"Dangerous, violent, menacing, threatening, monstrous, paranoid, extremism, pouring more and more gasoline on the flames, far beyond politics as usual, crossing the line". [Might I add, it's just plain scary!]
In case there are any residual doubts about how bad the tea partiers have been treated, here are the Top Five ways the left and the media have abused a grassroots movement. The coverage has been so hateful and so biased, it was almost impossible to narrow the list. Here they are in reverse order, just in time for the big tea party events April 15: Click here to read more.
SCHULTZ: Tell me a Democrat who's thrown a brick through a window, who has also recently threatened families and also left messages about how you're gonna die. Tell me who those people are on the left right now?
The vandalism was discovered this morning by staff at the GOP’s Fix Michigan Center office, according to state GOP spokesperson Jennifer Hoff. No one was injured when the large, storefront window was smashed, she said. The office is located in a strip mall on Grand River Avenue, the main drag through Howell.
Michigan Republican Party Chief of Staff Josh Venable called it a politically motivated act.
“This type of reckless vandalism has no place in our democracy. While those who oppose us have resorted to throwing bricks, Michigan Republicans remain steadfast in our mission to fix Michigan,” Venable said in prepared statement.
County GOP Chairwoman Rachel Schoenewald arrived at the office in the Albemarle Square shopping center Friday morning to find two windows shattered and a third partially damaged.
“Hopefully, everyone will conduct themselves as community members and that this violence does not escalate or continue,” she said.
The county’s GOP headquarters also serves as the district office of Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle. Schoenewald declined to blame any particular group, but noted that people are angry on both sides of the political spectrum.
Today, a two-count complaint and warrant was filed charging Norman Leboon with threatening to kill United States Congressman Eric Cantor and his family, and threatening to kill Congressman Eric Cantor, who is an official of the United States, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jan Fedarcyk. As set forth in the affidavit to the complaint and warrant, in or about late March, 2010, Leboon created and then transmitted a YouTube video to Google over the internet, in which he threatened to kill Congressman Cantor and his family. No harm came to the Congressman or his family as a result of Leboon's threats.
Oh, and he's an Obama donor, and a Muslim, but you won't hear that from the MSM. They love to point out Christian radicals and label people as Republicans or Tea Partiers, but for some reason, they like to leave out details when it pertains to attacks ON conservatives. (Update: They are now saying the DNC will give his donations to charity.)
The fight has taken a toll on his wife, who has disconnected the phone in their home to avoid harassment.
“All the phones are unplugged at our house — tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won’t watch TV,” Stupak said during an hourlong interview with The Hill in his Rayburn office. “People saying they’re going to spit on you and all this. That’s just not fun.”
Stupak has become a nationally known figure because of his demands for tough language in healthcare legislation to prevent any federal subsidies from being used for abortion services. “How’s it been? Like a living hell,” Stupak said.
This was from Democrats, members of his own party.
ISTOOK: I've received death threats. I had a man go to prison for threatening to kill me and dismember me.
SCHULTZ: Democrats are not, Ernest, tell me, tell me a Democrat ...
ISTOOK: I did not get my threats from the right, I got them from the left. They threatened to kill me.
ISTOOK: Like I said, Ed, a man went to prison for threatening to kill me because I would not vote to legalize marijuana. That wasn't coming from the right.
And how does Ed conclude the interview?
SCHULTZ: I don't have to read anything, I've got my own show, Ernest. I'm sorry, I have to apologize to my audience tonight. This was not the way this interview was supposed to go. But you know, this is how the righties operate. You know, they can't even give good commentary without attacking.
The Liberal media labeled Joseph Stack, the 53-year-old software engineer who piloted the plane that slammed into an IRS building in Austin a cosnervative, ignoring all evidence to the contrary.
How about the Pentagon shooter John Patrick Bedell, the media claiming he was a raving right winger “with virulent antigovernment feelings. Problem was, he was a registered Democrat, and Bush and a 9/11 truther.
