Tea Fail Continues
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Needing something – anything – to offset President Obama and the Democratic party, the RNC has latched on to the Tea Party, the only movement on the right with anything resembling energy. The problem is that in addition to being a coalition of the nuttiest right-wingers, they are disorganized.
The national tea party movement has never had a central organization or single leader; in fact, it has boasted the opposite. But Tuesday’s primary results provided fresh evidence of the amorphous network’s struggle to convert activist anger and energy into winning results. Frustrated and lacking agreement on what to do next, self-identified tea party leaders say the movement may be in danger of breaking apart before it ever really comes together.
‘No one owns the tea party brand, and that’s kind of the problem,’ said Brendan Steinhauser, grass-roots director for FreedomWorks, which organizes tea party groups. ‘In Virginia — it breaks my heart. You’ve got six self-appointed tea party candidates and one establishment guy. You’re not going to beat the establishment guy in that situation.’
Who could have imagined that a coalition of Beck/Limbaugh worshippers would be dysfunctional?
58 Responses to “Tea Fail Continues”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
The party of anarchy has a hard time making rules or identifying a leader?
No one would ever have imagined that.
It is heartbreaking. (hands Brendan Steinhauser world’s tiniest handkerchief)
Reading Oliver , I get the idea that the Tea Party is two organizations: A dangerous, seditious and racist organization that is to be feared; and a weak, disorganized, failure of an insignificant organization.
Surely, it can’t be both?
Hehe, too funny Frank. Dysfunctional for a year and a half now.
If the Tea Parties were as weak, disorganized and dysfunctional as the nutroots’ efforts to marginalize them were, then there might be a story here.
A clown car without a driver.
Tragic.
I was under the impression Mark “call people faggot on my blog” Williams was the leader
I suspect the Democrats and their media lackeys are using up all their Anti – Palin ammo. After all, isn’t she a danger to the Republic, and a hopeless, hapless buffoon at the same time ?
I am getting closer to cheering “Run, Sarah, Run!”
Let’s just see 2010 turns out.
Actually Frank, we’re deathly afraid of her. Remember?
With great fear in my heart I also say “Run, Sarah, Run!”
Again, we’re scared to death of her homespun fearlessness.
Um, no one though GWB was a master of anything. Sorry. Hey, aren’t we never to speak of him again anyway?
Yes, we all fear a repeat of the overwhelming Tea Party victory just as happened last year in NY-23:
I didn’t realize that Oliver could create all news and opinion over at the Post. You are indeed powerful!
Palin does have a record of picking winners:
With unlimited funding of candidates now being law, power centers are going to mass fund establishment guys who will most likely do their bidding.
Once again, conservatives mindlessly backed a judicial decision which goes directly against their own interests.
I well remember the good old days when George W. Bush was either a master war criminal or an idiot,
Stop, you’re both right. Certs is a breath mint AND a candy mint!
Those are not mutually exclusive conditions.
Sorry for using such big words.
I’ve never heard that Bush was a master war criminal.
Heard that he was an over-ambitious puppet many times, though.
Teabaggers are getting their balls bitten off by Jonah Goldberg’s ‘government-corporate hegemony’, which got ignored by team conservatives at the time of the recent supreme court decision. And now it comes back to… well, you know.
…grass-roots director for FreedomWorks…
Do they even listen to themselves?
It’s a feature, not a bug. With no titular head, there’s no one to demonize, no one to run the Alinsky playbook against.
Oh, and Republicans don’t need “something, anything, to offset Obama”. Obama himself is providing all the ammunition we’ll ever need.
Another wingnut surprised people don’t take him seriously. In a tea party-related thread, no less.
No! You monster! Not THE ALINSKY PLAYBOOK!!!!!
After all, isn’t she a danger to the Republic, and a hopeless, hapless buffoon at the same time ?
With proper support, the latter can certainly be the former.
By all means, run Sarah run. It’s like taking liberal criticisms of George W. Bush (ignorant, non intellectually curious state governor who’s almost patronizingly folksy) and conservative criticisms of Obama (vacuous, inexperienced, pop culture phenom with shady connections) and making Voltron out of it.
I asked for the Alinsky Playbook at my local library and they didn’t know what I was talking about. Does this book actually exist outside of the teabagger “brain”?
“With no titular head, there’s no one to demonize, no one to run the Alinsky playbook against.”
Right, Farris, the only people who engage in demonization are Saul Alinsky followers (rols eyes).
Ugh,”(rolls eyes).”
It’s a proven fact that if you have to resort to quoting Keith Olbermann from Countdown to have a comeback for your argument, you’ve already lost.
