"Just as was foretold, Tea party extremists gaining political ground"
Foretold by whom? A bunch of leftist who want to maintain a Democratic majority? Republicans who are afraid of losing what little power they have? Your title could as easily been "Just as foretold, Obama's economic policies are a disaster". This nebulous tea party movement is despised by both major parties because it threatens the existing power structure. Continually defaming the grass roots movement is one way to neutralize this threat. Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having ones opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness. - Mary Frances Berry Mary Frances Berry <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Frances_Berry> can see it clearly and she is as liberal as the day is long. And then there is the threat of actually having to deal with tea party success. See what a former Republican big wig has to say: We dont need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples. As soon as they get here, we need to co-opt them. - Trent Lott Classify the whole tea party movement as racist or violent is akin to calling the whole democratic party racist or murders based on Robert Byrd's actions or Ted Kennedy's actions. It's not going to stop people with agenda's of protecting a broken status quo from continuing to do so. "They threaten violence, they threaten to overthrow the government to take back 'their' country and say that under the constitution they have that right; they traffic in racism; they called the President of the United States a Communist; they attack homosexuals...you need me to go on?" Yes. I need you to post proof of a tea party platform that supports these things. You seem to ignore that many tea parties have blacks, Hispanics, and gays in attendance to go along with the gun nuts and isolationists. What do they all have in common? They are tired of same old shit in DC every year regardless of party. The only platform I can find is the "Contract From America": 1. *Identify constitutionality of every new law*: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%) 2. *Reject emissions trading*: Stop the "cap and trade" administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. (72.20%) 3. *Demand a balanced federal budget*: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%) 4. *Simplify the tax system*: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words the length of the original Constitution. (64.9%) 5. *Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality*: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%) 6. *Limit annual growth in federal spending*: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%) 7. *Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010*: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%) 8. *Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy*: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%) 9. *Reduce Earmarks*: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%) 10. *Reduce Taxes*: Permanentlyrepeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%) J - No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. - Mark Twain The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy. - Thomas Jefferso ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:325940 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