The latest is the *deranged right wing teabagger* who rammed a car merely for having an Obama bumper sticker. Also ignored in the story are the facts that Harry Weisiger's wife died of brain cancer last month, he retired recently and is known as a loving father, and no political affiliations. He has not made a campaign contribution since 1980 (to a local R candidate). He had been drinking. And the driver of the other car, Mark Duren, claims to know that he could tell, by looking through his rear view mirror (?) that Weisiger was pointing to a bumper sticker?
Harry says Mark slammed on his breaks, which caused him to rear end him. Mark admits "he applied his brake, and the SUV smashed into the back of his car."
Hmmm... as a skeptic I might think that Duren, knowing he is at least partly at fault (for slamming on his breaks with his daughter in the car) concocted this bumper sticker story to deflect attention?
In the wake of the attack, Duren was dismayed to see an equally furious tone seep onto the Democratic blogs and message boards. People called Weisiger a lunatic, and worse, and began to dig into his background, searching for dirt.
"I believe what he did was terrible, endangering me and my daughter," he said. "But to call this man they don't know a lunatic, it just seems a little bit much.
Harry's home address has been posted everywhere online, as well, with threats attached.
And after ALL the attacks, violent images, and hate speech directed at Sarah Palin, she is now getting blamed for influencing violence? Are you frickin kidding me?
And in case you missed my earlier posts about liberal media lies and smears, here and here and here and here and here and here...
So yes Ed, it has happened on both sides. But I ask, who's been lying, indeed.
"Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin there in Searchlight, Nev., was the backyard of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, but today it's the backdrop of this Tea Party Express - making a stop here," Whitfield said. "Hundreds of people, at least dozens of people - we haven't gotten a count of how many people turned out there."
Considering how CNN reporters have faired on Jeopardy, and that The Cartoon Network beats them in the ratings, I am not surprised CNN's Fredericka Whitfield thinks this crowd looks like "at least dozens of people"....
The most trusted name in news? I think not.
Left Coast Rebel has some awesome pics from the event here!
After news of the alleged spit was reported, the media began their screams and cries of racism and painted every single person alive who calls themselves a "tea partier" as a homophobic, hateful, racist, and charged them with inciting violence. (even though there has never been any violence - except towards the tea partiers - unlike the anti-war protesters and WTO protesters on the left.)
There have been three videos floating around for a few days - none showing any spitting, and no racials slurs could be heard, either. (And even if one whack job loon did yell something, is it really fair to call ALL the protesters racist? There are loons and haters in every group, and you can't weed them all out.)
So far, no spit and no racist name calling, no?
Left Coast Rebel found a new video, this one shows the alleged event, at the 1:23 mark.
So, some guy, while screaming "Kill the Bill" let's fly some spittle, and suddenly 30,000 people are hateful racists? He pulled a Tingles Matthews, and spittle flew out while he was screaming. He didn't "spit" on Cleaver. (In case you have never watched Chris Matthews, he has a habit of spewing spittle when he gets excited.) Does that look like a *spit* to you?
And how strange that when Cleaver came back with the police officer, he couldn't even identify the guy... I thought he was "arrested" according to those in the media? (Even though the police said no arrests were made in this incident. There were seven arrests made at the anti-war rally the same day.) Maybe all white people look alike to Cleaver?
It was a tense scene outside a meeting of Democratic lawmakers as a 100 or so protesters chanted "kill the bill," and one man launching a homophobic slur at Rep. Barney Frank.
Frank, who is gay, was leaving the Longworth House Office Building when a man yelled a charged homophobic slur at the Massachusetts lawmaker.
Other protesters quickly admonished the shouter, with one woman yelling back, "We don't need that."
Why didn't anyone else report that the guy was admonished for yelling out that ugly comment?
Also, some people (even some of my *friends* on Facebook) have called the tea partiers hateful because of *their* "God Hates Fags" signs. Tea Partiers are not the ones responsible for bringing those signs to events, and the wackos who are, are yelled at when they show up somewhere. They are from this group, Westboro Baptist Church, an extremist anti-Semitic, anti-gay independent church based out of Topeka, Kansas. They are the ones who protest at military funerals - trust me, they are not liked by Conservatives. (You might recall that CPAC just booed a guy off stage for his anti-gay rant.)
