What do liberal elites discuss over craft beers, wine and cheese?

"What the hell happened to Barack Obama", that's what they discuss.  Well, actually they pretend to analyze what went wrong with Obama.  Never waste a crisis and all that; the elitists use the event instead to probe the Tea Party under a microscope:

Prospects for an American Neofascism. Initially the project would consist of a review of recent research on American right wing groups (including the Tea Party movement, the Minutemen, and the Christian right); and of trends in national and transnational political economy that bear on our subject (such as cyclical and structural economic crises, corporate/government interpenetration, and the explosive growth of the military/industrial/security complex).

A Macro-Micro Model of Participation in Political Action: The Tea Party and Cognitive Biases in Information Consumption and Processing. Hypotheses were tested using qualitative data obtained from interviews with two groups: protest participants from various Tea Party protests (protesting group, N-15) and non-protesting Tea Party "supporters" (supporting group, N=3). Results show that strongly held pre-existing beliefs (particularly economic and political individualist ideology) heavily impacted levels of dissatisfaction with government policy and choices of information consumed.

Naturally, the head-up-the-arse crew must analyze whether or not we are dangerous:

"I wonder if we're likely to see a Timothy McVeigh situation," says Nicholas Robert, an attendee originally from Australia, who basically wonders if any Tea Partiers can be arrested. "It seems to be that we're being very polite. I wonder if there are any legal mechanisms—one that comes to mind are the provisions used to crush the Wobblies."

Donald Douglas dispels this nonsense deftly ;)

The Wobblies. It was a Democrat administration that crushed them, and the ideological crises in Germany following shortly thereafter --- exacerbated by the Wilson administration's failed peace at Versailles --- helped give rise to the far right-wing extremism that elevated the Nazis to power in the 1930s. And here we have National Socialists in Berkeley calling for the exact same kind of repression. The difference is that the Wobblies were real communists and subversives. Today' tea partiers --- not so much.

Perhaps Donald could host a symposium on  A Macro-Micro Model of Putrefaction in Liberal Elites: Cognitive Biases in Information Consumption and Processing in the Terminally Anal-Ensnared Eggheads


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Moe Tucker takes off the velvet gloves

and lets the Obama administration have it with both barrels:

My family was damn poor when I was growing up on Long Island. There were no food stamps, no Medicaid, no welfare. If you were poor, you were poor. You didn't have a TV, you didn't have five pairs of shoes, you didn't have Levi's, you didn't have a phone; you ate Spam, hot dogs and spaghetti. We all survived! I am not against food stamps, welfare or Medicaid, if only they would oversee these programs properly!

I am also against the government taking over the student loan program, car companies, bailouts and the White House taking control of the census (what the hell is that all about?); [about] any First Lady telling (I know, I know, "suggesting to") us what to eat, the mayor of New York City declaring "no salt" (screw you, pal!), the mayor/city commissioners of Anytown, U.S.A. declaring you can't fly a flag, can't say the Pledge of Allegiance and can't sing the National Anthem. I'm against a President dismissing any and all who dare to disagree; the water being turned off in (central) California, at [an] area where they've turned off the water because they want to save a one-inch fish -- turning that huge area of farming land into another dustbowl -- the insipid start of food supply control methinks! The government deciding what kind of lightbulbs we can use (all you "think green" people, three objections to this b.s.: 1) Those bulbs give off the light of a candle; 2) They're very expensive; 3) They have mercury in them - how the hell are we supposed to dispose of them?).

I am against the government now thinking about bailing out unions. The unions made the contracts which include insane pensions; the U.S. government didn't. I'm against the government closing down offshore drilling in the Gulf with one hand and with the other giving (lending?) Brazil money to help them do way deeper offshore drilling -- rather curious. I'm against a government that will not defend our borders; and on and on and on.

Imagine that, a Tea Party patriot the liberals have trouble hating. Gawker calls her interview "pretty great," and notes Tucker is the best thing the Tea Party has going for it. Don't bet on it, Tucker believes there are many more like her: "I'm sure there are plenty of conservatives in the music/art world since I don't believe there's any group, club, organization or profession in which all members think exactly the same." I guess Moe doesn't watch MSNBC - but really - who counts them anyway? There is much more so read the rest. Word of caution - moderate language warning applies to this link. I would note though, the single "f bomb" in the piece is probably the best quote. Nevertheless, for those who mind you were warned.

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Chock Full of Socialist Nuts

Well, full is a relative term when describing the crowds at the lefty liberalpalooza in DC on Saturday.

Noting that they began planning their rally in April, organizers said they were not responding to a march organized by Glenn Beck, which drew enormous crowds to the front of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28. But they acknowledged that their hope was to draw an even larger crowd to Saturday’s event.

