’)
One of the major problems that we see time and time again with conservatism in its modern form is that the sort of thing that gets heads nodding on talk radio and Fox News is pretty insane in the real world. Last October the spectacle that the McCain campaign devolved into with the addition of Sarah Palin was regularly touted by the right as a sign of forward momentum, the screaming of “terrorist” and egging on by Sarah Palin’s “palling around” line and McCain’s howls of “socialism” were crazy to rational Americans, but perfectly logical in the conservative world.
The net effect of that mass hysteria on the right was an even larger electoral victory for the Democratic party.
There is the possibility that the right has again indulged its base instinct towards the paranoid style at the expense of serious dialogue and advancement of its cause (of course, that “advancement” usually means turning the clock back to a mythical 1950-something).
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, fresh off a rousing neighborhood meeting on health-care reform that ended with people chanting ‘just say no,’ said this morning he’s more resolved than ever to seek congressional approval of health-care reforms.
The Austin Democrat said people who attended the gathering Saturday morning at a South Austin grocery store first heard him talk about why he favors change and then he took questions. Doggett said he subsequently said he wanted to talk one on one with crowd members interested in other issues, but that proved impossible because of deafening chants of ‘just say no.’
Dogget continues:
Their fanatical insistence on repealing Social Security and Medicare is not just about halting health care reform but rolling back 75 years of progress. I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal.
America doesn’t do mob rule, especially when the black helicopter crowd is running the mob.
Flashback to this sort of thing becoming a Republican problem:
This Democratic implosion is awesome to witness.
Do any of your comments make sense? And do you do anything beyond sitting on the blog commenting. It’s the right that has been imploding from about October 2006-present, but still insisting Orwell-style that down is always up.
You shall see my friend. Reckoning is coming. Nov. 2010.
*Yawn*.
I hope you’re right OW. It’s frustrating we weren’t better prepared for this kind of mobilization, though.
America doesn’t do mob rule, especially when the black helicopter crowd is running the mob.
In a perfect world, all the hope-he-fails failures would be confined to an empty classroom until they write that sentence on the blackboard 100 times.
Nice little poll for Gabriel to contemplate as he witnesses the Democratic [ooh, thanks for the -ic, Gabe!] implosion.
“ooh, thanks for the -ic”
You’re welcome. I know you guys are sensitive.
Oh, and apparently “progress” in liberal lala land is how much of our lives the government controls. Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOLs7Cybnqw
Enjoy!
More crazy please, the last ones were delicious.
Love the Ron Paul sign at :11. Sort of says it all about how seriously they deserve to be taken.
Gabriel “Oh, and apparently “progress” in liberal lala land is how much of our lives the government controls. Awesome.”
Yes, start fighting against the incredibly popular Social Security and Medicare programs. That’s sure to win you some elections.
Thing is that the public option will end up being just as, if not more, popular. This has been shown in every other country that improves access to government run health care. So keep opposing it, keep sticking your head in the ground, and keep spending your days endlessly filling up OW’s comment sections Gabriel.
Conservatives are not anarchists, Michael. We’re not libertarians. We believe government serves a function within society. What we do not believe in is excessive government.
I would have asked him why should we want this plan when congress has explicitly exempted itself from it?
/double standards, they are full of them.
Gabriel “Conservatives are not anarchists, Michael. We’re not libertarians. We believe government serves a function within society. What we do not believe in is excessive government.”
Uh, what? Did I argue that? Did you even read my comment? Are you some sort of internet worm programmed to randomly compile comments on Oliver’s message board? Oh no, I just caused you to fail the Turing test. Sorry.
“What we do not believe in is excessive government.”
Like when Bush made the Fed bigger and more expensive than ever, with full approval from a GOP Congress?
There are plenty of reasons to mock the GOP, but for me the main thing is the sheer hypocrisy of a party that says they believe in smaller government, then makes it bigger, less effective, and more expensive than ever.
Thankfully, the majority of Americans agree with me and the GOP continues to shrink into little cesspools of hatred, bigotry, and resentment.
It’s beautiful to watch, because it means America has a much healthier future.
(And btw, Reagan raised taxes. So please spare me any talk of how Bush wasn’t a “real” conservative.)
It seems the increase in right-wing trolling on this site is always an indicator of how desperate they are.
Their attempts to physically intimidate legislators will only INCREASE that legislator’s resolve if he or she has even an ounce of courage.
