There is no common ground with the teabaggers

[Ohio Joe]

The teabaggers are not pissed at wall street... or the bankers... or any of the 1%. They support them.

These fucking morons believe the way to fix the economy to let the rich pay even less then they do now. They want to remove taxes from big business. They want to get rid of any kind of regulation.

These stupid douchebags think this will create jobs here. They think business will regulate themselves and that "the market" will force them to behave.

It is a fucking delusion and until they realize just how badly they have been duped, there is NO common ground.

[Scuba]

1. The four men who orchestrate the Tea Party may believe that. The rest don't believe anything...

... as that requires rational thought. They just go along.

[glowing]

2. They are the 99%, they have been manipulated into thinking that

its everyone but the 1% that has kept them down. They may just learn a thing or two if they sit down and shut up for a bit and listen to their fellow 99% who get what's happening and where the real blame lies.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Like I said before, renounce Reaganomics and then we'll talk.

"The markets aren't free enough" . . . BUNK! The wealthy have it enormously easy.

[Daphne08]

4. I've given up trying to reason with them.

We might as well be living on different planets.

I'm an older woman and before the advent of Rush Limbaugh (as well as other hate-mongers on radio) and the FOXNews propaganda machine, I never had a problem conversing with family members who were Republican.

It's really quite tragic and sad.

[Maraya1969]

5. There was at least 2 unrecs on this thread when I posted. I am

always curious as to who does that. Probably the ones who want to keep the teabaggers in the dark.

[elocs]

16. I'm always curious as to why DUers obsess about Rec/UnRec.

Kicking a thread is much more meaningful. Why would anyone who disagrees with a thread enough to UnRec it want to kick it so it can be seen by more DUers? :shrug:

[fivepennies]

6. Sure there's common ground

99% of the teabaggers are part of the overall 99% - even if they don't know it.

Both sides BEHAVE in ways that benefit the 1%, whether they admit it or not.

Another glaring similarity is that there are equally hard headed people on both sides of the coin, although I don't know the exact percentage of those who refuse to acknowledge that they are every bit as hard headed as those they excoriate for being hard headed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Actually, I discovered, there is.

If you want to find bipartisan support, you'll find it with the teabaggers if it's an issue that deals with corruption. Right-winger of left-winger, if it involves improper funneling of money to the private sector, it makes them just as furious as it affects us.

So, I suggest you package some issue and try to sell it to them.

[CanSocDem]

8. Sure there is....

You're all pissed at the same thing. If you can't see the connection it's because you don't believe big business runs your government. OWS blames big business, the Tea Party blames the government. They're both right.

.

[Xicano]

22. OWS blames BOTH big business and government

While the tea party only blames government, and mostly only the Democratic members of government.

[Skidmore]

9. You know, we all live in this country and by in large these

people are really not much different than you or I except that they have been sold a bunch of snake oil. We do need to find some way to bring them over by debunking the lies. At the end of the day, they are our neighbors, our family, and the people we work with. As aggravating as they can be, we do share the same country.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. They were pissed for losing their jobs and their healthcare and their houses

They wanted a way to channel that anger and frustration and the Koch brothers and Glenn Beck were there to give them a vehicle to vent.

I think many of them realize that they were dupes, which is why tea party rallies now attract as more tv cameras and speakers than attendees.

Unrec. 99% ers are all suffering the same problems from the same causes. Government IS colluding with wall street to mine our quality of life for the profits of the 1%.

That's the common ground.

[Pithlet]

12. There's no reason why they can't join us.

But they can leave their tea bag lunacy at the door.

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. Too late. We don't own their agenda.

The anarchists are marching with the union folks are marching with the Ron Paul supporters. This is what public frustration looks like.

[Pithlet]

15. And you don't own mine, buddy.

If I say the teabaggers can go to hell, who are you to tell me otherwise? I get a say in this, too. And I'm far from the only one who says the teabaggers can go to hell. There is no common ground with them. You may think of yourself as outside of the movement and see them as they. But I don't.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. I don't presume to give others permission to join "us".

The protesters are there because they are individually pissed off. As you are. As I am. Our reasons may not be the same, nor are our suggested solutions.

IMHO, that's the main problem with the teaparty. It was top down; they allowed Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin to tell the TV what "we" were angry about.

[Pithlet]

25. It's not about giving permission. It's about not being hornswoggled

into thinking that tea baggers are really just like us. That it's really only just a minority who are hateful racist nut bags. They don't want to work to our same ends. They may be pissed off, but their solution is not the same as ours. The idea that this is some wonderful moment where both of our powers will join and become one force for good is beyond ludicrous. They will only work to thwart us. You don't presume to give permission. Good for you. Neither do I. I'm just not naive enough to think this is good.

[backscatter712]

11. I think we can convert some of the teabaggers to Occupiers.

There's the hard-core - the racists, fundies, bankster manipulators who run the tea party and form its core. You can't reach them.