It seems Newsbusters and I were on the same page today:
The Media's Myth of Right Wing Violence There is a disturbing chill in the air according to the leftist media. Threats of violence and rumor of murder are taking center stage instead of reporting legitimate public outrage about the passage of Obamacare. You need not click far online to hear another person refer to Glenn Beck as "dangerous", yet they can never claim specifically why. Despite their rhetoric, the media refuses to follow up with what makes a man, who has spent hours just this year begging people to remain peaceful, so obscenely dangerous.
Glaringly obvious in this latest round of reports is that there are no specific examples of alleged threats of violence cited. I can only find one specific threat that caused the FBI to swoop in and ask a speaker to wear a bullet-proof vest on the tip that the speaker would be gunned down by an assassin. But that speaker was Glenn Beck.
It was not the fear of conservative violence that caused Ann Coulter's speech to be cancelled this week.
It was a liberal who bit the finger off a man who disagreed with him on healthcare.
It was Obama-loving Amy Bishop who took a gun to work and murdered co-workers.
Joseph Stack flew his plane into the IRS building after writing an anti-conservative manifesto.
It was liberals who destroyed AM radio towers outside of Seattle.
It's liberals who burn down Hummer dealerships.
It was progressive SEIU union thugs who beat a black conservative man who spoke his mind.
It's doubtful that a conservative fired shots into a GOP campaign headquarters.
In fact, Democrats have no monopoly on having their offices vandalized.
Don't forget it was Obama's friend Bill Ayers who used terrorism as a tool for political change. SDS is still radical, with arrests in 2007 and the storming of the CATO Institute in July 2008.
It was a liberal who was sentenced to two years for bringing bombs and riot shields to the Republican National Convention in 2008.
It was a liberal who threatened to kill a government informant who infiltrated her Austin-based group that planned to bomb the RNC.
It was liberals who assaulted police in Berkeley.
It was liberals who intimidated and threw rocks through the windows of researchers.
The two Black Panthers who stood outside polls intimidating people with nightsticks were probably not right-wingers.
Every time the G20 gets together, it's not conservatives who destroy property and cause chaos.
And just last week, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) on Thursday was quoted describing the level of pressure upon him and his fellow pro-life Democrats to pass the health care bill as "a living hell."
"How's it been? Like a living hell," Stupak told the newspaper, describing how his district offices have been "jammed" with strong feedback, much of it from non-constituents, over his opposition to the massively abortion-expanding bill.
The vitriol has even affected his home life, said the Michigan Democrat, who described the measures his wife has taken to block out the anger that is being directed at her husband. "All the phones are unplugged at our house - tired of the obscene calls and threats. She won't watch TV," he said. "People saying they're going to spit on you and all this. That's just not fun."
Despite the enormous pressure, the former state trooper indicated he wasn't about to budge. "I'm pretty stubborn," said Stupak.
"Left-wing blogs have made much of the death of Bill Sparkman, a Kentucky census worker found asphyxiated next to a tree (to which he was tied) in eastern Kentucky. Based on a ”unsubstantiated claim that ‘fed’ was ’scrawled’ on his chest,” they’re convinced “every outspoken conservative activist and advocate for limited government” are responsible for “a murder that has yet to be determined a murder.”
'We condemn political violence in virtually all circumstances; certainly in all circumstances that could arise in our democracy. Threats of violence, sadly, are not uncommon in politics; let alone "harassment." Even insignificant conservatives like us have been threatened with violence on several occasions, and the linked article notes that Jim Bunning received threats after he temporarily held up the extension of unemployment benefits a few weeks ago."
Even little ol' me used to wake up every morning to death threats and worse. Vile hateful comments left on my blog, during the primary, because I supported Hillary, and opposed Obama.
