Right Wing Nut House

4/15/2009

A TEA PARTY WALKBACK — OF SORTS

Filed under: PJ Media, Politics, Tea Parties, conservative reform — Rick Moran @ 7:30 am

C’mon, what’d you expect? A full fledged mea culpa complete with sackcloth, ashes, and my kneewalking to the shrine of  tea party activism?

Not hardly.

However, I was mostly wrong when I wrote this after the first round of tea parties in February:

I will say this as gently as my curmudgeonly soul will allow; not a chance. It is delusional to believe that these tea parties are the beginning of anything except a round of raucous Bronx cheers from the left, calling conservatives out for their inexplicable, over the top reaction and unrealistic expectations for these 40 or so tea parties that went off today.

If this really was the beginnings of something profound that was tapping into the rage of the American people, there would have been not 300 but 30,000 people screaming their opposition to spendthrift Obama. People would have taken off from their jobs, bundled up against the cold, walked, rode, took the bus, or crawled their way to a protest if they were truly fed up and ready to throw the Democratic rascals out.

Instead, we get 40 events that remind me of the old Mickey Rooney Andy Hardy movies where he and Judy Garland would put on a show to save someone’s business or house. “Hey kids! Let’s put on a show!” was Rooney’s battle cry in those movies and it is an apropos slogan for the effort that went into promoting these tea parties.

When you get some money, organization, professionalism, and a little more realism, come back and see me.

Well, there still isn’t much organization and little professionalism, but it turns out that I was the one lacking realism. I failed to grasp the excitement this idea generated and how it would animate the grass roots to actually get out of their chairs and do something about the creeping statism and generational theft being perpetrated by the Obama Administration. I also failed to give any credit to the thousands of ordinary citizens who, without any help from an organized political structure and with little or no money, managed to organize around 800 of these tea parties, and make a virtue out of their inexperience by being imaginative and working hard. In the end, results count. Today will see uneven results from venue to venue but overall, will no doubt be judged a success - if not by the media then by the movement itself.

(Note to our lefty friends: By the time Fox News got around to mentioning the tea parties, more than 500 had been announced. To believe that FNC is “behind” the tea parties is delusional. Any publicity they give is, I’m sure, appreciated by the organizers. But what does it say about the “reality based community” when they so easily slough off reality in favor of paranoia and fantasy?)

But my concern in February, as it is now, is that the rhetoric about what the tea parties will accomplish will not match the reality of what actually occurs. Exaggerated claims of “revolution” as appear on the PJTV site are not only unrealistic but defeat the purpose of the movement by scaring otherwise sympathetic people off. Most Americans probably do not want “revolution” nor are they necessarily in tune with the goals of the tea party - not when 71% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy. The best that can be said is the that success of the tea parties show that many Americans are uneasy about this administration’s actions in spending our way to oblivion and that higher taxes for everybody are a dead certainty as a result.

It is amusing to watch many on the left pretend that they don’t know what the tea parties are all about - or posit wildly off base reasons for the protests that they know full well to be false. For a bunch that prides themselves on being smarter than the rest of us goober chewin’, bible thumpin’, gun totin’, cousin marryin’ rubes out here in flyover country, they sure are awful at pretending.

But for many liberals, if at first you don’t succeed in belittling the effort, why not simply make sh*t up about how the whole thing is a manufactured mirage, funded by lobbyists, and peopled by fakes:

This was easy for for Brian Beutler over at TPMDC:

That all changed on February 19, when CNBC commentator Rick Santelli erupted in anger on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, and proposed a “Chicago Tea Party” for traders to protest the government’s plan to provide mortgage assistance to distressed homeowners.

The idea took hold and on February 27, a handful of cities across the country hosted gatherings that involved genuine tea (or at least the use of the word “tea”). One of those tea parties occurred from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. on Friday February 27, in Tampa, FL, organized according to the website Tampa Bay Online, by “John Hendricks, a Tampa-based consultant.”

John Hendricks turns out to be John Hendrix, who by phone earlier today described the events as completely spontaneous. “These are independent groups, not coordinated,” he says, “and most of the people, including myself, have never done anything like this.” He even said that two distinct groups in Tampa emerged simultaneously–both called the “Tampa Tea Party,” each unbeknown to the other.

I asked him where the idea came from. “Tom Gaithens,” Hendrix said. “He’s with FreedomWorks.”

“Oh really?”

“He sent an email out with his network of contacts to see who could help.”

