Revolutionary Idea: The Tea Party Movement

[American Patriot]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.p...w&pageld=92372

REVOLUTIONARY IDEA
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Tax Day tea parties:
Over 1,000 planned
'We don't necessarily need
mainstream media anymore'
--WND

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
New song recognizes 'tea party' movement
'Mr. President! Your stimulus is sure to bust, It's just a socialistic scheme'
--WND

[American Patriot]

You know, I started this so long ago, I forgot this thread was there. Ok, not a thread, a POST.

There's other stuff about the Tea Party, but this next post belongs here. From the New York Slimes:

Op-Ed Contributors

Crashing the Tea Party

By DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM

Published: August 16, 2011

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GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics.

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• Times Topic: Tea Party Movement

But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming against the tide of public opinion: among most Americans, even before the furor over the debt limit, its brand was becoming toxic. To embrace the Tea Party carries great political risk for Republicans, but perhaps not for the reason you might think.
Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.
Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.
The strange thing is that over the last five years, Americans have moved in an economically conservative direction: they are more likely to favor smaller government, to oppose redistribution of income and to favor private charities over government to aid the poor. While none of these opinions are held by a majority of Americans, the trends would seem to favor the Tea Party. So why are its negatives so high? To find out, we need to examine what kinds of people actually support it.
Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party, to predict who would become a Tea Party supporter five years later. We can also account for multiple influences simultaneously — isolating the impact of one factor while holding others constant.
Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.
So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.
This inclination among the Tea Party faithful to mix religion and politics explains their support for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Their appeal to Tea Partiers lies less in what they say about the budget or taxes, and more in their overt use of religious language and imagery, including Mrs. Bachmann’s lengthy prayers at campaign stops and Mr. Perry’s prayer rally in Houston.
Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.
On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history.
David E. Campbell, an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, and Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard, are the authors of “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.”

[American Patriot]

And in the SAME NEWSPAPER:

Disapproval Rate for Congress at Record 82% After Debt Talks

Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Watching the House vote. A record 82 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, a poll found.

By MICHAEL COOPER and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN

Published: August 4, 2011

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The debate over raising the debt ceiling, which brought the nation to the brink of default, has sent disapproval of Congress to its highest level on record and left most Americans saying that creating jobs should now take priority over cutting spending, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

• Document: Documents: The Full Results From The New York Times and CBS News Poll
• Graphic: How Americans Feel About Congress After the Debt Deal

Related

• How the Poll Was Conducted (August 5, 2011)
• Poll Shows Negative View of Tea Party on the Rise (August 5, 2011)

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• Room For Debate: Did the Tea Party Win?

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Protesting budget cuts near Wall Street. Poll participants said creating jobs should now take priority over cutting spending.