Another reason this post is as silly as they come, DA; you guys crowed and burped at the fact that Sarah Palin endorsed a candidate on the actual day of the election, as if that made a difference for a woman, a black woman actually for whom you were whooping it up, who lost by a full 35 points. Kinda flies in the face of whatever it was KO was yammering about.
Now the creep is actually obsessing over her breast size and the loony left feeding frenzy over her rack. This woman has sent 90% of you into a serious mental imbalance that is getting almost into Andrew Sullivan and Joe McGinnis territory, if not already there.
Sickos.
daniel, I’ll agree with you here. I think most of you guys have no clue who Saul Alinksy is. I doubt if even scant few of you know his rules.
That doesn’t mean you don’t follow his rules though.
You do, just not wittingly.
Nutroots bloggers like it that way.
I am getting closer to cheering “Run, Sarah, Run!”
We’re way ahead of you on that score, Frank.
With no titular head, there’s no one to demonize
But we can make up for that with references to “a titular chicken with its titular head cut off”.
As we come up on the one year anniversary of Palin’s resignation as the governor of Alaska and 100% of the liberal commenters declaring her career dead and over, now is a good time to pause and reflect about just where she was then and where she is now.
Chris Matthews, having lost one thrill, seems to have found another:
“Sarah Palin is real.”
Today’s must read.
You should have Googled it.
I’ve been here a year. Links would help.
The closest I’ve ever heard or read of Bush being a master of anything, was John Dilulio’s “Mayberry Machiavelli” comment. But as I recall, he spoke well of Bush himself, while condemning the people surrounding Bush.
That reminds me, Alinsky Playbook meeting at the Che Guevara Clubhouse tonite at midnight. Dont be late.
Actually, I hope that Dennis’ teabag fantasy obsession’s career continues to overshadow that of the more serious conservative intellectuals. Like Beck. Or Malkin.
Her political career is dead and buried. Her wingnut welfare career is raking it in.
If she would just admit that this is the reason why she quit being governor, to cash in on her fleeting celebrity status, rather than some incoherent ‘only dead fish go with the flow’ narrative then I would actually give her some respect.
It’s ok to admit you want to make a lot of money based on your notoriety. I have no problem with that. It’d be nice to see her actually admit it.
Hey Dennis, if as Farris implies, one part of Alinsky’s playbook was “demonization,” then plenty of conservatives are unwitting Alinksyites too, LOL.
It’s a proven fact that if you have to resort to quoting Keith Olbermann from Countdown to have a comeback for your argument, you’ve already lost.</i
It's a proven fact that you have neither the cojones nor the brains to do more than troll here, Denise the Menace, and furthermore, in the immortal words of Dr. Peter Venkman:
So why all the fuss over my comment, Denise the Menace?
You really expect that after the Photoshop fiasco from last weekend, I’m ever going to take anything you write here, whether or not in defense of the Snowbillie, seriously?
Keep having your starburst moment, Dennis, and again, the ringing in your ears will soon stop, and then life will go on, as they say in the movies.
C’mon, Burn. Did Al Gore ever admit that he hung it up politically so he could cash in? The guy very easily could’ve come back and been the President in 2004, and maybe he’d still be the President now. He thought he could do more not being the president because it gave him more freedom to
hoodwinkdo the things he wanted to focus on. Palin would be in debt up to her eyeballs and stuck defending herself from idiotic and frivolous lawsuits that Dem operatives would be levelling against with reckless abandon. Now she has mobility and money.And a Facebook account that strikes like a bolt of lightning in the White House every time she posts something.
I don’t see how you guys can’t figure out it was the right move. She left Alaska in able hands, too. Win for her. Win for Alaska. Win for America. A veritable trifect-er.
Unlike GOP efforts to demonize the netroots in the last 8 years (net result: Obama is elected, Dems take House and Senate), the tea party stigmatizes itself. Liberals are often self-aware enough to know that not everyone thinks the same as them. Teabag nation thinks everyone gets a woody at the thought of the founding fathers and Glenn Beck.
Yeah, most Americans pretty much agree George W. Bush was a moron of the lowest caliber. No talking points required.
I promise to use my powers for good. Mostly.
Yes, that’s why depending on the week the big boogeyman switches.
Chris Matthews finds a new leg to hump. News at 11. She can joint McCain, Giuliani, and Obama in that club.
“Palin would be in debt up to her eyeballs and stuck defending herself from idiotic and frivolous lawsuits…”
I don’t get how this is supposed to be a good reason why she quit her gubernatorial position. Are non-governors/private citizens somehow immune from being hit with idiotic and frivolous lawsuits that they have to defend themselves against?