Then there are the people who were dragged along, lured by the populist rhetoric, who have lost enthusiasm, and are sick of the batshittery. The word is full-conversion. Explain to them exactly who fucked them - the banksters, the corporations, the neo-con manipulators.

This is why my gut says we're stealing the wind from their sails.

[OnionPatch]

33. I think so, too.

Most of the Tea Party are longtime rightwingers but some of their early supporters were just average, apolitical people just waking up to the fact that something is very wrong in our country. They saw a movement and latched on. Polls show the Tea Party is steadily losing popularity. I think a certain segment of their early supporters are starting to get it that the Tea Party is fighting for the wrong side and definitely could come over to OWS.

[RevStPatrick]

14. Yes there is.

They are just deluded and need to be educated.
Same as you...

[LiberalAndProud]

17. I think the underlying discontent comes from the same place.

Our government serves big monied interests. The people are left out of the political equation. What we all know is that we can't change things without big dollars, that our representatives are all part of the same club and *we* don't qualify for membership.

Sure, the tea party was astroturf, but those who joined that "movement" have the same frustrations that we do -- the government is not responsive to the needs of its citizens. It's about big money and players who have it. We all know it.

What we find if we look closely is that regulations, like taxes, are for the little people. We need to restore our government to one that is truly of, by and for the PEOPLE. We do have a common cause.

So far they have succeeded in dividing us along ideological lines. I don't believe that is an accident. The division and hate doesn't serve us, but the interests of the powers already in control. We must find a way to overcome our differences and be rid of this crippling polarization.

[Hotler]

18. +1 Hi Joe...... n/t

[Zorra]

19. Agreed. I have wasted far too much precious air trying to reason with conservatives.

They are the Rush Limbaugh Fox News Borg now.

The constant barrage of AM hate radio and Fox News insanity has brainwashed them beyond all possibility of significant productive communication.

[MatthewStLouis]

20. Oh come on! Ten years of the Bush Tax cuts and the economy is booming!!!

Things are great! I hope people will see through all the right wing fog before the next election and realize that all these years of republican policies have gotten us nowhere.

I caught a snippet of Morning Joe this morning. I love how that guy takes in a deep breath, pauses, then out come the lies and false truisms. Obama policies, blah blah, lead us into this recession, blah blah, Obama isn't leading, blah blah. God what bullsh_t! Can no one see that this damned congress has done nothing but obstruct the President from day one? Obama can't even implement any policy because of this "DO NOTHING" congress. They have all said they want Obama to fail (and our economy to fail in the process).

Pray the President gets some fire in his belly and keeps hammering his message. If the people see him talking under enough crumbling bridges they might just get a clue...

[krabigirl]

21. Sure there can be. Keep thinking that way and nothing will change! united is better.

Maybe you can convince them about areas in which they are wrong, maybe not, but as long as we are at each other's throats, the elites will win.

[Taverner]

24. "The working class have nothing in common with the employing class" - IWW Constitution

[moondust]

26. Agree. n/t

[LoZoccolo]

27. You make your opponents' argument for them in this post.

They want jobs.

[Bosso 63]

28. Divide and conquer

Its how the powerful stay in power.

[Worship Money]

29. It is divide and conquer

And it's absolutely tragic. Especially because we, at least, can see what's happening and can do virtually nothing about it in particular.

However, we can't afford to NOT fight the tea baggers. Because they will do the bidding of their masters, and we're finished if we let that happen.

If we could actually get the baggers to substantively change perspective, that would be different. They wouldn't be baggers anymore. Unfortunately the current situation is that this isn't happening, and the zombified Tea baggers really are an enemy that needs to be defeated.

[Bosso 63]

30. Teabaggers are motivated and blinded by fear.

They are the "useful idiots" of the ruling class.

[Matariki]

31. OP and everyone else, you should check out this link

I saw this link in an #OWS twitter feed. I think there is very little here to disagree with:

http://www.fedupusa.org/2011/10/an-open-letter-from-fedupusa-to-occupy-wall-street-protestors-all-over-the-country/

<snip>

An Open Letter From FedUpUSA To Occupy Wall Street Protestors All Over The Country

This is a letter to OWS from FedUpUSA, one of the original Tea Parties:

We support you in exercising your First Amendment Right. We are outraged that any peaceful demonstrator would be assaulted or abused by any authorities.


much more

[Gabi Hayes]

32. thanks!>>>

'' encourage all my fellow Tea Partiers to join Occupy Wall Street protesters in their non-violent, peaceful protests and together demand that the Government be returned to the people. After all, this is precisely what the Tea Party was intended to be before it was taken over and marginalized by the establishment politicians.

FedUpUSA.org

STOP THE LOOTING & START PROSECUTING''

[Odin2005]

34. TPTB thank you for pushing their Divide-and-Conquer BS.