Tea Party gimmick gets exposed: Why it was always a tool of the Republicans

Salon ^ | May 22, 2014 | Heather Digby Parton

[Star Traveler]

Let me say it another way ... the Tea Party does not fit me and my issues as a conservative, so I don’t want to be considered as part and parcel of their agenda and politics.

[ansel12]

They sure represent my issues, just not all of them, or all at once, and they don’t oppose any of mine.

[oldbrowser]

he believes that the conservative movement grew up in the 1960s not out of rebellion against the civil rights stances of the Democratic Party

His history is wrong. His analysis is wrong. His only purpose is to create confusion and misunderstanding. He is a scrubber for the marxists.

[Sivad]

The big thrust of big welfare spending came in the ‘70s under
the younger Brown although some can be traced to the elder
Gov Brown in the 60s.

[ansel12]

No, my California history is fairly respectable.

I didn’t say anything about Texas being perfectly anything, I did correctly point out that it is famously right wing, which is accurate, you keep bringing up a Senator from the 1950s, and a 1 term democrat governor from the early 90s.

You sound young, or like you only started paying attention to such things not very many years ago.

Do you know why California was a magnet for the left during the 50s and 60s, and 70s, and Texas never has been?

Do you think homosexuals in Texas, and dopers, and pro-abortion people, did not dream of California liberalism since before you were born?

[ansel12]

Yet my first two shocking experiences with welfare in California were in the 1960s, they already had a national reputation that had people moving here for the welfare.

[ansel12]

I trace the atmosphere for the tea party to Palin. Choosing her exposed something that had always been hiding, just how much many of our leading columnists, and campaign professionals and GOP supporting organizations had hated and feared us, remember the Peggy Noonan type shockers, with some of them actually voting and endorsing Obama to stop whatever it was that Palin was unlocking and inspiring?

Palin exploded on us and created something new, and while most of us were discouraged and the party broken by the Obama takeover, Palin never wavered, she never even took a breath, she instantly went to campaigning for a Governor's race within weeks of that election, and then kept up the fight, until something came from her inspiration.

For many months she was taking all of the medias's hate, and doing it alone, and proving that it wasn't fatal, from her courage, we started seeing other's slowly emerge, and testing the waters, getting bolder, remember how Perry and DeMint, seemed to gain boldness from watching her, Palin was injecting a swagger and confidence into what had at first been a fairly timid and splintered conservative movement, Palin nationalized us, united us, gave us a symbol and a feeling of being a coherent national force. We should not overlook the fact that her being a sitting Governor, and the recent Vice Presidential candidate, gave us a lot of instant weight.

Palin wasn't the leader of the tea party, or the founder/creator, but we all sensed and knew, that she was our girl, our mascot, or unifying symbol, our publicist, I don't know the word, but she was a giant force related to the tea party, I just don't think it would have gone so well without a Sarah Palin proceeding it, and as a part of it. Palin was the crowd and media drawing phenomena, everywhere she went it was 10,000 people and overflow crowds.

Remember events like Searchlight, Nev. March 27, 2010 when about 20,000 showed up, Where CNN reported
"Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin there in Searchlight, Nev., was the backyard of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but today it's the backdrop of this Tea Party Express - making a stop here," Whitfield said. "Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people - we haven't gotten a count of how many people turned out there. We heard Sarah Palin talk about everything about the campaign, to unseat Sen. Reid to what she calls ObamaCare, on the heels of that health care vote and even talking about her definition of her love of America."

[Star Traveler]

I like Sarah Palin and support her in whatever she is doing ... but, at the same time, do you realize how many “Palin haters” there are on Free Republic?

I do, because I’ve had them come after me here on this forum ... :-) ...

[Sivad]

Here is something for you to massage and it has been my point from
the start. You can fool yourself into believing that California just
drew liberals back in the day and maybe Texas draws only stand-up
conservative types. The fact is that population growth brings
liberalism, period. Where are the most liberal parts of Texas,
California, or anywhere? The cities. Turn your towns into cities then
see what happens. I’m just trying to provide you with some reality.
If you choose to believe that your righteousness is going to
prevail against the votes of the masses of uninformed then good
luck. BTW I am in my 60s and I have a BA in history with a
Concentration in California history.

[ansel12]

I’m trying to tell why the two states are different, you are wrong to think it is just immigration, and/or demographics.

The nature and the generations old reputations of the two states are different, and rightfully so.

Texas and California took different paths long ago, in fact, they were always different in regards to being conservative and liberal.

Fifty and 60 years ago this state was often voting republican but was proud of it’s open and “enlightened” ways, well, here you are.

Neither one of us has ever seen a right wing, social conservative California, and neither one of us has ever seen a liberal, social liberal Texas.

