conservatives or teabaggers... but nihilism it's not. Clearly, they believe in something. Even if it's mistaken.

I think, as others do, that lefties would do well to note the reality that Tea Parties have energized a group on the right to get more politically active... which might be a lesson for the left, but really, left side web-based political work is already happening (e.g., the NetRoots, DFA and such).

And I think rather than fear the possibilities, I'm more fascinated by how this plays out. At this point, the tea baggers have energy, anger... but no real political agenda (no, "get rid of those Dems" is not enough) or purpose. As the Times article notes, you've got a fairly far flung assemblage of viewpoints, missions and issues in play. Until they find a coherent, appealing message that attracts new participants and voters... they don't have much. And yes, they may find it. But for now, I think the interesting thing to watch is what happens when institutions fight back, or try to co-opt these tea baggers into the establishment. That will be the test, I think, of whether there's more to the tea bag movement than a lot of unfocused, hard to channel rage.

There is a point here, one that progressives ought to think about more deeply, too: this didn't just "happen" and it's not just "crazy right wing" stuff. There's a real, growing sense that for working people, both parties lack a real sense of the issues that matter and the solutions that would help people. I don't know that the wporking class whites who've found themselves on the ngry right can ever get the Republican Party to see that. But the question, really, is on the left - if the Democratic party continues it's shift to being the party of a professional, educated elite first and ahead of others... how long will it take before working class voters with more liberal opinions find themselves with more in common with teabaggers than with the New Left? And what happens if that energy coalesces into a new, third party? That, I think, is not so farfetched, certainly not so out there that Democrats should keep pretending that the Tea Party movement couldn't, somehow, turn out to be something, after all.

"They have strong beliefs in their abilities to...", etc. etc.

No. They are blind, mechanical sadists, who only want one thing: the privilege of murdering their neighbors with impunity. This has not changed in four hundred years, since they ran with Cromwell, giving false information against their neighbors for pay. That is what comes next.

"Across the country, they are signing up to be Republican precinct leaders, a position so low-level that it often remains vacant, but which comes with the ability to vote for the party executives who endorse candidates, approve platforms and decide where the party spends money."
"intend to take over the Republican infrastructure, more than they already have."

Uhhh, Isn't this democracy???

Just a thought for all those lamenting the progressives/liberals in not showing the same ferverency as the rightwingers/teabaggers: do we really want a left-wing version of them? Because the odds are very good that is what would happen.

Doug: define what you mean by "version." We sure as hell need a zeal version of the baggers. But not the stupidity version, the meanness version, the being tools version, the hypocrites version, etc.

Considering that President Obama appears to have positioned himself on the wrong side of history by not being progressive enough, the Dems should be nervous of the Tea Bagger movement as it transforms from a GOP toy to a venomous reptile..

However, it will be great fun for those of us think long-term about politics, rather than confine ourselves to the short-term/day to day ebb and flow, to watch the GOP apparatchiks who created the TB'ers finally realise that they have made a very big mistake and that their offspring is hungry enough to want to destroy them.

Talk about genetic engineering gone wrong!

This is exactly, what happened in Arizona when the far right Christian took over the Repubican party. They simply ran more people in the precincts, won, and then elected the party chairs.

Then all the moderates quit and left them to run a mechanism they did not know how to handle. Ten years later they elected GW Bush President. .

Twenty years later, Arizona is a mess. Today, the Republican Arizona State Legislature is wrecking the state government. The Parks budget has been cut to the point where 13 of 21 parks, freeways are not being repaired, and they are turning over more and more responsibility to the cities and counties. They sold state buildings to raise cash and now are leasing them back -- somebody made a sweet profit off that deal.

Meanwhile, one fo the people who helped create this mess, is trying to undo it. CF:
(From the AZ Daily Star. Capitol Media Services Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.16.2010) — "In what may be one of her last acts as a legislator, Sen. Carolyn Allen is trying to persuade voters to undo what she says is the damage she helped create nearly two decades ago: imposing term limits on lawmakers. ... She said lawmakers with knowledge and experience are forced out of office."

The same lawmakers who could have helped save the state from giving away all its revenue sources over the past few years.

Too soon we get old.

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