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You are here: Home / The Missing Ingredient

The Missing Ingredient

by John Cole|  February 5, 20102:53 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Teabagger Stupidity

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It appears the teabaggers have stumbled upon the missing ingredient that will make their movement more palatable to the public at large- xenophobia:

The Tea Party movement has energized activism against President Obama’s vision for immigration reform.

The link between tea partiers and immigration politics developed last summer, when the impact of illegal immigration on the health care system became a prominent side issue in town hall debates.

Since then, illegal immigration has steadily gained ground on the Tea Party agenda.

Immigration “is one of our main issues in the state of North Carolina,” said David DeGerolamo, co-founder of Tea Party group NC Freedom, in a phone interview. “And what it comes down to is that the United States is a republic based on the rule of law. What part of illegal is right?”

DeGerolamo is scheduled to give a talk today on “How to Unite State Tea Party Groups” at the National Tea Party Convention, which began yesterday in Nashville.

The Nashville event has devoted a good share of its spotlight to activists devoted to promoting get-tough policies against illegal immigrants and blocking White House plans to offer a path to legal status for the nation’s 12 million undocumented immigrants.

I’m sure this is related to their anti-corporate stance.

And one of these days, can we stop calling them teabaggers and call them what they really are- Republicans.

*** Update ***

Then you have this:

The opening-night speaker at first ever National Tea Party Convention ripped into President Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,” asserting that Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

What about a poll tax, Tancredo?

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Ugh

    February 5, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    the United States is a republic based on the rule of law.

    Funny!

  2. 2.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    February 5, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    can we stop calling them teabaggers and call them what they really are- Republicans

    But “teabaggers” is so much more fun.

    What about a poll tax, Tancredo?

    Time to reach out to these people even harder. Maybe if we eliminate Social Security they will like us!

  3. 3.

    slag

    February 5, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    Missing ingredient? I thought that was their main ingredient.

    Fix your blockquote, please, gimpy.

  4. 4.

    Mike S

    February 5, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Lately polling has shown that Hispanics are moving toward the GOP again. This is from last week’s dKos national poll:

    Looking inside the ballot numbers, here is one dramatic shift that Democrats want to keep an eye on. Among one of the fastest growing demographic groups, Latino voters, the Democratic edge has faded palpably. In the first incarnation of this ballot test during this past May, Democrats held a thirty-two point lead among Latinos (57-25). This week, the Democratic edge among Latino voters is down to just thirteen points (48-35). Given that future Democratic political strength in key states (California and Texas come immediately to mind) is predicated on strength among this particular demographic, this is something that might merit some degree of attention among Dems.

    Something tells me those numbers will be heading back in our direction very soon.

  5. 5.

    Granny T

    February 5, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    This is too easy, but I have to say it anyway: If we had a civics, literacy test for voters, Teabaggers and Republicans wouldn’t be allowed to vote.

  6. 6.

    El Cid

    February 5, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    And we thought they had gone nuts when Democrats suggested helping people get and stay on health insurance.

    I mean, you’ve already done the whole OBAMAHITLERSTALINMAOBILLAYERS thing — where do you go now to turn it up from 11 to 13?

  7. 7.

    beltane

    February 5, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    I bet you are not aware of the fact that in Italian the name “Tancredo” means “bastard offspring of barbarian marauder”.

  8. 8.

    Zandar

    February 5, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    What slag said.

    All these non-Americans exist. This is a problem for the Teabaggers.

  9. 9.

    John Cole

    February 5, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    Gimpy? You do this thankless, low- paying job.

    J/k. Thanks for catching it, because I rarely look at the front page from your viewpoint.

  10. 10.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    February 5, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    Fix your blockquote, please, gimpy.

    That’s horrible. You should be ashamed.

    “Gimpy” doesn’t work because he can walk alright. We should call him “One-Arm” or “Mr Glass” or something.

  11. 11.

    kay

    February 5, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    @Ugh:

    I love the ” it’s illegal!” argument on immigration reform.

    Obama is, of course, proposing to change the law, with the consent of Congress, to provide a path to legal residency.

    He’s the President. He’s not proposing mass lawbreaking.

    But they don’t let that little detail get in the way of their outrage.

    They seized on this “illegal!” screeching and they haven’t really thought it through.

  12. 12.

    Norbrook

    February 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    If we had a civics, literacy test for voters, Teabaggers and Republicans wouldn’t be allowed to vote.

    Oh yes. Given their demonstrated inability to understand how government works, let alone the electoral process, that’s a given. The big one they seem to have trouble grasping is “you lost.”