Evil corporate lobbyists are hiding behind concerned citizens, pumping money and expertise into the protests in a classic case of astroturfing. I’m sure out of the 800+ protests planned for today, the overwhelming majority of organizers are asking, “So where’s the dough?” And all those conservative “plants” who have been hired as cut outs will no doubt ask the same question.

A little reality from Marc Ambinder:

Here is the organizational landscape of the April 15 tea party movement, in a nutshell: three national-level conservative groups, all with slightly different agendas, are guiding it. All are quick to tell you that the movement is a bottom-up affair and that its grassroots cred is real.

They are: FreedomWorks, the conservative action group led by Dick Armey; dontGO, a tech savvy free-market action group that sprung out of last August’s oil-drilling debate in the House of Representatives; and Americans for Prosperity, an issue advocacy/activist group based on free market principles. Conservative bloggers, talk show hosts, and other media figures have attached themselves to the movement in peripheral capacities. Armey will appear at a major rally in Atlanta, FreedomWorks said.

All three groups vehemently deny that the movement is a product of AstroTurfing–fake grassroots activism organized from the top down–as some on the left have claimed. They will tell you that citizens-turned-activists, upset with President Obama’s economic agenda and the financial bailout, have been calling them, asking for help and how they can organize protests on Wednesday. The movement, they say, is entirely organic: they are mostly providing help and resources to this new class of outraged conservative free-market populists, some of whom are their own members and some of whom are outsiders to politics with whom they’ve never communicated before–not even on an e-mail list.

It is arguable how many of these tea parties actually received help from any one of the three conservative groups. And I can guarantee if this was a “top down” organizational effort, you wouldn’t have the probable wildly different turnouts in various parts of the country as you will have today. Some events will no doubt see participants in the thousands. Others, in the hundreds. Still others will see a couple of families on a busy street corner with homemade signs like “Honk if you hate socialism!” If it really was as organized as many on the left claim, it would be a different story.

And you always know when the left gets stymied by something when the race card is dusted off and taken lovingly off the shelf:

Were you wondering what happened to all the rabid, wild-eyed bigots yelling, “Kill him!” and “Terrorist” and “Socialist” carrying stuffed monkey plush dolls at the McCain-Palin rallies? It’s easy in our jubilation over Obama’s victory to forget the many people in America who were deeply fearful and hate-oriented towards an Obama presidency. Those people didn’t just shrug their shoulders at the Democratic victory in Nov 2008. No, they’ve re-organized. Largely abandoned by the Republican party who tapped cynically into their ignorance, fear and hatred and whipped these folks into a racist lather as a Get Out The Vote strategy, the Tax Day Tea Party people have used the internet to find each other and organize.

[snip]

I’ve been parsing the words and the racists have been very careful to cover their tracks and fury that a black man is President. But not well enough. I’m starting to become pretty convinced at this point that “socialist” is a some kind of code word for “nigger”. Here’s an example of some of the subtle language the Tea Party people are using to describe their own movement (emphasis mine) from the Michelle Malkin blog, a central hive for the poorly informed, wild-eyed, bigoted, Fox News/wingnut blog-driven lynch, ahem I mean Tea Partiers:

I love it when liberals use the word “nigger.” They get such a thrill from it, showing how “authentic” they are and all. The fact that they have done more to contribute to the virtual slavery of African Americans by making the impoverished among them so generationally dependent on government for survival, the dripping irony of showing “solidarity with the oppressed” escapes them.

But leaving what liberals think of the tea parties behind - as well the organizers should - there is a burning question that needs answering when the last protestor leaves the venue and heads home.

Nedryun at Next Right:

But I have one concern: We show up; we protest; we go home. But what comes next?    There are events in history that impact the direction a nation takes. This could be one of those moments. I know the organizers of the National Tax Day Tea Party have begun to think about it, and I am convinced that if done right, this could be the MoveOn.org moment for the conservative movement. Think about it: MoveOn.org began as a simple petition and email list, wanting people and leaders to move on from the Bill Clinton impeachment. Consider what it is today.   To help keep the momentum of the Tea Party Revolution going, American Majority has developed an After the Tea Party plan. My challenge to those attending the Tea Parties is this: we’re showing up to protest on behalf of freedom and limited government. But that should just be the beginning. We need to take it a step further if we want to see true freedom and limited government here in America. We need implementers of freedom and limited government. If people are really fed-up with the current elected leadership of this country, then they should think about becoming the next generation of leadership. We need people to channel their passion into part of a long-term approach, and run for local office (or become more effective activists). What if we have 1,000,000 people show up on the 15th? What if 5% take up this challenge to run for state and local office on free market, limited government principles? It would be the beginning of something very, very good for this country.   That’s what After the Tea Party is about. We want people to go to www.aftertheteaparty.com and sign up. American Majority will then train those who sign up to run for office or to become a more effective activist.   I’m posting this so I can help get the word out about After the Tea Party.

