“Tea Parties”

Yeah yeah, Revolutionary Tea Parties, whatever. Wake me up when you’ve repaid the surplus you wasted on the Great War On Terror in Iraq (fat lot of good that did). Even reasonable conservatives aren’t taking these Wingnut Picnics seriously.  So can we move onto something of national importance already?

I want to believe in these tea parties, I really do.  But they bug me just a little bit.  First of all, the Boston Tea Party was an act of outright rebellion by fed up colonists, this is a planned rally by the dorkiest segments of the GOP.

Already, organizers are trying to preempt any liberal backlash by saying it’s coming, they“re going to call us racists.  This is exactly what Obama did in the campaign by predicting that conservatives would try to scare voters because he was different.  It might have worked, he did get elected after all.  The thing is, the vocal part of the anti-tax crowd overlaps with the lock-and-load gun lovers, the Jeffersonians and the John Birch Society.  I hate taxes and government excess, but I would never trust any of these people under any circumstances.  There“s internet kooks, then there’s the REAL kooks!

As much as I don’t want to admit it, there’s an element of fear in hard-right conservative politics.  Fear of the unknown, fear of black people, fear of Mexicans, fear of anything unfamiliar. (Ever been to a Republican women“s meeting? Those who have will know what I mean.)  Anyway, these kooky, almost 110% white people will be front and center, with the camera firmly planted upon them.  Is this what we Republicans want?  Would you trust the Pat Buchanan crowd to put on the best face?  It’s like ACORN, SDS, Michael Moore and ACTUP carrying the Dem“s flag, when it should be the Blue Dogs.

Looking at the BTR lineup of speakers, it reads like a live broadcast for also-ran talk radio hosts.  And by “also ran,” I mean anybody other than Rush Limbaugh.  What profound thoughts could these folks have to add to the dialogue that hasn’t already been said on the radio?

Everyone hates the IRS — especially on April 15th.  This is a given, and it’s important to tap into that universal dislike.  We“re not going to accomplish that by highlighting the differences between normal people and our kooky core or pseudo-celebrities from a decaying medium.