They are not Bush supporters.
They are not Libertarians.
They are not for complete abolition of the National Debt.
They're not Marijuana-legalization activists.
They are not fans of Nanci Pelosi, Ron Paul, or George freakin' W.
Well, the point I'm trying to make is, some of them are some of these things, and many more support many other things, as well. The tea-party movement is about as homogenous as Green-Jello-Salad at a Mormon funeral.
So if I say I'm not a tea-partier, it's simply because I find it confusing and difficult to align myself with a movement when some of its supporters (yes, just a rabid few) cast racial slurs at our president and threaten to kill him-- that is so far outside of something that I want to align myself with.
I find it difficult to align myself with people who call the current people in power "communists and fascists" (shades of McCarthy.)
I find it difficult, to align myself with people who align themselves with Sarah Palin (who seems to me, at this time, to be the nation's prime example of Political Opportunist.) (Sorry, for those of you who love sarah palin.)
I find it difficult to align myself with anyone who makes fun of "hopey changey" because in the end, isn't hope what we really do want, belief in our political leaders to affect important change? (not saying that the current president is a harbinger of all this, necessarily. Just... why use that particular term to attack the president. Isn't that an important piece of why we elect political leaders?)
IN all I do agree with the tea-party movement (or at least, whatever fraction of its supporters actually support this) because I do believe we need to get OUT OF DEBT. But even if the tea-party movement entirely supported this effort, I would be DONE at the point that someone called our president an "Indonesian Muslim turned Welfare Thug."
Even if I didn't admire Obama as a person and president, I would find such terminology objectionable. Because the office of President should be respected. Yes, Bush was made fun of. He was reviled by the Democratic party. But nobody ever took his presidency so lightly that they hurled epithets at him (shoes, maybe... and that wasn't done by an American citizen.) And if they had, then I'd find myself unable to support that movement, as well.
The fact that the tea-partiers themselves don't seem to have ousted Mark Williams and others like him, and don't seem to object to the extremely innappropriate signs and outbursts amongst their ranks, are the things that make me not want to touch the tea-party movement with at ten-foot pole.
THe point at which the tea-party as a whole denounces such things as wrong is the point at which I'll more seriously consider supporting such a movement (but no promises).
8 comments:
I'm right in there with you, of course. Thanks for saying it.
Just for the record, I _do_ recall the democratic party hurling those same kinds of insults at Bush. I also recall the all-too-frequent comparisons of Bush to Hitler and few other notable (for the wrong reasons) historical figures.
Just sayin' it.
Oh, and while I strongly agree with many of their objectives, I also do not align myself with the tea party.
my son tony[UPU remeber him, don't you/////???} has just joined the tea partiers i think>>>not too sure]WHAT I DO KNOW FOR SURE IS HE WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR PRESIDENT GONE gone gone.. AND IN THE GROUND IF POSSIBLE>>>for me i voted for big O BECAUSE OF YOU DEAR NOSUrF SARHA>>>this is going to hang on your shoulders forever and a day>>>love you THE PUTZ
P.S. THAKNS FOR DOing some more writing..>>i din't know you would get on this writing thing so soon, though, but am glad you feel like writing>>haven't done a post in a while, did one on the health bill and witing to get slammed by tony
it is called called something important to me, burma shave{soryy for so many commetns
Dave--
there was a lot said about bush, but I don't recall anyone calling him a thug? Or a Terrorist who wants to bring down America. And several recent surveys/research has lately shown that death threats have been up by about 300 percent since Obama took office. Now I know part of this has to do with the unpopular health care bill. But it could be argued that the teaparty movement could be inspiring a lot of this, as well... there does seem to be a temporal correlation with the sudden huge upsurge in violent language and when the movement took off.
I know you're not any more teaparty than Skywalker and I are (that is to say, sympathetic with a few of what seem to be its goals, enjoying the fact that a grassroots movement exists, but also extremely wary.)
Uh, although I would say the Tea Partiers aren't racist, you should see some of the signs at the tea party rallies here in DC.
Sherpa,
I don't doubt it. That's the piece I have a hard time with, like I said. If the teaparty movement is made up of many different kinds of people, then a large majority of them should be telling this vocal few to tone it down a bit, shouldn't they? But it doesn't seem to be happening... which gives me suspicions I don't like having.
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