  13. 13.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    February 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    the Democratic edge among Latino voters is down

    Even though the Democrats have shown such strong leadership and bold effectiveness? Ingrates!

  14. 14.

    Brick Oven Bill

    February 5, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    The Teabaggers are, in my experience, by and large, Human Biodiversity Deniers.

    This is in contrast with Democrats of the political class, who did not like the idea of their private-school children being in the proximity of the children of Washington DC, and ended the school voucher program, keeping those kids in their rightful neighborhoods, where Nancy thinks they belong.

  15. 15.

    slag

    February 5, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    @John Cole:

    Gimpy? You do this thankless, low- paying job.

    Good point. I left out poor. Fix your blockquote, please, Tiny Tim.

    I forgot…Before Sarah Palin gets on my ass via Twitter…that was a joke, people. Just kidding! Nothing to see here.

  16. 16.

    Pangloss

    February 5, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    Immigration “is one of our main issues in the state of North Carolina,” said David DeGerolamo, co-founder of Tea Party group NC Freedom, in a phone interview.

    Just what kind of a name is “DeGerolamo,” anyway?

  17. 17.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    February 5, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    That’s hilarious. I’ve never seen a non-white teabagger. And your story about Democrats pulling their kids out of public school to avoid undesirables sounds like the rednecks who started parochial schools by the thousand after school bussing was instituted.

  18. 18.

    Comrade Mary

    February 5, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    Slag on! (clap-clap!) Slag-off! (clap-clap!) The slagger!

  19. 19.

    chopper

    February 5, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    @slag:

    sarah palin is demanding an apology for your use of the word ‘gimpy’.

    edit: dang, beat to the punch.

  20. 20.

    Sue

    February 5, 2010 at 3:18 pm

    “this is something that might merit some degree of attention among Dems.”
    If that is the case, well then let’s just assume the issue is pre-destroyed.
    Off-topic, but I received an email from the Democratic National Committee today reminding me of Obama’s speech tomorrow. I requested removal from their email list giving the reason that I wasn’t going to waste my time reading their emails, seeing as how there is no discernible difference between the two parties in terms of actually getting anything done. I finished with ‘pass the damn bill’ in caps.
    I just want to yell at everyone, I guess.

  21. 21.

    Brick Oven Bill

    February 5, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    The Teabagger movement has gone out of its way to invite all to their message of Principles and Values Notorious P.A.T. The people who show up are the people who show up. Perhaps you can explain to me the reasons. Glenn Beck trips all over himself trying to be inclusive.

    He started his whole movement with an interview with the black investment banker guy who Will Smith later played in a Hollywood movie.

    And you have seen a black Teabagger. The guy who was carrying the M-16 that the TV-types got all freaked out about in Arizona was black. The TV crews cropped out the man’s skin and the imagery contained only the weapon.

  22. 22.

    matoko_chan

    February 5, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    lawl @ BOB
    teabaggers are white supremicists, racists and nativists….with the occasional token like Michael Steele and Marco Rubio.
    im looking forward so much to the teabaggers switchin from opposing Obamacare to opposing Obamnesty.
    i fully expect them to so alienate hispanics and latinos that even Marco Rubio will run from the right like a scalded cat.
    Meanwhile, the demographic timer goes tick…..tick….tick….
    2008 was the first year where non-hispanic white children under 5 were in the minority.

    Imagine the teabagger signage!

    Wetbacks Go Home!

  23. 23.

    catclub

    February 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Tom Tancredo got about 1% of GOP primary votes and about 0% of delegates. Even Republican primary voters hate him.

    If he is the voice of the Teabaggers… yippee!

    A worse spokesman than Rudy Giuliani. Hard to imagine but true.

  24. 24.

    Chyron HR

    February 5, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    He started his whole movement with an interview with the black investment banker guy who Will Smith later played in a Hollywood movie.

    Hollywood had to change some things, of course. For instance, in the movie Will Smith killed vampire zombies, whereas in real life, it was liberals getting killed to save America.

  25. 25.

    Chuck Butcher

    February 5, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    @Notorious P.A.T.:

    “Gimpy” doesn’t work because he can walk alright

    Considering Cole’s walking expertise and its results, you might want to reconsider that statement.

  26. 26.

    Mike S

    February 5, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    And you have seen a black Teabagger.

    Only a failed Teabagger would attempt to make that a statement about inclusiveness. ‘There was ONE black guy there.’

  27. 27.

    Clark

    February 5, 2010 at 3:31 pm

    Sojourner Truth would not have passed a literacy test. She also didn’t have the right to vote in her day, but that was based on her genitalia.

