The Smearing of the Tea Party

[bobjuice]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

[dig72]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

I've seen and heard enough bad things about socialized medicine (including a friend who has waited 18 months now to address a surgically correctable elbow problem) to know that universal healthcare is not all it's made out to be either (long waiting lists, subpar care, rationed care) and that most stats are made up. Speaking of stats, 54% still want the miserable bill killed, and the tea partiers have hit a chord with that cross-section of American voices. When the cure is worse than the disease, who wants it?

What is it about universal healthcare that the tea baggers don't like?

I'm only asking because we have it in Australia and every single person is entitled to it no matter what. And there isn't a single person that I know who wishes for it to be gone.

[88Mariner]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

p.s. if the Tea Baggers are really that concerned about how they perceive themselves as being "smeared" (when it really comes off more as themselves trying to portray themselves as bigger victims than the people who suffered in Tucson at the hands of an extremely balanced individual), maybe they might want to consider the rhetoric that some of their more reasonable counterparts have spewed towards Muslims - as in condemning and distancing themselves from their more extreme counterparts:

Examples:




If they knock off the bullshit demagoguery and actually take control of their media image they won't be coming off like the racist, xenophobic sore losers that won't let 2008 go.

You have a point. but 'controlling their media image' is such a horseshit request. Only the media controls their image. this is why the MSM keyed them as the scapegoats for the shooting before the bodies had been put in the ambulance.

[88Mariner]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

WOW!! you really are butt hurt aren't you

i suppose you chose that emoticon because ignorance is blissful? well, at least the thread title didn't activate your inner drama-queen.

[88Mariner]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

What is it about universal healthcare that the tea baggers don't like?

I'm only asking because we have it in Australia and every single person is entitled to it no matter what. And there isn't a single person that I know who wishes for it to be gone.

Nobody has a right to private goods or services.

Of COURSE nobody in australia wishes it to be gone. They're having access to a private good paid for by the hard work of other people. If you rob peter to pay paul, you can always expect the support of paul.

[chunky]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

Nobody has a right to private goods or services.

I wish I didn't have to pay for the military, fire service, police, schools, refuge collection etc you could argue that all these are private goods or services. If everyone paid for just what they want nobody would pay for anything.

[88Mariner]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

I wish I didn't have to pay for the military, fire service, police, schools, refuge collection etc you could argue that all these are private goods or services. If everyone paid for just what they want nobody would pay for anything.

Military is a private good? Go on, make your case.

Btw, national defense is a core function of government. But again, make your case that the armed forces of this country are a private good/service.

[chunky]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

Military is a private good? Go on, make your case.

Btw, national defense is a core function of government. But again, make your case that the armed forces of this country are a private good/service.

Attacking other country's isnt defense its attack. They are sustaining a war for no other reason than generating money for private company's. The british soldier these days is a mercenary and I don't want to pay for them. When was the last time the UK or the US had to defend itself? Most people opposed the Iraq war, we still invaded it. I'm paying for something I don't want to

[trick12]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

Islam is a religion not a race, so being racist against someone's religious roots is plain ignorance..and that board saying "go back to Kenya" is fukin racist and it will only make them appear as so, what about all the other black people in America, shud they also go back to Africa and their roots, maybe all the white people too shud go and find which part of europe they were originally from and go back to it, the term "Go back to your country" should not be applied in the US coz it would be left with the native indians in complete peace...George Bush Jr was the best president of the united states and he wasnt Muslim, or black, so...!! Im just surprised they didnt give that psycho a muslim name and link it to terrorism...

btw the army is a public good, dosent matter how its lead and manipulated but it still remains a public good, or public bad as may apply to some countries, but it still remains public

[chunky]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

btw the army is a public good, dosent matter how its lead and manipulated but it still remains a public good, or public bad as may apply to some countries, but it still remains public

National Health is a public good. People looking after its own citizens. It’s like this whole patriot nonsense. We wave the patriotic flag, but really we couldn't give a fuck about each other. The army is not public when most of the country oppose an invasion but the government still sends them to war anyway.

[trick12]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

i see your point, but unfortunately its governments that lead the army, even if they have their own agendas they will always claim its for public safety. let me ask u this, if a country attacks another (considering ur point that its against the public's will) and the other country attacks back, dont you think the harm will be public? but if one person is sick isnt it private? unless its a pandemic then i can see it as a threat to the public and national health

[runningman]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

I love how tea partiers have been linked to Nazi's and other radical extremists.

