What IS the Tea Party anyway?

Why would they go ballistic over something like that?

In essence, it was a policy of "You can be gay and be in the military..as long as nobody ever hears about it"

because it means gay people can serve openly.

edited 22nd Feb '12 11:07:47 PM by Midgetsnowman

Because republican policy makers more often than not do not see homosexuality as a good thing, instead as Sinful or wrong.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry

Because they're assholes.

Well, that's the short version. Long version is because they think that the military is the absolute epitome of American honor, and to let something like a homosexual or a woman to serve in it, despite the Bible clearly showing that women are inferior and homosexuals are abominations, would be spitting directly on the most important institution in American life.

In other words, they're full of shit.

As it relates to the Tea Party, it basically shot in the foot any idea that they weren't really just social conservative fundie pricks like most of the rest of the Republican Party, as it is today and as it has been for several decades now.

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

—clears throat—

Anyway...

Awaiting answer on that last question.

Can you rephrase that? If it's a Kosovo question I can't help you, never been there before. Might be better to take any questions like that to PM though, as they're off-topic.

I think he was talking about the TP.

"Roll for whores."

Aye.

And getting this far off-topic is not acceptable, ladies and gentlemen.

Ah. Well I can only go off what sort of news they were getting in that short time before the politicians started jumping on the "I support the Tea Party!" bandwagon. What they were trying to present themselves as were regular god fearing conservative Americans who had a strong affinity for the constitution who wanted small government. But radical conservatives started to define their image, which became "People who think non-christians shouldn't have a say in how our country is ran, since if they don't agree with us, they are automatically wrong. Liberals are evil for wanting bigger government and oppressing the rich" schtick.

Liberal politicians are evil, but not as evil as the conservative ones, at least in the eyes of this moderate independent voter.

Politicians hijacked the movement imo, I feel like they came in and gave themselves the stamp that they were Tea Party endorsed candidates, and then proceeded to fan the flames of fear to the ignorant Tea Party members, fears about being oppressed for being Christian, fears about being oppressed by minorities and gays(the latter of which are a weird unknown to the type of people who vote Tea Party, which they only see as some weird abhorrent lifestyle) and fear of the "American Dream" and small businesses falling apart because of liberal big-government economic regulation.

At the end of the day, they basically fanned all the ignorant fears of that part of the populace in a way that says "Your views will no longer be represented as the majority in America unless you get really pissed off and do something about it!"

And ignorance is kind of a hallmark of the Tea Party these days. Populist statements and decisions by Tea Party Candidates that don't fix the problem or make them worse, but sound good when given in a speech to stir up support from those people. Even the well-meaning ones don't seem to properly educate themselves on the proper legislation to get what they want, or what sort of legislation they see as counter-productive to their philosophy of what direction the country needs to be going in.

edited 22nd Feb '12 11:24:00 PM by Barkey

If you're allowed to hate liberal politicians, does that mean I'm allowed to hate mercenaries?

Anyhow, I think the Tea Party simply was afflicted with the same thing as the Occupy movement, but at a much more rapid rate and with much more thoroughness.

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

The Tea party, speaking as a European, appear to be a right bunch of social conservative loonies who want to gut welfare because they, for some reason, hate the poor and believe everyone who is on benefits to be a no good lazy bum who is taking the piss. They also go around Murrica dressed as Minutemen because they believe they are doing their patriotic duty to "save America"

Finally, people like Comrade Buchman are so homophobic you have to wonder if they are in fact super gay.

Dutch Lesbian

^

And to be honest, many of the Tea Party members themselves are working poor. They often support legislation that would hurt them because it sounds good.

No. Such a dirty word.

Barkey: I see. Is there any way to bring them back to their original purpose.

Flyboy: Be joking.

Whale: ...—whap!— Read the thread.

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

^^

Not in the incarnation that is the Tea Party. The only way for their original purpose to be served is if the intelligent people who supported the Tea Party split off and started a different group that was sensible and had actual solutions that were well thought out to suggest. They would then have to make sure to thoroughly vette any politicians who supported them and make an effort to blacklist and make statements damning any politicians who supported them making statements or having plans that were contradictory to the general plan.

In other words, if they want to talk about not stifling job creation, they should be specific about taxing the rich on their income, not increasing corporate taxes, which are where job creation within business actually come from. The personal taxes of the rich are their share of the profits to spend as they see fit, not part of company assets used to expand the business. This is only true of small business owners, who make little enough profits most of the time to where they would be nowhere near the cap where the higher tax brackets suggested started. Then they'd need to tar and feather any politicians who said they supported this group, and then went ahead and said higher taxes for the rich stifle job creation.

edited 22nd Feb '12 11:33:02 PM by Barkey

I did, also the TP and Fox News seem to have a really close relationship.

Dutch Lesbian

That's quite true, Whale. Fox news was basically free advertising for the Tea party, and would not exist as it did at its height without fox.

edited 23rd Feb '12 12:00:35 AM by Enkufka

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry

Wow. The same regulation that is supposedly meant to protect small businesses and employees from big-business practices?

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Flyboy has been dis-invited from OTC.

edited 23rd Feb '12 7:57:31 AM by FastEddie

Goal: Clear, Concise and Witty

Very well. Thank you.

Barkey: In other words, not very likely?

Are they still a changing organisation?

^

Not terribly likely, no.

Also, I'm not sure I've seen too much in the way of change lately. Maybe I don't watch enough news, but the Tea Party seems to be dying a similarly quiet death to Occupy Wall Street.

edited 23rd Feb '12 10:30:47 AM by Barkey

The Tea Party politicians have basically been far too radical to other republicans.

Furthermore, the attendance to tea party rallies all over the nation has dropped like a stone. Some of them are barely getting 30 people to show up after expecting hundreds, and a major tea party party in Las Vegas was cancelled after it came to light that there weren't going to be enough attendees to justify booking almost an entire hotel. The organizers were hit with a suit for welching out on it.

For more info, Here's an article.

Furthermore, the rant that spawned the Tea party was linked to in that article, but I'll post it here as well:

Keep in mind, this was back in February of 2009 this video was posted, and that is damn early in Obama's term as president. Not even one month into his term, in fact.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry

Is it just me, or do the top two comments on that video's Youtube page sound exactly like something the less-sane members of the Tea Party would say?

To me the entire page seems full of logical falsities, but those two do stand out.

However, it is not a good idea to read the Youtube comments on popular political things.

And, the fact is that rant spawned the tea party, the Caucus of which has opposed even disaster relief aid for Hurricane Irene.

edited 23rd Feb '12 6:09:57 PM by Enkufka

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry