Tea Party Diversity Event: Pretty Much A Bust
Organizer Jeffrey Weingarten set the bar pretty low for the Uni-Tea diversity rally today, saying that if even one "other than white" person attended, they'd consider the event a success.
So I guess, by that standard, it was a success. There were at the very most 200 people, counting a couple dozen members of the press (it was hard to get a better count, since the area is also frequented by tourists there to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell).
The crowd was serenaded by The Bangers and their American Heroes and Patriots Tour™ (featuring appearances by Rita Cosby), a mediocre rock band with song lyrics like "Thank God for you/You protect us from terror."
The lead singer urged people go up to any veterans at the rally "and give him a big hug." Then he exhorted the crowd: "The left will never be right" and announced ear plugs would be distributed to the crowd "for the left ear only." (Get it?)
I walked around and talked to a few people in the sparse crowd. Linda Hertzog, 62, a housewife, lives in suburban West Chester, PA and is active in the Valley Forge Tea Party group.
"I'm here supporting my brothers and sisters," she said. "We're told we're a majority white organization, and we have African-American speakers here today. I wanted to support them."
She spoke of capitalism being "demonized" and insisted the reason corporations were sitting on record cash reserves was because of the "uncertainty" of Obama's policies. (And here, I find them predictably pro-corporate. Go figure!)
"How many people are in the stock market? We have to protect them," she said.
College student Matt Hissey, 21, and bartender Brendan Kissam, 25, are self-described gay conservatives. "Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to be a liberal," Hissui said.
"I advocate a government so small, it can fit into a clutch purse at the Tonys," Kissam said. Oo, snap!
Hissey, a libertarian, is all for legalizing drugs -- but not gay marriage. (Something to do with Anglo-Saxon law and "morality.") Although a member of College Republicans, he said, he was frustrated. "The party's umbrellas is little, they don't want to expand."
Mark Hutchinson, 52, of Mays Landing, NJ, carried a New Jersey state flag. He's a retired chef who, unlike the other attendees I spoke to, has actually been concerned about constitutional issues for a while, through a militia-type website called LibertyandProsperity.org.
He's most concerned about government spending. When I asked which spending, he replied, "All of it. We don't need cash for clunkers, buying auto companies. This stimulus spending is nothing but a slush fund for Obama and his cronies."
I pointed out that war spending dwarfed all that, and asked why that didn't upset him. He sidestepped the question: "Congress needed to declare war. Congress abdicated its responsibilities."
While trying to talk to people who have such a narrow perspective does make my head hurt, I do identify with their sense of frustration. It's that to them, the solution is to embrace an extreme, uninformed ideology that dismisses nuance, and doesn't leave much room for common ground. (It's very disorienting to talk to people who have more sympathy for corporations than the unemployed.)
The right wing supplies them with a consistent narrative that validates their worldview, and as I walked away, I thought that it was a damned shame progressives didn't get there first.
Even worse, that they never even tried.
Conservatism is just never fixing things.
Things are real broken after Bush and the Tea party poopers don't
want to fix it.
Waaaaaaaaaaa! I don't want to pay! Ever! Waaaaaaaaaa!
PS. shhh.. neither does any channel on the MSM. They don't want
to change the machine that feeds them.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZlgDQbvo9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuZO1iT4kD0&fe...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Now THERE was a bust! Dolly Parton at age 28...
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
You mean no Earl Grey Blacks
Tea Party rallies are "polite" KKK rallies.
Couldn't book Ted Nugent eh?
I belong to no organized political party -- I am a Democrat.
--Will Rogers
Don't be so harsh. They did have some gay dudes there.
Obviously incredibly stupid gay dudes. But, gay nonetheless.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
I often wonder what makes other gays / lesbians join with groups like this. I can understand arguments for smaller federal organizations, more intelligent / targeted spending, etc. I actually agreed with some conservative points back in the early 90's. There are two big problems for GLBT's, though. First, obviously, is the religious right and the other forms of xenophobia. The RR needs Teh Gays to be Evil to milk money from the sheeple. Also, people with issues of race / ethnicity, gender, religion, or other paranoias are usually not friendly to anyone "different", and so gay-hostile.
The other issue is the conservative "Authoritative Father Frame" calls for a conformist, fairly homogeneous society. It also does not tolerate "other" well. Men are supposed to be the household authoritarians and primary breadwinners who come home and bonk their *woman* senseless. Women are housekeeper and baby factories who support their *man* (and need not always have an orgasm, apparently). That is the "right" and "good" gender rolls, and what society "needs". Deviances from that threaten the good of society. So, conservatism will never be GLTB-friendly. Even now, it only tolerates those who publicly espouse the idea that they really don't need any "special" marriage / civil union rights, and prefer those who admit that conversion therapy probably can work. In other words, gays and lesbians are only tolerated if they renounce their rights up front and pledge to never threaten or encroach upon the "traditional" nuclear family structure, and remain quiet outsiders.
