Secretive convention threatens lawsuits against dissenters.

They've managed to fuck it up themselves.

Unfortunately, they also closed off all media coverage except for five outlets (FOX News, WSJ, and three conservative blogs: Red State, and I forget the other two) - so when it blows up in their face, we won't have coverage of it.
 
Yeah i read that Politico story. Sorry bout that. Chin up brah, you're getting teabagged after all ;)

By the way, can someone please note the irony in all of this? A supposed grass roots movement with big national groups funding this convention. A $550 ticket which I'm sure every ordinary teabagger can afford.

Best of all, a movement that is AGAINST WASTEFUL SPENDING is paying $100,000 to fly Palin out via first class or private jet.

It's all in the game though, right? Oh indeed.
 
I don't understand the infatuation with Sarah Palin.

In theory, government growth would be limited because of how long it would take for her to sign her name to approve legislation reaching her desk, but they have machines that can sign for her.

However, she would approve of anything as long as it was shiny.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I don't understand the infatuation with Sarah Palin.[/QUOTE]

She has that rare and often unseen political trait of...what do you call it? Oh yeah: fuckability.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']she has that rare and often unseen political trait of...what do you call it? Oh yeah: fuckability.[/quote]

ಠ_ಠ
 
[quote name='IRHari']By the way, can someone please note the irony in all of this? A supposed grass roots movement with big national groups funding this convention. A $550 ticket which I'm sure every ordinary teabagger can afford.[/QUOTE]
These people get curiouser and curiouser. I really hope someone gets access and broadcasts what's going on. Why would they want secrecy so bad that they're threatening lawsuits? Nothing about this makes sense.
[quote name='mykevermin']Unfortunately, they also closed off all media coverage except for five outlets (FOX News[/QUOTE]
Don't worry. Fox News will come to the defense of the excluded networks just as the other networks came to their defense when they were excluded from coverage for political reasons. Any minute now.
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I don't understand the infatuation with Sarah Palin.[/QUOTE]
She supported the Bush bailouts. The epicwut meter is off the charts.
 
too bad the republicans had to go and ruin the original tea party protests. now its a joke. i 100% blame the pundits, beck, hannity, limbaugh etc.
 
You're a smart dude. How could you not have seen that one coming?

(glass house disclosure: I thought I elected a progressive candidate to the office of President, FWIW.)
 
[quote name='mykevermin']You're a smart dude. How could you not have seen that one coming?

(glass house disclosure: I thought I elected a progressive candidate to the office of President, FWIW.)[/QUOTE]

no, i saw it coming the first time i heard hannity mention it on the air. (i swear i dont listen to him, hes just on the same station of the guys i listen to in the morning ;) ). im just saying its too bad. its like the health care bill, a chance for a real movement, but its a bastard of original form thanks to pundits and politicians. now its no better than a south park caricature... rabble rabble rabble

rabblerabble1251158120.jpg
 
The other half of that coin is the idea of 'radical flank effects' in social movements research. It's a theory that argues that the vocal minority can impact the majority as a part of the political process.

As a child, if you wanted $5 from your parents, you ask for $10 first, right? So the $5 seems more reasonable? (not that we always succeeded at that.) That's the idea here: demand radical change, settle for moderate change.

Of course, having seen the spending beast of government (we live in an era where the "tax and spend democrats" label is positively draconian, since "spend" is party independent no matter what the campaign promises are), it's easy to be cynical. And perhaps more accurate.
 
I think you are more accurately describing Obama.

The Tea-Baggers are just bat-shit crazy. They aren't asking for $10 to get $5, they are asking for a mongoose to get a popsicle

(of course I'm kidding a bit. There is an effect but honestly, what they want is so confusing I think it is hard to measure the effect in any meaningful ways other than a lot of incumbents being scared)
 
The pinnacle of libertarianism.

Of course it would be for profit silly. Working for the betterment of anyone but yourself is communist. Gah, just the thought of charity makes me wanna go Galt.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']"Former Webmaster Kevin Smith quit the group and started talking."

Clerks II wasn't that bad.[/QUOTE]
I thought when i read that, "Damn, Smith must really been down on his luck."
 
[quote name='speedracer']The pinnacle of libertarianism.

Of course it would be for profit silly. Working for the betterment of anyone but yourself is communist. Gah, just the thought of charity makes me wanna go Galt.[/QUOTE]

It's amazing how full of ignorance this statement is.

