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Title: Establishment Terrified by Tea Party Movement
Source:
townhall.com
URL Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/Matt ... errified_by_tea_party_movement
Published: Apr 15, 2010
Author: Matt Towery
Post Date: 2010-04-15 09:26:50 by Eric Stratton
Keywords: None
Views: 621
Comments: 54
Establishment Terrified by Tea Party Movement WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Whenever I'm in the nation's capital, it's always entertaining to see government staff, aides, lobbyists and elected officials doing their thing. They can make you feel like an outsider -- unless, that is, you were there when Ronald Reagan was sworn in, doing then as they are doing now. Then you realize that they're just younger versions of yourself. With age and experience comes a trace of wisdom. In talking to various Washington insiders over the last few days, I've noticed a predominant theme: The GOP establishment hasn't a clue how to manage the so-called Tea Party movement. And the Democrats are equally clueless as they try to profile and pigeonhole these new activists. I've been closely watching Tea Partiers since about this time last year. I noticed early on that establishment Republican elected officials have been letting the Tea Party march right on past. These officeholders are afraid they'll be seen as radical if they associate with the protest movement. Conventional Washington wisdom seems to have it that moderate, swing voters in the fall general elections will turn away from the GOP if the party ends up with nominees for Congress who are either self-identified as Tea Partiers or are somehow associated with them. Consider this oddity: Sen. John McCain has long been cold-shouldered by the GOP establishment, which has thought of him as too liberal for the party's taste. Now he is suddenly viewed as a part of that very establishment, which is itself now deemed too liberal. Believe me when I tell you that the very notion of a spontaneous conservative grassroots movement that they can't get a handle on has this town's Republican operatives baffled. The Democrats are even more in the dark. They have persuaded themselves that the Tea Party crowd is one and the same with the so-called "birthers," who believe President Obama was not born in the United States and should not be eligible to serve as president. The Democrats welcome the Tea Party because they believe it will divide the GOP and bring to the fore weaker and less experienced Republican candidates in November. Either that, they believe, or it will cause a big chunk of disenchanted Republican voters -- either establishment or Tea Party -- to sit out this year's general election altogether. I love Washington -- it's in my blood. But I've been here so many times that I've come to see clearly that the capital city is one whose inhabitants talk almost exclusively among and about themselves. That was true when I was here in the 1980s and 1990s, it's true now, and it was probably true in early post-colonial days. Where else on earth do men still wear neckties to gatherings on Sunday night? It's an insulated company town that's only interested in the gossip and inside perspectives of the "company" -- politics and government. What will become of the Tea Party movement? I suspect that in some cases, there will be Tea Party Republicans who will run against and clean the clocks of their Republican primary opponents. There will be other cases in which the Tea Party candidates will lose badly, either because they are little more than well-meaning amateurs or because their establishment GOP opponents have enough conservative bona fides to satisfy conservative voters. Either way, the Tea Party will not split the GOP this year. The movement, though not as large as some like to portray it, is still a powerful force. The Tea Party is an indication of how heavy the voter turnout on the Republican side likely will be in November, regardless of who the GOP nominee might be for a given office. I keep reading media reports that try to portray some Tea Partiers as racist. They keep insisting that alleged racial slurs were hurled at certain members of Congress when the health care bill was being considered. Much media, like many Beltway insiders, are characterizing as a racist-inspired fringe element what is in fact a loud manifestation of anger and fear over taxes, government growth, and possible abridgements of future liberty and security. I don't buy it. The Tea Party may or may not be substantial enough to transform the GOP into a more conservative party. But my polling tells this: We are likely to see Republican primaries this year that will be contested as never before. And that means there could be an avalanche of Americans voting Republican in November. The Tea Party effort is both symbolic and a catalyst. It will end up spurring a rush of voter intensity the GOP hasn't seen since 1994. Oh, yes, I liked this town a lot in those days. Poster Comment: Yeah, that's it, elections will change things. /s
Matt Towery
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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#6. To: Eric Stratton (#0)
"Tea Party movement" is nothing but the "2 Party System" only a little mor angry. Two Party System members going to vote:
Where did you people ever get the idea that this was about voting? The only voting I hear advocated is voting for independent, non-party candidates, and that's only as a sidebar. The only people I hear screaming "go vote" are those trying, unsuccessfully, to insinuate themselves in the movement. The only people who buy this bullshit are the progressives/statists and the "lose at all costs" supposed liberty people on the internet. The liberty movement, or what is left of it, is so goddamned paranoid that it lashes out at foes and friends alike these days. You people seem dead set intent on losing. Do nothing, trust nobody, don't act, be quiet, accept fate, hunker down and polish your guns in your basement waiting for WW3; those are the messages I hear echoed more often than not these days from so called "pro freedom" people on the internet. You should be ashamed of yourselves, even pretending to advocate for human freedom.
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You fundamentally do not understand the anti-government protests I think (no offense intended). No movement, in history, starts out with people showing up with torches and hanging the emperor. None. There is always a period of build up of protests, sometimes years long, where people who were normally not active start showing up and voicing their discontent, which provides an impetus for education of even more people. This is exactly what is happening now, and every major event brings in more people. History shows that eventually this will hit a critical mass where action will in fact occur (or the government will back down knowing that their necks are not long for the noose). 1776 was preceded by years of "bitching and protesting" by peaceful people who didn't "shoot the bastards" despite ever tightening restraints by King George & Co. France's experience in 1787 was preceded by a long period of discontent, protests and anger by the population before Bastille day happened. This is not the Soviet model, people won't wake up next Monday and march shoulder to shoulder with pitchforks to lead their politicians to the guillotine. This is not short attention span theater, patience is required. If you want people to "recognize a dead corpse" then I fail to see why you'd consider people railing against this government as a bad thing. The passage of the Nazicare bill was a lesson, one of many I'd assume, where some in the movement went "wait...what?" and had that "it's dead Jim" moment, while more climbed on board who were not active before. Time. It takes time. Every rebuff by Obeyme and Company means more join the ranks, means more realize that they have no voice in the system because the system they knew was murdered, means more become even angrier and actually want to *do something* meaningful. If you want a 60 minute Made For Television movie version, you're probably out of luck. If you want every single anti-government protester to sign a pledge of philosophical purity, you're really out of luck and probably don't get that broad based movements can only by needs focus on one or two broad items (less government, no socialism, less taxes in this case). If you have a burr under your saddle about whomever is showing up to speak, then get off your butt, get outside, organize a rally yourself and do something about it other than criticize others sitting safely at home doing nothing. At least people are starting to do things now, and wake up to Leviathan. It doesn't matter a whit if it's "too late" according to you or anybody, human beings don't work according to schedules set by those on the sidelines who won't stand up and act. It just seems strange to me how utterly bent on defeat many so called "pro freedom" people are. Even at the beginning of the anti-government protests, when it was Ron Paul and a handful of folks, most here and other places were poo-pooing it. I suspect that most people are scared to death to be confronted with the reality of having to stand up for their beliefs and felt that they'd be safe spending their lives on the internet being electronic lions roaring at a digital ether.
#19. To: SonOfLiberty (#15)
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#13. To: SonOfLiberty (#8)
#15. To: Eric Stratton (#13)
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