I also thought afterward... They may also just have very low self esteem, and love the occasional fawning, patronizing support and praise, mistaking it for genuine respect and support.
One 52 yr old guy said he was a "retired" chef? I bet that's code for he used to make french fries at McDonald's! One medium fry comin' up! What the fuck?????????
I feel as if I should apologize, but I cannot understand how ANY gays could be "conservative" or "Republican". I just can't. How could you belong to a party that rejects you and your kind ???
"Republican" was not always this dance macabre of the Mad Hatters Tea Party. I can understand some fiscal and federal conservatism, and those are important counterbalances to progressive policies that tend to be spending heavy. I'm a progressive myself, but would appreciate someone intelligent actually trying to make sure the books balance and if the money is efficiently spent. There is a big, big, huge difference between *that* and "Ah wunt mah khuntree bhaaaack!!!" (which is evil).
That their party wishes they would all go away? How many bills and laws do conservatives have to pass before they get the hint.....They are not welcome there.
A couple I have known would have been old-school R's, wanting small government, fiscal conservatism, etc. That is not in itself a bad thing.
Others have had, in my opinion, self esteem issues. The general opinion they hold is, "Well, we are the minority, this is a Christian nation, so we should just be as quiet as possible so we don't piss off the Straight Christians. They deserve our respect and admiration, since they are the pillar of society and the gay community contributes little if not being a burden." Of course, conservatives love hearing any minority say this. Basically, they internalize the loathing, validate it, and feel grateful for occasional patronizing.
"they'd consider the event a success" , of course they would , reality is not a factor with these morons , they simply make up their own , that goes for the entire Reich wing , the Republican party ... and their supporters .
If I'm not mistaken many of us progressives have been trying to get people riled up over constitutional issues for a long time (I know many who have since the Iran-Contra days) and it's tough to appeal to folks who feel sorry for BP and not the out of work fisherman.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Some one started a country and no one showed up. I kid, I love my Canadian friends. This is the Tea Party? West Chester is a suburb of Philly and all they can get is 200 people? Six people of color and some of them media? A couple of gay guys (so they claim)? What, didn't the KKK get the email? It's a racist organization and the moderates are running from it. They're like the end of a sparkler, slowly fizzling out. A lot of fun when it was first lit, but it get's a little boring. Look at the polls, Democrats are surging.
is intended to be a factual statement
"A couple of gay guys (so they claim)?"
You know, I often wonder about that. Someone who is just bi enough to not be icked-out by acting physically gay (and I don't mean that as an insult, I know most straight guys simply don't want to act cutesy with another guy for show), they could really abuse that. Such a person could act stereotypically gay, but be "conservative", renounce same-sex marriage and talk about how inherently superior straight people are, and eventually find JEEzuz and be "cured". The ignorant masses of teabaggers would consider someone like that a great social commentator and would flock to him or her.
was in beautiful downtown Philly - on the Independence Mall, where the Liberty Bell is, across the street from Independence Hall - not in West Chester.
I saw the coverage on the local Philly news tonight - the reporter had to look hard to find an African American man to interview. I didn't see any blacks in the other shots, except the one man he put microphone in front of. So much for diversity....
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
It's very disorienting to talk to people who have more sympathy for corporations than the unemployed
Agree. that's the strangest thing about libertarians (the honest ones, not the new crop that has come out of the woodwork since a black man was elected President) - they have this strange heartfelt belief that corruption and greed are not inherent human qualities, but some kind of by-product of government (federal - never local) overreach. I know otherwise intelligent people who really believe this.
That pretty much sums it up, the right wing will never even listen to what anyone on the left says, ensuring that we will never be able to have an intelligent conversation about what is good for America.
Once again I say if you are a republican please take a good look at what you are supporting. The republican party will never back you up ever, at best they will simply use and exploit you for their own needs and then you will be cast aside like trash.
LOL!
Someone had to tell you that?
that that means a majority of the teabaggers are white NOT that a majority of whites are teabaggers! But I'm not counting on her being that intelligent.
Except that Congress didn't. Thus keeping the war expenditures off budget and making the USA criminal in a now illegal war.
We have surrendered our passion for freedom to the acquisition of stuff. We cannot even mount a decent opposition to wars that are destroying what little we have left in our treasury or to resist the oligarchy that has taken over our electoral process.
{How white was it?}
That group was so white, if Mr. Clean wanted to hide out in that croud he wouldn't have to change - he'd already be wearing the perfect camouflage...
