Category Archives: Tea Party

A Brief Summary of Republican Teabagger Values.

Posted on by

In the past few weeks, we’re getting a really good picture of what the Republican teabaggers have in store for America.

First, a Kansas-based wingnut wrote a racist immigration law which he peddled to the Arizona legislature. Of course, they were all too happy to embrace it. Now he’s peddling the same bill to other states. So far, at least 12 states are considering it.

Second, the NRA and its Republican enablers have succeeded in pushing through new conceal and carry laws throughout the country. It is now legal to carry a gun in any national park. In Arizona, you may now carry a concealed weapon without a permit. And thanks to a new law in Louisiana, you may even carry your gun to church – because we all know that to truly worship Jesus, you have to be ready to nail a few Muslims.

Third, the Grand Obstructionist Party threatened, for weeks, to filibuster financial reform. They actually chose to defend Wall Street against Main Street! Who cares if abuses by Wall Street collapsed our economy and cost taxpayers trillions of dollars?

Fourth, BP Oil and its partners blew up 11 employees and unleashed an oil gusher a mile deep in the Gulf. Now, considering the Republican-loaded Supreme Court recently declared that corporations have all the rights of individuals, you might expect that the BP CEO and a few other corporate officers would be facing charges of manslaughter and more (What is the penalty for killing an entire ocean?). But of course, the Supreme Court only awarded corporations individual rights. No doubt, they never intended to hold corporations to the same standards as individuals when it comes to responsibilities.

Fifth, Senate Democrats asked for unanimous consent for a bill that would greatly expand BP Oil’s liability for the Gulf tragedy. The bill was first blocked by an objection from Senator Lisa Murkowski. It seems she was more impressed by the nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from oil companies than the plight of Gulf Coast fishermen.  Ensuing attempts have been blocked by Tom Coburn, another Senator who relies on contributions from big oil.

Sixth, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he refuses to raise taxes in order to balance California’s budget. So, instead, he is cutting welfare benefits for more than one million of California’s unemployed. Of course, California is not alone. Similar measures have been instituted in Arizona and several other states. Indeed, Arizona’s legislature cut funding for health care for poor kids until they found out that the state would lose more in federal funding than it would save. Meanwhile, the Arizona dimwits continue to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

Finally, teabagger darling, Rand Paul, displayed his true colors on The Rachel Maddow Show when he refused to say he would have voted for the 1960s Civil Rights Bill. What he did say is that he thinks private businesses should be able to do what they want, even if that means refusing to serve non-whites.

This is just a brief recap of wingnut values. One can’t help but conclude that if the Republican teabaggers have their way, America’s coasts will be covered in oil, the public schools will be closed, and the streets will be filled with angry, homeless, poor people who are armed to the teeth.

Let’s Stop Flattering Teabaggers.

Posted on by

They’ve been called the Tea Party and the Tea Party movement.  (I admit I’ve been guilty of falling for this fraud myself.)  But the more you investigate this group, the more it becomes apparent that they’re really just a figment of Republican imaginations.  Republican strategists, Fox News Channel and Dick Armey created this band of way-far-right lunatics to criticize President Obama without making the Republican candidates answer for the racist signs and epithets, and to distract the public from the horrendous failures of the Bush administration.

So far, it appears to be working.

Most of the media bought it hook, line and sinker.  They credited them for winning the Massachusetts Senate election, instead of rightfully pointing out the incompetence of the Democratic candidate.  The media has also credited them for purging moderate Republican incumbents.  But that phenomenon has been going on for decades.  And the teabaggers are anything but an independent, legitimate political party.  They have no platform.  No policies.  No organization.  Instead, the teabaggers are directed by Republican strategists, composed almost entirely of Republican voters, sponsored by American FreedomWorks (Dick Armey’s Republican organization) and Fox News, and led by the failed Republican Vice-Presidential candidate (and half-governor) Sarah Palin.  Their candidates even share voter registration booths with Republican candidates.

What about that sounds or looks like anything other than a front for the GOP?

So let’s stop over-reacting to them.  Let’s stop covering their racist, anti-everything demonstrations.  Let’s stop giving them the attention they crave.  And let’s start referring to them as what they really are.  A pathetic group of angry, racist and aging white people who are being manipulated by the Republican Party. 

A Tea Party Preview.

Posted on by

If you had any doubts of the consequences of allowing the Tea Party to influence our elections, all you need to do is look at Arizona.  For the past several years, the state legislature has caused an already conservative state to take an extreme right turn.  Some of the most reasonable Republican legislators were defeated in the last election because they weren’t viewed as conservative enough.  And since the election, the state has completely slid into the dumpster.

