On April 15, a series of protests were held across the country against President Obama's budget measures and economic recovery policies. More specifically, these protests were regionally organized, thematic demonstrations modeled - loosely, at best - on the Boston Tea Party predating the American Revolution.
In 1773, colonials in Massachusetts were angered by the British Parliament's Tea Act. Among other things, they viewed it as an affront to their constitutional right to only be taxed by their elected representatives. They protested the Tea Act by taking three shiploads of tea that Boston's Royal Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to return to Britain and dumping them into Boston Harbor.
The various tea-themed activities during the protests of this past April were largely symbolic, a misread historical metaphor used as a shared rallying point. Most of the actual protesting was done via speech and sign and other normal demonstration fare rather than through the destruction of actual tea.
This year's Tea Party-Goers had two advantages that the colonists lacked in organizing their protests: online organizing and Fox News. How much each contributed to attendance at the day's events is a matter for debate.
Speaking of Honorary Texans (as they are right now on the Big Orange)...our most recent honoree, Mr. Sean Hannity, is proof positive that good solid hypocrisy can only improve Glenn Beck's chances for getting this award:
Yesterday I posted a video clip of a former physician/death decider for Humana and Blue Cross/Blue Shield who had testified at a Congressional hearing in 1996. Dr. Peeno admitted that she had made decisions in favor of the profit margins that resulted in the deaths of patients.
Thirteen years later, after the Republicans and health care lobbyists devastated all hopes and efforts at any kind of healthcare reform, the death panels remain in full force today. I suppose this is the reason Sarah Palin suddenly ratcheted down her rhetoric about them. Someone in the GOP likely reminded Ms. Clueless that um, er, silly, silly woman, the insurance companies are knowingly killing off patients. Don't bring attention to it for crying out loud!
Poor, poor short-sighted, seriously uninformed Sarah. That woman does not know when to quit. This time she let the real death panel genie out of its hole in hell.
It was so very naive and silly of me to suggest that the GOP should step up and take responsibility, as any adult would do, by calling a halt to the brown shirt shout downs at town hall meetings on healthcare reform.
Silly, silly me. That won't happen. Never. Ever. Even if hell freezes over and the entire country is in the throes of death, the answer remains to be no, never, in your dreams, not even if hell freezes over.
Despite GOP cries for freedom, its flag waving, its prominence of lapel wearing flag pins, its highly orchestrated scenarios of patriotism and noble words about freedom, the GOP's behavior has nothing to do with any of the principles mentioned above.
Actions speak louder than words. Shouting down and shutting out the questions and opinions that fellow Americans want to ask and share with their elected representative is:
anti-democratic,
anti-patriotic and
anti-American.
When political rhetoric goes over the top, inaction by a party's leadership is the same as blind acquiescence.
According to former right wing Republican and evangelical Christian leader, Frank Schaeffer, the GOP, its conservative pundits and the self-serving corporate sharks in the healthcare industry know no bounds in pulling off what is best for them.
For right wing Republicans, conservative pundits, the corporate sharks and their now enabled fruit loop nut jobs, it is a fight to the death.
Death threats. Nazi signs. Hanging a Congressman in effigy. Welcome to the Tea Party.
It's no secret -- Republicans want health care to fail. Across the country, Republican leaders are encouraging their supporters to be afraid and be angry. Texas Senator John Cornyn straight-out said as much in The Hill:
"Fear, I would say, precedes anger, and I think there are a lot of people who tell me they are scared of what they see coming out of Washington in terms of spending and the debt and muscular federal intervention on everything from financial institutions to healthcare,” Cornyn said. “It’s almost like a part of the grieving process.” [...]
“No one would have ever thought six months ago we would be where we are today. I see real opportunities for us,” Cornyn said at a meeting with reporters. “2010 did not look like it was going to be a particularly friendly year for us.”
Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: "Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."
Be Disruptive Early And Often: "You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early."
Try To "Rattle Him," Not Have An Intelligent Debate: "The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions."
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now “over.”
What are the consequences stoking such unbridled anger and hatred for health care? How do you make them afraid? What is it that Republicans are willing to do, exactly, to incite this fear and anger among there suporters?
Well, here's one example --
"Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate" -- Republican radio host, Rush Limbaugh: (Source)
A young man protests at the Austin health care rally. Photo courtesy of Paul Rhea.
And here's another one:
"This health care issue Is D-Day for freedom in America...If we’re able to stop Obama on this it will be his Waterloo. It will break him," he said. -- RepublicanSenator Jim DeMint: (Source)
Effigy of a Democratic Congressman in Maryland (Source)
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. The Democratic National Committee released this ad, highlighting the anarchy of the far-right:
The most important thing for Democrats to do, right now, is try to maintain a civil tone and document any protests at town halls.
FireDogLake is tracking town halls around the country -- if there's going to be one near you, let them know, or check their list and see if there's one you can attend near where you live or happen to be traveling.
5:20pm Update: Here's some information about how others are getting involved:
The poll's findings are a monumental embarrassment for Texas and the South. It should also be extraordinarily humiliating for the Republican Party to know that it has become a regional rump Party of the South comprised largely of old folks and and a majority of the racially intolerant and xenophobes.
