I went to a Tea Party rally today.

[ChumpDumper]

I have squashed that lie in the past. I need not again.

Sorry -- they, and you, just didn't care back then because your side was in control.

[RandomGuy]

Like most ultra progressive cities, there aren't many non-white people in Portland.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/...the-white-city

The county/parish in the OP was 34% black, yet out of the 50 or so people there, there were no black people at all.

One of the very explicit points I made in the OP was that they were complaining that "nobody represented them" and spent a lot of energy/time saying that their representatives needed to listen to them, but never really acknowledged the fact that a good chunk of America (ok more than half) might disagree with them. "Everybody in Washington needs to pay attention to and act on our views, we don't really care about what anybody else who might disagree thinks or if they should have someone representing their views."

This country is made up of a lot of people who disagree with the Tea Party platform.

Don't they count when it comes to deciding poliy?

[RandomGuy]

I have squashed that lie in the past. I need not again.

Were there, or were there not Tea Party rallies during the Bush era budget deficits?

Yes or no?

[ChumpDumper]

Were there, or were there not Tea Party rallies during the Bush era budget deficits?

Yes or no?

That was different, man. We had an American citizen as president back then.

[DarrinS]

Were there, or were there not Tea Party rallies during the Bush era budget deficits?

Yes or no?

Had they been nearly as high, there probably would have been.

[ChumpDumper]

Had they been nearly as high, there probably would have been.

So you were fine with merely enormous deficit spending during a time of economic expansion, but not larger deficit spending during a deep recession.

[DarrinS]

So you were fine with merely enormous deficit spending during a time of economic expansion, but not larger deficit spending during a deep recession.

If people weren't fine with Bush' enormous spending, why would they be fine with quadrupling it?

[ChumpDumper]

If people weren't fine with Bush' enormous spending, why would they be fine with quadrupling it?

It's the right time to spend.

Later it won't be, just as it was the wrong time during the Bush years.

[Wild Cobra]

In other words no one said anything

If Clinton had a surplus, the debt would have decreases.

Just that simple.

[word]

Being stuck, for the moment, in rural Louisiana, I noted signs proclaiming a Tea Party rally at the small town square.

Parking my car with its rather obvious "Obama '08" bumper sticker a couple of blocks away, I hoofed it to the meeting in time to hear the first of three speakers, plus a couple of songs about Jesus sung by a nice tween girl.

It was about what I expected.

Pretty much all white, in a county that is 34% black, with a lone hispanic gal at the end, who tried to hold a quiz-show with the audience using some really badly worded questions and whose prize was a 2 hour DVD explaining all about "creation science".

The speeches were all rather general, filled with logical inconsistencies, a couple of factual errors, and regurgitated propaganda, heard somewhere else.

The main thrust of the thing seemed to be "the goverment is telling you not to believe in God", which I found rather odd. No specific examples were given to support this theory.

There was gentleman with a sign saying "remove Obama". I didn't ask him how this would be brought about within the bounds of the Cons ution.

A local radio host of a Christian talk show got up and said that "we were paying too much in taxes". I resisted the urge to point out that about 50% of Americans don't pay income taxes, nor that the total % of GDP that went to the Federal Government in income taxes both corporate and individual was only about 20%.

I asked him after he was done speaking what that % was, but he didn't know the answer, which dovetails rather well with other informal polls done at such gatherings.

All in all, I was not really all that impressed with the overall level of rationality.

"goverment bad, bla bla bla, taxes bad, bla bla bla, we're a christian nation, bla bla bla.

They spent a lot of time talking about how politicians should listen to them because of their views, but didn't mention how those politicians should deal with anybody who might not agree with them.

All emotion and ignorance, with a smattering of self-righteousness, and intolerance for dissenting views.

I feel icky.

Call it even.

[btimsah]

Being stuck, for the moment, in rural Louisiana, I noted signs proclaiming a Tea Party rally at the small town square.

Parking my car with its rather obvious "Obama '08" bumper sticker a couple of blocks away, I hoofed it to the meeting in time to hear the first of three speakers, plus a couple of songs about Jesus sung by a nice tween girl.

It was about what I expected.

Pretty much all white, in a county that is 34% black, with a lone hispanic gal at the end, who tried to hold a quiz-show with the audience using some really badly worded questions and whose prize was a 2 hour DVD explaining all about "creation science".

The speeches were all rather general, filled with logical inconsistencies, a couple of factual errors, and regurgitated propaganda, heard somewhere else.

The main thrust of the thing seemed to be "the goverment is telling you not to believe in God", which I found rather odd. No specific examples were given to support this theory.

There was gentleman with a sign saying "remove Obama". I didn't ask him how this would be brought about within the bounds of the Cons ution.

