The Tea Tantrum Movement

The Atlantic ^ | April 10, 2009 | Andrew Sullivan

[Zakeet]

I spent the better part of an hour earlier today scanning the various sites and blogs to try and understand what specifically the Fox-Pajamas tea parties are about. Having absorbed about as much of the literature as I can, I have to say I'm still befuddled.

Option 1: It's a protest of the bank bailouts orchestrated by Bush and now Obama. But surely these tea-partiers understand what would happen if we didn't bail the banks out. Are they advocating letting major banks fail? Or are they advocating a Krugman-style government take-over? No idea.

Option 2: It's a protest against tax hikes. But there have barely been any!

[Snip]

Option 3: It's a protest against illegal immigration. Ok, so why the tea? Weren't all the original tea-partiers illegal immigrants?

Option 4: It's a protest against government debt. Yay! I will leave aside the somewhat awkward fact that Fox News and Pajamas Media barely covered the massive debt racked up by the Republicans during a period of economic growth.

[Snip]

What it looks like to me is some kind of amorphous, generalized rage on the part of those who were used to running the country and now don't feel part of the culture at all. But the only word for that is: tantrum.

These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown.

[papertyger]

I am not now, nor have I ever been, in the armed forces of these United States. I apologize if in any way I have lead anyone to believe I claimed that honor. Any familiarity I may display in the area of weapons, warfare, or stratey/tactics is exclusively from self-directed study, NOT training by United States Armed Forces.

That being said, how much sense does it make to throw every single cherry you have on the parade ground at one time, then sit back to see what kind of order emerges?

[Bob J]

I support the tea parties but I also know that sometimes you only get one good shot. If it's not good it makes recreating it later several times harder.

If a movement doesn't define itself in easy to understand terms early on and then stay on message and pound it home every chance they get, they in effect leave a blank slate that allows your opponents to write it for you.

It's harder for conservatives since our opponents own the MSM. Give them any kind of daylight and they will run with it until they drive you into irrelevance. We're seeing that now in the articles and columns stating the message is unclear. Once they get label to stick then it will be on to Sullivan's tactic, calling it a childish tantrum.

Does “tantrum” remind you of something? It was word Dan Rather used to describe Reagans election victory in 1980.

Some things never change.

[Bob J]

Ooops, you’re right, that was jennings.

[Eric]

I've been kicking around FreeRepublic for more than 10 years, and your style reminds me of another person who used to engage me and many others with strawmen arguments, red herring statements, twisted logic, mis-quotes, and managed to create general mayhem. That username was "ASH".

I'm sure some of the other old timers here at FreeRepublic remember him/her/it. If I remember correctly, Moderators banned Ash for life...but, it almost feels like ASH is back.

Your style is very similar, and that is not a compliment.

[papertyger]

This is not about abortion. Get a grip.

Here's some good advice. Before you decide someone else is being stupid, make sure you understand what they're talking about.

"Abortion" is THE premier example of how conservatives have been lead in a circle and STILL haven't figured it out after forty years.

[Clint Williams]

Couldn't agree more...

Me too. Call me when they start marching -- and not one second before.

[mickey finn]

After reading your posts, I don’t think I need your advise, thank you.

[papertyger]

Does “tantrum” remind you of something? It was word Dan Rather used to describe Reagans election victory in 1980.

And on the heels of Carter, no less! What else are you supposed to have when someone puts a stick in your eye?

*****

PR? Marketing? Sociology?

[papertyger]

your style reminds me of another person who used to engage me and many others with strawmen arguments, red herring statements, twisted logic, mis-quotes, and managed to create general mayhem. That username was "ASH".... Your style is very similar, and that is not a compliment.

Apparently not too similar, because I'm still here after more than ten years, and you would be able to point to a specific fallacy instead of waving your fairy wand and pronouncing me "icky."

[papertyger]

Then don’t offer yours...

[acsrp38]

If I remember right the inspiration for tea parties was not from Fox, it was a CNBC reporter.

[capt. norm]

Give me something, anything, by which we can measure your success or failure in influencing government and/or the press.

It's called the satisfaction of taking a stand....a concept you would never understand, and have proven unable to understand with your posts.

Thank God there were very few gutless people like yourself when the original Boston Tea Party happened.

[kcvl]

Andrew Sullivan marries Aug. 27 in Provincetown, Mass., to health-club worker and acting student Aaron Tone. “I now understand the meaning of the phrase, ‘the happiest day of your life,’” Sullivan, stated after the ceremony.

After receiving copies of the wedding photos, Sullivan wrote on his blog: “Seeing them again reminds me of the dreamy dusk and night that we chose — a full moon over the water, and family and friends-who-are-family sending the love right back at us. This was not — repeat not — a political event,” he said. “But it took politics to get past politics, and to see this movement we are a part of as a human endeavor to bring love and civility and family into lives that have sometimes been denied all of the above.”

[bzybee]

Does Andrew know that it is not just Republicans who are going to the Tea Parties?

[commonguymd]

Good grief. ish.

[kcvl]

Andrew Sullivan & Arianna Huffington

[capt. norm]

Apparently not too similar, because I'm still here after more than ten years, and you would be able to point to a specific fallacy instead of waving your fairy wand and pronouncing me "icky."

You're the perfect example of a "Dismisser":

The Dismisser — The ultimate arrogant commenter, this person never actually engages with the topic, but merely declares it beneath anyone’s interest, already resolved, or improperly stated - and thus hardly worth the bother. The Dismisser’s only real message is: "I’m smarter than you and you need to acknowledge that fact!"

The only thing the article was lacking is your picture.

By the way, you're not the only one who has been around here for over ten years, newbie.

[MHGinTN]

A. Sullivan identifies himself first and foremost a homosexual. All other things in his life are brought to bare on that reality for him. He has pretended to be a conservative for yeaqrs, in the hope that conservatives would somehow ‘relent’ and accept degenerate homosexuals as normal people. What degenerate minds cannot seem to comprehend is that God is turning His face away from sexual degenerates, yet Christians—in thier compassion for the lost—still try to bring the Gospel of Grace to these degenerate minds. Some few do awaken to His Grace.

[unixfox]

Look up wimp in the dictionary and his picture is there.

[GOPJ]

"Registered", designed a graphic that accomplished this. That's what this movement needs.

Can you bring "Registered" out of retirement and get him to come up with some tea party stuff?

That would be great.

You are right on this issue, BobJ, it can fall apart.

But I suspect it'll grow. It's a question of if the dems can destroy it - or in lieu of that, can they take it over ( destroy it in a different way) or can we nurture the movement until it can grow on it's own? We'll see.