Anyway, you get the picture. The media has been on a mission - smear the Right as violent, homophobic, racists. MSNBC has been working overtime - and thankfully, as demonstrated by their downward spiraling ratings - the majority of people aren't buying the hate they are selling. The Cartoon network has higher ratings than MSNBC or CNN!
Oh, one more thing - did you hear about the two "racist right wingers" who threatened the POTUS with twitter? First of all, this is disgusting, and they should be thrown in jail. Secondly, how many of the left wing sites happen to mention that these "racist right wingers" were black? They all managed to find this quote, "Earlier today, self-described conservative blogger Solomon "Solly" Forell posted a tweet that included a call for assassination." but somehow managed to leave off the part about him being a self described African American. Don't you think, based on the comments, that people assumed they were white? And did you read how hateful they were towards ALL tea partiers, blaming the "white, racist teabaggers" for these two idiots tweeting threats?
Isn't this lovely - Mark Knoller from CBS calling Tea Party patriots an offensive name...
I don't care what your feelings are about health care reform, or the war, but we should all be glad that people actually care, and get involved. We should not be a nation of sheep that sits back and allows any government to spend trillions of dollars, or launch a war, without even lifting a finger in protest. There is supposed to be a checks and balances within the government, and it is our job to check the government. How else would we have found out about all the secret special deals within the health care reform bill?
Cleaver told me: "I said to this one person, 'You spat on me.' I thought he was going to say, 'Hey, I was yelling. Sorry.' But he continuing yelling and, for a few seconds, I pointed at him and said, 'You spat on me.' "
"I would prefer to believe that the man who allowed his saliva to hit my face was irrational for a moment," Cleaver said.
Hey lame stream media, are you KIDDING me?!
"I know how the "tea party" people feel, the anger, venom and bile that many of them showed during the recent House vote on health-care reform. I know because I want to spit on them, take one of their "Obama Plan White Slavery" signs and knock every racist and homophobic tooth out of their Cro-Magnon heads. ~ Courtland Milloy, Washington Post
The media launched the most vile, violent attacks on tea partiers because the guy got a couple specks of spittle on him? Which he even admitted! Why was he SO offended anyway? He knew it was an accident. What is he, a racist?
One of the main talking points of ObamaCare is that it would increase competition and drive down insurance costs, however, this is precisely an area that the government had forbidden such competition. Thru unintended consequences of the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, the regulation of health care insurance was left to the states. The consequence of this was that it lent itself to an anti-trust exemption within each state. Only insurance companies licensed in the state are able to operate within the state leading to no measure of price protection or real competition to drive the price of premiums down.
Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.
Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.
Under the new law, insurance companies still would be able to refuse new coverage to children because of a pre-existing medical problem, said Karen Lightfoot, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the main congressional panels that wrote the bill Obama signed into law Tuesday.
However, if a child is accepted for coverage, or is already covered, the insurer cannot exclude payment for treating a particular illness, as sometimes happens now. For example, if a child has asthma, the insurance company cannot write a policy that excludes that condition from coverage. The new safeguard will be in place later this year.
Full protection for children would not come until 2014, said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, another panel that authored the legislation. That's the same year when insurance companies could no longer deny coverage to any person on account of health problems.
Obama's public statements have conveyed the impression that the new protections for kids were more sweeping and straightforward.
Makes one think that no one actually read the bill...
But in a city that lost more than 200 restaurants in the past 4 years, critics say the extra expense is costing jobs and revenue San Francisco can't afford. What's more, the local restaurant lobby, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, has filed suit, claiming the "employer mandate" violates federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court is now deciding whether to hear the case.
I thought this was a very interesting interview this morning.
The Firedoglake health care team has been covering the debate in congress since it began last year. The health care bill will come up for a vote in the House on Sunday, and as Nancy Pelosi works to wrangle votes, we’ve been running a detailed whip count on where every member of Congress stands, updated throughout the day.
We’ve also taken a detailed look at the bill, and have come up with 18 often stated myths about this health care reform bill.
Real health care reform is the thing we’ve fought for from the start. It is desperately needed. But this bill falls short on many levels, and hurts many people more than it helps.