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A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977, and even more than after another political stalemate led to a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.
More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt-ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country. Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.
Republicans in Congress shoulder more of the blame for the difficulties in reaching a debt-ceiling agreement than President Obama and the Democrats, the poll found.
The Republicans compromised too little, a majority of those polled said. All told, 72 percent disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the negotiations, while 66 percent disapproved of the way Democrats in Congress handled negotiations.
The public was more evenly divided about how Mr. Obama handled the debt ceiling negotiations: 47 percent disapproved and 46 percent approved.
The public’s opinion of the Tea Party movement has soured in the wake of the debt-ceiling debate. The Tea Party is now viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the public and favorably by just 20 percent, according to the poll. In mid-April 29 percent of those polled viewed the movement unfavorably, while 26 percent viewed it favorably. And 43 percent of Americans now think the Tea Party has too much influence on the Republican Party, up from 27 percent in mid-April.
“I’m real disappointed in Congress,” Ron Raggio, 54, a florist from Vicksburg, Miss., said in a follow-up interview. “They can’t sit down and agree about what’s best for America. It’s all politics.”
There were signs that the repeated Republican calls for more spending cuts were resonating with the public: 44 percent of those polled said the cuts in the debt-ceiling agreement did not go far enough, 29 percent said they were about right and only 15 percent said they went too far. More than a quarter of the Democrats polled said that the cuts in the agreement did not go far enough.
But by a ratio of more than two to one, Americans said that creating jobs should be a higher priority than spending cuts.
Though Republicans prevented tax increases from being included in the debt-ceiling deal, half of those polled said the agreement should have included increased tax revenue, while 44 percent said it should have relied on cuts alone. That issue is likely to be revisited soon: Congress is preparing to appoint a special committee to recommend ways to reduce the deficit. Sixty-three percent of those polled said that they supported raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000 a year, as Mr. Obama has sought to do — including majorities of Democrats (80 percent), independents (61 percent) and Republicans (52 percent).
The poll found that Mr. Obama was emerging from the crisis less bruised than the Republicans in Congress.
The president’s overall job approval rating remained relatively stable, with 48 percent approving of the way he handles his job as president and 47 percent disapproving — down from the bump up he received in the spring after the killing of Osama bin Laden, but in line with how he has been viewed for nearly a year. By contrast, Speaker John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, saw his disapproval rating shoot up 16 points since April: 57 percent of those polled now disapprove of the way he is handling his job, while only 30 percent approve.
Americans said that they trusted Mr. Obama to make the right decisions about the economy more than the Republicans in Congress, by 47 percent to 33 percent. They were evenly divided on the question of whether he showed “strong qualities of leadership” during the negotiations, with 49 percent saying he did and 48 percent saying he did not. And they were still more likely to blame President George W. Bush for the bulk of the nation’s deficit: 44 percent said that the deficit was mostly caused by the Bush administration, 15 percent said it was mostly caused by the Obama administration and 15 percent blamed Congress.
The growing fears about the economy — amid a sinking stock market and warnings that the nation risks sliding back into recession — were reflected in the nationwide telephone poll, which was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday with 960 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The number of Americans who rated the economy “very bad” was the highest it had been in a year. But there was uncertainty about whether the debt-ceiling deal would help or hurt the economy: nearly half said it would have no effect, while 24 percent said it would make the economy worse and 22 percent said it would improve it.
Americans were evenly divided on the parameters of the debt-ceiling deal, in which Congress agreed to allow the federal government to borrow the money needed to pay its current obligations and avoid default on the condition that it reduce the deficit by at least $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Over all, 46 percent of those polled approved of the deal, while 45 percent disapproved of it.
Most of those polled said that the spending cuts included either did not go far enough or were about right. But with the nation’s unemployment rate at a stubborn 9.2 percent, 62 percent of those polled said that creating jobs should be the priority.
“Cutting spending is important, but getting people back to work is more important,” said Diane Sherrell, 56, a Republican from Erwin, N.C. “If people are working, they are more productive. There is less crime, there is less depression, there is less divorce. There are less hospital and medical bills. If you put people back to work, you are cutting spending.”
Stanley Oland, 62, a Republican from Kalispell, Mont., said that the government needed new jobs to generate the economic activity and the revenue it requires.
“That revenue supports the basic foundation for the economy, creates more jobs and stimulates the economy,” he said. “Unless you have working people you don’t have revenue from taxes. If you cut spending, jobs will be eliminated and you won’t get any revenue. Every dollar spent creates jobs.”
Marjorie Connelly, Allison Kopicki and Marina Stefan contributed reporting.

[American Patriot]

So.. really? Disapproval of the "tea partyy", Really? Give me a break Slimes.

[American Patriot]

Let's just clarify something for the Conspiracy Theorist out there...

The TEA PARTY was started in Boston, on December 16th, 1773.

And it was people LIKE ME that started it.

I'm sick and tired of people trying to make claims they started it (like RON PAUL and ALEX JONES) for instance.

Who Started The Tea Party movement?

February 16th, 2010 Comments (44)

This article has been contributed by Tom Martin of the American Preppers Network. Get daily prepping news, articles, resources and podcasts at the APN Website.
So, you want to know who “really” started the Tea Party movement? Well, it wasn’t Sarah Palin. It wasn’t Ron Paul either. It certainly wasn’t the Republicans (although the socialist Democrats would have you believe there’s some sort of GOP conspiracy), It wasn’t Fox News and It wasn’t even Alex Jones. It seems these days there are a lot of people claiming to be the first to have started the Tea Party movement. I’ll tell you right now that none of those people were. You see, I actually do my homework. Now, I certainly do give credit to people like Ron Paul and Alex Jones as being major leaders in the Patriot and Tea Party movements. There’s no way those movements would be what they are today without their efforts.
Now, if you want to get real specific, the Tea Party movement was actually started by those great patriots who lived in Boston, Massachusetts back in December 16 1773 at the original Tea Party
But in order to set the record straight, we’re going to focus on this particular modern movement and where it stems from. Yes, for decades since the original Tea Party, patriots have been talking amongst themselves about having another Boston Tea Party, some people may have even pondered over mailing tea bags to our congressmen and Senators. But this current Tea Party movement can be traced back to one single persons post on one single thread on one single forum and I’m about to show you proof and evidence by tracing back.
Anyone who knows anything about the current Tea Party movement knows that it originated from sending Tea bags to the white house to protest TARP. Watch the following YouTube Video Dated April 15th 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FMSY7r10tE
Here’s a news report: MANCHESTER, N.H. Apr 02/2009– An envelope with a suspicious substance in it was sent to U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter’s Manchester office. Shea-Porter’s staff notified Manchester police when they received the suspicious envelope. Officials were able to determine that the substance was green tea and had been sent as a protest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PuEHa_OW7w

Now Watch This video. Rachel Maddow makes fun of the Tea Party movement referencing “Teabagging” and gives credit to the Republicans. The Republicans weren’t the first to take Credit. Credit was handed to them by the Socialist Democrats who made up a GOP Conspiracy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsKt4O4Yw8

Now long before Fox News, the Republicans, and even Alex Jones mentioned anything about mailing Tea bags, we posted about it right here on American Preppers Network on January 24th 2009. Several people re-posted on other sites: Florida Preppers Network on the 24th, Mayberry Keep it simple Survival on the 25th, and many many more.
As a matter of fact, you can go to Google and search this exact phrase along with the quotes, the same phrase that begins the original article:
“So long as we have an inauguration drawing this sort of crowd and not a protest about our government blowing $700 billion of our dollars”
And then if you go to the bottom and click… “repeat the search with the omitted results included” you will see that over 795 sites re-posted that exact same article….Many of them were posted on extremely high traffic sites. Millions of people read that article. There is no doubt that that article going viral is what stemmed the current Tea party movement.
Now, where did that article come from? As much as it would be nice to take credit for it, and while we did beat Fox News, Glen Beck, and Alex Jones, we certainly weren’t the first. So where did I receive the article from?
Back on the 23rd of January of 2009 I received an E-mail from John at Pioneerliving.net saying that we should do this, “Mail our Tea bags to Obama before he takes his seat in the West Wing.” I was all for it. One thing I did notice is that he failed to include the White House address, so I edited the article before posting it and mailing out. If you received the viral email “with” the White house address included, then the chances are you got it from my chain, if not, then you got it from the original thread.
So was John the originator of that first thread? Oh, that would be so cool wouldn’t it? Well, as much as I’d like to give him credit as the originator of the idea, I can’t. He and his wife certainly were amongst the very first few that made this all happen and it might not even be anything close to what it is today had they not jumped on it, as a matter of fact, it might not have happened at all. You see, they worked tirelessly sending out hundreds and hundreds of emails trying to get others to do the same. They emailed Big John, no response. Alex Jones, no response and many many others, with no response. Who responded? People in the blogging community, people like Mayberry, and mamma bear who was moderating the Florida Preppers Network at the time. Average bloggers like us.
Where did John and his wife get the article from?
Right here: http://www.breakthematrix.com/Electi...-TO-WASHINGTON
That original email that went viral was first posted on January 23rd 2009 on BreakTheMatrix.com. John and his wife immediately began sending out emails, as many as possible. You can see where they even left a comment on the 24th in that thread under the screen name Pioneer.
Where did Break The Matrix get the post? It was a feed from this site: http://market-ticker.denninger.net/a...ruary-1st.html
The original post that started the whole Current Tea Party Movement was posted by Karl Denniger From the Market Ticker on January 20th 2009. In the post, he states that he cannot take credit for the idea as it was floated around by others in their forum.
What forum? Right here: http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?forum=FedUp
What Thread? Right here: http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=79282
Who started it all? The person who did that post, the one goes by the user name of Gmack. He posted on January, 19th 2009 an article with the title: Mail a Teabag to Congress and Senate. You can clearly see that he posts the idea, and the forum moderator then edits his post a bit and then everyone gets in the discussion and starts throwing the idea around.
Now prior to that thread being started, and during and after, there are other threads where people are discussing protests etc… Just as on many many other forums. But what makes this post unique is that this particular forum and this particular user who posted about it is who Karl Denniger is talking about in his article, the one that went viral, the one that stemmed the Current Tea Party Movement.
And now you can quote Paul Harvey’s famous line.
This article has been contributed by Tom Martin of the American Preppers Network. Get daily prepping news, articles, resources and podcasts at the APN Website.

[American Patriot]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. January 5, 2012 In This Issue: 1. 10 emails from Obama and Pelosi, one theme... 2. Game Changer: The Iowa Caucus 3. Tell the GOP Candidates YOUR opinions 1. 10 emails from Obama and Pelosi, one theme... In the past few days, President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have ramped up their attacks on the Tea Party. In fact, attacking the Tea Party is now the main focus of the Left’s strategy. Here’s what the Obama team said in response to the Iowa caucus results: “The extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory.” Between Christmas and New Year’s Day the Pelosi-led Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out nine emails targeting the Tea Party in their “Defeat The Tea Party campaign.” Here’s what they said... “Tea Party radicals” want to raise taxes Republicans are appeasing “Tea Party extremists...” “Tea Party Republicans” are on the “attack”.... The “Tea Party” is “incapable of moving our country forward” That’s TEN emails from the Obama/Pelosi machine in the past week with one theme -- attack the Tea Party! + + Your “Survival Guide” For 2012.... With the Left aggressively attempting to marginalize and discredit patriotic conservatives, it is vital that you are equipped to fight back and win! That’s why the Grassfire Nation staff put together this 2012 Tea Party Survival Guide – to put in your hands the vital information patriotic citizens need to survive the ideological assault on the Tea Party and keep the movement at the center of the political debate. This 144-page resource is your DEFINITIVE GUIDE to the entire 2012 election season – starting with the primaries and even helping you sort out who will win in November. In these pages, you’ll discover: **What the 2012 Election is really about (the answer will surprise you). **The one key state the GOP nominee must win. **The one poll that tells you if Obama will get re-elected. **The Real #1 issue of the 2012 election. **Three ways to guarantee Tea Party defeat. **The 11 states that will decide the presidential election And much more including Grassfire’s own index of more than 150 Tea Party groups from across the nation, The Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution. ACTION: This is the crucial year. If the Left succeeds at marginalizing and demonizing the Tea Party, the ideals of Liberty and Limited Government will be defeated and our nation will slide into the abyss of statism. Go here for more information, to see the booklet and to order your 2012 Tea Party Survival Guide. 2. Rick Santorum: "Game Changer"? While speaking to supporters after his shocking near-win in the Iowa caucuses, GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum began with two words: “Game On!” Or would it be better stated: Game Changer! That’s the analysis of the Vanguard of Freedom blog on Liberty News Network. This is a must-read assessment of the Iowa Caucus and the unfolding events including: Bachman bows out; Perry goes to South Carolina; McCain endorses Romney; Socialists bash extremists... Click here to read the Vanguard of Freedom’s analysis, including an expose’ on the scarcely reported attacks on the Tea Party movement. 3. Let The GOP Candidates Know Where You Stand A special invitation from Mat Staver and our friends at Liberty Counsel As 2012 begins, Liberty Counsel is conducting a short survey of America’s citizen patriots to determine current conservative issues and values. This is a special invitation to you to participate in this national poll. Your opinions will help develop the conservative platforms for the coming year – and the cumulative results will be made known to the GOP Presidential candidates, media and select members of Congress. We firmly believe the 2012 elections will be the most important elections of our lifetime. In order for Liberty Counsel and other conservative organizations to help usher in the right kind of “change” in 2012, it is extremely important for us to know that we are united with you in our visions, platforms, messages, and strategies. ACTION: As you examine the field of GOP contenders, in accordance with your own personal values, what are those values and how do these candidates affect your position on the key issues of the day? This is your opportunity to have your collective opinions shared with those who can help change the course of America. Click here now to participate in this important survey. Sign Up Click here to receive the latest news alerts for Grassroots Conservatives. Take Action Key Action Items in this issue of the Grassroots Action Alert: Order your 2012 Tea Party Survival Guide Read "Game Changer" The Iowa Caucus Take the Liberty Counsel 2012 Patriot Survey Dig Deeper Key resources for this issue of the Grassroots Action Alert: Game Changer: The Iowa Caucus "Game Changer" Bachmann Ends Presidential Campaign Santorum Wins Tea Party Voters Archive Go here to access recent issues of the Grassroots Action Alert. Get Connected The Patriot Action Network is the largest conservative Social Action Network with hundreds of thousands online every month. Get connected with patriotic conservatives in your community, state and across the nation.

