Is the tea party movement being hoodwinked by the establishment?

American Thinker ^ | March 28, 2010 | Brian Shoemake

[Thermalseeker]

It’s getting kind of scary - this group-think thing.

Part of that "herd mentality" I mentioned in an earlier post. People reacting instead of thinking is another....

[SmokingJoe]

I don’t think Sarah Palin should run for president. I think her quitting the governorship of Alaska was a big mistake

Not that same old BS again. That partcilar canard has been taken apart and destroyed a thousand times on FR already. But trust the anti-Palin bots to drag that rubbish up every single bloody time.

[AzaleaCity5691]

Haley Barbour

[Thermalseeker]

Haley Barbour

Yep.

[alicewonders]

I’m not looking for perfection. This far from 2012 is the time to be looking at all possibilities. I DO vote in primaries & I do help candidates I agree with. The primaries are the time to be VERY discriminating.

No one is going to be 100% - but if a person is saying things they don’t really mean, that knocks them down the list in my book.

This early in the game is the time for open, constructive debate - but everytime someone says something you don’t like about Sarah Palin - you all launch full-out attacks. This is not productive.

Yeah, the writer of the article shouldn’t have been trashing Sarah at that rally - but he makes some valid points in the article. Can you not accept anyone disagreeing with you?

[SmokingJoe]

The organizers of Showdown in Searchlight should not have invited Palin, because she had already announced her support for McCain

I see. So now you, who is not even a member of the Tea Parties, presume to dictate to the Tea Parties who they should and shouldn't invite to their rallies? You need to get off whatever you are smoking dude.

[Thermalseeker]

Excellent example of precisely what I’m talking about.....

[dirtboy]

Big money draw? Please show me where Searchlight made money from this. I’ve seen PDS before, but this thread takes the cake.

[libbylu]

jeez ..... 3 years to election time. I am damn proud she is rallying the troops. Some of yoos are way paranoid. I love Sarah, no I don’t have to have her as prez. But she is the ONE who has been standing up to bambi etal since August. Thank God and greyhound.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I sort of agree.

There was no such thing as a “tea party” until that guy on CNBC (Rick Santelli) did his rant about where we were and used the two words together. He tapped into a vein of built up frustration and the words “tea party” went viral.

Over the summer the “town hall” events also became “tea party” events and “tea partiers” more or less morphed into words for average Americans who had real economic concerns and real concerns about the direction the country was headed.

Then, somewhere along the way - the two meanings of the word “party” became conflated. The original Boston Tea Party was a “party” more in the sense of a birthday party than it was a “party” in the sense of, say, the Whig Party.

But all of a sudden people speak about “The Tea Party” as a nascent 3rd party movement. How we changed from one meaning to another was never made clear to me.

But my overriding concern is that (as Rush as said) the “Tea Party” plays right into the goals of the RAT communist party. Whatever we gain in terms of activating the base, we’re sure to lose more due to the fragmentary effects of a third party. The RATs and the State run media know this and play it up for all it’s worth.

I’m with Reagan who say the path to real change as being through the Republican party, which unlike the “tea party”, has at least a shot at effecting said change.

[FrankR]

"After today, I'll never again look at the Tea Party movement as one made up of Constitutional Conservatives. They may be Conservative, but sadly, not my brand of Conservatism. "

Well, Mr. Shoemake, maybe you should go back to the origin of your surname, and make shoes, because you sure as hell don't have any idea what you're talking about when it comes to people, or politics.

Like all lefties, you think you know what the TEA party movement is all about, and you are afflicted with that obama-like audacity to try and define it for the rest of us.

You - like your progressive brethren - insist on thinking the TEA party movement is a finite body...like it's a few folks in some sort of "club" who meet to try and overthrown the American government. And even though the one we have now needs overthrowing, that's for sure, that's neither the nature or the intent of the TEA party movement.

Firstly, it is NOT a "Party", with a capital "P". It is NOT a political party at all. Do you remember the words "freedom of assembly" and "freedom of speech"...Constitutional Rights that shall not be abridged or prohibited by the Government?

The TEA party movement extends as far as the eye can see across a prodominantly "conservative" country. "TEA" is an acronym (that's when initials stand for a phrase or title) and it means "Taxed Enough Already". Now, you're NOT going to make me define "taxed" for you too, are you?

But, Mr. Shoemake, you seem to have come down with an acute case of "PalinPhobia"...an afflicted caused by an inordinate fear of Governor Sarah Palin.

But don't feel too bad, it's become pandemic amongst those of the left persuasion. Liberals are really closet racists, homophobes, and sexists...they just word it a little differently.

