Sherrod Brown: Tea Partiers 'do not seem to much like America the way we are'

[cal04]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/122297-brown-tea-party-do-not-seem-to-much-like-america-the-way-we-are

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) argued in an op-ed that the Tea Party is divisive, driven by anger and doesn't like America "the way we are."

Writing in Monday's USA Today, Brown said that liberals should be proud to run on healthcare and Wall Street reform and discuss the accomplishments "in specific, understandable terms."

"The John Birch Society of 1965 has bequeathed its fervor and extremism to the Tea Party of 2010," Brown wrote. "History tells us that rage on the right should not be confused with populism."

(snip)
"The Tea Party vision of 21st century America would gut Medicare and Social Security, ignore the minimum wage, and scale back consumer protections and regulations that keep Wall Street honest and our food supply safe," Brown wrote. "It seems to me that Tea Party activists, increasingly influential in the Republican Party, do not seem to much like America the way we are.



How to fight Tea Party's faux populism
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-10-04-column04_ST1_N.htm

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. He has such an intelligent, clear voice.

Ohio is lucky to have him.

[onehandle]

2. Teabaggers would have us back in King George's grip.

And they may just do that.

[starroute]

3. When do we get to coopt "love it or leave it"?

The tea party has been taking over all our old slogans -- like "What part of (fill in the blank) don't they understand."

So I say we should get theirs. It's only fair.

[pampango]

4. Brown: "Progressives are an impatient bunch. We fight for people who have waited too long already.

— for health care, for educational opportunity, for jobs to keep them in the middle class.

But for generations, conservatives have appealed to fear to protect the privileged and preserve the status quo — fear of immigrants, fear of diversity, fear of big government."

"Meanwhile, for more than a century — in churches and temples, in union halls and neighborhood centers, in the streets and at the ballot box — progressives have moved the country forward. Progressives brought us minimum wage and Social Security in the 1930s, civil rights and Medicare in the 1960s, and health care and Wall Street reform in 2010."

No one should be surprised over what has happened in the last 18 months:
•We passed health care reform, so the insurance companies are coming after us at election time.
•We enacted consumer protections for homeowners and credit card users, so Wall Street is spending millions to defeat us.
•We worked to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, and now large multinational corporations are doing everything possible to beat us.

"History tells us that rage on the right should not be confused with populism. The far right attacks government regulation as it feeds Wall Street and the insurance companies. It rails against government spending for the least privileged as it lavishes tax cuts favoring the most privileged."

[zbdent]

5. ask the baggers if they would like to turn the country back ...

like medical advances, their paychecks, etc. ...

to the standards they were in the days when McCarthy was running wild ...