Why is the media pretending the Tea Party is a new political party? They're REPUBLICANS.

[mzmolly]

It seems the media is allowing Republicans to distance themselves from ... well ... Republicans by pretending that the Tea Party is a separate entity? They're NOT. The Tea Party loons ran on the Republican ticket and they serve the Republican Party.

/rant

[Ohio Joe]

1. It allows the repugs to write the violence off as someone else doing it

I think it is working for them too.

[sasha031]

2. I agree, that's exactly why they are doing

[mzmolly]

9. Yes! And the "journalists" we rely on for "news" apparently haven't caught on?

Faux is driving the debate. And, while the MSM claims to be aware of Faux's insane ways, they play right along with the very game Faux has written the rules for.

:crazy:

[boston bean]

12. Also a place to store their looney tunes......

[JoePhilly]

43. +100

[hfojvt]

3. seems like a good thing to me

Because it splits the Republican Party. If a Tea Party candidate wins a primary, maybe moderate Republicans will feel that the Democrat is more to their liking. If the Tea Party candidate loses, maybe the Tea Partiers will refuse to vote for the RINO, or even run a 3rd party candidate, allowing more Democratic victories.

Go Tea Party Go!!!

Then again, that did not work very well for us last fall, except in Delaware.

[mzmolly]

14. It doesn't split the party at all if the TP runs on the Republican ticket.

But yes, IF they form a third party it can have a detrimental effect. However, they've been too smart for that thus far. I use the term smart, loosely, obviously. ;) Politically the b*stards are smart. Otherwise, not so much.

[boston bean]

16. and if they caucus with the repubs.

maybe some day the republican party will be known as the Tea Party.

[hfojvt]

23. it can if moderate Republican voters decide that the Tea Party candidate

is too bizarre for them.

[mzmolly]

28. The primary sorts that out and then Republicans fall in

line. They always have.

[rfranklin]

4. It's probably intended to replace the Democratic Party...

as the country's phoney democracy veers off the tracks to the right.

[babylonsister]

5. I think you've got it, mzmolly! ...

CNN'S WEAK RATIONALE FOR DUELING SOTU RESPONSES

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027692.php

[mzmolly]

10. Glad someone is catching on.

Great question from your article: "Would CNN be inclined to air a SOTU response from the AFL-CIO? Labor unions are a major political force. How about responses from the NRA and the U.S. Chamber or Commerce? They're major forces, too. There are plenty of major forces, with constituencies focused on abortion, the environment, the wars, etc. They can't all have rejoinders to the State of the Union aired on national television, which is why the other major networks are content to show Obama and the official GOP response."

[TheKentuckian]

6. The corporate media is the propaganda arm of the power structure.

They are willfully playing the game to shift the political spectrum to the regressive, radical, corporate Reich and as a reclamation effort of the existing radical corporate party.

[RagAss]

7. Because they are proud of their son. They created the fucking Tea party !

[yodermon]

8. the tea party caucus in the house is gonna cause trouble for the repukes

let 'em split

[mzmolly]

15. I hope so. But right now, they're

Republicans.

[AlinPA]

18. No way. They are working together.

[doc03]

19. I agree, it's the old good cop bad cop routine. n/t

[doc03]

20. Shouldn't we have a liberal group respond to the SOTU too? N/T

[craigmatic]

11. Because the media is obsessed with being neutral even when it's not warranted.

[NNN0LHI]

13. Recommended

[AlinPA]

17. Du'ers do it too, saying that teabaggers are apart from the republican party. Republicans are the

teabaggers and teabaggers are republicans.

[hootinholler]

21. Maybe because they know Dick's Armey will be buying a lot of ads?

:shrug:

-Hoot

[Kennah]

22. That's the Sturmabteilung

They don't represent traditional Nazi values.</satire>

[TheBigotBasher]

24. They are a terror movement,

for which the GOP is their political mouth piece.

[krawhitham]

25. They should be a 3rd party

Split the Rethug vote :)

[Populist_Prole]

26. Every TP-er I know, well 3 really, are all phoney hypocrites

I have tried to engage them in conversation of what they ACTUALLY WANT, as opposed to the vague faux populistic rhetoric of the party line.

I can narrow it down to a few things:

An "I got mine, the hell with you" feeling toward everybody but them and their family and friends toward the role of spending money on the public. To this end. Government is bad. Bailout of GM-Chrysler bad. Bail-out of banks? Well, I have to practically beat it out of them interrogation-wise; they admit it was a sham but it makes them very indignant toward me for bringing it out, especially since I have to beat it out of them to admit much of this was Bush inspired. It's like they all gotta be "team players" and I'm throwing a monkey wrench in their good-feeling works.