    In any event, I’d trust her to vote more than Tancredo, or indeed, more than most people today.

  28. 28.

    Waynski

    February 5, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    It’s still amazing to me that all this started with some millionaire, douche bag commodities trader pissing and moaning on TV about paying other people’s mortgages.

    @Granny T — This.

  29. 29.

    freelancer

    February 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    The opening-night speaker at first ever National Tea Party Convention ripped into President Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,” asserting that Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

    There’s a case to be made here that he thinks Sarah Palin voted for Obama/Biden.

  30. 30.

    Crashman06

    February 5, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Keep raging against the dying of the light, and all that. Won’t make much of a difference in the end.

  31. 31.

    asiangrrlMN

    February 5, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    @Granny T: I’m with Granny T. Please, please, PLEASE let’s have people required to take a civics test before voting. Pretty please?

  32. 32.

    Brick Oven Bill

    February 5, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    Makoto_Chan sounds like the true Racist. This is common on the Left. Consider the Washington DC school vouchers. Consider the opinions of Che Guevara, as delivered to us by ‘Brown Pride’, an ethnocentric self-esteem group:

    “The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have conserved their racial purity by a lack of affinity with washing, have seen their patch invaded by a different kind of slave: The Portugese…. the black is indolent and fanciful, he spends his money on frivolity and drink; the European comes from a tradition of working and saving which follows him to this corner of America and drives him to get ahead.”

    So I do not understand the obsession so many Obama supporters have with Che Guevara.

  33. 33.

    mcc

    February 5, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    There was an interesting fivethirtyeight post where Nate Silver took a bunch of policy questions DKos/R2K asked to Republican-identified voters, and for each one made a graph of how each of the different sub-groups within the Republican party. What he found is that they didn’t. Differ, I mean. On each question asked, there was complete unamity– apparently if you’re a Republican, it doesn’t matter how old you are, what your ethnic background is, what your gender is, where you live, you believe pretty much the same things.

    Nate’s point was that in terms of raw politics, this makes things much easier for the Republicans in some ways because it means they can create one uniform national message and just push it everywhere. The Democrats just don’t have that advantage, they have to put one message to the progressives and one message to blue dogs and one message in the south and one outside the south and so on. The different factions of the Democratic party just differ too much from each other for message discipline to work.

    Another sort of advantage this leaves for the Republican party– it’s much harder to use wedge politics against the Republican party. With the Democrats, it’s easy to drive in a wedge and divide the Democrats against themselves. It’s easy for an outside actor such as the Republican Party to contrive situations where union and non-union Democrats get set against each other, or where white and black or male and female or progressive and conservative Democrats either start fighting and damage themselves, or split off from the party completely. The Democrats can’t pull this same trick against the Republicans. The Republicans are unified and that unity is very difficult to shake.

    Except:

    There’s one exception Nate’s graphs do show to the unified Republican front. The one column in the graphs that doesn’t always shift up and down with the others is the one labeled “nonwhite”. And although the nonwhite Republicans seem to agree with other Republicans on a lot of or most things, there were three particular questions Nate zeroed in on on which the “nonwhite” group responded in a very, very different way than the rest of the Republicans– paraphrasing:

    – Is Barack Obama a racist?
    – Should there be amnesty for illegal immigrants?
    – How do you feel about Sarah Palin?

    It seems like, again talking in terms of raw politics, if the Democrats can find some way to actually start a conversation about immigration, this is the one substantive way to actually expose divisions in the Republican base. What I wonder about is whether the Democrats can actually get to immigration reform in Congress this year (what with their attention already fairly occupied by a jobs bill, a zombie health care bill that will be passed only with time-consuming procedural tricks, a dadt effort that will be coming up intermittently all year, 70 filibusters on nominees, etc).

  34. 34.

    Dungheap

    February 5, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    The Tea Baggers will quickly fall out of love with their newest heartthrob from Massachusetts once they learn that he is keeping Kennedy’s key immigration staffer.

  35. 35.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 5, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    @matoko_chan:

    Imagine the teabagger signage!

    “Wetbacks Go Home!”

    C’mon, that’s unfair. There’s no way teabaggers would be able to correctly spell all three words.

  36. 36.

    Stooleo

    February 5, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Examples of Teabagger embracing multiculturalism.

    The presence of more than 100 credentialed media was a bit of a distraction. Obviously unused to dealing with certain media outlets, I’m told by TIME colleagues that Judson Phillips – the convention’s main organizer – was at first taken aback when an al Jazeera correspondent introduced herself to him. “Do you have a problem with my outlet?” she asked when he didn’t shake her hand. “Yes, I’m an American,” Phillips responded. But, by later that night, he’d clearly spoken with his media advisors because he made a point of welcoming al Jazeera along with the rest of the media.

