We’re still pretending that the tea party is something other than wingnut Republicans at the Washington Post:
Sarah Palin is waging a battle inside the “tea party” movement to exempt defense spending from the group’s small-government, anti-deficit fervor.
There’s growing concern among Republicans — and especially among the pro-defense neoconservative wing of the party — that national security spending, which is under a level of scrutiny and pressure not seen since the end of the Cold War, could fall victim to the tea party’s anti-establishment, anti-spending agenda. The former Alaska governor, as the unofficial leader of the movement and its most prominent celebrity, is moving to carve out such funding from any drives to cut overall government expenditures.
I’m pretty sure the idiots screaming “Keep government out of my Medicare” all last summer will not be affected by the cognitive dissonance in screaming about government spending but wanting us to keep spending 600 billion+ a year on “defense” spending.
Keith
I can’t wait for abstinence education to be part of her list of exemptions as well.
jwb
This is how Palin earns her wingnut welfare check.
Redshirt
Tell us what to do Momma Grizzly!
4tehlulz
Boeing’s check must have cleared.
Bill E Pilgrim
I never doubted that the tea party was composed of wingnuts at the Washington Post.
Mark S.
Palin:
Yes it is.
Arclite
Yesterday, Barney Frank and Ron Paul had an article in HuffPo calling for a reduction in defense spending.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-barney-frank/why-we-must-reduce-milita_b_636051.html
It should be reduced, we don’t need to spend as much as we do to DEFEND ourselves.
Chyron HR
Q: What do you call a political movement that wields no official power within the government but attempts to shape policy from the outside through threats?
A: SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
El Cid
If Robert Mugabe invades the United States in conspiracy with Obama’s martial law, then you’ll be sorry you wanted Obama to destroy our military and replace it with volunteer ACORN forces.
General Stuck
naw, tea baggers don’t care about more bullets to kill brown people, long as there’s enough left over to water their tree of stupidity with the blood of liberals
They just want the White House restored to where that color means what it should.
Kryptik
Gotta love those principles. Stand firm, Tea Party, except where it’s convenient. After all there are a few countries with brown people we haven’t quite bombed yet.
Chat Noir
I hate this woman. Hate, hate, hate. And I hate that the stupid media hangs on her every stupid utterance or tweet or FB post. She’s a pox on our political discourse in the worst possible way.
I hate this woman.
New Yorker
Sullivan had a post on this earlier:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/07/one-spending-policy-palin-is-clear-about.html
I do like how Caribou Barbie is outraged over the hypothetical reduction of the number of carrier strike groups this country has. I mean, it’s only been nearly 70 years since the Battle of Midway, which was the last time another country could challenge us on the high seas, but we need all (if not more) of those strike groups in order to defeat the, um, Taliban Navy, or something.
demo woman
Does Sarah know what the word deficit means? Cut taxes, cut the deficit, bomb Iran, cut the deficit, spend money on abstinence only, cut the deficit.
They shoot grizzlies, don’t they?
Punchy
Translation: Palin is looking to further highlight the ridiculous hypocrisy rampant among the phony fiscal conservatives who want a balanced budget, but nonetheless maintain $700 billion/yr for the troops and $8 gazillion to keep out illegals, and GODDAMMIT DONT YOU DARE TOUCH MY MEDICARE COVERAGE!
Bubblegum Tate
You’ve gotta admit, “Stop government spending! No, not that government spending!” is a catchy slogan.
BombIranForChrist
So, let’s see …
Group A will want to cut spending on everything Group B likes but will want to keep spending for everything Group A likes.
Group B will want to cut spending on everything Group A likes but will want to keep spending for everything Group B likes.
Yup, sounds like a totally new approach to the deficit issue.
Pangloss
Wow. I never saw that coming…. Republicans pretending not to be republicans pretending they’re for fiscal austerity except when it comes to bombs made by their favorite contractors in Republican districts throughout the nation.
Surprise!
SpotWeld
So… bascialy Sarah Palin is a GOP political spokesmodel?
She’s selling a non-party on overhyped vaporware of political issues, and expecting to be paid for it?
Mark S.