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“Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR, and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no
Even worse, that they never even tried.
Kinda drinking the Kool-Aid yourself there, aren't you, Susie?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
for a rally in Detroit and the media was absent. It's not the dems that aren,t trying.
ear plugs would be distributed to the crowd "for the left ear only."
Do you still need to plug your ears when your mind is that closed?
I thought that was pretty funny as well... symbolism that they never want to hear any other opinions, ever.
majority white no matter what, because it's dominated by senior citizens, and so it's dominated by an aging white population. Generation Y as the young generation right now is more diverse and ok with that diversity than really any generation that has preceeded us, and the Tea Party's racist rhetoric just doesn't sit well with Generation Y, with our large number of multiethnic/racial members and our big turn out to help elect the first biracial African-American president.
Asking the Tea Party to be more diverse is beginning to feel like yelling into the wind!
I've never seen change without a fire
The one saving grace, if there is any, is that senior citizens will die soon and be of little consequence.
I know, because I am rapidly becoming a senior citizen. A left-wing senior citizen.
Wait a sec... they keep telling people that the tea party is a diverse group of people from all over the political spectrum, and is absolutely not an offshoot of the Republican party.
And they have songs and lame puns that specifically target liberals?
Bull. Shit.
I'm sure Beck will tell us that there were 3.23 million folks there according to Beck U.
These astroturf asswipes hate and they hate brown skinned people. They show up for the bus ride and the free moon pies and RC colas. They stand for nothing because they are too ignorant to know anything to be for. They are against the black man in the white house and that is the MO.
I like RC Cola, and *love* moon pies. I almost bought one today.
RC Cola & a Moon Pie
Nothing wrong with them but I would buy you one to keep you from going on a bus to baggr meeting to get a free one.
What a woefully uninformed group of deliberately ignorant lazy white people the Tea Party is.
(I am white).
98% of Americans are either government-hating teabagger Republicans or else globalist-corporatist neo-liberals. Both groups are extremely fundamentalist in their views, and never deviate even slightly from their core beliefs. You can go into any politics forum on the web or watch political talk on TV, and you will see these people spouting their monotonous ideas over and over again. Conservatives will oppose all government programs, all taxes and gun laws, and gay marriage. Liberals will oppose all restrictions on immigration and will constantly downplay the possibility of single payer healthcare and other threats to corporate profitability. Neither side can even seem to conceive that other types of politics are possible, and clearly it is this lack of political diversity - not a lack of ethnic or racial diversity - that is dragging the U.S. into division and disaster.
voters in this country voted in the presidential elections. I think you left out the lazy/bored/despairing crowd.
Be as you wish to seem
The ones who don't vote are acquiescing to the two-party status quo, and 98% of the ones who do eventually vote wind up supporting establishment candidates like Obama.
why would they need an ear plug when their heads are up their asses?
I would add that their heads are so far up their ass that they don't know which way to turn to find daylight.
'We, the People'............rimshot................hahahahahaha!
I was going to suggest a butt plug.
It just seemed more appropriate.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
An oxymoron if ever there was one.
"College student Matt Hissey, 21, and bartender Brendan Kissam, 25, are self-described gay conservatives. "Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to be a liberal," Hissui said."
Are those names for real? Seriously? Hissey and Kissam?
They're going to have a Hissey-Kissey fit when they real about themselves on big, bad, Liberal C&L.
They're easily found with a google search on Facebook. Wonder what their friends/parents would think...
Maybe progressives are bigger on "personal responsibility". Like, you are responsible for thinking for yourself, telling truth from fiction, and being civic-minded.
At the Murfreesboro TN teabagger march against the Islamic center, there were about 400 people, only 2 were black. At the court house, the only blacks participating were featured as speakers. The one half of 1% - speaking for the group. What? Us racist? No!!! See, we have 2 blacks!
What really gets me about these idiots is the fact that they defend the very corporations and politicians who ruitinely bend them over and give them the ROYAL *********ing that the tea baggers so richly deserve!Oops, forgive my ignorance, I almost the reason these neanderthal's refer to themselves as TEA-BAGGERS! Hey baggers, got scrotum? You "nut" jobs are just way to easy!
200 people? I'll bet half of them were just tourists who happened to wander in out of curiosity.
That sucking sound you hear is the Tea Party disappearing into the toilet bowl of history.
"Nothing to see here, move along.....th-th-that's all folks!"
Officer Porky Pig, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
Well, maybe it is (pun intended)
But there are just not that many of these people. I've been to several TeaBagger events and almost no one ever shows. yet, we have a pro-immigration event and get 200k.
The fact that the MSM gives this people so much press is astounding. There are just not that many.
Sticking their heads in the sand and kicking anyone that gets too close.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
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