    Iz can has learning experience.

  37. 37.

    Dials set to Stupid

    February 5, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    I heard that portraying conservative ideas as being simply the result of racism/xenophobia is condescending to them.

  38. 38.

    General Winfield Stuck

    February 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    @John Cole:

    Gimpy? You do this thankless, low- paying job.J/k. Thanks for catching it

    don’t give in to the grammer cops cole, todays it’s blockquotes, tommorrow, they want shit spelled right, then it’s a short ride to school marm hell.

    Too bad BIRDZILLA got lost, he/it was a shining light of illiteracy.

    ** Don’t go with “one armed”. I heard Richard Kimble is looking for that dude. “klutz” is best, and all purpose.

    seems one asterisk gets you big, two asterisks makes you small. Oh great FSM, protect us from wordpress.

  39. 39.

    celticdragonchick

    February 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

    I seem to remember that from my African American history class. Something about obscure questions on Senate procedures or laughably ridiculous questions like “How many bubbles are in a bar of soap” that were guaranteed to fail any non white and non landowner undesirable.

    I guess we are back to that again…but new and improved.

    Face…palm.

  40. 40.

    jibeaux

    February 5, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    We don’t have a civics or literacy test for vice presidential candidates either, doncha know. What has she read? All of them!

  41. 41.

    celticdragonchick

    February 5, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    The TV crews cropped out the man’s skin and the imagery contained only the weapon.

    I noticed the pictures all over the media that showed he was black. What the fuck are you smoking today, and where can I get some?

  42. 42.

    Cassidy

    February 5, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    On the plus side, make conservatives and what not take a civics and literacy test before voting would guarantee that no one could vote Republican.

  43. 43.

    celticdragonchick

    February 5, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    “Wetbacks Go Home!”
    C’mon, that’s unfair. There’s no way teabaggers would be able to correctly spell all three words.

    Morans.

  44. 44.

    General Winfield Stuck

    February 5, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    I will toot my own horn. I went to school when they still gave the National Civics Test in High School and though I gradeeated with a C average, I was in the top one percent of national average for that test. True story, except it was top 5 percent.

  45. 45.

    Shawnzilla

    February 5, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    No offence what part of “melting pot” do these people not understand.

    I just want to say that as much fun as it is to laugh at these morons we have to be vigilant. One of them could get elected to higher office sooner or later while we joke around. I’d hate to look back someday and think you know what, that GWB wasn’t so bad after all.

  46. 46.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 5, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    @Shawnzilla:

    No offence what part of “melting pot” do these people not understand.

    Just the other day, one of the most hilarious wingnuts I’ve ever come across on the internets said this:

    The cliche is that the country was made great because it was a “melting pot” where people from all nations came together and became Americans. And that now it is “salad bowl” where we are all mixed up next to each other but each group insists on keeping its own identity and affiliation.

    Just to get the obvious joke out of the way: Yes, she’s a teabagger making a reference to tossed salad.

  47. 47.

    Llelldorin

    February 5, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    @Shawnzilla:

    No offence what part of “melting pot” do these people not understand.

    The part where the point is to make an alloy, not to touch the pot with a philosopher’s stone and forge a bar of pure wingnut.

  48. 48.

    Andy

    February 5, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    Tenthers and neo-secessionists demand a civics literacy test to vote.

    Fncking priceless.

  49. 49.

    bemused

    February 5, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    @Stooleo:
    The audience hooted & hollered when Tancredo said, People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed soshalist ideologue in the WH. And how many of the hooters can spell vote, forget about ideologue? I can just see the teabagger signs now.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    @Shawnzilla: Look, if you have a pot of nice white cheese melting, you don’t go tossing chocolate in there. That’s just common sense!

  51. 51.

    celticdragonchick

    February 5, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    @Martin:

    I want a chocolate cheese chicken pot pie.

  52. 52.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    Oh, and I soooo want to see the convention tomorrow hijacked with a table at the front requiring attendees pass the US Immigration Exam before being allowed inside, per Tancredo’s suggestion. There wouldn’t be 3 people around to see dear Sarah speak.

  53. 53.

    gremcat

    February 5, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    What is also ironic is that for these immigrants to vote (i.e. get their US citizenship ) they do have to pass a civics test. A test that most “Real Americans” :) probably wouldn’t pass.