A local radio host of a Christian talk show got up and said that "we were paying too much in taxes". I resisted the urge to point out that about 50% of Americans don't pay income taxes, nor that the total % of GDP that went to the Federal Government in income taxes both corporate and individual was only about 20%.

I asked him after he was done speaking what that % was, but he didn't know the answer, which dovetails rather well with other informal polls done at such gatherings.

All in all, I was not really all that impressed with the overall level of rationality.

"goverment bad, bla bla bla, taxes bad, bla bla bla, we're a christian nation, bla bla bla.

They spent a lot of time talking about how politicians should listen to them because of their views, but didn't mention how those politicians should deal with anybody who might not agree with them.

All emotion and ignorance, with a smattering of self-righteousness, and intolerance for dissenting views.

I feel icky.

I'm a Tea Partier kinda person so I thought I'd explain to you why I like the potential for the Tea Party.

It's become cliche' to say that, "Washington spending is out of control". You hear it almost everyday. I'm very Libertarian. I believe in a small, limited government that follows the cons ution, defends civil liberties, provides for defense and sound money. Anything more than that then it risks becoming tyrannical, bloated and usually resorts to destroying money.

Often times progressives will suggest that I'm an anarchist and that I hate the Federal Government. At least they understand the danger of anarchy. But I've rarely understood how progressives can fail to realize that it's their deficit spending which threatens our Federal Government more than anything else. So the truth is - if the Tea Party wants the Federal Government to destroy itself then they'd be best advised to just shut up and let the two party's continue spending itself into insolvency. Both the welfare and warfare state do this and both parties are responsible. We must share in the fail.

The fiscal restraint that the Tea Party are demanding is the one thing that would save a progressives precious "big government", even though it'd have to be smaller. It's rather obvious this has not been thought out. Democrats, so happy they finally have control have completely ignored any idea of fiscal discipline. They don't care about spending. Because hey, the Republicans can spend on their wars (which Democrats vote for and support as well) so why can't we!? And BOTH SIDES RARELY RAISES TAXES. It's like they live in a fantasy land.

They're like children. The Tea Party movement, however, is an oddball? collection of Democrats and Republicans who realize that the welfare and warfare state cannot continue like this and that if we TRULY love our country. Would it not be prudent to take the steps today to save it from the debt of tomorrow? We need a candidate who will..

• Bring our troops home from around the world.
• Wind down our welfare state.
• Restore our country to a sound monetary policy.

The very cool thing is that once you end the welfare and warfare state's, the "immigration issue" is no longer an issue at all.

[btimsah]

We have to stop hating each other. That's how the mainstream machine keeps in power.

[RandomGuy]

Had they been nearly as high, there probably would have been.

That may very well be the best, most logical point you have ever made here.

Touche.

[RandomGuy]

Interesting to return to this, in light of the post apocalyptic world that this movement spawned.

They never did get to remove Obama.

[baseline bum]

Interesting to return to this, in light of the post apocalyptic world that this movement spawned.

They never did get to remove Obama.

They were still wildly successful turning Washington DC into complete gridlock.

[DarrinS]

Damn. ChumpDumper hasn't posted since 3/25/2016

[spurraider21]

Damn. ChumpDumper hasn't posted since 3/25/2016

pulse nightclub shooting was in june 2016... rip

[Will Hunting]

They were still wildly successful turning Washington DC into complete gridlock.

Yup, they were somehow able to swing this country further to the right in spite of a Democratic president winning in a landslide.

[boutons_deux]

Yup, they were somehow able to swing this country further to the right in spite of a Democratic president winning in a landslide.

VRWC and their Repug and Christian Taliban s have been swinging the country right for 40+ years.

USA is unstoppably degrading, by strategy not accident, into an authoritarian oligarchy.

[baseline bum]

VRWC and their Repug and Christian Taliban s have been swinging the country right for 40+ years.

USA is unstoppably degrading, by strategy not accident, into an authoritarian oligarchy.

Degrading? It's there.

[boutons_deux]

Degrading? It's there.

yep, and it's getting a lot worse in the next few years under autocrat criminal Trash and the Repugs. unstoppable.

[RandomGuy]

Had they been nearly as high, there probably would have been.

wow, that post didn't age well.

Deficits don't matter to conservatives anymore, as long as they are driven by give-aways to the hyperwealthy.

[Spurtacular]

It was about what I expected.

Pretty much all white, in a county that is 34% black

You expected blacks to not be civic minded.

[RandomGuy]

You expected blacks to not be civic minded.

I expected Tea Party conservatives to be mildly racist. They didn't disappoint.

They have gotten more racist, or at least more openly so, since then.

[boutons_deux]

More stupid from Repugs

Kevin McCarthy claims a GOP House would get the national debt 'taken care of.' The 2017 tax law suggests otherwise.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/86458...ests-otherwise