Ned recommends several common sense steps that can be taken in the aftermath of the tea parties that seem to me to be eminently reasonable and doable. I am going to sign up and I would hope everyone who attends a tea party does also.

Last night on my radio show, I asked the same question - what next? - to my guests Ed Lasky and Rich Baehr of The American Thinker. Will some conservative politician try and “adopt” the tea party movement and would that be a good thing? We all agreed that some kind of leadership is necessary but that the movement should strive to maintain its independence. Clearly, there must be some kind of clearinghouse for information and ideas as well as coordination with other organizers for future events. But beyond that, perhaps I was wrong when mocking the movement as little more than aping the plot of the old Andy Hardy movies where Mickey Rooney, in order to solve a finanical problem for a friend, would snap is fingers and cry out, “Hey Kids! Let’s put on a show!”

Perhaps that is a large part of the movement’s charm - and potential effectiveness. And I guess I was stupid not to see it.

UPDATE:

See also Pat Ruffini’s “The Rise of the Right’s New Distributed Online Activism” that details the significance of the tea party movement to what Pat and others have been trying to accomplish on the net.

26 Comments

  1. The Tea Party protest is a classic case of rich people buying stupid people in order to manufacture a movement that will only benefit themselves. It’s disorganized simply because they haven’t needed to do it in a while and they’re a bit rusty.

    Comment by Chuck Tucson — 4/15/2009 @ 10:54 am

  2. I’m not rich, and I’m not stupid, and even if I were (stupid), no rich person “bought” me. I’m supporting the tea parties for the simple reason that a grassroots movement will pressure our local pols to oppose the mortgaging of our country and our future (one thing is certain- they all want to stay in their power-club). How that benefits only the rich is lost on me.

    Regardless of your political affiliation, you should be a supporter too, Chuck.

    Comment by lionheart — 4/15/2009 @ 11:22 am

  3. Regardless of your political affiliation, you should be a supporter too, Chuck.

    Yeah, I was a supporter 8 years ago when it might have made a difference. Where the hell were any of you?

    Comment by Chuck Tucson — 4/15/2009 @ 11:40 am

  4. Chuck,

    Can’t you find some “positive” way to channel your anger? Just what is your definition of “rich”, and who are the “stupid” people? Bitterness and apathy are most unattractive qualities in a man.

    Comment by Ad rem — 4/15/2009 @ 12:05 pm

  5. Chuck,

    You sound like one of the perennially pissed-off people for the last 8 years because Al Gore’s Florida gambit didn’t pan out like he thought it would. Florida would have been a “don’t care” state if Al Gore could have carried his own state.

    BTW Chuck, I’m a registered Democrat and what is being perpetrated on my children and grandchildren by the current occupants of the WH and Congress is simply criminal. They should all be thrown out on the asses.

    Comment by Dale in NJ — 4/15/2009 @ 12:13 pm

  6. These are “AstroTurf” events? AstroTurf means that they are corporate or political events made to look as if they are grassroots. The Fox News network has claimed ownership to the Tea Parties calling them” FNC Tea Parties.”

    These are a bunch of rich people protesting to keep their “Billions” , not to mention they are friends and relatives of those bankers, corporations (AIG) and Wall street executives who are using this as a way to cause confusion. Think everyone, why would any middle class or poor person protest rich people paying higher taxes PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

    Bush took a surplus and turned it into a deficit by SPENDING and now that we have to overcome a recession they want spending to stop? Repulse-licans will do anything to shift the blame from their party. Rash Limpball will bring this country to civil war if the weak minded people keep listening to him. Most of them are in no better financial state than anyone else but they just can’t stand the idea of helping people who can’t help themselves. The Repulse-licans have NO solutions to our problems so they contribute to them by throwing tea bags in the river and on the White house lawn IDIOTS. I guess it’s typical of them b/c they don’t care about our environment either so they pollute our waters and our land hmmmmmm!!?