  54. 54.

    licensed to kill time

    February 5, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    seems one asterisk gets you big, two asterisks makes you small

    And the one asterisk that mother gives you
    don’t do anything at all

    (I asked Alice. When she was ten feet tall.)

  55. 55.

    Osprey

    February 5, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    Not sure if this has been mentioned, but it’s obvious Tancredo hasn’t been hanging around any of these Tea Parties before his speech. If he had, he’d pull a complete fuckin’ 180 on the ‘literacy test’ considering how much these morons completely butcher the English language.

    It’s funny that we continue to see people (and I’ve seen it here) that still conclude that the Tea Parties are to protest the Bailout and taxes. These people are nothing more than the civilian versions of the white supremacist militias dotting this country like cancerous boils.

  56. 56.

    bcinaz

    February 5, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

    Well that would certainly explain Florida in 2000 and the 41-59 Republican Supermajority in the Senate.

  57. 57.

    West of the Cascades

    February 5, 2010 at 4:29 pm

    Tancredo, et al. – more of this, please. If that’s the opening speaker’s remarks, we may approach peak wingnut by the end of this convention.

  58. 58.

    West of the Cascades

    February 5, 2010 at 4:30 pm

    @Osprey:

    Illiteracy: IOKIY white.

  59. 59.

    CalD

    February 5, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    If we had a civics and literacy test to vote in this country I’ll wager there would be a lot fewer Republicans in office. Anyone want to lay any bets on how many native born Americans could pass the citizenship exam these days? Or more to the point, how many native born Republican-Americans?

  60. 60.

    Annie

    February 5, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    Why hasn’t it been pointed out in the media that there are only approx. 600 people are at the supposed “we are taking over the country, while taking our country back” national convention. 600 people.

    Or better yet, why is the media giving such attention to a convention of only 600 people? My work retreats have more than 600 people.

    And, while I am on the topic, don’t the Save America 600 see any contradictions among their tiny, empty slogans including small government, individual responsibility, returning the country to its Christian roots (government sponsored religion), saving medicare (government sponsored health care), and strict adherence to the Constitution and original intent?

    I think these 600 people need more than a civics exam to test how literate they are on just about anything.

  61. 61.

    Nellcote

    February 5, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    I’ll compromise on the birther bill if it includes having the immigration civics test for all congress critters.

  62. 62.

    Alan in SF

    February 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    I did not realize that “DeGerolamo” was an American Indian name, but I can understand why he’s upset.

  63. 63.

    Hamilton-Lovecraft

    February 5, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    So I do not understand the obsession so many Obama supporters have with Che Guevara.

    Who the f*ck is Che Guevara? How many of the 69 million Americans who voted for Obama are “obsessed” with this person?

    Better trolls, please.

  64. 64.

    mcc

    February 5, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    Or better yet, why is the media giving such attention to a convention of only 600 people?

    Well, because this is their country. The other 304 million of us just live here

  65. 65.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    @CalD: The test would be biased based on demographics. The most likely people to pass it are young people as they’re generally taught all of this in school. I’ve given my 6th grader son a sample immigration test and he passed it easily (he asked about how hard the test was).

    Since young people vote overwhelmingly Democratic, the GOP would probably not fare so well – not because Republicans are any dumber (remember, we’re seeing a very narrowly self-selected group of people at this convention) but because they tend to be older and farther away from that information.

    But yeah, I’d think after they failed it they might reconsider the idea. Come to think of it, maybe I’ll give the test to my mom when she visits next…

  66. 66.

    General Winfield Stuck

    February 5, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    @licensed to kill time: Very good!!

  67. 67.

    licensed to kill time

    February 5, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Well, when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
    and the White Knight is talking backwards
    and the Red Queen’s lost her head
    I always try to remember what the Dormouse said

    And I feed my head. ;-)

  68. 68.

    Ash Can

    February 5, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    @Stooleo: Lovely.

    I recall reading somewhere a couple of days ago (possibly here) that numerous foreign news outlets were covering the teabaggers’ convention, for the main purpose of keeping tabs on the most dangerous (from their standpoint) factions of US politics in the event those factions ever (re)gained control of the US government. Know your enemy, as it were.

  69. 69.

    Clark

    February 5, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    I chatted with a Newsweek reporter at the 2007 Yearly Kos in Chicago (since renamed Netroots Nation.) The reporter really didn’t want to go because she thought we’d be a bunch of wild-eyed “crunchy” types and pimply kids still living at home. Instead she found a bunch of normal people, mostly middle-aged professionals.

    I wonder what the media will find at the Tea Party Convention?

