Okay, I have to admit that my recent description of the Tea Party was somewhat flawed. They are rednecks, but much to my surprise, it turns out that most are highly educated. (Now theres an indictment of our education system, if Ive ever seen one.) A new poll by The New York Times and CBS found that a high precentage of these people are college-educated. Theyre also highly paid and highly confused.
They say they hate government, yet they love Social Security. They say they hate the new health care reform bill, yet they love government-run Medicare. They say they hate the increase in national debt, yet they love the man who created most of it George W. Bush. Theyre furious about tax increases, yet their taxes are lower than at any time during the Bush administration, and the second-lowest in last 50 years. And they say theyre nostalgic for the fifties and sixties, yet those were the days when taxes were at an all-time high and the nation was in extreme turmoil.
How could these otherwise intelligent people be so confused? I think I can provide the answer in three words Fox News Channel. They rely on the Republican propaganda channel for most of their information.
Indeed, Politico recently revealed a memo from a Political Action Committee leader to the Republican Party that shows the Tea Party Express was actually conceived by the Republican Party with the aid of Fox News. Why? The memo states that the purpose was to raise money for the Political Action Committee and Republicans to aid Republican candidates.
I believe there was another, unstated issue. By focusing anger on President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the bailout of automakers and the stimulus package, the Tea Party Express would deflect attention from those really responsible for our nations financial meltdown former President George W. Bush and the Republican Party.
So Tea Party activists, how does it feel to find out that youve been used to help the very people who got us into the mess you so deplore? Or are you so blinded by your racism against an African-American President and non-white immigrants that you simply dont care?