America will wholeheartedly reject the backwards-thinking, progress-hating, childish extreme of the right-wing. They WILL do something so shockingly ugly that their cause will forever be cast down.
These “conservatives” think they’re winning the issue here.
Once again, they think they can go out barking “no to big gubmit” and “stop uh spendin’ ” and generally acting like they’re the default leaders of what they imagine to be a widespread teabag revolution.
In reality they look to most people like what they are — a bunch of jackasses.
But don’t listen to me — go out there and keep claiming victory in your teabag revolution and telling yourself that 2010 is done yor’n now ’cause the Republican Party of the Dixie Confederate Baptist Free Market Uprising is on the march to takin’ back what was yor’n.
What we do not believe in is excessive government.
No, just excessive commenting.
‘This Democratic implosion is awesome to witness.’
Majorities in the House and Senate and a Democratic President in the WH are signs of implosion?
Put down the crack pipe.
‘I hope you’re right OW. It’s frustrating we weren’t better prepared for this kind of mobilization, though.’
What you call mobilization appears to objective observers to be the rantings and desperate tactics of a party (the GOP) in total free fall; how else to explain the ridiculous plethora of grade school strategies like the Birther and Teaparty movements that simply reek of imbecility that are given credence and momentum by the MSM and Republican representatives large and small that have proven to be nothing more than paranoid obstructionists?
November 2011 will see even larger majorities in both houses for Dems, as the Right continues to act as though they had no part in the current political and financial environment which they allowed BushCo to create. Reality doesn’t just melt away for the vast majority of Americans who can remember all the way back to January 2001 and the aftermath of that fateful day when Dumbya ushered in an era of unbridled disaster.
‘Oh, and apparently “progress” in liberal lala land is how much of our lives the government controls. Awesome.’
No kidding; perhaps Obama should take credit for allowing illegal wiretaps and rendition as well as two failed wars and secret torture prisons.
More compassionate conservatism at work.
‘Enjoy!’
Wow; posting links to public freakouts is hardly supporting your position.
Unless your position is that everyone should just fucking freak out?
Oliver, it isn’t just electeds that this strategy is backfiring with. Case in point: our Congressman, Mike Thompson, participated in a “Community Forum” on Health Care Reform last night that was actually hosted by a coalition of local groups who have come together to promote this effort. Even though Thompson was just an invited guest and not the host, the local “tea baggers” treated it as if it was a Townhall being hosted by Thompson, instead.
This group, who — a fact confirmed by the direct and indirect acknowledgment of its leadership — also makes a regular habit of importing “extras” from out of the area to inflate the number of attendees at its local events in order to make it look like it has more “homegrown” support than it actually does, apparently has some “turncoats” operating in its midst or — perhaps — is simply composed of members who either just don’t care or otherwise lacked the wherewithal to implement their efforts to hijack this event and turn it into the circus from Hell without showing every card in their hand repeatedly over the last several days to folks who, once they knew what the members were up to, wanted to warn us to be ready for it. That somehow led me to joining a team of others at this event that was tasked with trying to keep as tight a lid as possible on those folks.
It seemed to me as though they were alienating just about everybody there with their rude, bullying, and obnoxious behavior except perhaps the other like-minded members of their cohort that were also present. They mostly managed to look to everyone else to be exceedingly ill-mannered, equally as ill-informed, and overwhelmingly racist and xenophobic in composition, as well. (They pissed me off so badly that my adrenaline level was still elevated to the point that I couldn’t get to sleep for several hours after I got home last night, despite the fact that I was totally exhausted.) But in so doing, they managed to substantially fortify my resolve to help move this bill toward a successful end; frankly there is not a single thing that I can think of that could otherwise have occurred last night that could have come even remotely close to inspiring the level of commitment that I now have toward this cause as did their grating “dog and pony” show. And I was one of many who responded in similar fashion to the unrelenting “shenanigans” that they forced us all to endure for three painful hours until it was finally over.
I have a sneakin’ suspicion that this strategy more broadly applied is going to end up just as poorly received by the broader audience as it was at our individual local event last night. Now wouldn’t that be some deliciously just desserts?
There is the possibility that the left has again indulged its base instinct towards socialism at the expense of serious dialogue and advancement of its cause (of course, that “advancement” usually means turning the clock back to a mythical 1960-something).
<i."This Democratic implosion is awesome to witness.
Implosion?
Tea Baggers.
Birthers.
Christian Right.
Sarah Palin.