The best thing we could do to cut the deficit would be to let the Bush tax cuts expire. I’m sure Sarah will come out in favor of that any day now on her Facebook.
licensed to kill time
Simple Palin met a ‘bagger going to the fair
Said Simple Palin to the ‘bagger “Let me tell you where
to fix that def’cit cut them taxes! But keep our big guns there”
Said the ‘bags to Simple Palin “gal we like your stuff
less taxes good! big gov’t bad! of guns there’s not enuf”.
Said Simple Palin to the ‘baggers “See, that was simple, no?
Just stick with me and I will be a-rollin’ in the dough.”
Montysano
Maybe also too throw in a few bucks for oil well plugging and cleanup. The same morons who, last summer, were screaming about the gummint are now insistent that the same gummint “do something” about the gusher in the GOM.
They seem particularly furious at Obama about the oil spill, which gave Tbogg an excuse to knock one out of the park.
cleek
Wiki says:
$1,030,000,000,000 this year.
Hunter Gathers
Has anyone seen her new ‘Mama Grizzly’ ad? Nary a non-white face to be seen. In the foreground, anyway.
amorphous
@New Yorker: From a landlocked country, no less.
NonyNony
Wait – wuh?
Sarah Palin is the leader of the teabagger movement? Since when?
I could see the quote reading “as the unofficial mascot of the movement” and that might be accurate. But “leader”? That would imply that she’s actually, you know, calling shots. Suggesting a platform. Coming up with plans of action.
As far as I can tell, Palin doesn’t do any of those things. She gets paid to give speeches and she has a Twitter account. Just because they call them “followers”, that doesn’t mean that if you have a lot of them you’re automatically a “leader”.
As far as I know the Teabaggers don’t have a leader. They’re angry Republicans who are being organized by other Republicans. That’s it. If the “movement” actually had a leader it would actually be a potential threat to the Republican Party leadership and they’d be working hard to marginalize it. But as long as it remains merely an outlet for Republicans wanking off their 10 minutes of hate, it’s safe and neutered as a danger to the Republicans and they can use it to keep their base voting Republican even as the Republican brand name is in the crapper.
Zifnab
“Cut the deficit! Cut the deficit! Cut the defi…”
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
“Bigger military! Bigger military! Bigger military!”
I guess now we get to see how well this Tea Party handles. Can it turn on a cognitive dime, or will we see the wheels start flying off the jalopy as it swings a 180 on government spending?
The honest deficit hawks have always been a thorn in the side of the GOP. They’re the independents who always end up turning on the GOP after it achieves a majority and starts spending like sailors.
Lisa
@El Cid: LOL!!! I fuckin love you for that.
danimal
BTW, they aren’t “Bush tax cuts.” It’s Bush’s 2011 tax hike. His legislation, his plan. Don’t let the GOP pin this on the Dems. This is Bush’s baby, along with the congressional GOP. They set it up this way, it’s their tax hike.
New Yorker
@amorphous:
Yeah, that was implied in my joke about the Taliban Navy. ;-)
Svensker
My Rep. is a born-again Christian conservative with a capital K who is called “Mr. No” because he votes against everything — except the national security state. He wants to slash government — except for the national security state. He wants to slash spending — except for the national security state. He considers himself “small government”. Asshole.
Sentient Puddle
@danimal: Oh they’ll try. The tax cuts expire because they were put through reconciliation, which was necessary because the Democrats were obstructionist fucks!
And they’ll say that without any hint of irony.
Bubblegum Tate
@danimal:
I pointed that out on a wingnut blog. This is what I got in response (quote is verbatim):
Sadly, that’s the best, most coherent response that could be expected.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
From the story:
“Aperture Science:
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.”
cleek
@Bubblegum Tate:
that’s a beaut!
Mark S.
@Phoenician in a time of Romans:
The moose is a lie.
The moose is a lie.
The moose is a lie.
The moose is a lie.
Zifnab
@NonyNony:
Since when did the Tea Party call any shots, suggest any platforms, or plan any actions? They’re just a giant tea kettle of old white person rage. Palin’s perfect for them.
kdaug
@Phoenician in a time of Romans:
I’ve experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are still alive
kdaug
@Mark S.: But it’s so delicious and moist!
CynDee
Would like to see “Department of Defense” renamed to keep up with reality: “U.S. Arm of Hostile Invasion.”