Significant areas of the National Mall that had been filled during Mr. Beck’s rally were empty. In a broadcast on Thursday, Mr. Beck criticized the liberals’ march, saying his supporters paid their own way to drive to Washington, while labor unions chartered hundreds of buses to ferry demonstrators to Saturday’s rally.

The term socialist nuts, however, not so relative.  It appears to be dead-on accurate in fact:



Just One Minute sizes up the crowds- or lack thereof.

Nice Deb puts it in a nutshell with a nice roundup of coverage.

Legal Insurrection  is looking for a few photos of the loony signs to make an appearance in the legacy media coverage.  Somehow I think he is not holding his breath though.

Donald Douglas outdoes himself with comprehensive coverage of the liberalpalooza lunacy.

The Blogprof points to some remarkable similarities in crowd shots used in CNN's coverage of the "One Nation" rally and the 9/28 Glen Beck rally.  How did they get those crazy tea partiers to dump all their nasty racist signs anyway?

Lots more on Memeorandum

Desperate Measures: The return of the "dangerous tea-party extremists" meme?

Many thanks to Professor Jacobson for Post of the day status and welcome to his readers!


President not playing well in Peoria? Signs of Democratic Doom are popping up nearly everywhere while no one seems to be buying the notion the world will not survive if the mosque formerly known as Ground Zero Mosque  doesn't get built.  What is a "cackle of rads"  to do?  Desperate times call for desperate measures folks.

It's time to dust off the "dangerous tea-party extremists" meme" and give it another whirl:

A Politico story today makes me think that someday in the not-too-distant future we’ll look back on this moment and find it almost quaint that we thought the tea party movement was the be-all and end-all of GOP-affiliated right-wing extremism. The story suggests that there are some areas of extremism where many teabaggers don’t want to go — but there are plenty of other people willing to do what the ‘baggers won’t:

Yes, a Politico article that goes to lengths to portray the mosque debacle as a bigger problem for Republicans and tea-partiers than it is for Democrats certainly seems a good place to start the world wondering whether dangerous tea-partiers can resist the urge to descend into dangerous religious extremism doesn't it?

Politico  keeps the ball rolling today with a shock headline, "Shot fired at Al Franken's condo."  Politico relies on the report from a spokesperson for that paragon of credibility and self-restraint Senator Al Franken:

“Right now it’s under investigation by the Minneapolis Police and the Capitol Hill Police,” Franken spokesman Marc Kimball told POLITICO.

Kimball said that “there was some damage to one of the window panes” in a double-paned window.  Kimball added that “nothing like this” has ever happened to the senator’s residence.

Minneapolis police have not said whether they have a suspect or if they believe Sen. Franken was specifically being targeted.

Notice there is absolutely nothing in Kimball's statement to support Politico's breathless headline.  It seems we have heard such dubious threats before.  CNN offers the "just-the-facts ma'am" version of events:

Sgt. Bill Palmer of the Minneapolis Police Department told CNN that members of the Franken family recently reported finding a hole in a window of their Minneapolis condominium that appeared to be made by either a BB gun or small rock.

The hole damaged a double-paned window, but did not penetrate the second pane, Palmer also said.

The object in question was not found and it remains unclear exactly when the damage occurred. Palmer said that it is unlikely the possible BB shot was directed at the Minnesota Democrat.

"I find it unlikely people actually even know where the senator lives," Palmer said.

Nothing to see here folks as even the liberal blog Wonkette is forced to admit.  Wonkette laughs off the Politico headline as a rather desperate attempt to make "instant August news."   There is really no doubt, however, it was Franken who hit the panic button right before he felt he felt the overwhelming compulsion to feed Politico a dramatic blow-by-blow of a story that seems to lack minor things - like substance.  

To be sure, the rantings of two left-wing loons does not a meme make.  Caveats notwithstanding, Democrats have pulled the dangerous card from the bottom of the deck before; these items had all the hallmarks of the same dirty tricks.  It isn't as though they tend to learn their lesson.  Does a day go by when they don't play the race and/or bigotry card?  When the going gets tough, it is the Dems and the Professional left who get a tad - dare I say it - dangerous.


Thanks to Theo Spark for linking!

Which Dem Tea Party Strategy Would That Be?

Yesterday CBS News reported on a DNC Tea Party strategy that amounts to little more than marching orders to local reporters to challenge 30 Republican candidates to "stand with or stand up to the Tea Party:"

Today's DNC push comes on the heels of the DNC's release of a document laying out what it says are the plans of the "Republican Tea Party," among them repealing the health care bill, privatizing Social Security, ending Medicare in its current form, extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and abolishing the Departments of Education and Energy. They call the 10-point platform the "Republican Tea Party Contract on America."

(Most Republicans do support repealing the health care bill and extending all the Bush tax cuts, though the other positions here have far more limited support within the party.)