To wit, the state is bankrupt, yet the wingnuts continue to cut taxes for corporations and ignore calls for closing $10 billion in corporate tax loopholes.  Arizona’s public school funding now ranks 51st out of 50 states (Washington, DC is also ahead of Arizona) yet the state continues to cut funding for public schools while, at the same time, increasing tax credits for private and parochial schools.  Tourism is a huge source of revenue for Arizona, yet the state is closing its state parks and is even considering closing its Department of Tourism.  The film industry brings millions into the state each year, yet the Arizona legislature has cut the Film Board’s budget.   

Now the state is asking citizens to vote for a temporary one percent increase in sales tax.  But, at the same time, the wingnuts in the legislature are pushing through another one percent tax cut for corporations and the wealthy!  And, if the sales tax increase doesn’t pass, the legislature is promising to make even more draconian cuts to public schools.  (One educator recently told me that the class sizes could easily exceed 50.)  Arizona even threatens to cut thousands of jobs from the Department of Public Safety.  After all, the state doesn’t really need them, since the legislature just passed a bill that allows anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.  It’ll be just like the Old West with a shootout on every street and in every bar.

Still not scared? 

Then consider the state’s new immigration law.  SB 1070 has already resulted in the cancellations of at least six conventions and hundreds of hotel rooms.  The Los Angeles City Council voted to boycott Arizona which will likely have an even more chilling impact on Arizona’s film industry.  San Francisco has also voted to boycott the state.  And the Mexican government has put out a travel warning for Arizona.  If you don’t think that’s meaningful, consider the fact that Mexico represents the single largest source of tourists to the state – a source that also represents tens of millions of dollars to state revenue. 

Most recently, the Arizona legislature has passed a bill that bans ethnic studies classes in public schools (equating them with treason) and forbidding any teacher with a strong accent from teaching English.  And the legislative session hasn’t ended yet!

Yes, this is the future promised by the Tea Party.  God save America!

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Arizona Paranoia.

Posted on by

According to angry white people, all of the nation’s problems are the fault of those with brown or dark skin.  After all, weren’t they the ones who (with the help of ACORN) voted President Obama into office?  And isn’t it the brown and dark-skinned immigrants who are taking their jobs and saddling taxpayers with the cost of the resulting social problems – everything from food shelves to health care.

If only it were that simple, we could round up all the illegals and send them back to Mexico.  Indeed, that’s what the dimwitted Arizona legislature is attempting to do.  The Republican-dominated legislature has created open season on anyone who looks like a Mexican.  As I read the bill, there are even severe penalties for American citizens who are found to have given aid and comfort to illegal immigrants, including their own families. 

Let’s say a Mexican couple entered the country illegally in the 1920s. (You don’t really believe this is a recent problem?  Do you?)  And let’s say that couple had children who became American citizens and grandchildren who are American citizens.  As I read the law, in Arizona it will soon be a serious crime for the grandchildren to drive their grandparents to church.  In addition, it appears that it will be a crime for the children to provide home care for their parents.  Indeed, it appears that it will be a crime for anyone to not report an undocumented alien, even if that alien is a family member.

Does anyone really think this is the solution to the immigration problem?

What is seldom reported is the fact that U.S. companies continue to hire illegal immigrants.  A recent survey of Arizona corporations found that more than 50 of the 80+ companies surveyed admitted to hiring undocumented workers.  (This despite the fact that Arizona had implemented a law designed to prevent such hires more than a year ago.)  In addition, many of the undocumented workers are hired to work as day laborers or as housekeepers for wealthy families. 

It’s one of those Palinesque wink, wink arrangements.  We want the cheap labor illegal immigrants provide, but we don’t want to admit it. 

Fact is, immigration is one of the most complicated issues our nation faces.  And the wingnuts have nothing to offer but simplistic solutions.  The Arizona bill, if it ever goes into effect, will fail.  Of course, Republicans in Congress who have been stonewalling immigration reform for years are now blaming the Obama administration.  In a desperate attempt to woo Tea Party votes, the former maverick and current wingnut, Senator McNasty, and his wingman, Senator Kyl, are calling for thousands of troops and fences to seal our border. 

How ironic that they demand smaller government and whine about deficits, but they’re willing to spend billions, likely trillions, in a futile attempt to seal the border.  Maybe they’ve forgotten that it has been tried before. 

Tell me, conservatives, how did the Berlin Wall work out?   