A middle class family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay $5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities, this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income — out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit card and other debt, child care and education costs, in addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical expenses for which families will be responsible. Many families who are already struggling to get by would be better off saving the $5,243 in insurance costs and paying their medical expenses directly, rather than being forced to by coverage they can’t afford the co-pays on.
When President Obama took office, he famously aspired to be the leader in administrative transparency, but now he finds himself struggling to enforce it within his own government.
In fiscal year 2009, 17 major governmental agencies refused to release information, claiming legal exemptions, 466,872 times, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the previous year, according to a review of requests conducted by The Associated Press. In 2008, the government refused 312,683 requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, AP reported.
The AP examined the 2008 and 2009 budget year FOIA reports from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs; the Environmental Protection Agency; and the Federal Reserve Board.
One example includes the Federal Aviation Administration's initial denial in releasing information regarding incidents on plane-bird collisions, which the FAA eventually relented on. There was also the infamous Air Force One photo op over New York City, which stirred memories of September 11th, 2001 among the unsuspecting public. The FAA denied information requests on the incident, as well, citing exemptions to FOIA.
The frequency with which departments have used exemptions to deny information requests runs contrary to the example the President asked its departments to set at the outset.
On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration has "delivered" on its promise to make government more transparent, but a new study released the same day concluded the administration is "falling short" of its promise.
No: 466,872 times, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the previous year...
So, how's that hopey, changey, transparency stuff working out for ya?
You just have to love quotes like this, considering Obama was supposed to be all *new and shiny* and change from the past eight years:
SHUSTER: Kill the bill! Tea partiers are going nuts over the process Nancy Pelosi may use to pass the bill even though it's the same process Republicans used when they were in power.
How many times is the Obama White House going to use the excuse - "Well Bush did it too!"??
I have been planning on writing another post about the Coffee Party, but after reading a post from Left Coast Rebel about CNN and their coverage of the Coffee Party, I pretty much wrote what I intended to say in my post, as a comment. So, I just decided to post the comment here.
It is quite easy to sit and drink a coffee with like minded people, and avoid conflict. The problems arise when people try to actually get something accomplished, and are smeared and/or ignored and attacked for their actions.
This smear job, and negative press, and the out right attacks on them is what drove the anger and outbursts. It also attracted some of the loons and the intentional Kos kids in disguise with their lunatic signs, etc, that created all the massive negativity. (I wrote about this before, people blogging about their adventures crashing Tea Parties with inflammatory signs, dressed like idiots...)
The Coffee Stains [people are trying out new names for them, this one was the latest I saw] can sit back, at their five people meetings, and say they are for "civility" but any time someone questions them, they react with hostility (on Facebook), call them trolls, and block them.
The comments are FULL of people trashing Conservatives, Republicans or "tea baggers" Under the same exact circumstance they would NOT maintain their "civility". Absolutely not. They can't even handle a couple of guys on FB debating them...
And so far, what are they even trying to accomplish? They are sitting around with like-minds drinking coffee... wow, and they are civil!! haha
They claim to be upset with the Government - like the tea party peeps. But they are heralded as the second coming (sound familiar?) and are granted all kinds of flattering press, solely because they are liberal/Obama supporters.
Perhaps instead of trashing Tea Partiers, they should reflect on how they and the media, and the WH have done everything they can to trash them, when all they have tried to do is exactly what the Coffee Party people are trying to do - express themselves about their frustrations with Washington!!
Here are the latest *civil* comments from the Coffee Party Facebook Group:
Cameron Kruger We are bored of loud marching angry bagger buffoons and ignoramus knuckle dragging dumb right wing-nuts. We've had enough of the President being called a Socialist, Communist, Terrorist and Traitor and being accused of being born in a foreign country.
Carol Harda Tea Baggers: Wake up and smell the Coffee! This makes a whole Latte sense!
