"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but Names Can never hurt me"
- Mother Goose
In the beginning of this game sometime in February of 2009, they ignored us. T.E.A.(Taxed Enough Already) Party groups in every state held rallies to protest Obama's massive stimulus package.
Just a few spontaneous pick up game in parks and parking lots all over the country. To the outside observer, of which there were very few, we were mistaken for The Little League. Nothing to see here, but amateurs. If they would just ignore us, we would soon get tired and/or bored and go away.
Then came the Tax Day Tea Party on April 15, 2009 where hundreds of groups held more rallies to protest the pending healthcare bill. The word got out through the new media and hundreds of thousand of people - just regular Joes and Janes from across the country - came out. That's when the name-calling started. They began with "silly", "stupid", "fat", "old", "redneck", and "ignorant". They laughed at our amateurish signs and sloppy plays, but we didn't go away.
By the first 9/12 Rally was held in Washington D.C., anywhere from 500 (as reported by CNN) to two million people (as reported by BBC) attended and it was clear that we were not leaving the field so easily. Since and they could no longer legitimately ignore us, they decided to talk real smack. Maybe if they called us worse names, we'd be so intimidated by their greatness that we'd go back to our double-wides and leave the field to the professionals. That's when "astroturf" and "angry mob" were played most famously by Team Captain Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Surely laughing at us and calling us really bad names would make us go away. Nope. All they got back was righteous indignation and resolve.
What to do, what to do. Their game plan just wasn't working. Surely "redneck" and "ignorant astroturfing mob" should have done the trick. They reviewed all the tapes, but just couldn't think of the magic word or words that would scare us away. Then someone observed that most of our players on their field were white. Eureka! What they needed were the real professionals. The seasoned players or more to the point, race card players. Their next secret play was "racists".
During the March 2010 rally in DC, certain members of the Congressional Black Caucus shouted far and wide that we, TP protesters, hurled racial slurs at them repeatedly as they walked beside the crowd lining the walkway from their offices to the Capital. In an instant, we'd gone from amateur ignoramus' to dangerous racist Klansmen. Ah, but we were wising up right along with them, and had been practicing our own plays. Unfortunately for the CBC, thousands of people brought thousands of video cameras to the rally and used them. Even after Andrew Breitbart of the "Bigs" website offered a reward of $100K, the "racist" moniker couldn't be verified even by the accusers with their own video footage. They shot and they missed the net by a mile.
They weren't counting on was our self-esteem. And what they didn't understand was that most of us were over-40 taxpayers who didn't much move off the couch without a really good reason. We Now we had a reason, and now that we were up, we might as well go for it. As a matter of fact, the name-calling just made us laugh and energizes us even more. At least they weren't ignoring us anymore and every new name and accusation turned into protest signs at the new rally.
After the recently hard battle with the "Debt Ceiling" showdown, they decided to consolidate their resources and brain power to mount their next round by using nouns they won't even use on our real enemies - "terrorists" and "hostage-takers". Whatever. Oddly, it is not the first time in my life that I have been called a "terrorist". (Don't ask...). Each new round of names has produced...nothing.
Finally, it looks like we are coming full circle and perhaps their next play is being signaled by Sen. John Kerry (iDiot/MA). As he explains on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday...well...just read:
"And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely. The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it's exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual."They ignored us, they insulted us, they accused us of heinous acts of violence, and now it sounds they are back to wanting to ignore us again. Well, all I can say is keep up the good work guys. Hopefully, by the 2012 elections, we'll have a few names of our own to call you starting with my personal favorite - "former".
"It doesn't deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what's real, of who's accountable, of who is not accountable, of who's real, who isn't, who's serious, who isn't?"
10 comments:
Bev: We also have to remember that genius lawyer John Kerry (former Attorney General of Massachusetts) said "If I'm elected, I will interpret the Constitution according to prevailing law." That's exactly backwards, but an accidental admission that he subscribes to the living Constitution mode of thinking.
LawHawk - I just find it kind of stunning (and very sinister) that a sitting elected member of Congress could actually direct the media to ignore the citizens or those with whom he doesn't agree. Oh, he calls our concerns illegitimate. This just sounds so familiar. You know, like something Hugo, Vladimir, or Mahmoud would say.