Most Libertarians I've ever met are pretty big supporters of private charity.
 
Blackburn and Bachmann pulled out of the convention...

Sounds like someone has a hole in their teabag and its leaking freedom.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Most Libertarians I've ever met are pretty big supporters of private charity.[/QUOTE]
Um, ok. I've never met someone who wasn't a supporter of charities, private or otherwise.

You see, it was a joke about how "libertarians" can't even get together without charging each other. Cause of that thing with the book. And then they finally get noticed by the mainstream and they can't help profiteering on their own movement. Cause of that thing about morals and money and that dumb book.

Seriously tho, how pants-on-head retarded you gotta be for Bachmann to walk? I didn't think it was possible. You could tell her it was a scientific convention to discuss whether Jesus rode a Velociraptor to heaven and she'd line up to give the keynote.
 
Some of this is just golden:

Nashville Tea Party leaders Judson and Sherry Phillips, who organized the event, have made no secret that their group, Tea Party Nation, is for-profit. But they argue that any profits are given back to the cause. "I don't run around in a sack," says Skoda, in a tan sports jacket, a black turtleneck and black slacks. "It's a misnomer that in order to be a grassroots activist, you have to be a pauper."
Click to expand...
I'm waiting for the embezzlement scandal.

The only signs were one enormous photo of Sarah Palin toted by a fan and advertisements at a booth selling silver and precious stone tea bag pendants for $89.99.
Click to expand...
Tea bag pendants, seriously?:lol:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100205/us_time/08599196040800
 
If lived closer i'd seriously consider it, as it is i'm at least an hour away. You can bet that he people you see at the protest rallies probably aren't the people going to this.
 
After the news of this conference this weekend, and given the Palin keynote, I wonder how many of the folks who post/lurk here who don't care for either party view the "Tea Party." Is it still something independent of any political party (i.e., in the middle, or consisting of both Dems/Repubs), or do you view it as a faction of solely Republican ideals and talking points?
 
[quote name='mykevermin']After the news of this conference this weekend, and given the Palin keynote, I wonder how many of the folks who post/lurk here who don't care for either party view the "Tea Party." Is it still something independent of any political party (i.e., in the middle, or consisting of both Dems/Repubs), or do you view it as a faction of solely Republican ideals and talking points?[/QUOTE]

I'm still on the fence about it. But I do agree completely with this statement...

http://twitter.com/Talkmaster/status/8719244112
 
I look at the list of speakers and I try to understand what about this is mainstream. The editor of WND? Tancredo? Palin? What about this lineup should a moderate to moderate liberal like?

I think everyone that spoke is pro-life which is about as anti-libertarian as Old Joe Stalin, yet no one says anything. Wake me up when it becomes more than thrustbucket wearing a new button because he realizes his old button scorched the earth.
 
With Roy Moore and Rick Scarborough leading thematic sessions, I think that should make it crystal clear than any glint of "populist outrage" (which is peculiar, since they were united against a populist president in Obama) is long gone. I don't believe there was any genuine populism or moderation to begin with. It should be now very clear that this is not the middle of American politically, and this is not even the centrist Republicans. These are the vocal, politically active minority of the right end of the Republican party. These are not people who would ever support anything a Democrat did - these small gov't folks certainly didn't like the 1/3 of the stimulus that was tax cuts, and yet these folks never met a tax cut they didn't like.

When I was a teenager, we had a word for people like this: poseur.

EDIT: Yeah, I just saw the notes she put on her palm pilot. That's the irony - "tax cuts" is something she wrote, and something self-identified tea partiers go gaga over. Yet they're also furious at the stimulus package on the whole. Um, what?
 
[quote name='IRHari']Anyone notice the irony that she literally wrote a rote on her hand?[/QUOTE]

HaHa.

Teleprompters.
 
Yeah actually what I said probably isn't irony. Since that is EXACTLY what you would expect her to write on her hand.

The teleprompter thing is the ultimate hypocrisy.

Sidenote, in Palin's interview on Fox News Sunday, Wallace asks her about Limbaugh saying 'retard' versus Rahm. Her reaction was (paraphrasing here) 'well I didn't hear Limbaugh calling a group of people he disagreed with f-ing retards...' and agreeing with Limbaugh when she said '...they are kooks I agree with that...'

