Mutual Irritation Society-Alan Grayson tries to show Democrats how to take on the Tea Party.

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http://www.slate.com/id/2264763/pagenum/all/#p2

Mutual Irritation Society
Alan Grayson tries to show Democrats how to take on the Tea Party.
By David Weigel
Posted Monday, Aug. 23, 2010, at 12:59 PM ET

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Outmaneuvering the Tea Party takes a multipronged strategy. Grayson has tried to work on the problems that inspire the movement while dismissing the movement itself as racist, stupid, and crazy. For example, he says, he has found common ground with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. "I agree with him on the wars," says Grayson. "I agree with him on civil liberties. We've worked together very effectively regarding the Fed."

And now here comes the dig. "Many people, improperly, lump together libertarians and the Tea Parties. That's really wrong. Many of the libertarians are physicists, and many of the Tea Party people don't bathe. There's really not much in common there!"

Local Republicans are, understandably, not amused. Seven of them are competing for the chance to challenge Grayson, and some have even made him the focus of their primary campaigns. State Rep. Kurt Kelly calls himself "the conservative who can beat Alan Grayson" and encourages contributors to "donate today to beat Alan Grayson." Grayson is also a one-man full employment program for conservative talk radio in the district. On the day that he visited the union hall, Republican contender Todd Long and his campaign manager Phil Russo took over a local AM station for an hour, tearing Grayson apart.

"It would just be a disgrace if Grayson wins," says Russo. "The only people worse than Alan Grayson are Alan Grayson supporters."

This is just what Grayson wants. His re-election strategy: Register more Democrats, knock on their doors, and fire them up by pouring ridicule on the GOP and the Tea Party movement. He appears on CNN and MSNBC regularly, most recently to demand that White House spokesman Robert Gibbs be fired for sneering at the "professional left." In a conversation inside one of the union's small offices, he quotes some of his better one-liners about Republicans as "wingnuts" who want patients to "die quickly." They're offended? He couldn't care less.

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"In 18 months, two centuries of work, the collective effort of millions of people, all gone," says Grayson of the financial crisis. "So now the Republicans want to go back to 2007? It's a little bit late for that."

When he's done talking to me, Grayson talks with more volunteers. He poses for more photos with them. About a dozen wear T-shirts that say "Grayson. Truth." Everywhere they go, they're presented with evidence that voters blame their party for the economic mess, and here he is, the Democrat who's defending what his party's trying to do.

"He irritates the Republicans," says one volunteer, special education teacher Audrey Ais. "They need to be irritated! They spend plenty of time irritating us."

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