Posted on 05/17/2010 5:58:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The right-wing populist Tea Party movement has politicians of both parties spooked. Democrats fear it will bring so many Republicans to the boil, and then to the voting booth, that they will lose control of Congress. Republicans fear the movement will frighten away moderates and leave their party an unelectable, ideologically extreme rump. The press, both alarmed and delighted by this political force that sprang from nowhere, is eager to prove its lack of elitism and left-wing bias by treating the Tea Party activists with respect. Journalists also sincerely appreciate having something new to write or talk about. It is in their interest to keep this story going.
A Harris poll released the last day of March reported that a third of all adults support the Tea Party, and slightly less than a quarter oppose it. Do they know what they are supporting, or opposing? The movement is not yet united on a single platform or agenda, like Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract With America, which started as a triumph and ended as an embarrassment. The lack of specifics allows anyone who is just existentially fed up (and who isn’t, on some days?) to feel right at home. No one will demand to know what he or she is fed up with. On Web sites and in speeches, Tea Party Patriots reveal a fondness for procedural gimmicks (like a ban on congressional earmarks), constitutional amendments (term limits, balanced budget), and similar magic tricks or shortcuts to salvation. Apart from a general funk, though, the one common theme espoused by TPPs is the monstrous danger of Big Government.
The Tea Party movement has been compared (by David Brooks of The New York Times, among others) to the student protest movement of the 1960s.(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Good old days.
Samuel Johnson, on the role of a Patriot as, “The true lover of his country is ready to communicate his fears, and to sound the alarm, whenever he perceives the approach of mischief.”
He's a Leftist - what else is there?
>> Do you suppose Media Matters and CAP gets these old liberal coots out of mothballs, hands them a big check, and gets their “message” out that way?
They have their following. I imagine it’s among those who fancy themselves “intellectuals”, but are in reality as dull and humorless as Kinsey.
The good news (IMO): their days are numbered. There’s just too much good stuff out there, and it’s easily accessible.
‘‘It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.’’
— Justice Robert H. Jackson
He’s Alan Colmes, plus about 2 IQ points.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that:
1. Michael Kinsley was still considered worthy of writing an article and that anyone would care.
2. That someone who strains to look so smart can be so stupid.
3. Michael’s picture is actually right there beside the definition of “Useful Idiot” in the dictionary.
We are coming, Mikey... and all of the elitism in the world won’t be enough to stop us.
Our Founding Fathers would declare you and those like you the enemy of Freedom.
We will defeat you in November ‘10 and ‘12.
Remember November
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3APuNTmqbDY
America Rising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=662R2awSwPQ
Oh, heaven forbid. *rolleyes*
What if these pundits (worn out fossils like Kinsley and others) write this crap for big money, and not just ideology?
I mean, what if the tweets go out to "today's message" and accounts are credited pretty much the same way?
It would explain how those in the media seem to act in their own worst interest, why MSNBC doesn't go under, how these rags like Newsweek stay in business.
The press, both alarmed and delighted by this political force that sprang from nowhere, is eager to prove its lack of elitism and left-wing bias by treating the Tea Party activists with respect.
Michael, the home planet is calling. Your saucer is double-parked. Now let me see, where did that term "Tea-bagger" come from and why did it achieve such popularity that is only now beginning to wane for those few journalists mature enough not to want to be mistaken for drunken 19-year-old frat boys? I do believe - work with me here, Michael - I do believe that was this "respectful" press. And if it appears to the delusional to be showing a distaste for the very legitimate accusation of elitism, what can we say about a Michael Kinsley quoting a David Brooks about a populist movement whose members neither wants admitted to the better bistros in The City?
Nevertheless, the good Doctor understands us better than we understand ourselves, or so we are admonished to believe. One is struck by the consistent and unanimous disbelief on the part of Leftists that anyone could or should be so silly as to vote outside one's class interests...unless, of course, one happens to be of the Left and possessed of a transcendent understanding of Advanced Political Thought. It is left unremarked that that is itself a class identification and its owners tend to vote, well, for their class interests.
Be that as it may, the Tea Party enthusiasts become, in this rather jaded view, merely a bunch of old people with their - our - hands out to a benevolent Mommy Government and jealous of any other hands belonging to - need I say it? - minorities or other underprivileged unfortunates that might be extended in the identical direction. Given the premise that we are a bunch of uninformed rubes the purposes for our actions could scarcely be other than, well, uninformed, now could they? The good Doctor has just performed a miracle of circular reasoning for a breathless crowd of presumably informed East Coast liberals. We lesser ones can only stand gaping.
Nevertheless, I shall step forward, tugging my forelock, with the humble proposition that I believe in my country as she is and was and am hence a Patriot, and that Kinsley despises her for what she was and is, placing his heart and soul on what she might become given sufficiently enlightened guidance by You Know Who. And is hence not a Patriot in any sense. See you at the polls, Michael.
You mean, you think the government is paying them? (or the DNCC or whatever?)
Never really thought about it like that; I suppose it could be. It would be hard to keep covered up for very long, IMO.
I find it funny that a guy like Kinsley is writing for and to those who have already reached his conclusion. Lefties need to have their leftism constantly nourished. If not their God-given faculties of reason and common sense might re-assert themselves. That cannot be allowed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.