Teabaggers/Repubs missed the whole point of the rally...

[Contrary1]

"There weren't many Blacks", "They didn't address the issues", "They weren't funny", blah, blah, blah...

Well, DUH.

You gather 200,000+ people who aren't angry, who didn't "man up" with guns strapped on, who came together for a common cause...sanity.

It's easy to rile up folks with lies, misrepresentations, and rhetoric. It's far more difficult to gather that many people for a peaceful cause.

To Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert a tip of the hat. And a wag of the finger to all the morons out there that still don't get it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Teabaggers don't understand sanity

[handmade34]

2. hmmm

Definition of SANE
1: proceeding from a sound mind : rational
2: mentally sound; especially : able to anticipate and appraise the effect of one's actions
Sanity
: the quality or state of being sane; especially : soundness or health of mind

***I saw a lot of healthy and happy people today

[Common Sense Party]

3. My teabagger friends and acquaintances say we missed the point of

the Beck rally, too.

We probably did.

They don't get us (by choice), and we don't get them (by choice).

And I *think* that's what Stewart was trying to point out.

[glowing]

5. I think a lot of teabaggers are pissed off and scared.. They don't understand

why they are losing everything when they played by the "rules"... They don't know what is up or down... but they are used to a "conservative view point"; and those people are telling who to blame... They are past listening. They are scared. Their way of life is crashing in. They want what they had back.. They want the good job and vacations and pension and home and savings back. However, many of them are completely closed off. When you start a conversation and you are labeled a "marxist, socialist".. well, its hard to converse.

On the other hand, most people when polled without a label, are more liberal/ progressive as a whole. Most want these "green" jobs, most want the high speed trains, most want the wars ended and the money diverted back into infrastructure/ jobs/ education, etc, most want a single-payer health care system, most would like the European "socialist" work model with the vacations and pd maternity/ paternity leave and pension funds.

Its the politicians and the money that subvert thought and progress these days.

[Common Sense Party]

6. I agree they're pissed off and scared. Mostly, I think they're scared

about globalism, about the irreversible fact that we now live in a global economy and those same manufacturing jobs aren't coming back, no matter who is in power. And they're pissed off because government seems to grow and grow and they think it's only helping the OTHER guy, and they can't see when it helps them.

We label them, too. We call them teabaggers, which is stupid and juvenile. We call them fascists and Nazis and stupid morans, or we assume they're racist or homophobic or whatever. You're right. No intelligent conversation can occur when both sides have prejudged and stereotyped the other.

[glowing]

10. They labelled themselves the teabbagges and didn't realize why we

are laughing at what they called themelves.. they then started calling themselves the tea party once enough of them caught on. and now their are original founders of the movement which has basically become subverted by the big bansters, industry, and regualar republicans tryig to rebrand themselves

[Common Sense Party]

13. They never called themselves the teabaggers.

Didn't happen.

Let's be historically honest.

They called themselves Tea Partiers from the beginning. We thought it would be funny to call them teabaggers.

[JanMichael]

18. yes, they did. One of our oldest friends who we kept up with on FB

was/is a teabagger. And that IS what he called himself.

We were laughing our asses off...but, don't anymore, because we have been defriended.

[Common Sense Party]

19. I'm surrounded by tea party types, and I've NEVER heard them use

the term. I've heard them get plenty mad when we use it. I'm not saying your friend didn't adopt the term, I'm just saying that's very atypical.

[TalkingDog]

22. And I'm saying Your experience is atypical. Rewriting history is not helpful

In fact, that's what got us into this mess in the first place.

[Grown2Hate]

26. Well, I don't know how to embed an image, but google images the term "Teabagging

for Jesus". When this movement FIRST started and they were wearing teabags on their heads at protests of HCR, townhall meetings, signs saying, "We need to TeaBag Washington before they Teabag us!", etc, ad nauseum. They created the name; they now OWN it. Teabaggers.

[TalkingDog]

20. You are incorrect sir.

Supposedly: The term "teabagger" was coined on January 19, 2009 by Graham Makohoniuk, an investment manager who came up with a campaign to "send a tea bag to the White House" as a sign of protest. It was repeated ad nauseum by the Fox "News" commentators until it was pointed out to them that the term had another meaning.

Dated: Jan 20, 2009 - A teabagger is someone who woke up on January 20, 2009, and suddenly noticed that we had a deficit and two wars.
From Leon Rutledge (leon_the_druid) on Twitter
twitter.com/leon_the_druid

An article in Salon.com by Alex Koppelman traced the controversy to a photograph by David Weigel posted on The Washington Independent website on February 27th, 2009, showing a protester holding a sign that read "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You!!"
http://washingtonindependent.com/31868/scenes-from-the-new-american-tea-party link to article with sign in question.

And if you look at our Demopedia on the subject, the folks here on DU found the correctly spelled and overly neat signs a tip off that someone was coordinating this "grassroots" movement.

http://www.lopakalounge.com/archives/847

From the site:
So a lot of Republicans are up in arms over the way Obama has been handling this whole financial crisis. They’re asking people to join them as they “teabag America” . This Republican movement is to “protest the colossal thievery going on in Washington.”

/snip

Notice that the guy at this site on Fri 10 Apr 2009, suggests sending the GOP the street definition of the word. Now why would he do that if WE were the ones who first used it?

[butterfly77]

23. Where have you been ,..

did you join the teabaggers a little late in the game or were they calling themselves teapartiers when you joined?

[Common Sense Party]

25. Typical.

[RagAss]

17. But...they are stupid, racist and homophobic... Have you ever met one in real life?

[Common Sense Party]

24. I'm surrounded by them. I doubt very much many people here have

ever made contact with one.

[TalkingDog]

27. I live in a red county in NC

I've got a TeaBagger with a yard sign up the road from my house. I live among people who regularly have conversations with me regarding the talking points of the TeaBagger agenda.

Please don't assume you know anything about anybody on this board.

It just makes an Ass of U and Me

[Contrary1]

8. I have friends and even family members who are losing everything...

And yet, they haven't bought into the Teabagger BS.

My best friend is spending the night here right now because she is being evicted from her apartment.
She lost her home 2 1/2 years ago because she lost her job. Same story now. 57 years old, lots of experience, but no "degrees", so most employers won't even talk to her. Chances are, she knows far more than those with the necessary requirements.

My brother, who worked 41 years for the post office...took care of his own, like all the Repubs swear by. He's 61 years old now. Had a heart attack, and a quadruple bypass, 3 months after retirement. They can't pay all their bills now, despite his wife working 60+ hours a week at a job she has had for 43 years. My brother tells me he now wishes he had died on the job.

They remain staunch Democrats.

[glowing]

9. Yes, but do they attend a Fundie church in a smaller, rural town..

Do they consume M$M news, or Fox news.. Do they listen to conservative talk radio... Were they raised in areas where only one line of thought was produced and narrated?

[OneGrassRoot]

15. I've been in full-on battle with teabaggers over the last few weeks....

(and, before the Tea Party they were already Fox News viewers and before that Limbaugh listeners)

I've realized a few things. I'm basically copying and pasting what I posted on FB in an applicable thread. ;)

1. The extreme nastiness really does seem to have started with Limbaugh. He started the uber partisanship with the narrative that liberal are wussies, treehuggers, PC...we know all the derogatory labels that have been thrown our way for years, with even worse words used not on the airwaves.

2. He also really focused on the 'LIBERALS THINK YOU'RE STUPID" message to his audience. I really think that's the heart of what's going on and why, as a group, conservatives have come to loathe liberals as individuals, not just the ideology. Limbaugh and Fox really hammer the message of, not only that liberals and liberalism suck, but that "liberals think you're stupid...they think you're stupid for listening to my show or watching our channel." The whole liberal elite mantra.

3. The "us" versus "them" started with right-wing talk show...continued and got stronger with Fox, but the left is pushing back big time and we get nasty now. Many on the left (especially online in forums and FB) DO say they're stupid, etc. We get just as nasty and mean, in response to what we've experienced as personal bullying -- not just ideological differences -- for two decades.

4. I know many progressive friends will disagree with me, but I don't think people are stupid just because they listen to Rush or watch Fox (well, I try really hard not to). There are a few people I consider very intelligent who do both, nor do I consider them racists or bigots which has been my personal experience with a large percentage of their viewers/listeners, as I've said repeatedly.

These people are the ones who REALLY puzzle me. Then I realized, they have bought into the whole "liberals think you're stupid" mantra, and that is the basis of their disgust and hatred of all things liberal. It's personal, not ideology.

The Tea Party crowd is acting on pure emotion, not facts. We know that but when we really let it sink in, it starts to explain things. They have low self-esteem and that's why they're drawn to Fox and Limbaugh and Company.

They act tough but they're "sensitive" (that would make them cringe, of course). Why else would they care what anyone thinks of them? They defend Fox and Rush to the hilt; they're offended that the Obama Admin disses Fox.

Most of us couldn't care less if any media outlet or media personality is dissed, because we don't IDENTIFY with them. We may agree with them but we don't identify our entire being with them.

The right-wingers absolutely identify with Fox and Limbaugh, Palin, etc., and it's based on pure emotion.

Most conservatives who are Fox News/Limbaugh fans DO take it personally, and I think it comes down to this whole "us" versus "them" the right-wing "entertainers" have perpetuated so successfully. If people think back to before Obama, all the way back to the early 90's, they'll see it started there...the nasty partisanship, that is. And, if they're conservative, their extreme dislike of anything liberal or progressive probably started then, too.

5. While I detest what Limbaugh and Fox have done over the years in creating this "us" versus "them" dynamic, until recently I tried not to hold it against the viewers and watchers personally.

But then I realized, yeah, I do, and I will. Because they have to take personal responsibility for their choices.

They WANT this "us" versus "them" dynamic...they want it personal and not about ideology. They've made it very personal. They want a battle.

The right-wing "entertainers" started it. And it's made them very rich.

That's how I see it.

[glowing]

16. It's not a new phenomenon... Just different with technology...

It's been going on for as long as history of the human population has existed... Whether fighting for food, shelter types of issues, to the religious wars, to the days of burning women as witches, to the civil war, to the rise of Nazis, through the civil rights battles, to now... It's an us vs them. Highlighting difference and making it evil or wrong or scary. And it's normally perpetuated by those at the top of the food chain in order to maintain power or money or their own self importance.

Obviously, these people who feed on fear and difference don't believe their own rhetoric. Elton John at limbaughs 4 th wedding. Clinton and bush getting along. Republican "value" leaders, acting in hypocrisy. It's all crap. The main way to stop crap is education... The reason for top persons attacking educators and controlling information is to keep people from realizing who is really harming them and getting them to look the other way to a "enemy".

[WCGreen]

11. It's pretty fucking easy...

The Tea baggers are all about divide and conquor while the Stewert Rally was all about coming together.

My way or the highway vs. we can get along if we are willing to compromise.

Simple.

Childish behavior vs adult engagement.

[Common Sense Party]

14. According to this thread, we aren't willing to compromise:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9425694

We're the same as them, I'm afraid.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. That's cause they're stupid

Oh shit. I just came off like an elitist.

[Liberal Gramma]

12. That was my favorite sign at the Seattle rally

out of many very good ones. Another favorite: I'm here because Bill O'Reilly said there'd be weed.

[Angry Dragon]

7. Posts #5 and #6 were very good

[and-justice-for-all]

21. Those fools lack commonsense...

they sure as hell are not going to get Jon and Stephen...That rally is something they can only dream about, Beckterds klan meeting was pathetic.