Lets look at the Repulicans shall we? Republicans are typically white hillbillies who are quite possibly the most racist people on the planet. They LOVE war and their answer to all of the US's problems is to go and kill some people that they never met (oh ya and they won't fight in the war but they always want it). Typically they are also devout ed Christians and hard core bible thumpers. If your not a christian who cares if you die.

Now Democrats - They are just as scary if not scarier than the Repubs. They think they are so smart that they don't even like each other. They are also pro war even though they act like they aren't. They are for saving Mother Earth and hey if killing a few billion people on the planet is the way - who cares you need to crack some eggs to make an omelette. They are also typically anti religion because they are to smart for religion. Religion is for stupid Republicans.

That is a very brief coverage of both parties. So the point I was trying to make is that in any party you have some radicals. Of course the media loves to cover the neo nazi's at tea party events because they want to try ot stop the rallies - because you're not a Nazi are you?

[floridaorange]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

I love how tea partiers have been linked to Nazi's and other radical extremists.

Lets look at the Repulicans shall we? Republicans are typically white hillbillies who are quite possibly the most racist people on the planet. They LOVE war and their answer to all of the US's problems is to go and kill some people that they never met (oh ya and they won't fight in the war but they always want it). Typically they are also devout ed Christians and hard core bible thumpers. If your not a christian who cares if you die.

Now Democrats - They are just as scary if not scarier than the Repubs. They think they are so smart that they don't even like each other. They are also pro war even though they act like they aren't. They are for saving Mother Earth and hey if killing a few billion people on the planet is the way - who cares you need to crack some eggs to make an omelette. They are also typically anti religion because they are to smart for religion. Religion is for stupid Republicans.

That is a very brief coverage of both parties. So the point I was trying to make is that in any party you have some radicals. Of course the media loves to cover the neo nazi's at tea party events because they want to try ot stop the rallies - because you're not a Nazi are you?

Who exactly are you talking about here? Presidents, Congressmen, the senate, local elected officials, individual voters?

Over generalize much?

You would be blown away at how different Dems and Repubs are across the United States...

/reality

[toasty]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

Let me preface this by reaffirming that Jared Lee Loughner is a Grade A, first class, USDA Prime nutball. I have no idea if he was a teapartier, a republican, a democrat, a communist, whatever, and I don't think it really matters. The suggestion that he tried to assassinate Giffords because Sarah Palin put a gun sight on her district is ridiculous.

Equally ridiculous, however, is the suggestion that none of the violent language and imagery used by the talking heads on the right contributes to an environment where this sort of thing can happen. It takes absolutely zero effort to find numerous recent examples of right wingers invoking violence in political rhetoric, whether it's references to armed revolution, taking people "out," or "Second Amendment remedies." The list goes on and on, and even if there are examples of this same sort of rhetoric coming out of the loonies on the left, they are certainly far fewer than what we see on the right. That should be beyond serious dispute.

The world is a big and varied place, and when you pump this sort of vitriol into the popular consciousness, it goes to everyone, not just the people that understand that you're speaking metaphorically and can practice self-control. Back at the time of the gun-sight-map thing, Giffords herself noted: "For example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize that there’s consequences to that action."

Would this have happened were it not for Palin putting a gunsight on Gifford's district? Probably. Would it have happened in the absence of all of this imagery and verbiage being used over the past couple of years? Who knows, but I think it's tough to say that none of it matters, that it has no impact upon society as a whole. There were a number of police officers that were shot by right wingers shortly after Obama got elected, and their stated reason for shooting them was that they were concerned that the government was coming to take their guns. Does that sort of thing happen in the absence of the BS coming from the far right suggestion that Obama is going to take away your guns? Uh, I doubt it.

I guess the point of it all is that while I'm not blaming those on the far right for this incident, I don't think they can wash their hands of the fact that they've contributed to creating an environment where the possibility that some whackjob is going to lose it and take it out on someone in a position of authority is higher, either. There are consequences to these words that people throw out there...

[chunky]

Re: The Smearing of the Tea Party

i see your point, but unfortunately its governments that lead the army, even if they have their own agendas they will always claim its for public safety. let me ask u this, if a country attacks another (considering ur point that its against the public's will) and the other country attacks back, dont you think the harm will be public? but if one person is sick isnt it private? unless its a pandemic then i can see it as a threat to the public and national health

And its in the US its the government that will control a health service just like the army, and isnt public health also public saftey. When was the last time the US or the UK attacked a county that attacked the country back? Not in my life time.

If one person is sick it really depends on how they got sick in the first place. What about public toilets does the working man have to pay for them to. Maybe we should make the poor man shit in the street! Where do you stop?