[vector7]

Obama fundraising e-mail expresses fear over “Tea Party Extremists”

Posted by Matt Lacy • January 4, 2012 • Printer-friendly

by Matt Lacy –

The Obama campaign appears to have shown us who they are really concerned about running against, a solidly conservative candidate instead of moderate Mitt Romney.

Following the Iowa caucus last night Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager sent out an e-mail expressing their fears over the results.

The message titled, “this is not a joke” expressed the campaign’s concerns that Governor Mitt Romney only received around 30 percent of the vote. “Many observers still think Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. If he is, we will be prepared. But it's curious that no one can really explain how, when or why the 70-plus percent of Republicans saying in polls and in Iowa that Mitt Romney's not their candidate will suddenly come around.”

“So the path ahead for Romney -- or whichever of the Republican candidates is going to emerge from this process -- is sadly and starkly very clear: to run even further to the extreme right, and make even more dangerous promises that threaten not only the progress we've made but the fundamental fabric of American society.”

Messina stated that these dangerous positions included support for traditional marriage, opposition to abortion and attempts to reform Medicare and Social Security.

The e-mail said Republicans want to “gut Social Security,” however the recent payroll tax cut, which Obama supported is actually “gutting” the system. The tax is the individual’s portion that goes into the Social Security trust fund. The payroll tax cut, while it may provide extra money for American’s pockets will cause the fund to deplete faster as less money is coming in.

While Messina talked about attempts to take away a woman’s right to choose, the administration rolled back Bush era rules providing conscience exemptions for health care workers. This effectively took away the freedom of choice for women in the healthcare industry.

Brian Britton with the Greeley 9/12 project says the campaigns statements once again show their contempt for ordinary Americans. “The values that Messina calls ‘extreme’ are actually held by a majority of the American people. This is why he is so concerned about the 70 percent that do not support the liberal Mitt Romney. This tells us who they are really afraid of, everyday common Americans.”

While Messina tried to make it sound as if Tea Party members were a fringe group, he then appeared to contradict himself with a warning about their power.