  70. 70.

    liberal

    February 5, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    @Sue:

    I requested removal from their email list giving the reason that I wasn’t going to waste my time reading their emails, seeing as how there is no discernible difference between the two parties in terms of actually getting anything done.

    Christ, I’m just sick of those emails from the Dem Party, MoveOn, etc, just because of the inundation factor, not merely because of underlying issues like the one you point out. It’s like that Onion article about Obama being sick of getting article from (IIRC) MoveOn.

  71. 71.

    asiangrrlMN

    February 5, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    @celticdragonchick: And I want a bagel with cream cheese. With the creamy cheese and the cheesy cream. Cheesy cheesy creamy cheesy.

  72. 72.

    liberal

    February 5, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    @celticdragonchick:

    I noticed the pictures all over the media that showed he was black.

    That was the first thing through my head, too.

    B.O.B. providing good comic relief today.

  73. 73.

    liberal

    February 5, 2010 at 5:05 pm

    @Martin:

    …but because they tend to be older and farther away from that information…

    Is “older” a better predictor of Rethuglican-ness than “white and Southern”?

  74. 74.

    Anne Laurie

    February 5, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    @Clark:

    Sojourner Truth would not have passed a literacy test. She also didn’t have the right to vote in her day, but that was based on her genitalia.
    __
    In any event, I’d trust her to vote more than Tancredo, or indeed, more than most people today.

    I like to imagine Harriet Tubman walking onto the platform at the NRA Convention… with her revolver. How many pasty-skinned “delegates” would die as they bolted for the exits, slipping in their own pee and squealing like scalded pigs?

  75. 75.

    Sly

    February 5, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    @Stooleo:

    I’m sure the BBC correspondent got the same reaction, right?

  76. 76.

    Svensker

    February 5, 2010 at 5:09 pm

    @Martin:

    Oh, and I soooo want to see the convention tomorrow hijacked with a table at the front requiring attendees pass the US Immigration Exam before being allowed inside, per Tancredo’s suggestion. There wouldn’t be 3 people around to see dear Sarah speak.

    Sarah wouldn’t be around to hear Sarah speak.

  77. 77.

    Svensker

    February 5, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    Well, when logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead

    I always thought it was softly dead.

    My head is fed.

  78. 78.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    February 5, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    And one of these days, can we stop calling them teabaggers and call them what they really are- Republicans.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you.

    All the Republicans have done is re-branded. Remember all the talk about how damaged the “Republican brand” in the months leading up to the election? It’s like Blackwater rebranding into Xe – they’re the still the same as they ever were.

    Many Republicans don’t want to be saddled with the Bush legacy so the easiest way to do that is claim you’re an Independent. But you still have to vote and we only present two viable choices.

    The Republicans realized after the NY-23 election that they can’t win if they split their votes among two right-wing candidates so when Sarah Palin suggested combining the Tea Party and Republican Party last week it was just the next step in their bullshit plan.

  79. 79.

    maus

    February 5, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    The Teabagger movement has gone out of its way to invite all to their message of Principles and Values

    Corporate Values, you mean. The Ron Paul tea party has been co-opted by the mainstream GOP and industry shills. The rest seems to be filled with rightly-marginalized bircher/racist shitheads.

  80. 80.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    @Clark: They’ll find much of the same. I hate to admit it buy my mom has turned into a teabagger. She’s actually a fairly moderate Republican but she despises Democrats (the Clintons in particular, that whole thing…). I don’t think she’s terribly enamored with the GOP these days, so the teabagger movement is appealing to her in a ‘down with them all’ kind of way. I don’t think she quite gets how well aligned the teabaggers are with the GOP, though.

    I think I finally figured out why she dislikes Obama so much. He reminds her of Clinton and Edwards and a lot of other such Dems. Basically, well restrained lawyers – capable of keeping their emotions in check but also capable of telling a bald-faced lie without anyone noticing (as Clinton and Edwards both did). She just assumes that the lies are in there because she’s conceded the ability to detect them. I reminded her that you can detect them by researching them. No, she wants the ‘tell’. I think that’s why she somewhat likes Sarah, and lied McCain. It’s obvious when they are lying because they’re so fucking bad at it. She knows they’re lying but at least she’s aware of it, unlike being unaware when a Dem is lying (but assumes that they are all the time anyway).

    I think that’s the nut of the elitist/trial lawyer meme. They’re choosing the certain lie they can see over the potential lie they can’t. Needless to say, I’m hitting her pretty hard over the issue because it simply concedes that she’s lazy – and she’s not, nor is she stupid – she’s going for the easy way out, and the emotional safe route of not getting punked.