Dennis Caravantes Be American, drink coffee! Thanks for giving us a forum for "civility, honesty, respect, and accountability"...I like. No shouting or calling names sounds good to me. [Perhaps he didn't see the name calling comment that was posted right before his]
Paolo Pellecer Time to get together, people! Down with reactionary fascists!
Tihjai Jahtii COFFEE PARTY 1000% BETTER THAT THE EXTREME RIGHT TEA PARTY
David A Belger I'm glad to see that there are people who are not these nuts tea party people that can agree and disagree with out a bunch off name calling. Also what gets me is how they characterize health cares public option I always understood an option was just that your choice are they now telling us that we can't make a choice on public or private insurance. Isn’t this America where we have the freedom of choice? Those tea party people say give us our country back my response to them is when was it ever took from you.
Tim Lorenz A perfect alternative to the vitriol of the Tea Party group.
Paul Womack I like the idea of citizen participation and civility!
Austin. I don't like the idea of civility. Revisionist infidels need to be handled like the babbling, drooling children that they are. Don't be afraid to turn up the gas on these people. Another 4 years of republican run government another PATRIOT act, another conservative supreme justice, another blow to consumer rights, another blow to unionization rights, another fucking war. Get real guy
Martha Coleman Check this guy out....go find another page nobody is listening to you
Daniel Morales we hispanic need to endorse the coffe party since, usa has many faces
this movement represent me better than the TEA PARTY. this movement dont hate minorities since in USA the minority is the majority
Praveen Devarapu This is great. Just to show that not every american is a part of the tea party as some Radio Blowhards would like to claim.
Trokon Gbadyu It is my hope this movement will be different from the "Tea Party". Civility should be the key and there should be to display of racism and racial placards as usually seen during the Tea Party marches. It is time to take back our country from those claiming to be more American than others.
Timothy Brandt I'm soo Happy to be part of this Movement its what I belive our Forefathers fought for they are probaly rolling in thier graves now after what the Bush/Cheney dog people did to this country for 8 years.
Michael O'Connor I highly recommend the Coffee Party-alternative to the Tea Party Crowd (Sarah Palin et. al.)
Vincent A Banzon III LET'S HOPE this movement can CANCEL OUT the TEA PARTY! -- Let's hope it's just not another illegitimate one..
Velora Kane Yes, please put civil back into our civilization. I'm so tired of screaming fear-mongers and sensationalized media coverage, I salute my morning cup of coffee to you.
Elsa Augustenborg It will not be easy to stay civil in an environment that is so tolerant of half-truths, misrepresentation, character assassination etc. We are destined for failure unless we realize how easily we can be pulled down. The coffee party will need to develop rules so that we can get the US back to the honesty and civility in its political discourse for which it was once admired. [Ummmm pretty much what Tea Partiers were dealing with...]
George Mark England thank you for doing this and giving us a real voice instead of promoting fear and hatred.
Steven Akers I'm in. Tired of the shouting haters.
Patsy Birdlady Cummings-Rockwell Put the tea party out of business
Jason Asselin THIS SHOULD BE STOPPED.....TEA PARTY ORGANIZES 4TH OF JULY PARADE - CNN iReport
Steve LeMaster Astroturf masquerading as grass roots. You people aren't fooling anyone.
J.r. Betts hater masquerading as...oh wait just a hater.
Brandi Tadlock Oh, you're onto us, you clever man! How did you know that Obama's minions called us all into a secret meeting to take over the country for him? Oops! I've said too much! Give me a freaking break.
Steve Grover Astroturf is paying someone six figures to speak at one of your events. Where have we seen that recently?
Joe Gennetti I see you were watching the fear and biased Faux Noise network this morning Steve!
J.r. Betts Look, It's a Fox news, news corp, Palin, Rush and Beck puppet.
[SEE - one little tiny comment of opposition, and they get nasty. Imagine what the Tea Party people went though, all the smears and lies and attacks.... And people wonder why some people got loud and rude?]
Stephanie Crognale Rhodes An organization that promotes civility - what an antidote to the Tea Party movement.