The DNC is including the "Republican Tea Party Contract on America" in its release to reporters. The Republicans being targeted are Jon Barela , Lou Barletta , Richard "Rick" Berg , Scott Bruun , Steve Chabot , Keith Fimian , Mike Fitzpatrick , Thomas Ganley , Tim Griffin , David Harmer, Randy Hultgren , George Kelly Jr. , Joe Heck , Adam Kinzinger , Kristi Noem , James Renacci , Steve Pearce , Jon Runyan , Steve Stivers , Todd Young , Brad Zaun, Eric Cantor, Joseph Cao, Michael Castle, John Boehner, Mario Diaz-Balart, Charles Dent, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, and Mark Kirk.

Democrats are also vowing to spend August pressing Republicans to "stand with or stand up to the Tea Party" in press conferences, advertising and online, according to the DNC's Hoffine.

First, thanks to the DNC for letting us know which Republicans are causing them a few sleepless nights. Second, this reeks of desperation particularly in light of mounting evidence Democrats have also been actively working to get a few "tea party" spoilers listed on the ballot.  Perhaps it is no coincidence Pat Meehan was not listed as that might call attention to  Dem shenanigans in the PA-07 Congressional race.

Democratic tea party shenanigans extend beyond Pennsylvania however to a number of races that are expected to be close contests and may well determine which party controls the House.  From Politico:

The accusations range from helping tea party activists circulate candidate petition sheets to underwriting the creation of official tea parties, which then put forth slates of candidates that local conservatives accuse of being rife with Democratic plants.

In all of the affected races, the outcome is expected to be close enough that a third-party candidate who wins just a few percentage points could end up swinging the outcome to the Democratic congressman or candidate…

[T]he evidence of campaign tampering in at least two states is hard to dismiss. In Michigan, the party chairman in suburban Detroit’s Oakland County now concedes that one of his top aides played a role in helping nine tea party candidates get onto the ballot for various offices across the state — including the open 1st Congressional District and the 7th Congressional District, held by vulnerable freshman Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.

Politico also reports on shenanigans in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District where former Eagle tackle Jon Runyan is challenging John Adler:

Runyan’s aides began looking into the background of New Jersey tea party candidate Peter DeStefano after Adler’s campaign released an internal poll that showed DeStefano drawing 12 percent of the vote. Local conservatives were also miffed that most of DeStefano’s conservative firepower seemed unusually directed toward Runyan, rather than the Democrat Adler.

In the course of the Runyan campaign’s research, aides discovered that one of the signatures on DeStefano’s ballot petition turned out to be of a former Adler campaign aide.

They also took note that DeStefano switched his voter registration from Republican to Democrat in April and then switched it again to unaffiliated just days before the state primary. As in Michigan, DeStefano’s low profile with the news media also became viewed as a sign that he was a shadow candidate.

Surprise, surprise accusations of shenanigans in Florida are linked to Alan Grayson.  Fox Nation reported back in June allegations Grayson had connections to at least one fake tea party candidate.  Politico outlines the supposed "in-fighting" between tea party factions that ensued since connections to Grayson were discovered among a few candidates running under the Tea Party label.  Florida, however, has yet to hold its' primary election.  I would expect serious tea party voters to unite behind the candidate who wins the GOP nomination to unseat Alan Grayson.

Da TechGuy made a valid point yesterday, "Actually this is a very old political hardball tactic, not much different than Limbaugh’s “operation chaos“.  But as Politico notes, "in this case, some Democrats appear to be in cahoots with ideological adversaries whose ideas they hope to use as weapons against Republicans in the fall."  As the JournoList media now have their marching orders it might be useful for targeted Republican candidates to laugh off questions whether they stand with the tea party and to question which Dem Tea Party strategy is in play.

Dem Shenanigans in PA Congressional Races

I mentioned two potential spoilers in a post just last Thursday, though there was no inkling as yet Democratic shenanigans were in play. Now it appears Democrats in the 7th Congressional district have been actively helping Jim Schneller gather signatures so his name would appear on the ballot as an independent candidate. Schneller has the sort of background  both the left and the media love to exploit when discussing tea party candidates:

Pennsylvania Democrats helped gather signatures to put a birther on the ballot in the race to replace Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak.

At issue is the role played by the campaign of state Rep. Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee in the open 7th District, which allegedly provided petition-gathering assistance to Jim Schneller, a tea party activist who once filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania demanding that President Obama present his birth certificate.

According to documents from the secretary of state's office provided by the campaign of Lentz’s GOP opponent, former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, Schneller needed 4,200 signatures to make the ballot as the American Congress Party candidate — and 3,800 of those were collected by Democrats.

 Just for the record Schneller has not been endorsed by the Independence Tea Party as I pointed out in my previous post.  Politico misreported this fact and has since issued a corrected post with the following correction:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Independence Hall Tea Party group in Philadelphia had endorsed Schneller. They have endorsed Meehan.

 Schneller, who appears not to be the brightest bulb, is having trouble accepting the news:

In some of his first public comments since news broke that Democratic insiders and activists made it possible for him to gain ballot access, Schneller said he didn’t know that some of the people who circulated nominating petitions on his behalf had ties to Democratic nominee Bryan Lentz. He insisted that anyone gathering signatures for his candidacy on the American Congress Party ticket did so because they believe in his candidacy. And while he acknowledged that it’s “feasible” Democrats would help him to tip a close race away from Republican Pat Meehan, he said such tactics would be a mistake.

“I’ve got news for Bryan Lentz’s campaign: These were given to me, in support of me, I filed them, so thank you,” Schneller told pa2010.com. “Your opponent is now on the ballot. We now have a three-candidate ticket.

 Wait, it just keeps getting better:

An early look at Schneller’s nominating petitions, which are still being reviewed by pa2010.com iin full, shows that Schneller couldn’t have gathered the required 4,200 signatures without help from Democrats. Schneller himself collected only about 3,200 signatures. Almost all of the remaining 4,800 signatures were gathered by registered Democrats, many of whom have clear ties to Lentz. Many of the Democrats who circulated petitions for Schneller are party insiders and activists who would surely find Schneller’s political beliefs to be distasteful at best. Schneller is a staunch conservative who has dabbled in the so-called “Birther” movement that questions President Obama’s signature.

But in the interview Wednesday, Schneller said he was both “complimented” and “dismayed” by the help he got from Democrats: complimented that they would find appeal in his candidacy, and dismayed that they might not have been genuine in their motivations.

 It is not clear whether Schneller will end up on the ballot at this point. (Via pa2010.com) Don Adams of the Independence Tea Party sent a letter to Schneller formally asking him to withdraw his candidacy or at least to withdraw the phony petitions gathered by Democrats to get Schneller on the ballot.  Schneller appears to be reluctant to leave the race.  Perhaps if he does stay on the ballot he will be a constant reminder of the type of dirty shenanigans that have the right fired up and ready to boot Democrats out of office.

Perhaps Democrats are up to the same tricks in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District as well.  I wonder who helped Mr. Ligenfelter collect signatures for his petition.  We'll soon find out as that one appears to be headed to court.

Memeorandum also links National Review with more on Schneller

Former Marine Stuns Tea Party Crowd

Via Breitbart
My apologies for the light blogging this past week. It was a busy one and took me a bit by surprise that everything seemed to pile up at once. Here is a post to start the week off on the "right note." As Herman Cain responded, "that's what I'm talking about."

Media Gunning for Rand Paul

Since Obama is 0 for 4 campaigning for candidates in key elections, Rand Paul has decided to invite Obama to come campaign for his Democratic opponent in Kentucky's Senate race. Paul may as well get his licks in because the ObamaMedia is gunning for him. Look at the growing thread on Memeorandum, nearly all the usual suspects have taken it on themselves to create an impression Paul is a racist. That's original.

The left-wing media machine suspects that Paul may be vulnerable in the general election and are doing their level best to take him down early.  Anyone recall that sort of treatment being directed towards the man who now resides at Pennsylvania Avenue?  I don't.  Paul, who has been designated the "tea party" candidate will be painted with the same racist brush the media reserves for anything that falls to the right of David Brooks.  Althouse suspects the left may be terrified of Paul.  Perhaps they are.  Paul is decidedly unafraid of Obama and his agenda, however.  Both are incredibly unpopular in Kentucky which is why Paul should invite the Obama administration into every discussion.  What better way to start his campaign than inviting the President to come on down to work that campaign magic of his in Kentucky:

Obama: Keep your discourse civil, tea-baggers

Via Memeorandum
Alinsky tactics  proving as tough to quit as the nicotine habit:

Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations.

In Jonathan Alter’s “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,”President Obama is quoted in an November 30, 2009, interview saying that the unanimous vote of House Republicans vote against the stimulus bills “set the tenor for the whole year ... That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans.”

Tea Party activists loath the term “tea baggers,” which has emerged in liberal media outlets and elsewhere as a method of mocking the activists and their concerns.

Clearly the tea-baggers aren't controlling the agenda for Democrats or the Democrats might not be looking at 99 vulnerable seats in the House this year.  Just to be clear though, it wasn't the unanimous opposition to the stimulus bills that fostered the tea party protests, it was that Democrats passed enormous spending bills that have been since proven to have done little or nothing to improve the economy.  Had those stimulus measures proven successful the Republicans would be walking away from a small government platform.  Instead, they embrace it.

Obama isn't interested in the truth of the growing opposition to his disastrous policies.  He is merely interested in demonizing it, despite his protestations to the contrary.  He sets the tone with his hypocrisy.  While he may try, Obama can't feign ignorance on the negative connotations of the term, as Allahpundit points out.  He knows and I think it is a safe bet he uses it privately all the time.  The Blogprof has a history of prominent Democrats who likely use the term so frequently they slipped when using it in public.