  81. 81.

    Clark

    February 5, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    @Martin

    Right, but did she go to the convention?

  82. 82.

    John PM

    February 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    The opening-night speaker at first ever National Tea Party Convention ripped into President Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,” asserting that Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”

    I am sure other people have mentioned this already, but I would be all for a civics test, since that would effectively eliminate the teabaggers as a voting block. Some potential questions:

    How many commandments to the Constitution?

    How many times is God mentioned in the Constitution?

  83. 83.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    @Clark: She would have if she was closer – she didn’t have time to do the whole plane/hotel thing with the rest of her schedule. She’s gone to a number of teabagger events. She’s also been a GOP delegate in years past and I get the sense that she’s not willing to formally do anything for the GOP any more.

    During the HCR town halls last summer she attended every event for her senators and rep. which wasn’t nothing since Grassley is one of her senators and he was out speaking quite a lot. But I also get the sense that she’s not really seen the ugly stuff that showed up at Democratic Rep town halls, or at many of the rallies. Iowa deserves some credit, IMO. They’re pretty rural/blue collar yet they’ve managed to not go down quite as extreme a road as many other states have. I suspect if she was in South Carolina she wouldn’t have nearly so positive a view of the tea party movement.

  84. 84.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 5, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    @Annie:

    600 people are at the supposed “we are taking over the country, while taking our country back” national convention. 600 people.

    Only 600 teabaggers can afford this expensive a grifting.

  85. 85.

    keestadoll

    February 5, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Hmm…I would be interested to know if at any point in the illegal alien speechifyin’ did anyone mention tarring and feathering the businesses that employ/exploit illegal labor? Does anyone have a video link to the Tancredo segment? The David DeGerolamo speech?

    Here’s my thing, you cannot condemn the illegal aliens in residence here at all. The problem lies squarely on employers who enable the laws to be broken and the politicians who support those employers by turning a blind eye. Complacency is the problem.

  86. 86.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    @John PM: I doubt more than a quarter of the voting population could pass the test, to be honest. I’m not sure there are that many Dems that could tell you what year the Constitution was ratified or could list the 13 colonies. The questions are surprisingly subtle. The one I gave my son asked which of the following amendments didn’t address voting rights, and then gave 4 numbers. He got that one wrong, though the answer was pretty obvious to me since one of the amendments listed was in the bill of rights – and none of those address voting rights. I doubt many people know that off hand, though.

  87. 87.

    Martin

    February 5, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    @keestadoll: And let’s give Reagan some credit here for relaxing immigration enforcement in an effort to bust unions with cheap labor.

    Even the GOP turns a blind eye because illegal over legal immigration favors them. All the cheap non-unionized labor and none of the pesky votes on social policies.

  88. 88.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 5, 2010 at 6:07 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    Only 600 teabaggers can afford this expensive a grifting.

    Is this where Failin’ Palin got paid $100K to come and serve her patented word salad up? 600?

    No doubt the backers will claim it was a success because 600 is exactly twice ‘300’ and look a what those mere 300 managed to accomplish! And a hundred times what Hitler started w/ in the back of Munich beer hall… and prolly every bit as drunk, too, also…

    Seriously… those fools are takin’ a BATH on this mess. Apart from the $100K they’re out to Sarahccuda, there’s publicity, security, facility rentals… it’s expensive as all get out puttin’ on an event like that… and 600 paying customers?

    I wonder if those 600 are feelin’ a mite bit foolish right now?

  89. 89.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    @Martin:

    Even the GOP turns a blind eye because illegal over legal immigration favors them.

    And they still have no problems whatsoever blaming others for their part in this mess, do they?

  90. 90.

    Paula

    February 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    Yes, why doesn’t someone volunteer to take the current INS test to the convention?

    Or ask for long-form birth certificates @ the Tea Party entrance.

    Or proof that they are part Native American, otherwise demand their great-grandfathers’ naturalization papers. I know where MY naturalization papers are.

    Insane asshats.

  91. 91.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 5, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    @The Republic of Stupidity:

    They’re supposedly selling discount tickets to hear St. Sarah vomit up a word salad. Might help a little bit, but it still doesn’t change the underlying dynamic here: Grifters griftin’ grifters griftin’ idiots.

  92. 92.

    Sly

    February 5, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    @Martin:

    You can find the question list here. Normally the test administrators pick 10 questions from the complete list.

    A few high school U.S. History and Civics teachers I know assign the test on the first day of class. I never really liked the idea myself, because pointing out to students on the first day of class how ignorant they are, which is the whole reason behind the exercise, is probably not as effective as they think.