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Main Street 57, Wall Street 41.

Posted on by

For two days in a row, a bill for financial reform came up 3 votes short in the Senate. All 41 Republican Senators voted to prevent debate. In other words, they voted to filibuster. Polls show the American public overwhelmingly wants to see financial reform because they understand that it was the high-risk gambling on Wall Street that caused the worst economy since the Great Depression. Yet Republicans voted in unison to block it.

Why?

The answer is simple. Republicans say that they want financial reform, but they don’t want it to interfere with the almighty “free” market. It took them 62 years to undo the Glass-Steagall Act and they don’t want to see a similar bill. They don’t want to limit their wealthy and powerful masters’ ability to make outrageous profits from consumers. They don’t want to allow any form of consumer protection. And they certainly don’t want the voting public to see them taking the side of Wall Street in an open debate.

By keeping the debate behind closed doors, Republicans can make deals with bank lobbyists that will keep the money flowing on Wall Street and, more importantly, keep the money flowing toward Republican candidates.

So, for now, we’re treated to a high stakes game of cat and mouse. Democrats will keep asking for debate on financial reform, and Republicans will keep voting to block it. How long before Main Street reminds Republicans who they’re supposed to be working for?

The Black & White Case Against President Obama

Posted on by

The Tea Party members say their anger has nothing to do with racism.  Well, if their issues are big government, big deficits and corporate bailouts as they suggest, why all the anger now?  Why not aim the fury at the people who created our recession and debt?  Why not direct their fury at Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and the Republicans who created trillions of dollars of national debt?  Why no anger against George W. Bush for drastically increasing the size of government with his Department of Homeland Security?  Why no fury against George W. Bush for bailing out Wall Street?  Why the belief that President Obama was not born in the U.S.?  Why did no one demand to see Ronald Reagan’s, George H.W. Bush’s and George W. Bush’s birth certificates?  And why were they so willing to look the other way when Richard “The Dick” Cheney was allowed to skirt the Constitutional prohibition on the President and Vice-President being residents of the same state by claiming Wyoming as his residence instead of Texas where he actually lived? 

What has this President done to generate such anger? 

Since taking office, he has brought the nation out of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.  Since taking office, he has actually lowered taxes.  Indeed, taxes have rarely been lower.  Since taking office, President Obama has rebuilt our relationships and stature with all of our allies.  He has rid the world of more nuclear weapons to protect us from terrorism.  He has certainly not tried to ban guns as the Tea Party suggests.  As a matter of fact, he signed a bill permitting guns in National Parks, an act that prompted the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence to give Obama an “F” with regard to gun control issues. 

Then why the Tea Party claims that President Obama is un-American, a Socialist, a Communist and a Nazi? 

What is so unique about this President to generate so much anger and hate?  Hmmm, let me think … maybe it has to do with the fact that he is part Irish.  No?  Well, it certainly couldn’t be that he is half African-American.  That would be racist, wouldn’t it?

Just Plain McNasty!

Posted on by

For years, John McCain was known as the maverick because he occasionally crossed party lines to vote with Democrats. But now he says that he has never considered himself a maverick. Really? After months of campaigning with the half-governor, Sarah Palin, as “a team of mavericks?”

Well, I guess we’ll have to go back to referring to McCain by the nickname given him by his classmates: McNasty. It fits him better anyway.

For several years now, McCain has been campaigning against the truth. During his latest run for President, virtually every commercial or ad was based on outright lies. (I know this, because I vowed to send McCain an email for every lie he told. As a result, I sent him an email almost every day. And some days, I sent him 3 or more.)

One of McCain’s biggest lies is his famed stance against “earmarks” or what he calls “pork.” McCain is proud of the fact that he’s never been responsible for a single earmark. But if you study the issue, you’ll discover that his claim is nothing to be proud of, especially given McCain’s definition of pork. He has long turned down legitimate requests from the State of Arizona for schools, roads, bridges, health care, etc., etc., etc. Indeed, it’s difficult to determine what McCain has ever done for the state he allegedly represents.

Now McNasty is living up to his nickname in his campaign to retain his Senate seat in a primary battle against conservative radio talk show host and former Congressman, J.D. Hayworth. The campaign has turned into a contest to determine who can be the most far right wingnut – Dumb versus Dumber.  McCain’s commercials call him “the last man standing against Obama’s radical agenda.” They then go on to attack Hayworth by taking his statements and votes out of context. The commercials end by stating “It’s a matter of character.”

That’s correct. McCain has none.

New Poll: Tea Party Members Not Stupid! Just Greedy, Racist and Poorly Informed.