I would venture a guess whatever Jonathan Alter included in this behind-the-scenes book on the "promise" of year one of the Obama presidency is likely less harmful than what wasn't included.  There were a few more tidbits noted in the ABC report linked above including a report Rahm Emmanuel opposed the pursuit of health care in the first year.  This is not a stunning revelation.  It's been clear for some time Rahmbo had hoped to keep the Democratic majority he carefully cobbled together.  Obama, in contrast, hasn't lifted a finger to elect the majority whose support he enjoys.  Is it any wonder he so casually asked them to sacrifice their office in service of his?

Tea Party Panel Report

Thursday night I attended a Tea Party Panel at Arcadia University. The panel was organized to give equal time to those opposing the health care reform after Arcadia hosted Obama's health care speech in March. When I attended that speech, health care reform seemed unlikely to pass. Little did we know Democrats would willingly walk the plank to pass health care legislation in the crudest partisan vote witnessed in my life time.  While the panel may have seemed to at least one audience member too little too late, the forum was an excellent opportunity to introduce tea party values to a student population without the frequently-biased presentation we see in the media portrayals.  The result was a lively and occasionally heated discussion of the tea party movement and our current political environment.

Moderated by Kelly Stavrides, Secretary to the Young Republicans at Arcadia and contributor to this blog, the panel of  tea party leaders discussed their roles in the movement and answered questions from a mixed audience of students and community guests.  Members of the panel included Diana Reimer, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, JennyBeth Martin, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots recently chosen by Time Magazine as one of the top 100 leaders in the country, Jamal Green Journalist and graduate student in Philadelphia, Nate Whigham grassroots activist, Dr. Andrew Foy, MD, and  Mike Gaske Tea Party Patriots Fund Raising Director.

The panel entertained a number of questions from the audience.  Students asked a few questions of the panel related to their positions on The Patriot Act.  Showing the diversity of ideological opinion that comprises the tea party movement, Jamal Green and NateWhigham differed in their opinions on The Patriot Act.   A student from Alaska asked about the role of Sarah Palin in the movement noting that she believed Palin misrepresented her role in "the bridge to nowhere" and that she didn't like her policies as Governor.  JennyBeth Martin emphasized that Sarah Palin had been engaged to speak at several events though not directly by Tea Party Patriots.  Martin reiterated the point the tea party movement was a grass-roots inspired organization and it had no political leader.

One heated moment came when a foreign exchange student asked a question of the panel on their opinions on  outsourcing.  The student also asked about whether the panel supported defense cuts to the budget, the student suggested that defense constituted one-half of the Federal budget.  This prompted a member of the audience to challenge the student's facts.  Defense constitutes about 20% of the Federal Budget but it is frequently misrepresented as much higher as justification for growth in entitlement programs.   After a brief exchange on this point, the panel addressed the student's questions on  outsourcing.  The answers, again reflected a diversity of opinion found in the movement.  Jamal Green believed outsourcing to be a function of free markets while Gaske and Foy believed there needed to be a greater emphasis on returning manufacturing to the United States.  Foy, incidentally co-authored The Young Conservative's Field Guide with economist Brent Stransky.  Stransky assisted Kelly in taking questions from the audience.  He declined to offer additional thoughts on the subject hoping to get more questions from the audience.

The next question taken by Stransky was less a question than a statement from a man who was angered that he was unable to protest the President's appearance on campus and questioned whether the panel was too little too late.  The gentleman did not stay to hear the response from the panel which was unfortunate.  Reimer explained that the panel presentation was organized by the school immediately following the speech in March. She expressed gratitude to have the opportunity to present the Tea Party Patriots opinions directly to students.  Gaske suggested there may have been little difference whether the protest took place on school property or outside as the Democrats ignored all evidence the country opposed the legislation and passed it anyway.

Several community members took the opportunity to address the students directly telling them they were concerned for their futures.  One woman challenged students to educate themselves about the coming crisis with entitlements as I mentioned in a previous post.  Reactions from students varied depending on the issue discussed.  While some students seemed to take a liberal approach to questioning, their reactions to several conservative points were quite enthusiastic.  I found this striking, as it seemed to underscore the importance of holding such events in a college setting.  The evening concluded with a presentation by Jamal Green of his YouTube speech "Why I am a Conservative."  For those who haven't seen it, be sure to take a look.

Many thanks to Janet Stavrides who took way better pictures of the event than I did.  You can see her pictures as well as some links I included to some of the panelists' writings on the topics of health care and conservatism in the slide show below.

Tea party panel

View more presentations from Rubyslipperblog.

Greece, preview of things to come?

