The PCTC Blog

DC Teabaggers Make the Founding Fathers Laugh From Their Graves

Apparently, the teabagging isn’t going so well, at least in DC. Fox News’ Publicity Department should be ashamed…

First off, some genius thought the initial idea, to dump 1 million teabags in the Potomac River, was a good idea on some level. Now, anyone with a pulse would have to admit it was a pretty goddamn stupid idea to pollute a river as a political protest, especially since the government would probably have to pay for the cleanup. Have you seen the Potomac River? It’s better than it was when I was a kid, but it’s still not all that clean, so polluting the river with a million teabags wasn’t going to fly, especially as a protest of government spending. Oddly, they had to cancel when they found out such an act would be illegal. Who could have ever imagined that, huh?

So, according to The Washington Post, the right wing geniuses who thought polluting a river to make a point was a slamming idea, decided to move the protest to Lafayette Park, which is the park directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. That plan involved the dumping of the same million teabags (why a million? I've never figured that one out...) on the ground and yell at them or something. Well, the truck showed up at the park, and started unloading the teabags, but it turned out they didn’t have a permit -- (What? You need a permit to dump a million teabags in a public park? What is this, Russia?), so they sent to truck off to who knows where, and the 1500 or so protesters “braved” the spring rain to express their displeasure at… um… what exactly?

Arthur Delaney of The Huffington Post was there, and provides the following quote, which is priceless.

"I'm here to protest the spending and the taxes and the government running the private affairs of private industries," said Steve, 51, a computer programmer who took the day off to drive from Northern Virginia and pay "a big chunk of money" to park in a downtown garage. "I'm here to protest the bailing out of companies when they should be going bankrupt."

So, let’s get this straight. A computer programmer, who makes his living on machines that were largely created and improved using government research and investment money is protesting the use of government money to support commerce? Also, how stupid do you have to be to pay $18-20 for parking (which is what it costs around there), when there is a Metro Station right next to Lafayette Park and two others within two blocks in either direction, with both train lines going to and from Northern Virginia, and costing less than $3 each way?

Did I tell you these righties aren’t very bright?

I’m not going to comment on the sign this asshole was carrying., except to note that the extent of right wing "cleverness" seems to be their mass adoption of “Urkel,” the iconic nerd from “Family Matters” to refer to Barack Obama. Sad, isn’t it?Bush looked more like Urkel than Obama does, except for the color of his... now... wait a minute...

The teabaggers also wanted to hold a second protest in front of the Treasury Building – which seems somewhat pointless, given that the Treasury Building is next to the White House, and adjacent to Lafayette Park, but that idea was scotched by the Secret Service. As most who protest near the White House know, protests there are usually forbidden, because it’s too close to the White House service entrance.

Of course, to top off this crapper of a day, apparently one of the protesters wasted a bunch of federal security money, by throwing an empty box over the damn White House fence. So the Secret Service have to clear the area, and use a robot to figure out it was nothing.

So, the net result of the DC teabagger? Nothing was accomplished, about 1500 people (or fewer) spent some time in the rain wishing they had some tea, and they wasted thousands of extra federal security dollars, just so they can bitch about a tax bill that has actually gone down under Obama or, in the case of one computer programmer, to bitch about government money, when his entire job exists because of past government spending…

When the right wing can’t waste money, as they have for the last 28 years, they just waste time…

Teabagging for Profit Once Made a Person a… Never Mind…

You know, when you look at the right wing “teabagging” episodes happening all over the country today, you really can't do anything but laugh. Here, we have a bunch of extremely rich, authoritarian morons asking middle- and working-class people to protest in mass numbers against a tax increase on the rich amounting to 3% of the amount over $250,000. And he's moronic clowns -- the viewers of Fox news -- are gladly taking to the streets in favor of something that hasn't happened yet and may not actually ever happen, under the guise of mimicking the glorious American Revolution. Of course, the issue during the revolution wasn’t the “taxation” part, but rather the “without representation” part. But let’s leave their “revolutionary” ignorance for another column, shall we?

This is just another example of why I consider neocons to be extremely stupid. They can call liberals any name they want, but the fact of the matter is, you'll never catch a liberal protesting something that doesn't exist, may not exist, it doesn't affect most of the people. Those of you who have been reading this blog for a really long time know that I happen to think that the liberal side of the ideological spectrum is too often politically dumb as a post, but the fact of the matter is, we are at least educated enough to know when someone's yanking our chain for their own benefit.

The right wing would have you believe that all of these teabagging parties are a “grassroots" movement of sorts. But if you look really closely at the people organizing this thing, it's hard to find one who isn't already a millionaire, or in the case of Rupert Murdoch, a billionaire. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey (did anyone even suggest to Dick Armey that associating his name with something called “teabagging” was sure to get more people tittering than enraged?) By design, people like that can’t start a “grassroots movement.”

See, there's something you right wingers should know; in order to conduct a grassroots movement, you kind of need grass roots. You know, like regular people. You’d have to get your “base” to put down their AM radios, their Skoal and their NASCAR programs long enough to care about something that really matters. The impetus has to come from the people, not from a bunch of millionaires who want to save a few tax dollars, while they stick it to everyone else.

This is a Fox News publicity stunt, and nothing more. They have promoted this ad nauseum for several weeks, and they have made this an” us versus them” type of an issue. You see, when only a few hundred people show up in a few dozen cities, and no one in the "mainstream media" covers it, Fox news will be able to rally the troops, and say the mainstream media just doesn't care about the idiots who watch their channel. In other words, Fox viewers, your favorite channel is hosing you. They are once again treating you as little children who are too stupid to know what's best for you. Once more, the leadership of the right-wing treats the right-wing rank-and-file as a bunch of brain-dead idiots.

Of course, why wouldn't they?

One of the things I like to point out when talking about protests, even when liberals do so, is the relative ignorance of many of the protesters. I remember one time, many years ago, when that day of a job interview in Washington DC coincided with one of the myriad World Bank protests that happen every year on certain days. Because the subway was crowded and it was a nice day, I decided to walk to my interview. So there I was, wearing a dark suit and feeling playful, so I started asking protesters I passed what they were protesting. No one could really tell me.why they were there. Essentially, they were present for a social event; they were there because they felt like they were supposed to be there, even though they had no idea why. Most were dressed as pseudo-hippies, but you could tell by their electronics and the SUVs they were driving that they were a bunch of rich kids. bored out of their skulls and looking for something to do. Now, call me crazy, but if you're going to protest something, at least know what you're protesting

Imagine my surprise when the idiotic far right wing lost their political power and their leadership adopted the same moronic tactics that out of power liberals have been using for years and years. It’s almost a natural. The one difference is, as wrong-headed as liberal protesters can be much of the time,

If you look at the tea parties that are supposedly happening today, there are two issues. The main issue is taxes. Essentially, these idiots have been asked to protest taxes that haven’t been passed yet and which, when passed, will cost those making over $250,000 in extra 3%, but only 3% of the amount over $250,000. They don’t seem to have noticed that the recent stimulus package passed by Congress and signed by President Obama actually reduced taxes on 95% of the American people. How receptive do you think Americans in general will be to such a so-called grass-roots movement when most of them are seeing a tax decrease.

The second item of protest is government spending, which is a real hoot. This portion of the protest is wholly ironic, given the fact that these same people have run the government for most of the last 28 years, and increased the national debt from approximately $1 trillion in 1980, to approximately $11 trillion now. The only time the federal budget decreased in size during the last 28 years was during the Clinton administration. And as soon as Clinton left office, and the neocons ran the whole show, they proceeded to spend like drunken sailors for eight years. Not only did they spend the country into oblivion,; they also refused to regulate financial institutions, who proceeded to rape the treasury for all that they could. Now, three months into a new administration, and at a time when the economy is in freefall because of their insanity; NOW, they suddenly take up the mantle of fiscal responsibility. Complete silence, absolute complicity, and even argumentative support for absolute fiscal irresponsibility for eight years, and now, they’re worried about our children and grandchildren.

You know, one of the great traditions in American history has been the tradition of protest. I am not faulting right-wing morons for actually protesting things they feel are wrong. But I am laughing at them for allowing themselves to be led around by the nose by a people who truly wish to screw them, and not in a good way.

“Teabagging” is not a news story, it’s a publicity stunt. Fox News has created an event to keep its audience from leaving in greater numbers, and they’ve disguised it as a “grassroots” movement. To expect other news organizations to cover that would be akin to expecting Fox News to cover an MSNBC-sponsored event, which isn’t very likely.