“We also know that candidates who take these extreme positions can, in the right circumstances, win not only a primary but also a general election in just about any state. Just ask the Tea Party senators from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and the Tea Party governors in Florida and Wisconsin.”
Messina continued, “Watching the circus on TV, it's tempting to think it's almost funny -- but this is not a joke.”

The strategy appears to be a continuation of a strategy begun during the last presidential election where Obama lamented bitter people who cling to their guns and religion.

Democrats have also adopted a policy of saying those who oppose their agenda are terrorists.

On Aug. 1 during the debt limit debate, Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) speaking about members of the tea party caucus, reportedly said “We have negotiated with terrorists. This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.” Vice-President Joe Biden supposedly echoed the sentiment saying “They have acted like terrorists.” Biden has denied making the remark.

A few days before Doyle’s comments, former Ted Kennedy staffer William Yeomans wrote, “It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House ‘hostage takers’, but now they have become full-blown terrorists.”

Froma Harrop, President of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, said “The tea party Republicans have engaged in economic terrorism against the United States–threatening to blow up the economy if they don’t get what they want. And like the al-Qaida bombers, what they want is delusional: the dream of restoring some fantasy caliphate.” She continued “Americans are not supposed to negotiate with terrorists, but that’s what Obama has been doing.”

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said “tea party extremists really held this country hostage. Another Florida Democrat Rep. Alcee Hastings said “What we have witnessed in the past several weeks was hardly a negotiation, but rather the Republicans recklessly holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage until they got everything they wanted and then some.”

Other media outlets compared tea party members to suicide bombers who wanted to blow up the capital. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews called the tea party “muggers.”

[vector7]

Obama Flack: Iowa a "Clear Victory" for the "Extremist Tea Party Agenda"

01/04/2012

Before Mitt Romney​'s eight-vote victory over Rick Santorum in the Iowa Caucus was final in the early hours of the morning the Obama campaign began their absurd line of attack that will be their mantra for the 2012 campaign: It's Tea Party trashing and hysterical warnings against "dangerous extremists" no matter who the nominee is.

If there's anyone out there who cannot be linked with the Tea Party or called an extremist, it's Mitt Romney. But that won't stop the Obama Attack Machine from just making it up anyway.

In keeping with its previous line of attack, the Obama campaign's manager Jim Messina said in a statement that the "extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory" shortly after the results were announced early Wednesday.

"No matter who the Republicans nominate, we'll be running against someone who has embraced that agenda in order to win -- vowing to let Wall Street write its own rules, end Medicare as we know it, roll back gay rights, leave the troops in Iraq indefinitely, restrict a woman's right to choose, and gut Social Security to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and corporations."

Um, didn’t we just leave Iraq? And who was it who received more money from Wall Street than anyone in 2008? Oh yes, Barack Obama. And, let’s just suppose now that Romney is the nominee: When has he stated he’ll end Medicare, gut Social Security and “roll back” gay rights?

He never has.

Team Obama has nothing to run on so it’ll be scorched earth, the most dishonest campaign you’ll ever witness, and don’t expect the media to point out their lies.

Messina also warned of "unprecedented" spending by outside groups on campaign ads and urged the president's supporters to step up donations and on-the-ground organizing ahead of the November vote.

"Unprecedented" spending. That's rich coming from this crew that has promised to wage a billion-dollar campaign, with an unlimited amount of free ad time courtesy of the media.

It's going to be a long nine months.

Is it any wonder why the Obama campaign will do anything to avoid talking about his disastrous record?

according to the US Treasury, America has closed the books on 2011 with debt at an all time record $15,222,940,045,451.09. And, as was observed here first in all of the press, US debt to GDP is now officially over 100%, or 100.3% to be specific, a fact which the US government decided to delay exposing until the very end of the calendar year. We wonder, rhetorically, just how prominent of a talking point this historic event will be in any upcoming GOP primary debates.

But hey, if anyone dares to mention this, that makes them a dangerous extremist.

[American Patriot]

Fortunately, Romney is NOT a Tea Party guy.