Posted on by

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 there’s an indictment of our education system, if I’ve ever seen one.)  A new poll by The New York Times and CBS found that a high precentage of these people are college-educated.  They’re 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.  They’re 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 they’re 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 nation’s financial meltdown – former President George W. Bush and the Republican Party.

So Tea Party activists, how does it feel to find out that you’ve 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 don’t care? 

Palin/Bachmann in 2012!

Posted on by

Several of the Faux News Channel pundits are openly promoting this pair as the Republican ticket for 2012.  Yes, for President and Vice-President of the United States.  Yes, our United States!  I’m not sure whether to laugh or run to the border out of fear.  Is it possible that the ancient Mayans had a vision of this ticket in 2012 and decided to end their calendar following the election?

The potential for an apocolyptic disaster couldn’t be more real.

Imagine the female equivalent of Laurel and Hardy in charge of the world’s only superpower.  Add Glenn Beck as Secretary of Defense for a Three Stooges-like triumveret.  Throw in a Congress dominated by the Tea Party for even more entertainment value.  At least we would no longer have an immigration problem.  It would more likely become an emigration problem.  Canada and Mexico would have to put up fences and station troops at their borders to keep U.S. citizens out.  It’s even possible that the governments in Iran and North Korea governments would look sane by comparison. 

 Think I’m exaggerating?  Consider the following: 

As a Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin famously cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as her credentials for foreign affairs.  In her notorious interview with Katie Couric, Palin was stumped by such hard-hitting questions as “What magazines and newspapers do you read?”  As Half-Governor of Alaska, she was cited in numerous ethics complaints.  Of course, there was also Wardrobe-Gate and the many believable accusations of outrageous behavior by the McCain campaign staff.

Her proposed running mate, Michelle Bachmann is even more of a nut case.  This is the Congresswoman who claimed that the U.S. Census was an Obama plot to place people in internment camps.  The same Congresswoman who famously called for an investigation of Congress because she believed many members are un-American.

Don’t get me wrong.  My feelings toward these two have nothing to do with the fact that they’re women.  My fears are based on their stupidity.  I doubt either of them could match wits with the average 5th grader when it comes to civics, geography, economics, history and finance.  What Palin and Bachmann are good at is stoking anger and hate.  They’ve mastered the snarky comments that resonate with racists and biggots.  They’re expert at fueling hatred for liberals and those who disagree with their political agenda.  And they’re especially good at generating money.

Of course, it may be tempting to vote for them for sheer entertainment value.  After all, lots of people are fascinated by train wrecks.  But do you really want the U.S. to be one of them? 

The Clampetts meet Hee Haw.

Posted on by

For the past year, the political movement known as the Tea Party has garnered lots of attention.  I’ve watched in wonder as the followers shouted down Senators and Congressional Representatives, and marched with signs calling Obama a Socialist, a Communist and even a Nazi.  I found it difficult to understand what these people were so angry about.  After all, past Republican administrations had done more to run up the national debt.  And it’s Republicans who have orchestrated a 30-year attack on the middle class while transferring wealth to the richest one percent of the population.

But after watching Sarah Palin ratchet up the anger at a Tea Party event with her hillbilly twang, it suddenly came to me.  The Tea Party isn’t a new movement at all.  It’s the audiences of “Hee Haw”,” Beverly Hillbillies” and Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Know You’re a Redneck When…“ all put together.   These people are rednecks and damn proud of it.

Led by Palin portraying a brunette version of Elly May Clampett, Joe the Plumber cast as Larry the Cable Guy and Glenn Beck as an erstwhile traveling preacher, the followers of the Tea Party seem to revile education and worship the past.  To them, all of America’s problems are the fault of eggheads and immigrants.  They see themselves as modern-day Paul Reveres out to save America from the new invaders.  And when they were credited with affecting the outcome of the Massachussett’s Senate race they became as happy as hillbillies who struck “black gold.” 

The only question is what’s next?  What if some of these people are actually elected to office?  It’s hard to imagine any redneck with a G.E.D. trying to regulate slick Wall Street bankers, let alone understand a Credit Default Swap.  I cringe at the idea of these people trying to re-interpret the Constitution.  And can you imagine any one of them having control of our nuclear weapons? 

Within weeks we’d likely be at war with Mexico and Canada and all of those nations with funny-sounding names they can’t find on a map. 

Let’s hope that, before the next elections roll around, the Tea Partiers return to their usual outlets for venting anger.  Like pro wrestling, demolition derbies and family bar fights.