According to the some of the renowned Viet Nam War draft evaders and right wing war hawks
Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol, Bill Blunt, Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Phil Gramm, John Cornyn, Trent Lott, Mitch McConnell, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage
Nancy Pelosi personally ordered the CIA to find a link between Iraq and Al-Qaida. The GOP sissy boys also insist that when no links between the two evil doers could be found, Nancy the D Girl unilaterally ordered heinous torture to bring about the results the sissy boy cowards needed to gin up their war on Iraq.
Hats off to Ed Shultz of MSNBC for calling the Sissy Boys out on their psycho babble.
Lately we have been hearing a lot of squawking and screeching emanating from the conservative right wing about a revolution.
This is rather perplexing given that we recently had an election in which the elected President won rather substantially without the need for voter caging, voter suppression, election fraud, recounts, recount shut downs, lawsuits and the Supreme Court. Nor was it necessary to bring in the likes of a Swift Boat attack machine and a corrupted Secretary of State (R-OH) to deliver a win in a razor thin, close election.
And despite all of the problems we face in these dire and stressful times the President's approval ratings remain in the 60's. Today it is at 67%. Today an ABC/Washington Post poll also reveals 65% trust President Obama to handle relations with Muslim nations.
So, what is the problem? Why is a revolution necessary now?
Has anyone seen any footage of Governor Rick Perry appearing on Glenn Beck's show? I checked all the Fox News pages, Glenn Beck's personal web page, his YouTube channel, Governor Perry's YouTube channel, and I don't see anything.
Governor Rick Perry appearing on the show of someone who has vocally said he hates the 9/11 victims families. Anyone that wants to watch the train wreck, tune into Fox News at 4pm today as Perry appears on the Glenn Beck show.
What exactly did Beck say? Here's the quote, from September 9, 2005:
"...this is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this -- you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims families? ...I don't hate all of them. I hate probably about 10 of them. But when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh, shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them."
The quote is excerpted from a recent broadcast Stephen Colbert did on The Colbert Report. A little while ago, Beck announced the "9-12" project, which is designed to rekindle that spirit Americans had on September 11. See, because even though Rudy Giulliani failed when he tried to distract the country screaming "9-11, 9-11, 9-11" at every campaign event, some manipulative Republican schmucks aren't done waving the flag in order to sell, sell, sell their show and boost their ratings.
And Governor Rick Perry, always the manipulator, is more than happy to show up and sit down and talk with someone who has stated that he hates the very people most directly affected by the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Rick Perry: failure.
Sometimes it is just scheduling errors...but normally a Governor won't just get "bumped" by a news anchor for something else. Especially when Glenn Beck has already shown that he likes Governor Perry -- since he links, on his 9/12 project page, to Rick Perry's refusal of stimulus dollars:
Glenn Beck will be on hand for the San Antonio Tax Day Tea Party in front of the Alamo on April 15. Beck is tentatively slated as a main speaker for the tea party which is scheduled to start at 6PM.
According to a press release by PJTV, “Crowds of 5,000 to 10,000 are expected in multiple cities, including Atlanta, where Sean Hannity of Fox News will be broadcasting live, Sacramento, where Neil Cavuto will host his show, San Antonio, where Glenn Beck will broadcast, and New York City, where Newt Gingrich will be a featured speaker.”
The theme of the tea party is the repeal the federal pork spending and tax cuts. There are already more than 500 tea parties scheduled around the nation for tax day.
So if the Republican right-wing, cut-taxes-and-say-no-to-everything-else echo chamber is in full swing, why didn't Governor Rick Perry appear on Beck's show yesterday afternoon? Could it be that he realized (maybe by reading BOR) he was going to appear on the show of someone who has pronounced his hatred for the families of the victims of 9/11 attacks? Or maybe Perry really was bumped because of scheduling. What was Beck doing yesterday on his show?
Oh, that's right -- arguing against tactics of the American Revolution (like the Tea Party he's goin to attend), and defending himself for not being responsible for anyone that is crazy with a gun and thinks the government is out to get him. After all, Glenn Beck is just a TV guy -- he has no real responsiblities for what he says:
Why wouldn't Governor Rick Perry want to appear on a show with someone who has equated President Obama to a bloodsucking vampire, then immediately said that the only thing that can be done is to "drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers."
Did Governor Perry really want to appear on the show of someone who is advocating that an ethically way to protest the government is to drive a stake through the heart of the President? Did he appear on that show? Or did he cancel his appearance, choosing instead to appear with someone a little less controversial -- like with former President George Bush for the first pitch at Arlington:
Gov. Rick Perry, and Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, formerly the top U.S. commander in Baghdad, were among those flanking the mound during Bush's ceremonial toss.
There's even proof -- Governor Rick Perry has a photo taken with Davic McNerney, which Perry linked to on his Twitter page. I only noticed the photo because normally -- as he has with every other event -- he announces he's going somewhere (like the Young Conservatives of Texas meeting, or a boxing match) then says how it went. And he could have done the interview from Arlington -- they do live TV interviews from baseball stadiums all the time. So why didn't he appear? Or did he, and I just missed it?
Is Glenn Beck so posionous that Governor Perry would rather appear at a baseball game with President Bush than go on his show? Is Perry going to disinvite the man who said we must drive a stake through the heart of President Obama from speaking in San Antonio about not paying taxes?
What is Rick Perry doing getting so close to Glenn Beck -- or is he trying to distance himself?
Yesterday I posted a 
What exactly did Beck say? Here's the quote, from September 9, 2005:
