The Tea "Party" isn't legitimate

[SHRED]

It is not a real political party.
Not registered as one.
No headquarters.


just sayin'

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[judgegblue]

1. In the early 30's the Nazi party was considered a crazy minority

by the majority in Germany.

[BuelahWitch]

2. Was the Koch family backing them too?n/t

[WinkyDink]

15. The Bush Family was.

[WinkyDink]

14. That isn't the OP's point. "Tea Partiers" are REGISTERED REPUBLICANS.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Good NYT article:

The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party

<snip>
". . . "Three heavy hitters rule. You’ve heard of one of them, Rupert Murdoch. The other two, the brothers David and Charles Koch . . ." All three tycoons are the latest incarnation of what the historian Kim Phillips-Fein labeled “Invisible Hands” in her prescient 2009 book of that title: those corporate players who have financed the far right ever since the du Pont brothers spawned the American Liberty League in 1934 to bring down F.D.R. You can draw a straight line from the Liberty League’s crusade against the New Deal “socialism” of Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission and child labor laws to the John Birch Society-Barry Goldwater assault on J.F.K. and Medicare to the Koch-Murdoch-backed juggernaut against our “socialist” president.

<more>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html

This was never EVER a grassroots movement. It was a group created by the Players, who recruited lots of really stupid people who listened to corporate-sponsored radio nut cases decrying "gummit" and screaming about "death panels" and "tax-and-spend" and gave them an outlet. These people, numerically-speaking, make up less than 1/10th of 1% of the American populace. They get an inordinate amount of free press and, therefore, legitimacy, making them a perfect focal point for the bought-and-paid for politicians to point to and claim, "This is what THE PEOPLE want!" It is, truly, wag the dog.

[judgegblue]

4. Excellent, especially the enabling by the media.

Progressives to be active and grab the attention of the media to show that the vast majority opposes the right wing policies.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. Sadly, it's not a matter of grabbing the attention

of the MSM. Millions, literally, millions, marched on Washington before the Iraqi War Resolution and it was barely covered in the media. Let the Tea Partiers have a rally of 40 people and it's 24/7 coverage complete with narrow-angle shots so as to not catch all the empty seats. It's what corporate-sponsored media is supposed to do -- steer everything to the right to reflect the owners' zeitgeist. No, we're going to have to take it to the streets and to the internet and to Washington in the form of REAL representation. We'll have to make so much noise that the even the idiot MSM can't ignore us.

[Pacifist Patriot]

9. Precisely

[judgegblue]

19. I totally agree. Americans have to wake up to the fact

the Repub party is hostage to this fringe group. Their right wing supporters created the monster and they were more than happy to have these nutbags causing trouble for Dems. Now they may have to pay the price, if the people place the blame on the Repubs for allowing this mess. I'm afraid that the people will only be energized after great damage and suffering occurs. If that happens , we can't allow the Repiubs to shun responsibility.

[lebkuchen]

5. "tea party" nomenclature is so tainted now that it won't be long

before it morphs into a name change (per Blackwater), something like the "coffee bean party," or the "beanbaggers."

[no_hypocrisy]

6. The Tea Party has "power" only because it isn't a separate third party.

By leeching onto the republican party, it can control policy by incorporating the votes of non-Tea Party republicans.

[FarCenter]

8. It is starting to look like a Tea Party and Republican Party coalition

Since the Tea Party freshmen in the House are tending to act cohesively, the dynamics are starting to look like coalition politics. There are 87 freshmen Representatives, which is 20% of the House, so the Tea Party subset of those is a sizeable block.

[no_hypocrisy]

10. My point exactly.

If the Tea Party were an entity separate and apart from the Republican Party, it wouldn't have the power it now wields.

[FarCenter]

18. It might have more

If the Tea Party were separate, then the GOP and Tea Party leadership would have had to negotiate a coalition agreement at the beginning of this session of congress in order to create a majority, elect a speaker, choose committee chairmen, assign committee memberships, etc.

As a result, the Tea Party might have gained more influence through leadership posts and committee chairmanships, rather than being only a collection of freshman representatives.

Either way, the TP would still have the power to obstruct.

[mmonk]

11. And neither is a government that allows itself to be controlled by

its contrived debates and crisis.

[Bryn]

12. Make them go 3rd Party

then MSM would maybe stop focusing so much on tiny bit of teabaggers waving misspelled signs.

[spanone]

13. they are the republican party. they embraced them.

[certainot]

16. they are primarily limbaugh/hannity dittoheads - the talk radio base - the GOP activists outed from

the limbaugh closet.

that the left and the media do not recognize this and have allowed them a separate identity is the fault of the left, which ignores talk radio, which is why the tea party has power and why we are in this mess.

[certainot]

17. PS - they have the world's largest megaphone -- 1000 unchallenged radio stations

[tavalon]

20. It's a terrorist organization if the last few weeks are any indication

Just sayin'