    Comment by Smart1 — 4/15/2009 @ 12:33 pm

  7. Can’t you find some “positive” way to channel your anger? Just what is your definition of “rich”, and who are the “stupid” people? Bitterness and apathy are most unattractive qualities in a man.

    I wouldn’t be bitter and apathetic if real conservatism hadnt died a horrible death and taken the country with it during the past administration. By all accounts, we should be living in a goddamned conservative utopia right now, but NO, republicans failed spectacularly, and in the end that failure lead the the current nightmare with Obama.

    So yeah, I’m bitter. You guys had the entire country, every last bit of power needed, and THIS is the result. Obama is the result. And I’m supposed to rally my support for this idiotic Tea Party nonsense that started 8 years too late? I don’t care anymore if the people who failed so pathetically get taxed more. Let’s call it the “you failed America” tax, and be done with it. Because that’s what happened.

    And NOW you’re trying to fix it? Now all of a sudden you’re in a hurry? Watching you guys try to protest, when all you know how to do is mock protesters and laugh when the cops beat up the hippies is a complete joke. It’s the people who put you into this position in the first place laughing all the way to the bank, again.

    Comment by Chuck Tucson — 4/15/2009 @ 12:52 pm

  8. Let’s cut the bloated military budget.
    This year’s Pentagon budget runs about 500 billion dollars…that’s 20 times more than the entire military budget of China…a growing rival power with 3 times the population of the US.
    Just the Pentagon’s cost overruns and waste would be enough to finance China’s entire military budget.

    Comment by Norris Hall — 4/15/2009 @ 1:21 pm

  9. Hey Chuck, ya frickin’ whiner, there’s no quiting when it comes to keeping America free! Find your pair you lost on the way and stand up to this tyranny. I agree they failed in the past, but its no time to quit! You wanna lay down and cry, go ahead, I’m gonna do something about it.

    Comment by Terrible Ted — 4/15/2009 @ 1:36 pm

  10. You certainly aren’t stupid, Rick. You probably got so jaded by the staged and phony protests bought for and paid by George Soros during the Bush years that the real thing seemed phony. I will admit that I laughed at Professor Reynolds’ line that you probably would decry the protests as “inauthentic,” but you have proved him wrong.

    Comment by jackson1234 — 4/15/2009 @ 1:38 pm

  11. My, my, Mr. Smart1 Said:

    First, conservatives are not weak-minded nor the mind-numbed robots many left bloggers blather about. In fact, conservatives had to reject all the in-your-face reporting found on the Big 3 for years and their local newspapers and national news magazines. Conservatives had to search and find news reporting that echoed their own sentiments. The brain-washing is definitely on the left, and the left-wing politicians know how to spin the propaganda. You, sir, are a brainwash victim.

    No, the tea party protests are not sponsored by big right-wing groups. In fact, the first protest that I’m aware of began here in Seattle in February. I listened to Kirby Wilbur (570KVI) in the morning, getting ready for work, the morning a young mother called in upset about the passing of the Stimulus package without our elected officials reading it. She felt she needed to learn to become an activist. For more on this go to MichelleMalkin.com. This was long before FNC started reporting on the rising protests.

    Next, the bank bailouts, etc. were caused by events that occurred in the Clinton administration and overseen in the Bush Administration by Democrats. There is enough blame to go around both parties. Google “September 30, 1999″ “new york times”. This reporter actually predicted the TARP bailouts after the Clinton Administration continued to put pressure on FMAE and FMAC to lend to individuals that have not proven themselves credit worthy. This was a full year-and-a-half before Bush took office. And so the snowball rolls downhill.

    Then, inheriting a $450B deficit does not preclude a $9T spending package! Voters from both parties are angry about this logic. Conservatives are cleaning house. We are wanting to get rid of liberals masquerading as Republicans, having done so because it was the best way to get elected. We are wanting to appeal to moderates that have found themselves voting Democrat when their fiscal ideology more closely fits the conservative movement–less government, more personal responsibility. And by the way, I work daily with medicaid and medicare individuals. Of the medicaid group, nearly 80% dress better than I do and I make good money. The other 20% truly need our help. So, how did the 80% get on welfare? They lied. And many of the ones that told the truth didn’t qualify for benefits at all. Solution? Clean up government.

    And finally, your arrogance bleeds between your words. You are so proud of your intelligence that you fail to recognize your lack of common sense. Most of us on the right recognize the sound-bites that the leftists spew. Next time, Smart1, do your research before you open your trap. Verify the stories that you’ve been fed!