Jay in Oregon
@Phoenician in a time of Romans:
I love that song so much I want to have its babies. I’m excited and worried about the idea of a Portal 2.
Redshirt
We should change it back to it’s original, non-Orwellian title then: Secretary of War. A bit more honest, though of course, America never engages in wars anymore, natch.
Jay in Oregon
@CynDee:
We can always go back to the original name…
EDIT: Curse you, Redshirt!
Redshirt
Wow. I’m usually the one getting just beat to the punch. Feels good!
Montysano
@Bubblegum Tate:
The GOP owns the joint from ’94 to ’06, but the Dems sunk it in 2 years? Under a Republican president? Woof….. the Dems power is almost supernatural.
Meanwhile, Hannity is yammering on about Malik Zulu Shabazz, I think mostly because he knows that just saying “Malik Zulu Shabazz” frightens and agitates the morons.
Mike in NC
The nitwit was once photographed standing on a fishing boat up in Alaska, which automatically makes her an expert on naval issues to the tools at the Washington Post. Bravo.
Sly
This whole episode clearly cements the notion that Tea Partiers are not Republicans. Even though they vote Republican, advance Republican causes, and are running candidates in Republican primaries.
But hey, if companies like Phillip Morris and Blackwater can rebrand themselves, why should the people who enriched them be prevented from doing the same?
Sly
@Jay in Oregon:
If you start from the point of the original Portal being merely a sophisticated tech demo (not to diminish the game’s greatness at all) made by about 10 people using existing software and included in a larger collection of games, it’s very difficult to underestimate the sequel’s quality based on the resources that Valve has invested in it compared to the original. The original project lead left for another game company, however, but based on what I’ve seen the sequel looks fantastic.
If you haven’t done so already, the E3 demo is a must-see.
JasonF
I heard an interesting point the other day. Basically, lots of people say we should cut government spending, but when you press them for specifics — give them a list of programs and ask what should be cut — the only thing they really want to cut is foreign aid.
So let’s talk about foreign aid. There is some amount of money we spend by giving money directly to other countries — funding AIDS prevention in Africa or giving money to Egypt and Israel so they can arm themselves, stuff like that. Really, though, that’s a drop in the bucket of our budget, as most people who are educated on this topic know.
But what I hadn’t thought about until I heard this point is that direct foreign aid is really only a fraction of our foreign aid budget. Because think about this — how much does the UK spend on their military? France? Japan? Germany? Canada? It’s next to nothing. And why do they spend next to nothing? Because they know that the U.S. spends like crazy on our military and anything that threatens the UK’s interests (or France’s or Japan’s or Germany’s or Canada’s) in a way that would be appropriate for a military response almost certainly threatens ours as well. They don’t need a big army ready to take on North Korea or Iran or whoever the next Hitler is going to be because they know we have that big army.
So if you really want to talk about foreign aid, and reducing how much we spend on it, you need to talk about our defense budget.
Sly
@JasonF:
In terms of GDP, you could make the argument that “security” constitutes the United State’s chief export. Thomas Barnett made it a few times, I believe, in his fabled Super-Deluxe-Grand-Strategy PowerPoint. The problem with that argument is that countries generally see revenue from their exports paid from the point of sale. We give our services away free of charge, and have the public pick up the tab.
Plus there’s the added irony of free market fundamentalists demanding that we subsidize the security of quasi-socialist states.
Calouste
@Mark S.:
Usually when people refer to themselves in the third person they use “he” or “she” as appropriate, not “my answer”. But I guess Palin is different in this as well.
Liberty60
@New Yorker:
Commonweal has a good comment on this, making the point that even though our Navy is larger than any on earth, and our Marine Corps alone is larger than most nations entire armed forces, all our money and effort hasn’t brought peace, or even victory; we haven’t won a major war since WWII; all the others have ended in ambiguous truces or defeats.
And yet China and Russia, who have tiny navies in comparison, are somehow able to project political and economic power equal to ours.
matoko_chan
DON’T call her “mama grizzly”, Cole.
She is a “grandma grizzly”.
she a GILF, not a MILF, and her neck is getting verry crepey.
do they make neck botox?