A bunch of angry, unhinged teabaggers protested at Rep. Tom Perriello’s office yesterday, calling him a “traitor,” “coward,” “prostitute,” and accusing him of “treason.” They believe that global climate change doesn’t exist. (Not that it’s not man-made, but that it doesn’t exist.) Politically, this is an awfully foolish approach—one never sways much popular opinion by making such nasty claims about an officeholder—but this group has never shown itself to be particularly astute. This group seems to consist entirely of Joe the Plumber Mini-Mes.
They’re upset because Perriello cast an incredibly ballsy vote the other day, voting for the cap-and-trade bill. It creates an open market to sell the right to pollute (the sort of thing free market types should love). Perriello knew that the vote would be both good for our district and unpopular with voters, acknowledging to the Post beforehand that it would be trouble. But the man ran for office promising that he’d create jobs and support environmental legislation, and this bill does both. The CBO says that this bill will cost the average household $175 annually come 2020, but that’s ignoring any energy savings. Since energy savings are the whole point of this bill, it’s a fair bet that number is going to wind up a lot smaller.
The NRCC immediately released an ad attacking Perriello, to have it aired on 5th district TV stations. But FactCheck.org called bullshit on it, leading WDBJ-7 to refuse to air the ad. They’re not saying whether or not it’s because FactCheck.org says it’s fake, but I recall WDBJ-7 refusing to run a political ad for that very reason a year or so ago, so that’s a fair guess.
Anyhow, this bunch was angry that Perriello wasn’t available to talk with them at the time of their protest, by why should he have bothered? What’s the point of talking with people who have already prepared signs declaring you to be everything but the antichrist? If this bunch had been genuine in their involvement—if they wanted to influence this process, rather than try to score political points—they would have met with him prior to the vote and presented a rational argument against the bill. Instead they showed up for a big “fuck you.”
I forget, are the Tea Party people still pretending that they’re nonpartisan? Or have they dropped that schtick? The important thing is that they’re the future of the Republican Party. God love ’em for that.
These guys mostly seem to be the same nutcases who were screaming about Ron Paul last year, and 15 years ago they probably would have been waving signs for Lyndon LaRouche.
Some people just like being angry and self-righteous.
You can’t complain about people calling Periello a “traitor” when you call them “teabaggers.”
This isn’t any worse than the anti-war crowd that kept showing up to the same office, is it?
Actually Mike, I think he can. Being a traitor (or participating in treason) is a capital offense. Being a teabagger is not.
Shaun,
They certainly do have a lot in common. I detest shouting and sign-waving generally.
But no one in the Tea Party movement calls themselves “teabagger.” That crushes debate just like saying “traitor.”
Ok, Waldo… I don’t agree with you most of the time, but you seriously need to relax a bit. You know who comes off as unhinged in this post? Not the protesters… you.
Yes, the ad was stupid, and denying climate change is stupid, scientifically AND politically.
But being so cutesy (and sniggling in the corner ’cause you said something dirty) by calling them teabaggers, and “the future of the Republican Party”, etc. is stupid.
Stick with the few middle paragraphs and omit the sillyness. Else you come off as the one saying “fuck you” and not being open to any debate.
One could have just as easily protested the local Food Lion and had more impact than protesting a congressman’s office.
Of course, this would be entirely predicated on the vitriol/common sense of said participants.
It’s OK to call people names when they are saying bad things about your guy- nope not being a hypocrite at all.
(however stealing bits from John Stewart after making national news for calling out someone else for the same thing is very bad)
“Sniggling in the corner”? “Not open to any debate”? Dude, you don’t know me at all.
You are confused. Re-read the blog entry. I didn’t say that there’s anything wrong with calling Perriello names, I said that it’s “politically…an awfully foolish approach” because he’s “an officeholder.” It’s not bad, it’s ineffective. Also, none of these dopes are elected officials.
That would be difficult to do, since he has not (to my knowledge) said anything about this protest. I can’t see how he could have—it was just held yesterday, at 4 PM, which I think is when he tapes his show.
“Dude, you don’t know me at all.”
So if you aren’t sniggling over saying something dirty, why call them “teabaggers”? I assume you are aware of what “teabagging” is, right?
I call ’em teabaggers. They use perfectly useable tea bags to illustrate a political point. They’d be gardenrakers if they used garden rakes.
I’ve ranted on the teabagger movement before and my opinion hasn’t changed radically. While there is quite a bit of resentment over the policies of the Obama Administration, in reality there is very little that has changed in real, tangible ways since the Bush Administration.
Using the tactics of the loon on the left just makes you a loon of the right. Besides, the fact that most of the teabagging organizers go to great lengths to stress how non-political they intend to be illustrates they are not serious about real change… and therefore lose otherwise sympathetic ears such as my own.
The best way to change things is to participate in the political process. I don’t care if that’s with the two major parties, as a third party, as a PAC, as a grassroots organization, or as a block of concerned citizens.
Just venting outrage without an objective? Ludicrous… unless someone is willing to show how either Perriello changed his mind, or how something was gained (making press doesn’t count).