Kevin Hou yes wake up America. The tea party will bring us back to the dark ages if we do not stop them
Conrad F Heede Hate be a follower, but I sure am glad someone came up with e response to those hypocritcal fascists over at the Tea Party movement...
Scott De Jack I'm definitely a fan of the Coffee Party! The Tea Party does not represent my view of America (thank God) and although the American Media loves to play up all things tea party ONLY 600 people showed up for their first national convention...600 Americans?! Hell in Las Vegas the Annual Slinky Convention gets more people:) My point is; Hells YES. A movement for progressives, for people who care about social issues and who care about being united, not divided...I'm there.
[I think he missed the thousands of people that marched on DC?]
I could go on and on... I have dozens and dozens more, but I think you get the point.
So, is it any wonder Tea Party people are fed up? They came together, were called Astroturf, accused of racism, and blamed for La Rouche Group and their Hitler posters, were attacked and smeared, and other times out right ignored - from the very first week! Thousands, THOUSANDS marched on DC and they were virtually ignored. But five to 30 people show up at a Coffee meeting and they get tons of press, fawning press, and they act hostile towards opposition and they smear and call Tea Partiers names, but they are the new great thing?
Please.
Be sure to check out Left Coast Rebel for a lot more here, here and here on the Coffee Party Group. He just posted two new posts since I started this one!
For all the evidence of a divided Republican Party, the Democratic Party has its own widening cracks that could make a potentially bleak election year even more dour.
In just the past two weeks, Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln became the latest Democratic incumbent to attract a primary challenger, anti-abortion Democrats fought hard to derail President Barack Obama's health care measure, and civil rights advocates and environmentalists likened the Democratic president to George W. Bush.
Labor and gays are restless. Blacks and Hispanics are grumbling. Liberals and moderates are battling. Even some in Hollywood are disappointed.
Obama must bring together — and fire up — the many Democratic coalitions if he hopes to minimize expected losses for his party in this November's election when control of Congress is at stake. The risk if he doesn't is that Democrats could become so disaffected that they stay home in November.
The fractures have been on display in other ways as well this month:
The American Civil Liberties Union ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times showing Obama morphing into Bush and asking "Change or more of the same?" The ad criticized Obama for even considering military tribunals for the alleged Sept. 11 terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Defenders of Wildlife ran a TV ad featuring actress Ashley Judd assailing Obama for not reversing a Bush decision lifting the federal protection on wolves in parts of the Northern Rockies. Judd says: "You promised change. But by adopting the Bush plan, your administration weakened our endangered species law and has allowed this killing to happen."
A dozen or so anti-abortion House Democrats are opposing Obama's health care overhaul plan — and putting its passage in jeopardy — because it includes a provision they don't like. The left has been angered by the absence of a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers in the legislation.
Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against a jobs bill that they said didn't focus enough on job training programs or summer employment. They complain that they're getting too little support from the country's first black president. Obama met with them last week.
Hispanics privately continue to question — after a year of virtual inaction — whether Obama is sincere in his promise to overhaul the immigration system even as he met with senators trying to write a bipartisan bill on the issue and repeated his pledge.
Unions said they will take sides in primary races and labor officials complained that the White House hasn't pushed legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize workers. The AFL-CIO labor federation also rebuked Obama for condoning mass firings of teachers at a poorly performing Rhode Island high school.
The gay community is fretting over the pace at which Obama has addressed their top issues such as repealing the 17-year-old law that bans gays from serving openly in the military. Obama needs Congress' blessing to do that, but there's resistance.
Bob Finkelstein, who wore an “Insurance Abuse Survivor” ribbon and had planned to get arrested, said he thought it was stupid to tax Cadillac plans like union health-care plans because that was a core Democratic constituency. “I think it’s much more palatable to tax people making over $250,000,” said the 42-year-old freelance writer and activist. “People who make a lot of money should pay their fair share.”
“I want to be free to have health care!” exclaimed Joanna Durham, a resident of North Carolina, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, who led a small group in a chant of “Health care is a human right.”