    Comment by Susan in Seattle — 4/15/2009 @ 2:00 pm

  12. I agree with every word, Rick. That’s got to be a first for me.

    I walked through the San Francisco TP at lunch. Many have said this but I think there will be a problem coalescing around a single or couple ideas. Now I don’t like the huge spending increases O intends to implement but I respect the democratic process, if not the party. But if he (meaning we) pay for them I have no major quibble. It’s the kicking the can to the next generation which made me take that walk and check it out.

    But I bet in the crowd of 300-400 or so few think like me? So in the few minutes I was there I saw signs I fully agreed with, signs I kinda agreed with, and signs I didn’t agree with at all. There was also an anti-Pelosi chant - I’m no fan of San Fran Nan but we just had an election and my side lost. So I wasn’t into that either. So that’s probably my last showing at one of these things. I could probably live with many of the different agendas but I just can’t choke down the lack of respect of the democratic process. Yeah, the Dems did it (and pushed it to eleventy) but that’s a big part of why I despise the Dems now. One party has to keep sane so the adults have someone to vote for.

    Comment by EBJ — 4/15/2009 @ 3:14 pm

  13. I can’t believe all the tax revolt parties going on today. people really are making their voices heard, I just saw a ton of pictures from parties and ralleys going on nationwide here:

    http://tinyurl.com/taxrevoltpics

    pretty interesting! wow some crazy images

    Comment by Kerri Nash — 4/15/2009 @ 3:48 pm

  14. Its not FOX news, its not conservative radicals, it not just Republicans its—-Taxes, Taxes and more Taxes. Do you think you pay enough, do you think you pay too much, do you think you pay too little, or do you think at all. Unfortunately, many Americans fall into the last catagory. They don’t think, they don’t care, or they don’t think they can make a difference. The Tea Parties may, just may be a spark that ignites a great fire-storm, on that we’ll have to wait and see. At least some took the time, took the effort, and took a stand for what they believe in. And that by any view is good and the way it should be… Napoleon said, “ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent”. That says it all.

    Comment by Ron Russell — 4/15/2009 @ 6:19 pm

  15. “Yeah, I was a supporter 8 years ago when it might have made a difference. Where the hell were any of you?”

    Well Chuck, if you want to play that game. I was a supporter in 1992 when it REALLY would have made a difference.

    Where the hell were you, voting for Clinton?

    Good post, Moran. Don’t be so hard on yourself about your original judgment of the Tea Parties. You were just a kid back then. No mea culpa to the BlogFather required.

    Comment by Mike — 4/15/2009 @ 6:30 pm

  16. Tea Parties, some very concerned people, a lot of Anti-Obama people looking for an excuse to bash him. Yet 71% of Americans support Obama’s economic policies. Didn’t see any minorities at those rallies, coincidence? Lets see if polling shows any big shift in people’s party preference. I say no. Obama will cruise in 2012 and the rightwing nuts will have another 4 years to cry.

    Comment by Joe — 4/15/2009 @ 7:20 pm

  17. Well, thank God you jumped on board the Taxtanic at the last minute, Rick. Did you get an iceberg-side state room? Have you made your lifeboat reservation? Word to the wise: stay away from DiCaprio, he doesn’t do so well.

    I’m not laughing at you, not really. For about a week in the 70’s I had a perm. I figure it’s like that. Sure you’ll be embarrassed later, but hey, it’s all in good fun.

    Comment by michael reynolds — 4/15/2009 @ 8:22 pm

  18. retire05:
    “you just saw conservatism alive and healthy in hundreds of cities all across the nation today.”
    God, I hope conservatism is more than that.
    I saw protesters (good for them), I saw cosplayers (good for them), I saw Obamahaters (good for them). I heard demands to repeal all taxes (with no explanation about how the government was supposed to pay the bills), demands to repeal Democratic-encouraged taxes (a silly distinction . . . but okay), demands for the bailouts to stop (a fair position), and demands for incumbents of both parties to get loaded into a cannon and shot to the moon (you have my full support).
    But mostly, I saw random Anti-Obama and Anti-Democrat hatred. The birthers, the facistfighters, the God-and-Man faithful, the Red Menace Watchful, and the pure wingnuttia.
    All the legitimate good discourse that might have come from the rallies got hidden behind the whackadoodles and their signs IMHO.

    I still don’t get the Tea Party symbolism. Dumping tea into rivers . . . why? If the protest was against taxes, why not refuse to pay them, like the draftcard-burners? In the Colonies, dumping the tea made perfect sense. Now, I just don’t get it.