A better label than “teabaggers” would be “people who are very upset that the president is black.” Because from what I understand from hearing them interviewed, that’s the only common basis of their protest. Taxes? Obama hasn’t set any tax rates yet. TARP? Wasn’t that Bush? Bailing out Chrysler and GM? Hell, it would make more sense for me to mad at Obama that he didn’t really bail them out, which is going to cost American workers jobs. These folks are just incoherently ranting. At least anti-war, or anti-abortion, protesters know what they’re mad about.
For my own part, I’ll say that if a group of Democratic anti-war protesters (a cause which I support, incidentally) started calling themselves the “salad tossers,” I’d have a pretty tough time NOT making fun of them at every possible opportunity.
Waldo you ripped off the teabagging joke from Stewart, he did it during the tea party from previous times not this current one. It was really more of a joke on my part.
Oh, heck, that joke was instant, obvious, and universal. Though you’re right, not of my invention. :)
(FWIW, part of the group’s problem is that there is no word to refer to participants in these protests. They’re no longer “tea parties,” now they’re just events from people associated with this Fox-led faux movement. If there’s a better word than “teabaggers” to describe that group, I’d love to hear it.
??? Dunno. Maybe just “protesters.”
Maybe you could try interviewing that head guy… Bob Hay or something. (Bald, kind of big, talks with a little bit of a lisp) I’ve seen him on some of the local news channels. I bet he’d probably be open to a small interview for cvillenews or here.
Instead of just using your blog to take shots at them, you could get it from the horse’s mouth. Ask him why in the world they would call Perriello a “traitor,” etc.
That’s really not helpful. There are many kinds of protestors. These are a particular group of people who warrant identification as a distinct group.
I have no interest in interviewing this bunch. (I’m not in the habit of interview anybody for my blogs, anyhow. The skill set that allows somebody to write has nothing in common with the skill set that allows somebody to conduct a useful interview.) This is a group of people who believe that all taxes are bad and that government is inherently evil. Based on the videos I’ve seen on TV and on blogs, the average IQ of attendees isn’t too far above room temperature. They’ve got little to no understanding of how governments, societies, or economies work. If they actually believed what they claim to believe, they’d live in Siberia.
Waldo, a couple of links to show that these people are indeed non-partisan (at least equal opportunity protesters), and I know that just because they’re from Michelle Malkin, you’ll have to take them with a grain of salt:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/07/06/video-sen-cornyn-gets-an-earful/
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/18/another-republican-booed-by-tea-party-protesters/
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/15/california-tea-party-to-california-gop-smackdown/
I’m not sure why I’m defending these people… I’m not much of a protester myself, but I just think they have been given a bad rap and it’s fun and interesting to see people engaged and exercising their rights to peaceably assemble. Peace, Waldo.
Henn-
It isn’t any supposed “partisanship” of these groups that bothers me; heck they boo Republicans too (this is from Huffington Post, so perhaps you’ll have to take it likewise with a grain of salt):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/06/cornyn-booed-called-trait_n_226110.html
No, what bugs me about the Teabaggers is their unique combination of raw, unfocused self-righteousness with the fact that they have no idea what the hell they’re talking about. The actual text of their complaints are laughably transparent and insincere. These folks are dumb and mad, and they’re looking for something to be mad AT. It would be funny if it weren’t also kind of scary.
Plus, all the stupid code-word dog-whistle bullshit drives me CRAZY. (i.e. saying “Socialist President” to actually mean “Black President”) when they clear lack both a working definition of Socialism and any information about Obama’s actual information or policies.
These folks are contributing absolutely nothing of value to public discourse; they’re not there to state a case or make an argument, they’re there to yell and get angry and feel self-righteous about their opinions, however misinformed and foolish those “opinions” may be. The best thing to do is just ignore them, I think.
For the record, there are “protests” and causes put on by folks on the left which annoy me for many of the same reasons, although I may agree with some of their root intentions. It’s just that the nutjobs on the right wing tend to remind me uncomfortably of a lynch mob, whereas the most danger the lefties ever offer is the threat that they might get really stoned and go home.
> Obama’s actual information or policies.
D’oh! Should have read= “actual actions or policies”
I note that the Tea Party folks were booing Jon Cornyn and Rick Perry in Texas this weekend as well. They are indeed non-partisan in that they’ll scream at anyone. They booed Cornyn for supporting TARP, and they booed Perry because he supports toll roads rather than raising taxes to pay for new roads. (Incidentally, this suggests that the Tea Party folks really need to go back and read their history; in 1773, there were no publicly maintained roads in most places in the country, and there were toll roads such as the Little River Turnpike that ran from Alexandria out to Loudoun County that were operated as private enterprises.)
But when they booed Cornyn and Perry, it showed that the Republicans who have attempted to jump on the back of that particular tiger are now wondering how they can get off. I think they understand now that it is a movement that they can’t control.
Oh, and on the tea bag reference? I’m an old fart. I didn’t know until about a week after the Tea Party people began waving tea bags around, and after THEY had referred to themselves as teabaggers, that there was a salacious meaning to the term. Here I was, talking about teabaggers, and not realizing that I was, unknowingly, being way cooler than my kids probably think I am. But it was not intentional. I guess I just don’t get out much any more.