  93. 93.

    CalD

    February 5, 2010 at 6:19 pm

    @Martin:

    I guess I was a little over 40 when my ex-wife was studying for the citizenship exam and I had no problem answering virtually any of the questions in her study guide. But according to Sandra Day O’Connor, only a tad more than one-third of Americans can name the three branches of our government and a lot of states don’t even require civics courses anymore.

    Anyway, I’d love to see a poll that basically gave the citizenship exam to registered voters and cross correlated responses with party ID. My money would definitely be on the Democrats. I’ll admit I’ve been noticing lately that some of our noisier Progressiverers seem to have some surprising gaps in their understanding of how are government works, but I’d bet they are more the exception than the rule.

  94. 94.

    matoko_chan

    February 5, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: hehe
    I’m part cherokee an’ datin’ a black man….but worse than that….im in the rarest demographic EVAH of “conservatives”…..im under 30 and over 132 (IQ points). Not many of those in the GOP a’tall.
    I think that is real reason teabaggers hate Obama…not race….IQ.
    He is a public intellectual…like Thomas Jefferson.
    ;)
    And even Daniel Larison is a member of the white supremecist seccessionist group League of the South.
    You got nuthin’.

  95. 95.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 5, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    They’re supposedly selling discount tickets to hear St. Sarah vomit up a word salad. Might help a little bit, but it still doesn’t change the underlying dynamic here: Grifters griftin’ grifters griftin’ idiots.

    Discount tickets you say? How much of a discount? Half off?

    Will it make a difference? How many were they hoping for?

    10,000? 20,000?

    Anyway you cut it… it’s a financial disaster for the promoters…

    Hehe…

    And a terrific embarrassment for all involved, especially the 600 or so who were dumb enough to pay full price…

  96. 96.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 5, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    @CalD:

    But according to Sandra Day O’Connor, only a little more than one-third of Americans can even name the three branches of our government and a lot of states don’t even require civics courses anymore.

    Hmmm… you mean, this sort of epic fail?

    I took that test after this news came out, and… ahem.. I believe I scored 100 on it…

  97. 97.

    mcc

    February 5, 2010 at 6:29 pm

    @The Republic of Stupidity: $350 instead of $550 (+ $10 processing fee)

    What a deal

    For a random comparison, a one-day pass to the MacWorld Expo next week, a convention devoted entirely to the subject of buying things, is $105.00. (And if I’m reading this table correctly, a ticket to attend a single session, as would be analagous to a keynote-only ticket I guess, is about thirty dollars.)

  98. 98.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 5, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    @The Republic of Stupidity:

    Will it make a difference?

    No. No it won’t.

  99. 99.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    February 5, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    @mcc:

    $350 instead of $550 (+ $10 processing fee) –
    What a deal

    Well… I’m sure it will boost attendance by at least 100 or 150 fools proud patriots.

  100. 100.

    matoko_chan

    February 5, 2010 at 6:59 pm

    The opening-night speaker at first ever National Tea Party Convention ripped into President Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,”

    lawl.
    Not a winning strategy.
    2008
    2030
    2042
    instead of 2050

  101. 101.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    February 5, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    That was about as well-coded as the password to Druidia’s air shield. Tancredo came out in favor of repealing the Civil Rights Act and resetting the clock to 1930 – and the Teabaggers ate it up.

    But this has nothing to do about race, of course.

  102. 102.

    Granny T

    February 5, 2010 at 7:53 pm

    Thomas Tancredo, born in 1945, all four grandparents born in Italy, is old enough (as am I) to remember when “Real Americans” didn’t consider Italians to be completely white, and did not welcome them in “nice” neighborhoods. Racism from people who’ve never personally experienced it is bad enough, but from someone who has, it’s unbelievably stupid.

  103. 103.

    celticdragonchick

    February 5, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    ROTFLMAO!!! :D

    That was totally me on the chair mumbling “five more minutes…”

    I can’t say that I have had my cat begging for creamy creamy cheese, though. ;)

    Maybe if Brick Oven Bonehead shared some of his stash with me…

  104. 104.

    Frank

    February 5, 2010 at 9:17 pm

    I remember my Daddy talking about paying the poll tax.

    He passed the literacy test.

    He was pink, like me.

    Now, please pardon me while I throw up.

  105. 105.

    asiangrrlMN

    February 5, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    @celticdragonchick: Yeah, a friend turned me on to that today. The little guy is a squirrel, by the way, which makes it even funnier (Foamy the Squirrel). I am Germaine (the woman in the chair) as well.

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