Last night I attended a tea party panel at Arcadia University which merits a full post of its own.  I mention it now, though, because the panel was the first thing I thought of when I saw a report of the violent protests in Greece this morning.  There was a comment from the audience near the end focusing on the entitlement mentality that needs to be checked if we are to pull our country back from the brink of a disaster such as we see in Greece. Clearly the Greek citizens have not checked that mentality as we see in the following video.  Their outrage stems from the entitlement cuts necessitated by the country's dire fiscal circumstances. Are they aware the country is out of money and could lead the world into another economic collapse?  Union workers are striking too.  Who exactly do they think is going to continue to fund their union jobs and large entitlement programs?  Maybe they can get in line for that free Obama money.

Reminder: Tea Party Panel at Arcadia This Evening!

I posted news of this event on Monday. There is a great panel of speakers lined up for the event tonight.  Diana Reimer, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, has an article linked on a similar effort from students at Penn hoping to bring the Tea Party message to students.  Kudos to the students at Arcadia who are helping lead the way.

Here is a copy of the flyer with all the details:

Tea party panel arcadia4.22 (1)

View more documents from Rubyslipperblog.

Tea Party Panel at Arcadia University

Readers may remember Kelly who was kind enough to help me with tickets for the Obama health care speech at Arcadia back in March.  Kelly has been busy since then.  In addition to all her academic responsibilities, as Secretary of the Arcadia Republican Club Kelly has been involved in organizing the forthcoming Tea Party panel to be held at Arcadia on April 29, 2010.  She forwarded me a power point flyer with details on the event which I have embedded below.

The event is scheduled between 7 and 9 PM and features a fantastic lineup of speakers:

• Diana Reimer            National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots
• Jenny Beth Martin      National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots
• Nate Whigham     Grassroots Activist
• Jamal Green         Journalist and Graduate student, Philadelphia
• Mike Gaske         National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots/Fundraising Director
• David Webb        Editor Tea Party 365 and Talk Show Host

There is a map included in the flyer below.  Hopefully we can get some pictures and details posted for those who are not in the area and unable to attend this great event.  For those in the area, please take the time to attend.  Tea party events have had a huge impact as we all know.  This event will provide a great opportunity to continue to make our voices heard.

Tea party panel arcadia4.22 (1)

View more documents from Rubyslipperblog.

Turning Up the Volume on Those Mainstream Tea Party Activists

Nothing like a little Maxine Waters complete hypocrisy to get your juices flowing this Monday after a holiday. Naked Emperor News put one if their great montages together showing Maxine Waters' changing views over the years with respect to protests and dissent. Language warning applies here for one lovely chant led by the left during the Bush years.  See video at the bottom of the post for Maxine's hypocrisy.

A few related items: First Doug Ross has done some great investigative reporting on the alleged hurling of racial epithets mentioned in a previous post Agitprop. Doug has really fleshed out the timeline of the reporting to show how reports from a few members of the CBC were picked up and reprinted in the media within an amazingly short time frame. An interview with Lauren Victoria Burke, who is likely the first to spread the news via Twitter is quite revealing:

Q: As I see it, a lot of the Tea Party activists are worried about the encroachment of the very kind of authoritarian, centralized government that our country's founders broke away from. The federal government has become this omnipresent force, far beyond what the states that formed it had ever envisioned. I mean, the size of your toilet tank is now regulated by federal bureaucrats...

A: Yes, I would agree that most of the teabaggers [Ed: sic!] are focused most on taxes, on financial issues. I mean, the liberal stereotype was reinforced when the first thing Obama does when he took office is to spend $787 billion on a stimulus package!

And the latest bailout of people that have been foreclosed on, I totally disagree with. If you're dumb enough to spend too much on your house, my tax dollars should not be borrowed against for that.

I understand the Tea Party sentiment and also understand you can't control everything everyone says.

Note to Lauren and others who seem to be willing to concede "teabaggers" may have valid issues you might  want to skip calling them "teabaggers." Two recent polls find the teabaggers are pretty mainstream. In fact more identify with tea party principles then they do with Obama.  Legal Insurrection isn't seriously worried about the suicide watch at DNC headquarters upon receipt of the news the tea party protesters aren't the extremists after all.  Didn't they already commit suicide - at least politically - when they cast their votes for health care?  Potluck and Pundette have more on this.

Donald Douglas at American Power had a great report on a NYT hatchet piece comparing the Tea Party to Bill Ayers violent radical group The Weatherman.  Seriously,  it gets stranger all the time doesn't it?  Here is a bit of Donald's analysis:

The caption reads, “VARYING DEGREES OF RAGE: The Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, second from right, during the Days of Rage in 1969, and anti-health reform protesters in Washington on Sunday.”