“We are Americans and we are free to have health care!” She said she believes Americans deserved “free” care, like people in other countries receive. “Are we not in America? We have free speech, free press, we need free health care now! Right now!”
Free? Health care is not free. It is paid for with taxes. Lots o' taxes. This is one of the major problems, in my opinion, with this health care reform. Obama is not telling the truth about taxes, and he originally only wanted to tax those making over $250,000. Every American should contribute to fund health care reform, especially those who will use it. They can have a sliding scale, but I think it is outrageous to force someone to pay for someone else to receive "free" health care with absolutely no contribution.
“I think they should just shove it through and f*** the Republicans,” said protester Dana Dallabetta, a 54-year-old breast-cancer survivor from New York City who said she lost her health insurance after missing one payment on her COBRA plan. “I think the senators and the congressmen will see today the public is behind them, that they shouldn’t be scared.”
“Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho, insurance companies have got to go!”
Do you think this person realizes that insurance companies make up 1/6th of our economy, and employ millions of people? Is this the best time to eliminate all those jobs?
“If Republicans really cared about their children, they would all be vegans,” she continued. “I don’t believe its going to add to the deficit, if it’s handled right. Obama has plans to cut down on fraud and defensive medicine. It seems to work in other countries, like Canada.”
Dallabetta went on to explain why she thought Republicans were obstructionists. “I have an aunt in Oklahoma who hates Obama. At bottom she’s a bigot, very racist … and I think that’s the case for a lot of Republicans. I know they use the ‘n’ word around their dinner table all the time. They’re not going to say it outside their house but that’s really what’s going on behind closed doors.”
Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas warned on Tuesday night that if Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) plays a role in killing health care reform, a Democratic primary challenger would almost certainly await him in the next election.:
"Kucinich is not elected to grandstand and to give us this ideal utopian society. He is elected to represent the people of his district and he is not representing the uninsured constituents in his district by pretending to take the high ground here."
"And they’ve done it for almost no votes. The 30 million who would be covered under the Democratic proposals are not big voters, while the millions who would pay for the coverage are strikingly unhappy."
Who are elected officials more beholden to, voters or non-voters? Who should they listen to?
Fifty-seven percent (57%) believe that passage of the proposed health care legislation will hurt the economy. Just 25% believe it will help.
"He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to a front end of a steam locomotive," Massa said. Illustrating his point, he told the story of how he winded up in an argument with the chief of staff while they were both naked in the congressional gym showers.
Massa said Emanuel came up to him last year, shortly after he entered Congress, while he was trying to clean up to give him grief about a budget vote.
"I'm sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn't gonna vote for the president's budget," Massa said. "Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man? ... It's ridiculous."
He continued, "By the way, what the heck is he doing in the congressional gym? He goes there to intimidate members of Congress."
Isn't Emanuel standing in front of Massa buck naked in the shower, stabbing his finger into Massa's chest sexual harrassment?
This is Massa's explanation of the alleged harassment:
"I have to come find out that on New Year's Eve, I went to a staff party — it was actually a wedding for a staff member of mine," Massa said. "There were 250 people there. I was with my wife, and in fact we had a great time. She got the stomach flu, I went down to sing "Auld Lang Syne." And with cameras on me — I'm talking three of them — filming me, I danced with the bride, and I danced with the bridesmaid. Absolutely nothing occurred.
"I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat at down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them, by the way, bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don't know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear, and his words were far more colorful than that.
"And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, 'What I really ought to be doing is frakking you,' and then tossled the guy's hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn't be there."
"Was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely."
As Michelle Malkin points out, he's been controversial in the past. He's also said that he would support Single Payer health care even if 80% of his constituents don't want it.
That doesn't mean the Dems aren't driving him out, though. I believe if he were a Yes vote on health care, this "scandal" would not have been leaked.
This isn't the first time a Democrat has come forward recently saying the Obama WH is forcing/keeping them out. Harold Ford, Tamyra D’Ippolito, Joe Sestak, David Paterson...who else? (Why did Evan Bayh really bow out? Hmmm)