-You’d be lucky if your next “Uniter” is Jim Jones.
p.s. When your blog’s newest post is “Another excellent column by Thomas Sowell”, well.. hate to tell you, but at reached Camp Incurious, you’re not just a day-tripper, you’re Activities Director.
So, if it’s astroturfed, who’s behind it?
That’s the scary part of this whole thing, to those who fear it — there aren’t really any recognizable leaders. It really is a popular movement, in the literal sense.
As opposed to those pro health care rallies, coordinated by ACORN (or whatever they’re calling themselves these days). People whose full-time job is “organizing” stuff like this.
At least one of those “Scumbags Formerly Known As ACORN” rallies was overwhelmed by Tea Party ralliers.
Of course, I could be wrong about the astroturfing. After all, the King of the Astroturfers, David Axelrod, is in the White House, and if anyone oughta be able to spot a really, really good astroturfing movement, it’d be him…
J.
So, if it’s astroturfed, who’s behind it?
Try here.
Hey, PD, I read the article. It cites a memo put out by a “volunteer” — which usually means he’s NOT paid. It outlines TACTICS — which could apply to pretty much any cause.
In brief, that covers the “how” — but not the “what” or “why.”
Possibly because there’s no need to “astroturf” the message? Possibly because there are a lot of people who’ve come to the same conclusion without needing some astroturfer (such as, say, those who fund Think Progress) to give them their message of the day?
I would feel quite comfortable in saying that the vast majority of those confronting these congresscritters are constituents of said critters — and therefore, by definition, entitled to give him or her a piece of their mind. Indeed, it’s practically a duty.
J.
Brownshirt tactics are all the unhinged wingnut mob has left.
Send a bunch of dittohead idiots into congressional meetings to scream and yell and disrupt the event because they cant argue on their ideas, since they have none.
They don’t want a reasoned debate or discussion, the goal is to simply make a mess of the place so nothing gets accomplished. Fucking children, the lot of them.
Please, keep this up, wingnuts. This is such a pathetic, desperate tactic because it shows you clearly have lost the debate if all you can do is try and prevent one from even taking place.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/anti-reform-group-takes-credit-for-helping-gin-up-town-hall-rallies/
Yea, sounds like a group of ‘concerned constituents’ to me…
These little outbursts are totally 100% scripted and staged deliberately. These assholes even admit it!
“It outlines TACTICS — which could apply to pretty much any cause.”
From the memo:
“Just imagine what we can achieve if we see to it that every Representative in the nation who has supported the socialist agenda has a similar experience!”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a strategy used to win over the zoning board for that much needed Hardee’s.
In brief, that covers the “how” — but not the “what” or “why.”
FreedomWorks chair, Dick Armey, is also on the law firm of DLA Piper -who recently got a nice 1.3 million from Medicines Co.
That’s a start.
Everything is “astroturfed”. Keep telling yourselves that. At least people actually show up to our rallies, unlike the 12 washed up hippies that show up to anti war protests, and moveon.org’s crazy shit. Absolutely nuts.
You people are just strange.
12 washed up hippies that show up to anti war protests
As much as I dislike protests, at least when the left did it we didn’t need a bunch of right wing lobbyists to tell us to put our left foot, then right foot…
unlike the 12 washed up hippies that show up to anti war protests,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
i luv the democrats getting a taste of there own medicine
As much as I dislike protests, at least when the left did it we didn’t need a bunch of right wing lobbyists to tell us to put our left foot, then right foot…
Of course you didn’t have lobbyists for that. You have “community organizers” to do that. Remember ACORN leading those tours of the homes of the bankers in Connecticut?
J.
And just to get away from ACORN, how about all those anti-war protests put together by those fine folks at International ANSWER? You can usually tell them by the hammer and sickle and red stars they wear so proudly…
J.
“You can usually tell them by the hammer and sickle and red stars they wear so proudly…
Really? How about the beat down they gave to those counter-protesters?
The death threats made to 15 year old children, maybe?
Equivalencies, meh.
at least people actually show up to our rallies
Tea Party 2 dude!
Hey Jay, care to comment on the Socialist medical care that I paid for that saved your life?
Gabriel McKee, you truly have no connection to reality. Confirming my hypothesis that you’re just an auto-troll.
Not really, Jaim. Fuck off. Like snakes and slugs, you have no leg to stand on.
PD, I was talking about the ANSWER featured in this article:
http://www.laweekly.com/2002-11-07/news/behind-the-placards
You know, the whole organization. Not individual assholes like you cited.
J.