No doubt the editors included that “varying degrees” qualifier will get them off the hook. But there’s no escaping the truly bankrupt moral equivalence NYT’s claiming between a genuine domestic terrorist organization and a grassroots movement of conservatives, middle-class anti-tax activists, and an army of frustrated geriatrics. In contrast to a year’s worth of tea parties and town halls, the Moscow-backed Weatherman launched a series of bombings starting in 1969, totalling 25 attacks in all, as part of its war against “Amerikkka.” To this day, unrepentant terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn are venerated as social justice messiahs while today’s citizen tea party activists wind up on DHS intelligence reports as “right wing extremists.”

 Maybe some of the media should have considered investigating Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers instead of repeating the mantra "Obama was only 8 years old."  I am only a week older than Obama so we were both roughly 8 years old when Ayers launched a string of attacks on America, so what?   I never served on  boards with him afterwards nor would I have been willing to have Ayers host a coffee to launch my political career  no matter how desperate I was to get into politics.  Now Obama is President, Ayers is probably writing another book somewhere and the quietly remarkable tea partiers amongst us are the villains.  Go figure.

Donald has a round up of the coverage following his report here as well.

Coffee Party is a Wild Success

According to CNN anyway.  Ironically, there are no mentions of nasty nicknames or implications the group members are racist rednecks. They used up all those terms and jokes when covering tea parties.   This is the type of coverage the "Coffee Party merits:

The new Coffee Party movement deemed its official kickoff Saturday a "huge success," with dozens of talks held at coast-to-coast coffee shops as members came together to discuss the issues most important to them.

Billed by many as an answer to the conservative Tea Party movement, the Coffee Party was born on Facebook just six weeks ago. While the group has become an instant hit online -- it boasts more than 141,000 Facebook fans as of Saturday -- gauging the success of this weekend's coffee meetups was predicted to be an indicator of the group's strength.

So, just how strong were these coffee party gatherings?  One might describe them as intimate.  North Carolina had all of five people show up   An estimated crowd of 3000 protested today in Minnesota.  What's a couple thousand people though?  CNN reports the two groups have much more in common besides their group strength, that is.   Do they now?  It sure doesn't seem that way in Palm Beach:

"Frankly, we are petrified by the tea party and what they stand for and what they're talking about," said Monte Carmel, a retired business executive from West Palm Beach.

"I'm tired of all the misinformation, the cute little labels the fright-wing has thrown on everything," said a man named Russ.

"To me, government is the answer. I'm really sort of perplexed," said a man named Joe who said he had been a teacher for 44 years.

I am sure there would be loads of agreement with those sentiments among the tea party folks.  I can spot potential agreement however, and it is this, frankly, my dear coffee party friends we are petrified of you and your belief government has all the answers.

2,225 Patriots Protest ObamaCare in Missouri

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit is liveblogging the anti-ObamaCare rally in St. Charles MO today. His most recent update included a head count of 2,225 patriots determined to make their voices heard in opposition to the latest efforts to co-opt 1/6th of our economy in the name of health care reform. The rally was called for by Rep. Todd Akin and GOP House Leader John Boehner who asked for "ALL HANDS ON DECK" and "ALL BOOTS ON THE GROUND" for this "kill the bill" rally.

Protests are scheduled throughout the day to greet President Obama as he takes his Kabuki road show to St. Louis today. Details on the second protest for anyone in that area are as follows:

The Second Protest planned by the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition is planned for 5:30 on Wednesday night downtown in St. Louis across from the Renaissance Grand hotel. We are meeting at 5:00 PM on 9th and Delmar. WEAR BLACK!

Because I had covered the event in Philadelphia on Monday, I was contacted by one of the bloggers who will be working with Jim Hoft and Michelle Moore as they try to cover the protests and potential shenanigans at the speech. I was pleased to offer what little advice I could and promised to help spread the news of their efforts in Missouri. If we can't be there in person to lend support, we can be with them in spirit to applaud their efforts.

Palin's Tea Party Speech Brings Derangement to Full Boil

The big news of the day on Memeorandum is the reaction to Sarah Palin's speech last night in Nashville.  Nothing like a Palin speech to coax the liberal blogs to take a short trip over the edge.  HuffPo even has an EXCLUSIVE SHOCKING PHOTO from the event:

"Closer inspection of a photo of Sarah Palin, during a speech in which she mocked President Obama for his use of a teleprompter, reveals several notes written on her left hand. The words "Energy", "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits" are clearly visible. There's also what appears to read as "Budget cuts" with the word Budget crossed out."


WOW, I am shocked that she had a few key words written on her hand when giving a major speech covered by CSPAN and most of the cable news networks.  Really, it is the same thing as reading the whole thing word for word off a TelePrompTer isn't it?