Very gung-ho for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

While not fundamentalists as such because they're very casual practicers of religion, identify strongly with the whole "onward Christian soldiers" and "christian nation" sentiment.

A bizarre dichotomy whereby they have a very visceral sentiment in favor of business/free markets...even though they are really working class. 2 of them hate unions with a bizarre fervor, the other is in one and enjoys the good it does him but doesn't seem to ( or doesn't WANT TO ) make the connection between unfettered capitalism riding roughshod over the working class.

In other words: They're basically all far right GOP-ers...and as Matt Taibi so astutely mused: They're full of shit, all of them. Not a populistic bone in their bodies.

I state plainly that I think the whole TP thing is an astroturf cover to change the subject and allow the corporatists to screw us over. One of them ( my father ) asked me what MY biggest concern was and I told him it is how corporate money/influence has completely corrupted our whole system and would like to see us all as desperate wage slaves who just want to talk about god and guns ( full disclosure, I am a gun rights advocate, but withhold your flame-throwers ) He just angrily snapped that I'm just a union left-wing idiot. As if the pronouncement of that "fact" self nullified my views. Curious in that I am an ex-GOP-er. Sour grapes anybody?

[mzmolly]

30. I have more than a few TP-ers in my family. I agree with much of your assessment.

Knowledge is very limited, and they take great pride in their ignorance. For example, my Dad is a huge Palin fan. He's personally benefited from Obama's change in VA benefits surrounding PTSD, yet he rails against "government programs." :rofl: It's bizarre to witness really. I have to remind him regularly, that he survives because of the friggen government. He's also afraid Obama will take his guns, yet he's never owned a gun. And, I have two sisters pursing the right to conceal and carry. This in spite of claiming to believe "God" will protect them from all evil. I wont even tell you about my extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles. :crazy: Let's just say, I avoid holiday gatherings.

[Populist_Prole]

51. Yes it's torture to talk to ideologues

And in the case of my hard RW Tea Party member father, it's absolutely insufferable. Like the "perfect storm" combination an aggressive pushy personality, reactionary views, and the worst sort old age nastiness that afflicts some. It's everything I can do avoid a discussion going political since he's always itching for a chance to do so, and will use ANY lead-in to tie it to some political rant. Very sad to see someone otherwise healthy and financially secure throw away their golden years being miserable bastards.

[peopleb4money]

32. People tie their selves emotionally up into their political identities too much

[zbdent]

27. Over 50 million people voted for George W. Bush ... in both the 2000 and 2004

elections.

However, it's very hard to find anybody who admits voting for him ...

[mzmolly]

31. True! It's amazing how few people admit

to voting for "W".

[upi402]

29. Dick's Armey

Media whipped them up as if they were putting together a 'media blacked out' liberal rally.

[spinproof]

33. Well....Kinda...

Actually, I have a little bit different take on the Tea Party. I think they are the result of a huge error, and they provide an opportunity to address the use of propaganda by the conservative media apparatus. The way I see it, the Tea Party was originally an attempt at re-branding the Republican Party (You know, "Now with 100% less 'Family Values" homosexuals!"). But this backfired dramatically, the fringe right elements the astroturf "Tea Party" attempted to co-opt took their movement and ran with it. Away from the middle.

The conservative media propaganda machine has been trying to deal with this ever since.

Their "crisis management response" is shoddy. Brute force. Unstable.

I think it's time to stress test it.

How?

Wooden shoes and monkey wrenches.

Instead of trying to debunk or counter the belief or idea they are trying to sell with propaganda, attack the propaganda itself.

Call it by name. Identify it by technique. Provide examples and proof.

Challenge it's use in our national discourse.

This is my first post on this site. It is also the first post in my journal: "Wooden Shoes and Monkey Wrenches". In it
you will find useful tools, interesting(I hope) perspectives, and techniques/exercises I have developed based on this approach. I welcome commentary, criticism, assistance, complementary insights, additional tools, whatever ya got.

How do you think the American people would respond if they ever realized how much of what they believe is the result of products bought and paid for?

I think we should see if we can find out.

[mzmolly]

34. No critique,

just a welcome. :hi:

I'll check out your journal.

[spinproof]

35. Thanks!

And please bear with me as I get it set up!

[hay rick]

37. Welcome to DU.

On the subject of astroturf, following the trail of organizers and financial backers makes the whole scam appear more transparent. Curious that the Tea Party people are so adamant on tax cuts for the rich. Not the usual stuff of populist angst. Link on organizers and backers: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-brantzawadzki/anatomy-of-the-tea-party_b_380687.html

[spinproof]

38. Exactly. And now they have a problem.

What the media refer to as the "Tea Party Revolt" is actually pretty apt. And this has caused a "fissure" in the Republican base, as well as an "optics" problem with independents.