Rick Santorum, on the other hand IS "embraced" by the majority of us.

[vector7]

Reid on bipartisanship: Republicans, drop the Tea Party 'extremism'


Published January 15, 2012
| FoxNews.com


AP
In this Dec. 1, 2011, file photo: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, center, accompanied by Sens. Patty Murray, Richard Durbin and Charles Schumer, speaks to reporters about extending the payroll tax cut on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Saying it's time to rebuild America by working together to create jobs, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday prepared for Congress' return to Washington this week with a warning to Republicans to leave Tea Party "extremism" behind and "learn what legislation is all about."

"I would hope that they understand that everything doesn't have to be a fight. Legislation is an art of working together, building consensus, compromise. And I hope that the Tea Party doesn't have the influence in this next year that they had in the previous year," Reid said.

Repeating three times his claim that Republicans are engaged in "obstructionism on steroids," the Nevada Democrat said President Obama for two and a half years "bent over backwards" to reach out to Republicans, only to find a fist rather than a hand to shake. Reid said he'd prefer that Democrats not have to go it alone in the Senate this year, but since last September they have succeeded on moving several items without minority cooperation.

"I don't think ... anyone can question or they should question our having reached out to Republicans," Reid said. "We've done everything we could to work with them. We're going to continue to do that. In spite of the obstructionism, we have been able to accomplish a lot of good things in the last Congress. ...

"I think we can build upon that. This Congress isn't over. All I ask is for the Republicans to understand what legislation is all about."

Reid said since last September Democrats in Congress have forged ahead alone pushing the president's jobs bill and demanding tax hikes on millionaires.

The president also managed to upstage Republicans at the end of last year by forcing their hand on a two-month payroll tax cut extension rather than the year-long legislation the House GOP passed.

"I hope that the Republicans will understand, as they learned in the last week in the last year, that they can't be led over the cliff by this extremism," he said.

Democrats have since abandoned the millionaire surtax even though about $160 billion is needed to continue the payroll tax cut and federal jobless benefits beyond the Feb. 29 expiration date. Proposals left on the table after the last battle include the GOP plan to cut federal employee benefits and the president's suggestion to raise fees on airline passengers.

Republicans are also still smarting from Obama's appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau. The administration claimed Obama was entitled to make that appointment, as well as three others to the National Labor Relations Board because the pro-forma sessions convened by Congress are no substitute for a congressional recess.

On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the action "extraconstitutional" and said it shows Obama "doesn't want to have to work with both parties, he wants to jam through whatever he'd like to do."

But Reid, who came up with the plan to use the pro-forma sessions to block former President George W. Bush's nominees, said Obama's move is not only "popular" but constitutional.

"We have consumers that need protecting. That's why it was such a good move by the president," Reid said, adding that he's "confident" the appointments will be upheld by the courts.

Challenged that he hasn't said anything that suggested a change of tone in Washington, the Democratic leader responded that his party is about taking care of the middle class and rebuilding America.

"We don't believe you should be stripping good things off senior citizens in the country in order to do good things for the richest of the rich," he said.

Among the items Democrats want to pass this year is a widely despised Internet piracy law that supporters say is aimed at protecting intellectual privacy but opponents say will shut down social media. Reid said he expected it will pass the Senate.

However, on Saturday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he secured an agreement with Republican leaders that the legislation will not be brought to the House floor until a consensus is reached to address concerns of the Internet community.

Whatever is or isn't achieved could be undone next year. With 10 Republican seats up for a vote and 23 Democratic seats to be defended, Democrats have a difficult task trying to keep the Senate in Republican hands.

But Reid, who was being interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press," expressed confidence they would.

Democrats are "looking pretty good," he said, pointing to races in Arizona, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Dakota and Nevada where Democrats have strong prospects to try to keep or win the seats.

[American Patriot]

No, Mr. Reid, we won't do any such thing.

The only "extremism" comes from the Left these days.

All we're trying to do is balance the scales.