So she uses her disabled baby to make a partisan attack against the Chief of Staff. Disgraceful.
 
:rofl: She seriously wrote notes on her hand? That's so absurd. It's like she was thinking "Well it worked back in high school...."
 
[quote name='speedracer']
I think everyone that spoke is pro-life which is about as anti-libertarian as Old Joe Stalin, yet no one says anything.[/QUOTE]


you can be a pro-life libertarian and be defending an individuals rights if you believe life began at conception.


The U.S. Libertarian Party political platform - "Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration"

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1630608/why_libertarian_is_prolife_and_prolife.html?cat=9
 
[quote name='mykevermin']After the news of this conference this weekend, and given the Palin keynote, I wonder how many of the folks who post/lurk here who don't care for either party view the "Tea Party." Is it still something independent of any political party (i.e., in the middle, or consisting of both Dems/Repubs), or do you view it as a faction of solely Republican ideals and talking points?[/QUOTE]

Originally I viewed it as a great idea. A rally to show government that people are tired of bloated budgets and ever increasing taxes. The whole movement was over as soon as people like Newt Gingrich jumped on board. As soon as he and the like started joining up I knew it was over and it would just be hijacked and turned into the garbage that is this convention this weekend. I'm very proud of Bachman for pulling out and very disappointed in Palin for taking a fee.

There was a time when I really believed Palin to be a strong supporter of conservative values but now she's turned into every other money grubbing politician out there. I thought perhaps her vacating the Alaska governor position was for genuine reasons but it is slowly becoming clear that she did it simply to earn more money doing other things such as this tea party convention garbage and the book signings.

I really do miss genuine politicians. Some of you wouldn't be surprised to know that I disagreed with just about every platform Paul Wellstone stood for but damn if I didn't respect the guy as a true standup in the political world. One of the few that were left in either party.

We don't elect politicians anymore, we elect celebrities to play out politics for us.

/rant over
 
I don't think she 'turned into' every other money grubbing politician out there, I think she was one the whole time. She just showed it in the most obvious way possible (quitting to write a book and become a FNC contributor).

EDIT: bless the teabaggers, who are defending her, but the AP image site shows the writing http://www.apimages.com/Search.aspx?sh=10&st=k&remem=x&kw=palin&intv=Today

if it were up to the teabaggers we'd be dealing with this:

palinnuke.jpg
 
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[quote name='Papa Neorev']you can be a pro-life libertarian and be defending an individuals rights if you believe life began at conception.[/quote]
Of course.

The U.S. Libertarian Party political platform - "Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration"
Click to expand...
Now find me the speaker that would agree with that statement quoted.
 
Just saw that religious super psycho Alabama SC judge Roy Moore spoke. And Pastor Scarborough spoke and slammed teh gheys multiple times in his speech.

The message. She is lost.
 
Papa Neorev:

speed wasn't questioning the pro-life libertarian perspective; he was (rightfully and correctly) doubting the libertarian credentials of those now associated with the mainstream tea party movement. You may have viewed his comments outside of the "Tea Party Convention" context, which is probably what you reacted to.

Anywho.

myke:

Yeah, it's gone. Started with some promise in 2007 with philosophic ideas, but around March of last year is when the wheels started falling off; once Fox started hyping it, the trolls took over. The operative word is "co-opted". Now that the Tea Party is all about our current foreign policy (if not an even more disturbing and aggressive policy) and social conservative values, the potential for a third party that believed in limited government and civil liberties both at home and abroad is dead and buried.

The sad thing is, reading some of Ron Paul's writings/congressional speeches about neo-cons laid out a clear pattern in the late 90s (and several earlier instances) of masquerading as libertarian influenced conservatives that was being followed to a T these last two years - so I knew it was coming. I was just being optimistic for once in my life, I suppose, when I briefly thought that this time might be different.

The gist of the pattern is:

CONSTITUTION!
FREEDOM!
AMERICA! fuck YEAH!
LOWER TAXES!
SMALL GOV'MINT!
*gain political power*
[insert image of George Bush and John Ashcroft, or something]

It's the longest and most successful trolling attempt that I am aware of.
 
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for those of you who don't see the problem with using crib notes, since people use it all the time, allow me to use this analogy.

tax cuts : republicans :: 9/11 : rudy giuliani
 
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