    Comment by busboy33 — 4/15/2009 @ 10:14 pm

  19. Sorry. You laid a MAJOR egg on this one. It makes you little better than a Soros lover at this point. I mean, what were you thinking attacking YOUR OWN SIDE like this??

    All you morons that attacked the grass roots tea party movement are missing the SINGLE biggest reason they are good. They get conservatives’ passion up and get people involved. THAT is the main reason this was a success.

    The left has the idea of “join” well in hand. We do not. We have millions of people separate from all others — yet all think they have that legitimate reason to sit around carping. We have sites like this that are so concerned to stay all by itself and refuse to support anyone else whole the left organizes and gets things done. Conservatives need to learn to do “join” better. Power in numbers and all.

    It enrages me that sites like this one claims to be all concerned over politics and the state of the nation, but then when some movement is struggling to be born, a site like THIS ravages it before it even has a chance to do anything.

    Sorry, Rick, but with “supporters” like you, who needs enemies???

    I generally dismiss people who can’t take “yes” for an answer because they’re usually brainless lefties. Surprised to see one from the right.

    ed.

    Comment by Warner Todd Huston — 4/15/2009 @ 10:36 pm

  20. busboy33,

    If the protest was against taxes, why not refuse to pay them, like the draftcard-burners? In the Colonies, dumping the tea made perfect sense. Now, I just don’t get it.

    Refusing to pay them would constitute a real protest. Not this johnny-come-lately wussified nonsense. Nothing like the current joke. Watching them grovel at the feet of the very people who destroyed the system in the first place is embarrassing. Again, where were these protest eight years ago when they might have actually amounted to something? Like it or not retire05, you are the reason we have Obama right now. You only have yourselves to blame.

    Comment by Chuck Tucson — 4/15/2009 @ 11:10 pm

  21. I suppose we’ll be eating cake, Nancy?

    Comment by Foxwood — 4/16/2009 @ 5:24 am

  22. Susan Roesgen: Angry CNN Reporter Calls Tea Party Protesters Anti-Government and Anti-CNN…

    Susan Roesgen is a CNN reporter who was sent to cover the Tax Day Tea Party in Chicago yesterday. She appeared quite angry about the whole thing. The previously little known reporter certainly made a name for herself by her confrontational and barely (…

    Trackback by Blue Star Chronicles — 4/16/2009 @ 9:12 am

  23. [...] when is a contrived mea culpa nothing more than a passive-aggresssive attempt to prove oneself correct and insightful in the long term? Well, there still isn’t much organization and little professionalism, but it turns out that I was [...]

    Pingback by pragmatism and heart-ache! — 4/16/2009 @ 8:07 pm

  24. [...] 400’s and the lower at 300k. This is not a bad showing, not bad at all, and has at least one scoffers eating a little [...]

    Pingback by The Tea Party Attendance Count | Christopher Howell — 4/16/2009 @ 9:40 pm

  25. A lot of concern trolls in here.

    Chuck, what happened in 2000 that was any different from what happened in 1996, 1992 and 1988? The only thing that I can think of in 2000 and spilling into 2001 was the attempt to steal an election. I for one was quite vocal and have remained vocal on the subject. I hope I convinced some people of the need for a clean election process. While I think fraud delivered some senate and house seats to the Democrats, Obama probably would have won even without fraud as most of the bogus votes came in states he would have won anyway.

    To all the legit commenters thanks. As for you concern trolls, the only people you fool are each other and you’re idiots anyways.

    As my nick implies I don’t exactly inhabit the upper socio-economic strata. I’ve always received tax cuts that were for the “rich” and always been affected by tax increases targeted at the “rich”. My conclusion is that “rich” in a tax context means ME.

    I’ve not been insulated from those who “cant help themselves”. My observation is that not one in ten is in any need of assistance, “Cant” is far more often than not really a matter of wont.

    Comment by SporkLift Driver — 4/19/2009 @ 12:49 pm

  26. “…71% of Americans approve of Obama’s handling of the economy…”

    Put up or shut up. Prove it. Where did you get that stat? CNN? Everyone I know hates his handling of the economy except for the Left-wing nutters who are so in the bag for their Messiah they are deranged.

    The Taxed Enough Already protests were grass roots. You guys are so jaded and used the the DNC’s astroturfing you wouldn’t know genuine if it bit you.

    Comment by Robohobo — 4/19/2009 @ 11:03 pm

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