How do you think Texas keeps moving right, yet has the second largest population in America?

The answer is that Texas and Texans are fundamentally different from California, and were, generations ago.

What do you remember the national reputation of the two states being in 1965 or 1970?

[Sivad]

You so miss the point. Is the US more or less conservative than it
used to be? Is Texas more or less conservative than it once was?
What causes more restrictions, more liberalism? One big cause is
population growth and if you think that many of those new people are
as politically astute as you and I then you are just plain nuts. Why do
conservatives move away from cities? How did cities come to be so
liberal?

Originally, I made a point that massive population growth will lead
to the liberalization of Texas. Your defensive response was to compare
the different type of peoples attracted to Tx and Ca will assure Tx
will maintain Tx conservative path . Guess what? Those who travel
the country for work are just not that different from each other. I
suggest that you keep an eye on your southern border and
another on your Universities.

[ansel12]

You clearly are not reading my posts, and if population and immigration were the problem, then Texas would have been long gone as well. You can’t keep clinging to Texas being second to California in population to explain generations of history.

I never said that the types of people moving to Texas now will maintain it’s conservatism, I said,
“”What killed California, aside form the immigration, was that California was never right wing, social conservative, like Texas is, and always was.
California always leaned rino/libertarian, so it didn’t have the underlying muscle to prevent being absorbed by the left.
Texas actively fights for it’s conservatism AND, it’s Christian conservatism.””

“” California has always been known as a liberal state, even when voting republican.
Texas has always been known as a conservative state, even when it voted democrat.””

“”Even in the time of Reagan, when I lived in both Texas and California, largely as a drifter and hitchhiker, California was know as the promise land for social liberals, while people were terrified to hitchhike through Texas because it was tough, and didn’t take guff from lefties.

Texas was thought of during the 60s and 70s just as it is thought of today, even harsher actually, with Austin being seen as an oasis in the middle of a bunch of right wingers, and Christians.
California has always been seen as the place to flee to if you were a liberal and especially a social liberal, to escape the right wingers and Christians, regardless of which right wing state you lived in, it was known as a rino/libertarian type state, regardless of who the governor was.
People largely came to California, because it was famously liberal, and never more than moderate.””

“”Yet my first two shocking experiences with welfare in California were in the 1960s, they already had a national reputation that had people moving here for the welfare.””

“”Do you know why California was a magnet for the left during the 50s and 60s, and 70s, and Texas never has been?
Do you think homosexuals in Texas, and dopers, and pro-abortion people, did not dream of California liberalism since before you were born?””

“”The nature and the generations old reputations of the two states are different, and rightfully so.

Texas and California took different paths long ago, in fact, they were always different in regards to being conservative and liberal.

Fifty and 60 years ago this state was often voting republican but was proud of it’s open and “enlightened” ways, well, here you are.

Neither one of us has ever seen a right wing, social conservative California, and neither one of us has ever seen a liberal, social liberal Texas.

How do you think Texas keeps moving right, yet has the second largest population in America?

The answer is that Texas and Texans are fundamentally different from California, and were, generations ago.

What do you remember the national reputation of the two states being in 1965 or 1970?””

[Sivad]

Thanks for the review but you just rehashed the same personal
fantasy as opposed to reality. In 1965 I remember California as
a place that had voted for Richard Nixon in 1960. Seems to me
voters in Texas both alive and dead had chosen JFK in 1960.
What the hell difference does it make? Where you go wrong is
that you think others are as stuck on politics as you. Most
people don’t care. For the vast majority changing opportunities
drives immigration habits. You obviously have not read my
posts either or maybe you would have answered my question
about whether or not the US is more or less conservative than
in the past.

[FreedomPoster]

“Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people”

The dominant media culture is built on lies that favor their political allies. This needs to be hammered home at every opportunity.

[trebb]

Kind of interesting and based on a faulty meme. I wonder if the author realizes the difference between “The government needs to be smaller and less intrusive” and “The government needs to control every aspect of your lives - even whether or not you should be allowed to live”.<p.Tea Party “extremists” don’t want to control anyone else’s life - Left wingers want absolute control.

[taildragger]

$100 bucks says she has never been to a meeting or met anyone who considers themselves a tea-partier....

[Engedi]

I bet she drives a Prius and has an Obama sticker on it...betchya

[Engedi]

I bet she drives a Prius and has an Obama sticker on it...betchya

[Aurorales]

FreeRepublic hails from California.

So do many conservative Americans and some great FReepers.

Watch who you are calling “clueless”.

[Aurorales]

FreeRepublic hails from California.

So do many conservative Americans and some great FReepers.

Watch who you are calling “clueless”.