It's 1984.
Tam, it's not 1984, it's performance anxiety. They're like animals cornered. Of course they will strike back. And since they can't actually have us jailed or silenced, they think embarrassing us with ugly names will scare us. It's been that way since their first shock when "the people" starting calling their elected officials out in townhall meetings across the country during the Summer of 2009. So big was the shock that most Congresspersons no longer hold live townhall meeting within their districts.
Okay, it's 1983.
I was thinking in terms of silencing the dissenters, changing the language to fit/support the ideology, must love Dear Leader...
“They weren't counting on was our self-esteem. And what they didn't understand was that most of us were over-40 taxpayers who didn't much move off the couch without a really good reason.”
That’s perfect…funny. I was trying to mind my own business, when Rick Santelli made the battle cry from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile and the rest is history, the larger Tea Party was born. Speaking for myself, I’m still pissed, and I believe productive America is as well. I firmly feel with the right candidate in 2012, we can sweep the John Kerry’s of the world off the stage, and into irrelevance, it could be that large of a landslide. I felt my patriots pride last night when I saw that Barry had led us to a downgrade, I wanted run out in the street right then. My wife told me not to run outside in my underwear, so I blogged…ha. I still cannot believe the dangerous ‘60s idiot ideologues running this country at present…it’s frightening, as it is dangerous. And you know Bev, Mother Goose, is over most liberals ability to comprehend, plus Mother Goose Rhymes are judgmental. Good read, I felt your passion, and I know of your participation, me and the Mrs. …will see you in the streets, when the time comes, give’em hell Tea Party!
Stan - I am passionate because I see the disappointment in my parents eyes at what is becoming of the country they helped to build. THey were the dreams realized. The children of poor but hard working immigrants who valued freedom. They see all that their parents worked for and all that they worked for being stomped on by liberal thugs. Values that they had passed on to me being are being dismissed as old fashioned and useless.
The first time Pelosi, Reid, and Obama dismissed us as "astroturf" I knew they had no idea what they were stepping into and they did not know what to do. Oh, they understand angry mobs, just not ones directed at THEM! I have been constantly confounded that they actually think that if they humiliate us enough, that we would see the light. How is that even possible?
As you pointed out, we’re all grownups. And some idiot politicians snipe, will only bring laughter, and scorn from me. The more they do it, the more determined I become. We can’t stay constantly in the streets, we all have jobs, and businesses to run, but as the election of 2012 gets closer, I can speak for myself, I’m back out with the Tea Party, and you have an important point, always keep your camera ready, cause it’s gonna be a bumpy ride, but it’s worth it.
Stan - This is how stupid they really are - Algore was pondering that we need an "American Spring". You know, like the "Arab Spring". He is so stupid that he doesn't even realize that the TP'ers started it in 2009.
Oh, he thinks that it will mean that we will be silenced.
"Now, they've been around for a while, but they are spreading far and wide and more people are getting involved. We need to have an American spring, you know, the Arab spring. The non-violent part of it isn't finished yet, but we need to have an American spring. A kind of an American Tahrir Square. Non-violent change where people from the grassroots get involved again. Not the, you know, not in the Tea Party style,'" Al Gore said on Current TV's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."
"There are people who are genuinely upset in the Tea Party. I understand that. But that movement was funded with seed money from right-wing billionaires, the Koch Brothers, and promoted on Fox News," Gore said.
He doesn't, as Dems in general do not, recognize that WE are that grassroots movement. Oh, by the way, have you gotten your check from the Koch Brothers yet? I check my mail everyday - no check. Have you submitted your invoices yet?
You gotta love Owlgore, that charlatan jerk. In a just world, he’d be sitting next to Bernie Madoff in prison, there’s still time. Yeah, I want my check…that one is particularly funny. It’s typical of Gore to not understand the difference in reality and fantasy, “hey Al! …ManBearPig went that way.” You do realize he’s addressing the hypnotized, what a twit. We are statist Washington’s worst nightmare, the producers are pissed, I love it.
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