[Toshi]

Rolling Stone: Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party

Full of vitriol and loose in its writing, but full of gems such as the below as well as some valid (imo) insights on the movement and Rand Paul in particular.

A loose definition of the Tea Party might be millions of pissed-off white people sent chasing after Mexicans on Medicaid by the handful of banks and investment firms who advertise on Fox and CNBC.

[…] it isn't young intellectuals like Koch who will usher Paul into the U.S. Senate in the general election; it's those huge crowds of pissed-off old people who dig Sarah Palin and Fox News and call themselves Tea Partiers. And those people really don't pay attention to specifics too much. Like dogs, they listen to tone of voice and emotional attitude.

 

[Toshi]

Looking further into when this was posted, this might be a repost. My apologies if so.

 

[Toshi]

Good ending, too.

The world is changing all around the Tea Party. The country is becoming more black and more Hispanic by the day. The economy is becoming more and more complex, access to capital for ordinary individuals more and more remote, the ability to live simply and own a business without worrying about Chinese labor or the depreciating dollar vanished more or less for good. They want to pick up their ball and go home, but they can't; thus, the difficulties and the rancor with those of us who are resigned to life on this planet.

Of course, the fact that we're even sitting here two years after Bush talking about a GOP comeback is a profound testament to two things: One, the American voter's unmatched ability to forget what happened to him 10 seconds ago, and two, the Republican Party's incredible recuperative skill and bureaucratic ingenuity. This is a party that in 2008 was not just beaten but obliterated, with nearly every one of its recognizable leaders reduced to historical-footnote status and pinned with blame for some ghastly political catastrophe. There were literally no healthy bodies left on the bench, but the Republicans managed to get back in the game anyway by plucking an assortment of nativist freaks, village idiots and Internet Hitlers out of thin air and training them into a giant ball of incoherent resentment just in time for the 2010 midterms. They returned to prominence by outdoing Barack Obama at his own game: turning out masses of energized and disciplined supporters on the streets and overwhelming the ballot box with sheer enthusiasm.

The bad news is that the Tea Party's political outrage is being appropriated, with thanks, by the Goldmans and the BPs of the world. The good news, if you want to look at it that way, is that those interests mostly have us by the balls anyway, no matter who wins on Election Day. That's the reality; the rest of this is just noise. It's just that it's a lot of noise, and there's no telling when it's ever going to end.

 

[sanjuro]

Over lunch with my Teabagger boss, I was handicapping the various races, and everytime he would mentioned how Rangel steals, Obama's gone, Boxer's horrible.

I'm a registered Democrat but just because I have my loyalties, doesn't mean I can't see who is going to win or lose.

O'Donnell and Paladino are definite losers, while Rubio (who is more moderate but still right) is likely to win.

Angle is a possibility, not because of her character or platform but that people really hate Reid.

I have to look at Rand Paul race more closely.

But we should recognize that people around America are unhappy and figure out how to change that, not scream party loyalty and see if it works.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

overwhelming the ballot box with sheer enthusiasm.

That's what I do every morning.