Maintaining party cohesion without alienating independents has forced them to use the simplest, most blatant methods. Primarily polling to determine what "resonates", what gains "traction" or "currency" with all three groups, then repeating it. Over and over and over. No details. No real information that would lead one to an informed opinion on anything. They give the consumers of their propaganda nothing but talking points.

And that's what the "meme-addled" consumers of this propaganda bring to the national discourse. Nothing but talking point phrases. The exact same phrases repeated over and over and over by the conservative media propaganda fire-hose. Perfect, consensus agreement on every point of every issue discussed in the conservative mediasphere. And no idea whatsoever about any point on any issue that was not discussed in the conservative mediasphere.

Some middle class Americans are cheerfully, stridently voting away the middle class. Demanding to be rendered peasants.

That can't be right.

But it sure looks that way to me.

[mzmolly]

39. Very well

stated.

[hay rick]

36. Pretending has replaced reporting.

The media is in on the joke. The "tea partiers", not so much.

[Better Believe It]

40. I agree. It's a political faction within the Republican party that aims to take it over.

[Uncle Joe]

41. Exactly, but this marketing ploy enabled the Republican Party to re-brand itself.

After 8 years of Cheney/Bush, the Republicans and their corporate media propaganda machine knew their image was crap (to put it mildly) so the corporate media magnified the Tea Party as a means to give the illusion to their disenchanted Republican foot soldiers; that they were doing something different but ultimately to remain captured in the Republican Party, instead of drifting off to other Parties or not voting at all.

I believe that was a primary reason the Republicans recaptured the House, it's just the same cheap whine in new bottles.

Had it been the left side of the political spectrum experiencing discontent, then a distinctly different Party would have been promoted ie; the Green Party in 2000, just enough to weaken Democratic hold on power

The corporate media's; first preference by its' very definition will always be the Republican Party because the corporate media's true clients are corporations, not the people and while corporations; dominate the Democratic Party, they literally own the Republicans.

Thanks for the thread, mzmolly.

[mzmolly]

42. Well said Uncle Joe! The R's can rebrand themselves without taking any responsibility for the crazy.

They are afforded best of both political worlds, with the help of our corporate media.

The corporate media's; first preference by its' very definition will always be the Republican Party because the corporate media's true clients are corporations, not the people and while corporations; dominate the Democratic Party, they literally own the Republicans.

Scary when you put it that way. ;) True, but frightening. One can only hope the Tea Party monster goes rogue at some point.

:hi:

[saras]

44. It answers the complaints of people unsatisfied with the Dems

If they're a third party, then the progressives have nothing to complain about - they have a third party they can go to.

[mzmolly]

47. But they're not a third party.

They're Republicans.

[RedCloud]

45. Good golly Mz. Molly, they are puppets of the Koch bros.

Mindless zombies, a.k.a. Repuppetagains.

[mzmolly]

49. Yes they are.

And much of the media is too, unfortunately.

:hi:

[AsahinaKimi]

46. The Tea party seem

to want to distance themselves from the Republican party.. if they run their own candidate, like Palin or Bachmann.. The votes on the right will be split... and in the end, the Democrats will win.

[mzmolly]

48. So far they've not run on a seperate ticket.

It would be nice if they did eventually. But, given the corporate machinery behind the so called grassroots TP movement, one wonders if that will ever happen.

[bluestate10]

50. Teabaggers are the former extreme religious right. Same package, different label. nt.

[KurtNYC]

52. bc then they don't have to talk about anything left of center

they can talk about the tea party versus the republicans and how interesting that is. And then speculate.

the media pretends A LOT of things.

[mzmolly]

53. Footnote - The strategy to distance the TP from the GOP appears to be working. See here:

GOP Image Net-Positive for First Time Since 2005

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145805/GOP-Image-Net-Positive-First-Time-2005.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=Politics

[kentuck]

54. They want their cake and eat it too...

They don't want the downside to the crazy Tea Partiers - they only want their vote. So they will pretend they are not Republicans when everyone knows that they are. They are hoodwinking their voters and the American people.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

55. Right

They somehow manage to make the claim that they are non-partisan or that they have Democrats in their midst but I've never really heard Democrats talk like the teabaggers do. Not even the Blue Dogs seem as regressive and/or irrational as them. :shrug: The Tea Party seems to be this wierd amalgamation of disenchanted Republicans, libertarians, militia members, birthers, John Birchers, white supremicists, and other various right-wing radicals.

[Blue_Tires]

56. thank you... I've been screaming that since the start...

hopefully some others start to get it