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Reading about the NYT poll on the makeup of the Tea Party, the most interesting data (beyond the anti-poor, anti-black sentiment) was that Tea Party members are wealthier and better educated than the general public. (The poll pegged their numbers at eighteen percent of the American public -- primarily Republican, white, male, married and over forty-five.)
If that's the case, you have to wonder how much the photos we've seen over and over, represented by the folks in these Huffpost slideshows or "the Teabonics element" have been much less reflective of the overall group. Of course, "stupid" sells, right? ...Which is not to say, of course, that there is the highest correlation between education and, at least, social intelligence in this swath of the public.
If we can assume just from looking, though, perhaps this crowd shot, taken last week in Illinois, gets the demographics about right?
For a breakdown of the latest visual spin, visit BAGnewsNotes.com.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images. caption: Tea Party supporters listen to speakers at a rally for the Tea Party Express national tour during a stop at Davis Park on April 6, 2010 in Rockford, Illinois. The Tea Party Express members are on a cross-country tour to rally support for the Tea Party agenda including their conservative causes and candidates.)
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Brad Ellsworth's support remains stuck in the low 30s, while two of his Republican
opponents now earn 50% or more of the vote in Indiana’s U.S. Senate race.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Indiana finds
that 65% favor repeal of the recently passed health care law. Just 29% in the
state oppose repeal. Those findings include 56% who strongly favor repeal
versus 21% who strongly oppose it.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Pennsylvania
shows Specter earning 40% of the vote, a level he’s held steady at since the
first of the year. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent
(6%) are undecided.
Toomey this month also makes his strongest showing to date against Specter’s
Democratic Primary challenger, Congressman Joe Sestak. Toomey picks up 47%
support to Sestak’s 36%. Given this match-up, five percent (5%) like another
candidate, and 12% are undecided.
53% of Pennsylvania voters say the recently passed
health care plan is bad for the country and just 36% think its impact will
be good. In June of last year, before the health care debate began in earnest,
Specter had an eleven-point advantage over Toomey. Support for the senator
plummeted to 36% in August after his town hall meetings with Pennsylvania
voters angry over the specifics of the health care plan. Since then, support
for Specter has never risen above 42%.
Kind of makes you wonder if this movement will end up changing America....
Hope so
those and ignore them?
How can you ever expect to be taken seriously if you are allowing the racist and wing nut birthers
to infiltrate your movement?
Also, why would a group of mostly middle age men call themselves -the tea party movement??
Just asking.
Rule 9: The threat is more terrifying than the thing itself. When Alinsky leaked word that large numbers of poor people were going to tie up the washrooms of O’Hare Airport, Chicago city authorities quickly agreed to act on a longstanding commitment to a ghetto organization. They imagined the mayhem as thousands of passengers poured off airplanes to discover every washroom occupied. Then they imagined the international embarrassment and the damage to the city’s reputation.
Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?â€
Rule 11: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.
According to Alinsky, the main job of the organizer is to bait an opponent into reacting. “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.â€
great book
My best Scooby Doo voice..........."Huuuuuh"?
Racism is just one of the ways that the teabaggers have expressed themselves. Mostly the problem is that they consider taxes to be the government taking away THEIR money without an understanding that they use and depend on the benefits of federal tax expenditures every day. Your 401K doesn't make money without federally built infrastructure, institutions, and regulations designed to protect your interests. The wealthier actually use more of these benefits.
so whose money is it?
It doesn't matter to me about education, but does appear to matter to you, but I have an MS degree in Physics and 31 US Patents. Some of the smartest people I know never went to college.
The media (including Fox news, but Fox has been least offensive) continues to juxtapose the McViegh type videos with our protests. This is a real wake up call for me as well as many baggers as it is a deliberate attempt to attach us with violence.
I know what you are saying is not true. The fact that the baggers rise coresponded to Obama's presidency and the fact that Obama calls himself black does not imply that we are racists.The rise of baggers are better thought of as corresponding to an administration and congress that commits our money without concscience.
FYI there's a lot of democrats involved with us and many people of color as well. Also, baggers are American citizens. Once you acknowlege the facts, you'll begin to see that the media is truly drinking massive doses of kool-aid.
I've got to admit, the more I see what's really going on in the media and in our government, the more "fervent" I become. You are only feeding our passion with your misrepresentation.
By your last statement (and that crap about Fox), I have a pretty good idea where you fit in.
Oh, and brother in law is African American, Father is half-hispanic (son of an illegal alien), and Mom is caucasian.
Your chocolate icing spokespersons are ruining a perfectly good chocolate cake.
Change the icing and you'll get more people eating the cake.
When asked that question, most folks say they "were upset" (yet never did anything about it prior to President Obama being in office). Most folk say they are "worried about the out of control spending" (but weren't worried during the previous administration).
Seems to me that they've jumped on the bandwagon and that it doesn't bother them that their bandwagon also has birthers, racists, etc. members. I've not heard any teabaggers denounce the hate-filled, vile signs that some carry. They just happily go along, saying "but that's not US, WE'RE not like that." If you "go along" you ARE allowing those folks to also represent you.
These people are SORE LOSERS in my opinion. They voted for the losing party. They don't give a rat's behind about the financial state of this country. They care that THEY are no longer the party in power, even though that party was instrumental in putting our country in the quagmire we are in. It is disengenuious no matter how many degrees your family members have, nor how many minorities are in your extended family.
What is their "platform"? Taxation (money)...Government spending (money)...Deficit (money)...Balanced budget (money)...smaller government (money)...While this "platform" is often punctuated with the words, "Freedom" and "Liberty", it is also punctuated with the words, "socialism", "communism" and "Marxism" as well as the phrase, "Redistribution of wealth", and again returns us to the crux of the whole issue: Money...Have any of you noticed that a great deal of the angst over healthcare was about the issue of cost? How many times it was refered to as another, "Entitlement program"? How many opposing it claimed it would cost THEM more for their OWN healthcare insurance? How many refered to it as "Socialized medicine"? How many have we heard from this "party" expouse the concern over, "The debt we are leaving our children and grandchildren"?...Every issue I can find, and boil it down to it's lowest denominator relates back to that one thing: Money.
So, it begs me to ask that question: Are all those things the TP protests over really things they take issue with, or is this really "All about the money" when it comes to the end of the day?
There's nothing inherently evil about money itself, its about who is controlling it. A person like myself that supports rolling back how the government controls what we do and how our money is spent.
Don't blame me, blame the 16th Amendment and the progressives that managed to get it through.
The more of the finite dollars the EXECUTIVES (CEOs, CFOs, Chairman, etc.) TAKE, the less there is for the WORKING CLASS individuals TO EARN.
A 250+ to 1 ratio is ludicrous.
I don't blame you, I blame pure corporate greed.
Now they are unpatriotic?
How any group could coalece with all of these attributes ought to send flashing red flagged warning signs regarding the health of your source(s) of information.
And then John Kerry?
I yelled plenty when things were going down a hill. Should've started doing something way earlier.
When I saw things going off cliff, I drove to DC.
Especially the first pick.
Did you even vote or are you one of the many "independent" tea baggers who did'nt but now want the rest of us to hear you complain?
"There are places in the world where the libertarian dream of a society where no one has to pay taxes, where state bureaucrats do not interfere in markets or control gun ownership, where there is no welfare, is realized. The greatest concentration of these is in Africa; in states like Liberia, Rwanda, and Somalia." [John Braithwaite]