I'm beginning to wonder is there is a clandestine contest going on in leftist circles - you know, in that same backroom where they concocted the "obamacare" bill - to see who can come of with the best gimmick, or catch phrase to discredit the TEA party movement, or Sarah Palin herself.

Well, I hate to hit the timeout buzzer on ya, Brian ol' buddy, but there is not much else you can throw at Sarah which has not already been thrown. She survived many personal attacks from the left, even from droopy pants David Letterman...and won. She's survived attacked on her children, even her down syndrome child; she survived hurled tomatoes and hangings in effigy...and you want to talk about her "apron strings".

There are some who have moved over to your side, and think your article is right on, because she stumped for Juan McCain't...so what, obama bowed and kissed the ring of a saudi prince, and is a backslapping buddy with Chavez...where is your article on that, sir?

Those who are bent out of shape because of the McCain't endorsement are those that want to outfit a militia and storm Washington tomorrow.

They are those who think the mission of the TEA party movement was to get rid of obama, instantly. But, they are wrong, and you are wrong.

I'll bet you're one of those who had no problem with ACORN busing in protesters to the streets in front of stock brokers homes to protest because the make too much money...but you're against the peacefull assembly of concerned American citizens who are exercising the rights granted in the Constitution to redress the actions of an out of control government.

It's called a meeting of like minds - corporations and groups - yes even the obamaland government - have "meetings" everyday...it's a normal occurance in America.

So, it's not your brand of "conservatism"...well, different strokes for different folks...are "girls" your brand of love interest?

See, Mr. Shoemaker, YOU don't get to decide, or define, "conservatism"...YOU don't get to define Sarah Palin, and YOU don't get to define the TEA party movement.

You are just envious little journalist, trying to matter in the world of dinosaur media pundits. Your article may get a giggle out of right wing nuts and leftist progressives, but that's about as far as it - and you - will ever make it.

[SmokingJoe]

My concern is many on the Right seem to be treating Palin the same way the Left treated Obama.

Only thing is, Sarah Palin actually has had executive experience, and was actually born in this country, and we know did NOT pal around with terrorists like Bill Ayers and race baiters like Jeremiah Wright all her life. Palin and 0bama are not even close.

“That scares me”

Good! I am not going to lose any sleep if someone who spews out as much garbage as you do about Sarah Palin, is scared.

[mrsmel]

I agree with him on this much—I am wary of seeing any one person, no matter how much I might agree with her principles, being raised as the “messiah” of the right. It just doesn’t make sense to invest that much into one person. It’s nothing against Sarah Palin, I know that I agree with her stances more often than not. I just think people set themselves, and her, up for a big disappointment by putting all this on her.

[Reagan69]

could we all just, please, stop fighting about Sarah?

this is 2010. we have a war against communism to fight. we are fighting to save LIBERTY.

First congress ... then the whitehouse in 2012. sarah hasn’t even said she’s running

FOCUS !

[savedbygrace]

What makes you think I’m not a member? I’ve helped organize events for my local TEA group. That’s not enough to qualify as a member?

Second, where did I dictate? I stated my opinion that they shouldn’t have invited her because she endorsed McCain, but that is far from dictating anything. Or are people not allowed to criticize the TEA Party in your world?

If that’s your America, no thanks.

[ohioman]

Are you the author of this article?

[The Duke]

Pure rubbish! The American People (aka "Tea Partiers") know a winner when they see one.

Personally, I'd prefer Duncan Hunter as president, but I'm willing to celebrate a Palin victory as well. :)

And, regarding the Tea Partiers being focused on a single candidate - more rubbish. There are plenty of offices we want to fill with non-RINOs.

[Republic of Texas]

No one is perfect, and campaigning for McCain is a mistake. However, I’ll wait to reserve judgment on Sarah. She has too much potential to toss her out with the bathwater right now.

[SmokingJoe]

He is talking nonsense
This is a rally about defeating Harry Reid in November. Why the heck would Tea Partier go there just so they can attack Sarah Palin or any other Tea Party member for that matter?
The rally was about attacking Harry Reid, 0bama and 0bamacare, yet this fool is whining because he never saw the Tea Patiers attack Sarah Palin at the rally?
On what planet is he living on?

[Frantzie]

Who are the Palin haters? You sound like a McCainic. Is this an alinsky like smear that McCain used when he called Americans against amnesty - “racists.”

I like her and she “gets it” on energy. She has guts. She just needs to get the h*ll away from that disgusting McCain.