Jesus, Dennis. Why would Sarah need new boobs when she has two perfectly fine ones in you and Frank?
I concur Marco. Just another wingnut idiot.
Hey hey now. They’re not Anarchists, they’re Libertarians.
Which really translates to white, middle-aged anarchists with money.
War criminal, yes.
Master, not so much.
Bater, maybe.
Like Patton Oswalt said, can’t we just call it the Ball Sac in the Mouth Movement and get it over with already?
As a lifelong Democrat, I find it awkward to accuse another political movement of the sin of disorganization, but still: I have to say, I don’t think the real problem is that “No one owns the tea party brand”. My guess would be the random assortment of insane ideas and incoherent contradictory “policy” proposals, but that’s just me.
I guess though, that if your job is to be the “grass-roots organizer” for a major astroturfing organization, your biggest concern would be who owns the “brand.” Sheesh.
Last week, it was Fiorina and BP. Before that, it was Rand Paul. Before that, it was the Arizona Legislature. Before that, it was Palin, Steele, Limbaugh, Beck, et al. You guys have one playbook with two plays:
A: call them dumb
B: call them racist monsters
I’m predicting next week, it’ll be either Meg Whitmans or Nikki Haleys turn.
Fear and loathing in the Nutroots Nation.
All you need to know about this article on the current state of the
Tea Party Movement:
14,000 comments at the HuffPo…..
Didn’t you hear what the plastic surgeon said when Palin said she wanted to have two of the biggest boobies on the North American continent?:
“You already have Dennis and FrankDiSalle, there aren’t any any bigger boobies available for your support.”
Fear and loathing in the Nutroots Nation.
More like ROTFLOFAO after this bit of political polling done recently:
……………………………………………
As one of the commentators noted:
Yes, Palin has done absolutely nothing to address her serious shortcomings, and everything to reinforce what people dislike about her. I have no doubt that there are folks stroking that huge ego, therefore doing her a disservice. She does not believe or understand that “personality” without substance will not do the job.
Also:
Laughing at you, Dennis. You’ll figure it out one day.
That doesn’t come close to explaining the 14,000 comments, Marco. Just like here, at Huffpo you could pick any ten stories onObamatrina and you couldn’t count 14,000 comments. Go back over the posts here relating to the oil spill. See how many you have to get to to equal the number of posts on this thread hyperventilating about insignificant trivia. Pam Geller, Carly Fiorina, Sarah Palin….that’s what is on your mind and still what you want to discuss. The worst ecological disaster in this nation’s history happening on Obama’s watch? Not so much.
Like I said, all you need to know about this story is it seems to be what’s on every liberal’s mind right now.
Obamatrina? Call Frank Lutz. That needs to be catchier.
But you’re right, Dennis. I can’t explain 14,000 comments on Huffpo or the popularity of the Tea Party thread vs. any other oil spill spread there. I also cannot explain why more people watch American Idol versus News Hour, just so you know.
But you’ve got your narrative already in stone so it wouldn’t matter if i had an explanation anyway or busted down the tea party jokes vs. actual discussion vs. off topic goofing. We can’t deal with the reality of the Obama administration’s handling of the spill so the left bags on poor patriots who just want their country back.
Have it your way. I really could care less.
A high comment count usually indicates controversy within that thread. Historically, the impersonality of the internet invites troll – flame wars. Plus Huffpo is one of the most trafficked opinion websites out there, and one with a relatively lenient comment policy.
But I’m open to the possibility that Dennis is manning a crew of keyboard kommandos in his basement complex in a desperate attempt to persuade hard core liberals to use the phraseology “tea party” instead of “tea bagger”, and he’s bragging about it here.
Right, like you guys can’t be dumb racist monsters. Please.
Last week, it was Fiorina and BP. Before that, it was Rand Paul. Before that, it was the Arizona Legislature. Before that, it was Palin, Steele, Limbaugh, Beck, et al….you guys…call them racist monsters
Yipes, “racist monsters”. That’s pretty severe. When did that happen? By whom? Please list where all of the people you mentioned were so slandered (et al would be nice too). Thanks in advance. I wonder if any of those good citizens ever made silly accusations of racism (Limbaugh? Beck?). Maybe you could look into that too.
Also too: Last week, it was Fiorina and BP.
BP? You mean like British Petroleum? That BP? The BP that’s been in al the papers? You’re defending BP? Really? Knock yourself out, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have to.