The left has more, I know, gasp.  There is video where she appears to check these points on her hand when asked about the role of a conservative House or Senate if in fact Republicans manage to wrestle the gavel from Pelosi's grip:

All this proves, as as Ann Althouse notes, Palin has us in the palm of her hand.  No one is more fully planted in the palm of her hand than Andrew Sullivan:

Above all, she is capable of generating a personality cult - much, much more so than Obama, because she can harness Christianism to her divine destiny. The power of this kind of appeal - of a charismatic, beautiful woman, an icon of the pro-life cause, persecuted by the evil elites, demonized by libruls, and commanding the biggest military on earth - should not in my view be under-estimated.


Know fear.


The surest way to defeat the modern day Jeanne d'Arc is through her gynecological records, of course.  Andrew Sullivan's crib notes would therefore look something like this:

Andrew Breitbart on the Media

From Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit who is covering the Tea Party convention in Nashville. Andrew Breitbart really slams the MSM here and gets an ovation for his speech. Great stuff:

Dems Plan to Take Low Road to Certain Defeat in November

We should have seen this coming after the sorry defeat in Massachusetts.   Democrats blatantly claimed Coakley failed to negatively define Brown early on in the race; they won't make that mistake again.  CNN obtained a secret DSCC memo outlining the strategy for the midterm elections though the contents appear to be entirely predictable:

Given the pressure Republican candidates feel from the extreme right in their party, there is a critical - yet time-sensitive –opportunity for Democratic candidates," a DSCC memo, obtained by CNN, states. "We have a finite window when Republicans candidates will feel susceptible to the extremists in their party. Given the urgent nature of this dynamic, we suggest an aggressive effort to get your opponents on the record."

Specifically, the DSCC wants Democratic candidates to pin down their likely opponents on several hot-button issues, including:

- Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S.citizen?

- Do you think the Tenth Amendment bars Congress from issuing regulations like minimum healthcare coverage standards?

- Do you think programs like Social Security and Medicare represent socialism, and should never have been created in the first place?

- Do you think President Obama is a socialist?

- Do you think America should return to a gold standard?

This is straight out of a Chris Matthews MSNBC interview, I hope they didn't pay anyone big money to come up with this.

The NRSC has released its' own set of substantive questions such as "do you believe the $787 billion stimulus worked" and this little gem:

 Do you believe the Obama Administration was correct when they gave the Christmas Day bomber a lawyer and the right to remain silent before our intelligence professionals had the opportunity to question him about other potential attacks on the United States?

 I believe it was either Frank Luntz or another pollster who said this particular issue tested very very high even among Democrats in Massachusetts.  Brown emphasized this point in his victory speech last week and repeated it often on the campaign trail.  It might be more difficult for Democrats who complained for years about Guantanamo Bay to find a balance between their hard left base and main stream America who happen to believe terrorists shouldn't get the same rights as US citizens.  Democrats can squawk all they want about teabaggers and birthers, it isn't likely to fool the Independents who witnessed Democrats with complete control of the government.  They appear to have been unimpressed but a lot of  name calling ought to bring them around.

The Senator-Elect Speaks

I think I am still a bit stunned by the momentous results of last nights election. I was still taken back when I saw this video clip at Breitbart TV. It was a pinch-me moment, he actually won. Now the Senator-elect speaks:



Brown emphasizes what he learned as he listened to the people who he hoped would elect him and he promised he wouldn't forget what he heard:

I go to Washington as the representative of no faction or interest, answering only to my conscience and to the people. I've got a lot to learn in the Senate, but I know who I am and I know who I serve.

I'm Scott Brown, I'm from Wrentham, I drive a truck, and I am nobody's senator but yours.

Ed Morrissey wisely offers a word of caution as we celebrate this amazing election.  Brown must honor his commitment to serve the people who sent him to Washington.  We can't assume Massachusetts has suddenly become a bastion of conservatism and Brown is unlikely to vote as if it were.  I for one hope he does honor that commitment even as I know there will likely be times I disagree with his position.

We've witnessed the outrage of the voters who sent Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and a slew of supposed moderates and Blue Dogs in the House and Senate, hoping they would maintain their independence and truly vote according to the will of the people they represent.  The voters will have the opportunity soon enough to let them know how much they appreciate being ignored as their representatives fell in line to  give Obama something to brag about in a State of the Union speech.

Some on the left are chomping at the bit waiting for the "teabaggers" to turn on Brown.   The painful truth is the Tea Party support for Brown ruins their narrative the movement is nothing more than a group of hateful radical wingers who demand ideological purity in hopes of imposing a social agenda on an unwilling nation.  Look in the mirror much?

We knew with certainty there was no hope the supposed moderates on the left would  listen to the people who elected them.  I would prefer Brown not become that type of elected official.  If Brown proves to be a servant of his constituents he will do something few do these days, keep his promises.  His success in this regard will serve us well in November and do much to restore good faith to voters who have learned through experience they can't trust those who prefer to serve Washington instead of the people.