# 6 January 2012

Iowa: The Meaningless Sideshow Begins

In the wake of the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, and a dozen or more episodes of real rebellion on the streets, in the legislatures of cities and towns, and in state and federal courthouses, this presidential race now feels like a banal bureaucratic sideshow to the real event – the real event being a looming confrontation between huge masses of disaffected citizens on both sides of the aisle, and a corrupt and increasingly ideologically bankrupt political establishment, represented in large part by the two parties dominating this race.

Filed under [America] [2012] [Occupy] [Tea Party]
# 11 November 2011
But a remarkable coalition has emerged bringing together leaders of the Tea Party and the Obama Administration. They agree that this “investment apartheid” should be abolished. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is leading the charge in the House to legalize small businesses raising money through large numbers of small investments (aka “crowdfunding”), with minimal paperwork, for companies raising less than $1 million.
—Legalize Local Investment! | Change.org
Filed under [Investment] [Obama] [Tea Party] [Carbon]
# 28 September 2011
It’s a free country and people can boo whomever they want without legal sanction. But these people have made a fetish of support for the military to the point where one cannot even make mild jokes about it, much less criticize it on anything substantive. But they have shown what really matters to them with this one. And it isn’t the troops.
—Fear of their lowest common denominator
Filed under [Conservatives] [Tea Party] [Republicans] [Gays] [War] [Military] [Digby]
# 29 August 2011
I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that if he goes out on the trail with more of this Grand Bargain bullshit, this state of affairs is going to get worse. Democrats aren’t buying it — and they aren’t impressed with the excuse that the President of the United States has no power and must accede to whatever the looniest teabagger decides is his bottom line.
—Obama’s shaky foundation
Filed under [Centrism] [Negotiation] [Obama] [Tea Party] [Leadership] [Digby]
# 11 August 2011
I think the Tea Party had better embrace bicycle transportation, or face defeat at the hands of the Schumers of the world promising federal money for auto repairs funded by debts his generation will not have to pay back.
—Streetsblog New York City » Today’s Headlines
Filed under [Democrats] [Priorities] [Tea Party] [Cycling] [Larry Littlefield] [Streetsblog] [Comments]
# 2 August 2011
Maybe the only difference now between Tea Party crazy and mainstream conservative (Obama) is the willingness to embrace the becoming-Mad-Max-future-of​-the US v. lip service to the fragile veneer of governance/sociality still holding something like everyday life together.
—Obama: WTF? A Facebook Roundtable of the Left
Filed under [Obama] [WTF] [Mad Max] [Tea Party] [Leftism]
# 26 July 2011
There is widespread and growing agreement that the two major political parties have reached the end of their useful lives. No other serious faction is waiting in the wings to replace them, except the one led by a claque of overfed radio clowns and know-nothing Jesus Jokers with an axe to grind against the wicked hosts of birth control.
—Nobody Knows Anything
Filed under [Tea Party] [Politics] [Birth Control] [Kunstler]
# 17 June 2011
There’s a large segment of rail activists who are wedded to the old way of doing things: those are the people who defend FRA regulations, think regional rail should be treated separately from urban transit, can’t conceive of trains operating with no conductors, and want to build concrete before electronics and organization. As seen in the example of SEPTA, those people are the real obstacle to rail revival in the US, much more so than transient right-wing populist movements such as the Tea Party.
—Yes, Amtrak is Indeed Mismanaged
Filed under [Amtrak] [Trains] [Transit] [Tea Party] [FRA] [Alon Levy]
# 28 May 2011

Swingers

Maybe they wanted to “send a message” to Washington that they were unhappy with the direction of the country. But what message were they sending? If it wasn’t that they agreed with the Tea Party Republicans that the Democrats were a bunch of godless socialists who were trying to destroy the country, voting for Tea Party Republicans who believe the Democrats are a bunch of godless socialists probably isn’t all that smart. The whole political system could very well get the wrong idea.

On the other hand, putting Rand Paul in the US Senate slowed down the bipartisan rubber stamping of the Patriot Act. Swingers are a bunch of dolts, but the anti-establishment politics of the Tea Party are legitimate and this week I was thankful for them.

Filed under [Swing voters] [Tea Party] [Digby]
# 5 April 2011
I’m not sure who these people think are supposed to vote for them, but the young, wealthy racist vote just isn’t going to get the job done.
—Suicidal Tendencies
Filed under [Tea Party] [Age] [Medicare] [Health] [Subsidy] [Digby]
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